The saga of the work permit.....

Friday 29Th. We decided to try and sort out Sarah work permit. Again.
Sarah had discovered that she had not been given her work permit, the guy that issued them in Vancouver must have been new.
Friday morning Fraser headed off to the training centre to finish up before he started work next Thursday, home by lunch time and then off into the city to go and see someone from customs and immigration, problem is they are only open to the public from 9am to 12. we arrived at 1.30pm, CLOSED. figured we were in town so would try and get a SIN number(social insurance number), they would not issue a number for Sarah as did not have a work permit even though she was on mine and the guy in Vancouver said that it was fine!!!!!!
Just to make it worse i could have got a number there and then as had a work permit, not that i wanted a number anyway.
Next stop back to the airport as we figured this might be worth a try again. Got the the airport and talked to one of the immigration guys there and got him to check the status of Sarah's visa and work permit, answer to this question..... it is on file but i can't issue it as you are already in the country, you need to leave the country and do it on returning to the country!!!!!!!
Guess the easiest way for us to do this...

Yes we drive for an hour and crossed over the St Lawrence river and entered the USA, the guy on that side was really good, and helped us with a few other questions as well, like the fact we did not need the visitors visas we had!!!

Total time in the USA 15 minutes. Then we turned around and drove back across the river into Canada, and to the immigration office, talked to the girl there, sat for about 20 minutes and the end result.......

SARAH NOW HAS A WORK PERMIT!!!!!!

Worst thing for the day, We forgot to take the camera with us. never mind will take it next time we go to the US for a better reason.

Next problem, Sarah finding a job!!!! Stay tuned for the next episode where Sarah might have an interview!!!! Hopefully not in french.

work and things so far.

Things have been going well. last week end we finally headed into the city for a look around as the parking was free.

We walked through the parliament grounds and looked at doing a tour but where all booked up.

We Also went and had a look at the rideau channel and the place where all the ice skating is done, the water did not look the best.

We watch them use the locks to lower boats down to the river but did not watch the whole thing as takes a hour and a half.

This week I started his training for work, Monday was the training centre, and reading SOP manuals for about an hour, then getting uniform and looking at how there SCBA sets worked, then off to different stations to meet some of the important people.

Tuesday was off to station 35 for hose and waterway stuff, pulling out hose and catching a hydrant, all new terms for me. Also got to ride in the ladder truck for the day.

Wednesday was off to station 51 for ladders and again on the ladder for the day. The city of Ottawa only runs with three crew on the ladder so was interesting. Station 51 was good we set up the 90ft ladder and i even got to have a go, was very easy to use and even managed to put it away.

Every one has been really good, lots of questions about New Zealand, and work at home.

Thursday was off to station 11 on the western side of the city centre, there I got to do my first aid training, and learned how to use a defib, and also the fire departments ways that they do things.

All the stations i have been to cook lunch and dinners as a watch so has been interesting.

Was also given the station 11 patch that they have on there gear, it shows the two communities they boarder.

Other then all the work stuff, we have managed to have problems with the car, had to get another alternator, Mike had it replaced before we left, so is sorted now.

Also Sarah had had problems with her work visa, so have been trying to sort this out, the immigration people say she is aloud to work but the people that issue Canada's IRD numbers say she does not have one, so looks like will require a trip to the boarder crossing between the USA and Canada to sort it if we have no luck in town Friday. Can but hope we guess.

pictures of our trip so far

Pictures of
Alaska cruise,

Swayer Glacier,
Rockies, leaving Vancouver on ship. train for removing snow.

Vancouver english beach..

sculture Granville markets.
Grouse Mountain, all of us together, Baluga whale, Sound and light Show parliament buildings Ottawa Big piece of jade, all the cruise ships in skagway. Grizzly bear.

Ottawa

This place is hugh, we look at the map we have and then drive and it seems to take for ever to get anywhere.
The last two day we have been exploring and getting us to the surroundings but not really looking at much, yesterday we went to the info centre in the middle Ottawa and looked at all the things to do, and also went for a wonder around the local shops. Not the most fun filled day but good to figure things out, like the getting on the road going the right way for a start, so you don't have to go 7km up the road to turn around.
Today, Wednesday we headed out to look at a second hand goods store with the idea of getting some inline skates so can practice for winter, then ended up looking in a big shopping centre before going to the bank and then driving up in to Gatineau park just up the road, the park is hugh, we only drove some of it today we figured will get the bikes out and go for a ride at some stage this week.
We also decided that because I did not know what fire hall I am going to we would go and meet the guys that mike works with at station 24. We arrived and the first comment was did mike leave you that car!!! The guys mike works with were really good ended up sitting down and talking for ages, and found out about when to take holidays. They also said if had any trouble to give them a ring so that was good.

