Go

Well, as is usually the case, Nicole beat me to it once again…..

I had a fun time being part of CBC’s Go show, but Nicole has already summed it up.

I meet Jenny (the other “competitor”) when I arrived for the show, and after a brief chat the producer said “That’s the last time you guys are allowed to be nice to each other”. Jenny was a real good sort, and we were given a brief run down of how the show was structured – at which point I was told that there was no way that I would win!

It was a great show and it’s been surprising how many people heard it – Nicole was talking to a consultant in Vancouver who’d heard the show and connected the dots.

So that’s my most recent claim to fame, and maybe immigration heard the show because after initially being told that my work permit was not going to be extended, I then found out yesterday that it is. Does this mean I might become a Yellowlifer? I doubt it, but at least we can save some money before I get deported back to New Zealand!

How a Boat Safety test turns into a game of Ultimate Frisbee

I’m sure they said the Boat Safety test was “next” week.  Either the ten other guys on the course and the instructor were wrong, or me.

Those idiots!

After a rushed dinner and some last minute study, I speedily biked the 8.5kms out to the Folk on the Rocks site to sit my Boat Safety test. As I was running 5 minutes late I was surprised to not see any sign of life out there. Until that is, I phoned the course instructor…. so I now had a rare “free” night on my hands, ooh, the options, so many options.

A bike ride seemed like a good idea, so I took the long way home with a few detours and ended up in Old Town where I watched a few innings of a ball game and then cruised over to check out some ultimate frisbee. As a keen disk thrower I was intrigued to watch a game of ultimate frisbee because I’d often heard about it (and thought I’d enjoy it), but never actually seen it before.

After watching for about 5 minutes and working out the basics of the game, I was invited to join in. I sped around on my bike, and ran to join the game before they resumed with the next “throw-off” (I don’t know if that’s what it’s called, but essentially, that’s what it is).

It was only the week before that I’d played my debut ball game, and as much as I enjoyed it I was then saying to Nicole how much I missed playing touch rugby. Although I played touch as part of rugby training in Vancouver, it never compared to the real thing where I last played it in Wellington.

But now I was the closest I’d been to being in my element since renting that kick arse Chrysler 300 to drive from Vancouver to Calgary last November.

Unfortunately I’ll have to pass up Ultimate Frisbee this week so I can take the Boat Safety test.

Hiring a canoe in Yellowknife.

When I heard Nicole saying that the Canoe hire place hadn’t returned her call from yesterday, and were not answering their phone, I told her about the offer I had from a mate at work who’d said we could use his canoe whenever we wanted. Unfortunately, I don’t have the guys number and don’t know exactly where he lives. Nicole reckons she’d told me that we needed to get a canoe to go with her work mate Yose, and the Yellowknife Somba K’e Kayak Club.

I’ve had a busy week, so maybe I missed the part of Nicole’s conversation – about us needing to get a canoe to go canoeing?

With two nights of a boat safety training course (yes Nicole, I know we don’t have a boat……yet) and my debut ball game, I was looking forward to our debut canoe trip. With my backpack loaded up with warm clothes (just in case) and supplies for a picnic lunch, we wandered over to Yose’s place.

While loading the car, Nicole mentioned our lack of a canoe, so we then drove over to the canoe hire place. No wonder they hadn’t answered the phone or returned Nicole’s calls – there was no one home. But this is Yellowknife. The house was unlocked, so after no answer from the door bell, Yose told me to go in. I yelled out to no avail, but Yose assured me he knew them, so we loaded up a canoe (from the row of about 20 sitting by the drive way), helped our selves to a life jacket each from the shed, while Yose selected us a selection of paddles.

Pre departure

Hone Heke aka Whare

A bach aka cabin

Lunch

Skipper keeping us on track

Team Kilwere

With the canoe off Yose’s car, I put my jandles on and strolled into the lake with my end of the canoe – cold. Yose said there was a better way ie. a way without having to get your feet wet. The memories from my dragon boating days in Wellington came flooding back and we were off.

My J-stoke was soon mastered. That’s the one used to correct some crooked paddling. Whare paddled like she was on Hone Heke’s waka – with fire in her eyes.

