Arrival in Calgary
On the 29th December 2011 we said a last goodbye to our family and made our way to London Heathrow (Terminal 5) and spent 2 hours in the lounge staring out at hundreds of planes taking off and landing until at last, it was our turn to board and undertake the 10 hour flight to Calgary.
On arrival in Calgary we were met by a chauffeur who took all of our luggage on a trolley and led us out to a long black limousine with plush leather seats. We sat in those plush leather seats for about 10 minutes whilst the poor guy tried everything possible to fit our luggage in the boot, eventually he gave up and stacked a few bags on the front passenger seat and we set off for our temporary accommodation. From the window it is clear we are in 'Condo - Land'
Though city life is not for us we were glad to settle in to the comfortable Condo and put our feet up with a nice cup of tea. The kitchen/living room is a good size and has a breakfast bar and small table for dining. It also has a sofa that builds static like a power station and we spend the evening constantly sparking, jumping and cursing.
The small office has an excellent view out across condo-land and a wireless router providing instant connection to home via 'face time' though we had to wait a few days before making a video call as we were both really rough with colds and sore throats.
The bedroom and bathroom are equally well equipped and will provide excellent all round comfort for the next few weeks.
Our first few days are a blur of paperwork, acquiring driving licences, National Insurance Numbers, sorting our the handover of keys for the new house, a fantastic one day $20,000 spending spree to equip the place and a frustrating run-around trying to sort out a couple of SUV's. We thought we had a Ford Edge each at one point and were really looking forward to it until some unusual calls from the dealership asking if we would take a different model, then another call asking if we would take a different colour to the one we wanted and finally a call requesting a huge additional down payment (because we don't have a credit history in Canada). We pulled out of the deal altogether and got a refund before heading down to a Nissan dealership and doing it all again. This time we ordered a High Spec Murano for Sarah and an Xterra 'Man-Truck' for me to romp around the mountains in. Hopefully that will be the end of the vehicle issue. With this in mind we headed off at last toward the small town of Canmore in the Rocky Mountains just to take a little look. From more than 10 miles away on the highway, the view of the Rockies is stunning.
It's only 45minutes from our new home to Canmore and we are both sure we will be back here many times. There are a host of walks leading out from the town centre and all the stores, café's and places of interest anyone could need. The best thing about this visit was standing in the town centre and calling Mark & Hayley telling them to look on the live down-town Canmore webcam then waving to the camera whilst talking to them on the phone, we also did the same thing to Sarah's mum, we laughed at ourselves standing in a street thousands of miles from home waving into a webcam with people around us staring at us like we have 6 heads.
We took a short walk along the frozen riverside with the 'Three sisters' looking down on us (three mountain peaks side by side to the right of the building in the photo below)
Everywhere you look in this idyllic little town the mountains dominate the skyline and provide the most stunning of backdrops
Sarah took a call from her new HR boss whilst we were out and mentioned that we were in Canmore having a look around, by remarkable coincidence Sarah's boss was in a cabin there with her family and invited us round for a drink. We walked back across the town past the old Mountie Station (pictured below) before heading to the cabin for a really enjoyable couple of hours in the company of Jacquie and her family.
As we drove back toward Calgary we reflected on all that we had done this week whilst nursing grotty colds, sore throats and jet lag. We have made a great start to Canadian life with only one small hiccup in securing the cars and we have seen a glimpse of the beauty of the Rocky Mountains....it's been a good week.