The biggest thing that has really helped so far is the GPS for the car that we brought in Vancouver, without this even with a map we would have been lost.....

Will try and get some more pictures up soon.

Ottawa

Yes, we finally arrived in Ottawa yesterday.

Well just to back track a bit, Vancouver. We all went to Grouse mountain on the Sunday, was a nice hot day, we all got the bus to downtown and then the water bus across the harbour and then another taxi to the bottem of the mountain.
We all heaed up the gondala to the top, and good ride with a good view at the top we ended up sitting down and Kathy looked after Breeanna and the rest of us went and looked around, not as much to do as we thought, there was the loggers show and the bird show, both with lots of seats and no cover from the sun, we looked at the two grizzly bears and then went a looked for a spot to take some pictures. We all then heaeded back to where Kathy was and had something to drink and some lunch, after a bit of a talk we decided to head back down, Except the line was huge so kathy lined up and we hid in the shade with the idea of taking turns but the line mover quick enough that we were soon on the way back down.
Back to the hotel freshen up then we all went out for tea.

The Sunday Mike and Kathys flight day we all went to Granville Island and to the markets for the morning and then back to the hotel for Mike and Kathy to pack everything before they headed off to the airport and their long flight to New Zealand.

Monday morning we headed to the airport to flight to Ottawa, Hint, don't flight Air Canda....
We had an over weight bag so lined up lined up to check in, and waited an hour in line to check in, and then got told we were only aloud one bag each, Air New Zealand is two. crap idea
They only had three people doing check in so the woman said would let it go and not charge us.
the flight was alright but they kept resetting the movie screens.
Anyway we arrived in Ottawa and got picked up by Daniel and got driven home in his big ute to our new home for the year.

And back to Vancouver

Well we finally made it back to Vancouver, the drive from Harrison hot springs back was not very eventful, we made a stop at a shopping centre called the Bay(no where near water), and then headed to the Best western Sands where we are staying and dropped off all the gear we had been carting around, and then took the car back to the rental company, what a strange feeling having to walk again.

We then got back to the hotel and finally got to meet Mike & Kathy, was interesting to meet and talk about things and discover that we had the same worries about everything. We all headed out and went and sat at a greek resterant and had dinner and talked lots about our houses and work for me and Mike. we then heaed back to the hotel and figured out what to do friday.

Friday we all meet and headed out for breakfast and then headed off walking, we walked into town along the sea wall into town and looked at the lookout tower and than into gas town. Then decided to head over to the other side and walk back along the sea wall to where we were staying, we managed to walk past the homeless area there was heaps of them everywhere, so we headed out of there quickly and continued to the sea wall and then back to the hotel, but had an ice cream first just before the hotel.

Sarah and I then rang and talked to her parents before we all headed out for dinner to an Italian resturant before headed back to the hotel tired after a long day of walking. just in time to ring my parents and talk to them for a bit.

Tomorrow we are all off to Grouse Mountain, hopefully will be good.

Revelstoke to Harrison Hot Springs

Another long day... We got up early and headed out of Revelstoke. this would have to be the least interesting of all the traveling that we have done.
we headed for Kelowna and then the hot springs most of the roads that we travelled on where major highways with two lanes and then every now and again an overtaking line and the speed limit was 110km, so we covered the distance in a good time.
Kelowna was a lot bigger than i thought it was going to be, but we did not stop and really have a look.
We arrived in Harrison Hot Springs about 2pm so not a bad travel time really.
The lake looked nice with people even swimming in the lake, mad people...





We parked up and wondered along the beach and looked at sand sculptors that where for a competition, and there where just amazing, the time to make them was about 36 hours.
We then heaed to the source of the hot water around the lake a bit, then heaed back to the hotel we where staying in and totally unloaded the car for about a week as have to give to back tomorrow. We did some washing(flash I know) then headed out and got dinner and sat on the beach and ate it then headed to the hot pools and when for a dip, it was hot!!! but it was nice, we sit in the water for about an hour and then headed back to the hotel totally shattered and ready for a sleep.

Nakusp to Revelstoke

Nakusp to Revelstoke, one of the shortist distances that we have had to travel.

No rush getting up for this, when we finally got going we headed to up the lake to Galena Bay from where the ferry left from. As we headed down the traffic was heading the other way so we figured we would have a big wait. Arrived and where fourth in line behind campers, big camper.
Luckly for us there where two ferries working so do not have to wait to long, once on the ferry there would have been about 6 trucks and caravans or campers. and about 3 cars...