We had a fantastic day. The sun was shining, we parked up across the other side of the lake where quite a few people had assembled. While a few of them were gearing up to take on the white water section of the river, we were content to have a few beers, cook sausages over the fire, and watch the world go by.

We made it back to the canoe hire place (someone’s house), and I knocked on the door…. I explained that I’d left a voice message (saying that I was friends with Yose and Maria, and that Yose said it would be fine to borrow a canoe and sort it out later), but they hadn’t heard it, and had been away for a few days. The lady said she could now call the police and tell them to call off the search. I laughed and paid her for the canoe hire. Only in Yellowknife.

If only my Valiant t-shirt could talk.

My experience of Yellowknife to date hasn’t involved too much consideration of which t-shirt to wear (except as one of several base layers), although it’s finally started to warm up and it’s now t-shirt weather.

It's finally VALIANT t-shirt weather

I find that t-shirts can really tell a lot about a person. Like most people, I have my trusty old favourites, and, as in most places I’ve lived, I’ve now accumulated four t-shirts since living in Canada.

My Melaroma “Coaching Staff” t-shirt will always remind me of my rugby days in Vancouver, and more specifically the challenge of “coaching” a group of about eight 4-6 year olds for a week long rugby training camp. Ah, those were the days.

My old Coast Mountain Sports work t-shirt has not been worn since leaving that “interesting” job and will be heading to the local Salvation Army store soon. My days of selling shoes has left me with mixed emotions. Lets just say I was relieved to get my construction job in Vancouver.

My NWT Get Active t-shirt was earned through volunteering at a local Yellowknife gig, at the Multiplex (ice rink) back in January. That’s where I learnt the real meaning of the term “get your skates on”. It’s quite a cool t-shirt and I wear it a fair bit.

On Sunday I got my my recent edition to my t-shirt collection by volunteering at the 25th Annual Yellowknife Bike Rodeo. As a keen biker (cycler not motorbiker) I’m pretty happy with this one too. But it will always remind me of manning the 4-way stop station when the first kid arrived, and me explaining how to signal – in New Zealand signal language! It turns out that if you’re turning right on your bike here, you don’t just put out your right arm! No, it’s a left arm up at 90 degrees thank you very much. After getting some strange looks from parents and kids, I soon learnt the correct rules to be teaching and assessing the kids on. It was also funny seeing the look on the faces of some of the kids when I said my first few words – the old kiwi accent throws em every time.

But, alas, it’s time to farewell my trusty old Valiant t-shirt. After purchasing it in Melbourne while living there back in 2001, it’s been with me through the best part of 17 countries, and never let me down once. And now, with a tear in my eye, it’s time to say good bye.

Farewell Valiant t-shirt

North for a weekend of warmth

We’ve now been in Yellowknife for six months and have adjusted to life here. When I missed a skype call from my sister over Easter she left a message saying we must have gone away for the weekend. I called her back and said I’d laughed at her message, because when you live in Yellowknife you don’t just “go away for the weekend”. Cause there’s no where to go.

By nowhere I mean that you can’t just jump in your car after work on a long weekend and drive somewhere like in most places. Nicole had another jaunt of traveling around the north last week for work, so we decided that I’d fly north and meet her for the weekend. Not a cheap plan but an opportunity nonetheless.

I took Friday off work and flew up to Norman Wells. Nicole returned to Norman Wells soon after I landed from her jaunt around the far north, and while she continued to work in the afternoon I enjoyed walking around town in the balmy 26 degree weather – I was roasting.

The people Nicole had meet through her work up there embraced us like long lost locals. So we joined half the town at the Legion (Canada’s version of a NZ RSA) on Friday evening and had a few beers. We were invited to dinner on Saturday night by Nicole’s client who then proceeded to win two of the five meat raffles.

The Legion - Norman Wells

 

On Saturday morning after breakfast at the local dinner I guided Nicole around the local Tourist Centre/Museum which I’d checked out thoroughly on Friday afternoon. We were then picked up by a couple of Nicole’s contacts to go hiking. It’s bear season and although I’m still keen to see a bear, I not so keen to see one jump out onto a trail in front of me. Luckily we had two local guys (Art and Dave) to ease our fears – Art taking the lead, bear spray in hand, and Dave at the rear with a machete sticking out of his pack.