We have seen so many campers and some of them are hugh.

We got off the ferry and headed to Revelstoke, arrived and looked around the town and then headed out to look at the dam as was a free tour. The security was a bit much, the guy looked under the car and recorded your driver licence number, when you got to the car park it said no cameras, bags or anything, just yourself. The tour went into the dam and then up to the top in an elevator to a look out.

After this we decided to up up Mt Revelstoke to look at the alpine meadows and go to the top. We got to the park gate and where told that we could only go the the 16km mark not all the way to the top 26km as there where bears out and around the road and parking areas, we could not see the point in paying to go only some of the way so headed back down and went to the hostel we where staying in, Poppies. It was a nice place we went in and found a note saying to just pick a room I will be home soon, as it was poppie walked in the back door as we walked in the front so she showed us a room and we got sorted them ended up talking to a woman that was from one on the small islands off Vancouver island.

We then headed out for tea and went to a japanese resturant that was a good price and ate to much before heading back to the hostel.

Cranbrook to Nelson, Nelson to Nakusp

The hotel in Cranbrook had a free cooked breakfast included in the price, so first thing in the morning we headed down and ate lots, and had what would have to be the best coffee we have had since we arrived in Canada.
We left Cranbrook and headed for Nelson, we decided to go over the kicking horse pass as we had all day, we headed down and drive almost to the US border and then headed back up north.
The weather was not the best and it actually rained today.
There was not much to look at, but every now and again you could see old mines on the hills.
We arrived in Nelson and looked around and brought a book on 100 things to do in Canada, and then walked through town and got a coffee and discovered that it pays not to get a big coffee sometime. But it was a nice coffee so was all good.
We stayed at the Dancing Bear Inn which was a hostel, was very nice place to stay. We got the front room on the corner, the window in the picture.

In the morning we walked down the road and got a coffee to go and walked back to the hostel before checking out.

From nelson we headed north along the lake to Kaslo where we stopped and looked at the old steam ship that used to work on the lake. The lake was hugh 115km long.
We got talking to the guy in the info centre about Canada and other things and he said a NZ firefighter who was working in Edmonton was there two weeks ago, small world.
The Ship was interesting to look though, the town brought it from the railways in 1957 for $1 and pulled it out of the water and restored it to how it used to look, which is amazing.
We then headed away from the lake and turned off the main road to a small(very small) town called Sandon, It was once a mining town, now is just a couple of building and old machines. the history of the area dates back to 1890s when silver was discovered. there was 26 hotel, and 28 saloons in the town at its peak, then they had a big fire and the town never recovered. the museum was interesting with all the old pictures of the town. There is still a working power generator that makes power for the valley.


There was also a hugh stream train that is like the one that use to move through this area back to Kaslo.
The area is still mined for silver, and the mine way just down the road.
We then carried on to Nakusp, a small town on the edge of Arrow lakes, walked around the shops and along the water front of the lake, before finding a small place to have dinner and then head back to our motel for the night.

Today was a nice easy day, the areas we are traveling through are not as exiting as the Icefield parkway but is good to be seeing different areas of Canada before we head to Ottawa and the other side of the country.

Banff to Cranbrook

Well we had an early start this morning, we decided to

back track to look at a big water fall.
We headed back to Lake Louise along the Trans-Canada highway then headed east through the Yoho National Park to the Takakkaw Falls. We turned off the main road and headed 12km up the road to look at the falls.
When we got there the falls were huge, and that was from the car park. The Falls are 250m high but it another 350m from the top up till the glacier where the water comes from, so 600m is a long way down to the bottem. we walked up the track to the base of the falls until we started to get wet then decided was time to head back to the car.

We carried on to golden and then headed south along a bit of a boring road that followed the river for ever.

We found a small town called Fort Steel.




The town is almost original to the way it was back in the 1800s, it cost to walk through the town but was very worth it to see things. The oldest area was the Mounties fort that started the town, and then all the different houses that where build as things like the discovery of gold in the region, the area was supplied by boat and then the rail. The builds were open so you could look in then and there were even people dressed up doing things like baking and blacksmithing.

Whist we where there some people were getting married. The whole town was amazing, just the age of things when you look at the stone store in kerikeri you realise how new New Zealand really is.

After we left the Fort we headed to Cranbrook and our motel for the night, and then went and looked at the shops. They even had a Wal-mart, you can see how these big shops kill the centre of these small town...

Around Banff

Well today for a change we got to sleep in, when we finally got out of bed we headed to the next small town of Canmore to look at the Ammolite factory. Was not as what we though and was just as expensive as any where else, but amazing looking shells that it came from.
We drive around and looked at the town and went to the nordic ski centre. Then drove up a dirt road and looked at a lake and goats.
Had lunch and then headed back to banff.
We headed up to Lake Minnewanka and had a look at them and looked at the hoodoo's which is some rocks.
We then drive around and looked at the Bow River water falls and then headed up to the gondala, but was so busy we figured we would come back later on, back down the mountain and looked at Canada Place, which is where the national park was managed from, is now a flash house and gardens, we walked around the gardens and then went and looked at the Cave and Basin historic site. This is were a hot spring was found and the first national park was created in Canada, it was like a mini Rotorua, smell and all. We looked at the cave where the hot sping was and also the outside pool, but you are not allow to touch the water as is a small snail that lives in the water and is endangered.

The building that housed the bathes was flash but was problems with it because of the ground under it.

On the way out we found deer in the car park, bit more interesting than the goats we saw earlier in the day.

we then headed back to the gondala and hoped that the line had got down, luckly it had so we headed up to the top, was nice up the top if not for all the screaming children. We walked to the top of the mountain along a board walk, not much wild life just some ground squirrels. The view from the top was good, we were at the top of the tree line and could see for miles, but you could see dark clouds coming from the distance.




After we had walked around for a bit we headed back down and went back to the hotel and then walked into town for dinner, the wind had gone from nothing to big gusts, and where we stopped for dinner then was lightening and then it started to rain for about 2 minutes and then stopped, hope it stays away tomorrow, lots to see and do on our travels.

Jasper to Banff

Today we had an early start to get to the Columbia Icefield centre before the hordes did.
we headed out of Jasper and stopped and looked at some more waterfalls. Things are just amazing here, everything is big including the amount of people looking at things.
We arrived at the ice field and booked to go on the 10.30 tour of the Glacier, we went and had a $4.70 sandwich and then headed to the bus.
we hopped onto a flash bus for the trip across the road and up the road about 3km then got off and got on the next bus for the tour onto the glacier.
The bus was huge, the wheels where about 5 foot diametre, and you had to climb up to get into it, we drive at a fast speed of 18km up to the glacier where we where aloud to get off and look around with the other three bus loads, we walked about and took lots of pictures of the glacier and looked about. We had 15 minutes on the glacier and then headed back down to the base.

Once we got back to the car we drove across the road and walked to the base of the glacier and had a look before continuing our drive to Banff.





We stopped at most pull off areas and looked at the mountains and the waterfalls, the whole area is just amazing.

The next stop was lake Louise, we were running low on fuel, but figured we would be right, we headed up the road to the lake and arrived at the car park, make that car parks. The car parking area was about the size of the lake i think.
We parked up and joined the huge amount of people heading to the lake. I must say the lake was wonderful, just little me did not expect to see that many people looking at a lake.
We sat on the rocks at the edge of the lake and looked at the scene and took some pictures. if you wanted you could walk up the side of the lake to the other end, and so your not missing out the is a tea house at the other end. we went for a walk through the Fairmount Hotel at the edge of the lake, the hotel was build in the 1930s hugh place, and getting bigger, the inside was flash.
We then headed to Moraine lake, with the fuel gauge telling us that we were empty. the lake was good not as busy as louise, the colour of this lake was a bit nicer.



We then carried on to banff along the trans-canada highway for about half the distance and then changed to the old road for the last bit, we where hoping to see some more aminals but only saw a deer run across the road.
We arrived in Banff and found where we are staying for the next two days and then walked into town for dinner. On the way back some people saw my t-shirt and started talking about NZ and we walked and talked to them most of the way back to the hotel.
We are around Banff tomorrow so can sleep in and then think about what we are doing, is good not haveing to drive far, to date we have done 1400km not bad really.

Hope you all like the pictures

more pictures of vancouver

Valemount to Jasper

Nice easy drive today only 120km. We filled the car with petrol and headed off for jasper.
we stopped at mount Robinson and took some pics of this snow cover mountain, then carried on.

We crossed in to Alberta and everything changes
signs looked different and everything also has french on it.
We then stopped at the park entrance and paid the entry fee $57 for three days.
Then on to Jasper, supermarket for lunch and then out of town to look at Maligne lake and also the Maligne Canyon. We stopped at the canyon and looked at how the river has cut into the ground, was deep with lots of water.
We carried on up to the lakes starting with the Medicine Lake, this lake level goes up and down by 20 metres over the year.
Half way along the lake we found lots of people stopped looking at something so stopped and looked as well.
Rewarded big time, a mother bear and her two cubs heading down to the water, got lots of pictures, was about 25 people taking pictures as well.












We then carried on to Maligne lake, the lake was nice, and heaps of people around, we looked at doing the boat trip to the other end of the lake but not for $48 each, so we looked around and got a book from the gift shop. We headed back down the road and stopped at one of the lower bridges from the Maligne canyon.
We then went and checked into the hotel and figured out what our need trip was too.






We decided to go to the Athabasca Fall, we had seen the pictures but seeing it was another thing all together, the volume and colour of the water was amazing, the picture does not do it any justice at all. We walked around the different look outs and took lots of pictures, there where signs everywhere explaining all of the features that you could see around the falls. We looked at the map we had to the falls and took the back road to it thinking that was the only road, narrow and lts of pot holes, when we got to the falls it was right next to the main road. Never Mind.


On the way back to town we went up some roads the first one was to a ski area but the road was closed about half way up. So back down the road and to the other road, this was a small narrow and lots more pot holes and seemed to go on for ages. there seemed to be heaps of cars coming from this road so got us interested in where it went to. It had a sign that was look out but it seemed to head down into a valley, and close to a big mountain.
We finally got to the end of the road and discovered that it was at the botten of a huge mountain called Mount Edith Cavell and the angel gracier

There would have been about 30 cars in the car park as we decided to go for a walk over the small hill in front and ended up doing the loop track that went up and along the side of the old glacier and up to the lake at the bottem of the glacier. we walked up to the edge of the lake and took some pictures before heading back down the valley before the mosquitoes got to us.
Nice easy walk back to the car by now it was 7.30 and more people were still arriving to look at the glacier. We then got to drive all the way back down the road with all the pot holes, and headed back into town.
We stopped at the Gondala and had a look before going shopping for tomorrows lunch and something for dinner

Whistler to Valemount

We had an early start today and started on the long trip to Valemount.

The road heading out of whistler was a bit ruff and did not get much better for ages. We went past a small town called Pemberton, along a winding bit of road with a 60km speed limit, then along a lake and then zig-zagged up a huge mountain and over the other side.

The scenery was amazing, but the road was not the best at all, when the road did get better it was done in about 5 metre sections so you bumped along.

We went through several different small towns and passed a very large hydro lake before coming to the Fraser River, lots of dirty water heading from Jasper on it's way to Vancouver. We stopped and looked at the river from a high spot and got talking to a canadian from Whistler who was off fly fishing, he told us about the area and how it was so dry (and hot 34 today), and also how a beetle is killing all the fir trees. You could see the dead trees everywhere, sometimes a whole mountain side of dead trees.

Once we got onto Highway one the roads where flat and nice to drive on, the signs say max 90km but everyone seems to do about 110, so we just went at our own speed. We filled up the car in Kamloops, from the look of it it is a train and mining town, before continuing to Valemount.

We Stopped in a small town called Clearwater and got something to eat before continuing on, we stopped at rest stops on the way, and keeped an eye out for animals to take pics of.

About 80km before valemount we saw a black bear on the side of the road so turned around just in time to see it head into the bush, Sarah wanted to take a picture of the moose sign but we only saw the one sign. We finally arrived in Valemount after driving some 600km. The Hotel was very nice, but since it was still light we went for a drive through town. 2 minutes later we went back to the hotel and for a walk along a natural walk, but turned around after we started to get eaten by huge mosquitoes. Then back to the hotel and a bit of dinner.

Vancouver to Whistler

Monday morning, BC Day we walked up the road to pick up

our flash rental car, had to wait 20 minutes. so off for another walk. got back and was lots of people waiting to get cars.

Drove back to the hotel got our bags and headed

for North Vancouver over the Lion Gate Bridge.

Thank god for the gps route finder I brought, made it so much easier to find the Capilano suspension bridge, Amazing place but a bit expensive. It was fun walking from one side to the other with about 60 other people as well.

After the bridge we headed out on the sea to sky highway to Whistler, 120km of coastal road.

Pity about all the road works. Was a good drive with lots to look at, pity you had to pay to stop at any of the parks!!!!!

Whistler was amazing for a ski town there was people everywhere, but in the summer it is a big mountain biking town.

Mark Wirihana, you would have been in heaven here, flash bike everywhere and every one wearing all the gears.

We walked around the shops and managed to get a picture of the local fire service off to do some real work..

Then drove around the area and looked at some of the places the 2010 winter

Olympics are being held. should be good, pity will be home by then. Got dinner and headed back to the hotel as we have a long day tomorrow.