We hiked along the ski trails that they frequent in winter and although we did see bear tracks we didn’t see any bears. They usually see about one bear on average every year.  Art told us about a crazy Japanese guy that came to Norman Wells a few years ago (and stayed with Art), attempted a cycle trip through the region, saw seven bears on his first day, slept in an abandoned hut and awoke to find his bike seat chewed off by a bear. He wrote “pick me up” with stones on the edge of the river and a helicopter happened to fly over and picked him up!

The funniest line of the day had to go to Nicole though. Standing on a ridge having the features pointed out to us while admiring the snow capped ridges, Nicole then said: “So how far down does the snow go in winter?”. Art gave her a strange look, and I then tried to ease Nicole out of her embarrassment by saying “You’re not in New Zealand now Nicole”. Art’s response was: “Click your heals Dorothy, you’re not in Kanas now”.

Hiking in Norman Wells

 

We returned to our hotel and were then picked up for dinner and taken to the coolest house we’ve seen in the north. About 6 kms out of town, set back from the road amongst a dense stand of trees we sat on the deck drinking beer and watching dinner get cooked for us on the barbeque.

The wide and fast flowing Mackenzie River was pretty cool to watch as big chunks of ice floated north towards the Beaufort Sea. Listening to it was quite an experience. The force of the the break up creates huge piles up of ice and demolished trees along the banks of the river, and the sound of creaking ice is almost disconcerting.

By Sunday morning we felt like we knew half the town. While Norman Wells isn’t your usual tourist destination, having the benefit of Nicole’s local contacts (and great weather) we had a fantastic time.

Who knows if I’ll ever make it back there, but with the warmth of the people and the weather we experienced, I’m sure glad I went.

"City Hall" in Norman Wells

Scouting around in May

So it’s May and supposedly Spring. But by the snow flurries and negative temperatures we’ve had lately, I’ve become increasingly suspicious of “Yellowknifes great summers”.

I hunted out the local Scouts group at the beginning of the year as a means to tag along on some outdoor activities and get involved with the local community. They had some trainers come up to Yellowknife from Alberta to run a weekend course on leadership i.e training to be a Scout leader. So I ended up spending my entire weekend learning about Scouts and what it takes to be a Scout leader.

The commonly held myths of what Scouting is all about were quickly dispelled – just camping, tying knots and helping little old ladies cross the road. Although all of which were covered, except helping little old ladies cross the road.

The course was held at the Folk On The Rocks site and we had a camp fire on Saturday night. Below is a short excerpt of a great poem read by (the Scout trainer) Bob.

 

 

Having only recently assembled my bike, I enjoyed the chance to bike the 8.5kms to and from the Scout course. Although, when it started to rain and then snow on Sunday I wasn’t so enthusiastic about my inevitable bike ride home.

I had to tell a slight lie when asked what motivated me to get involved in Scouts. As one of the few people there without children I couldn’t exactly give my true reason – to use sacrificial kids as bear bait. As a keen camper and hiker in New Zealand I’m still a bit nervous about the concept of going into the wild where all sorts of dangerous animals live ie, bears. People are often surprised when I say that there’s no dangerous animals roaming wild in NZ. So I figure if I camping with some young Scouts and we come across a bear, I’ll easily be able to out run a Scout kid, especially after I’ve pushed them in between me and the bear!

But seriously, I’ve enjoyed my involvement so far and look forward to our upcoming “summer” camping trips. Assuming summer ever arrives in this barren freezer.

April’s urban fix

While it had only been about six weeks since we’d stopped over in Vancouver on the way to and from New Zealand, our flight pass allowed us one more flight within western Canada, and an appointment for a tattoo gave us a good reason to return.

Our lack our annual leave and tight budget meant a fleeting visit, but a weekend in the City does wonders for your mental health when living in such an isolated place as Yellowknife.

Gas Town

Gas Town

Gas Town

Gas Town

Spring time April 09

Cheeky Raven

We made the most our urban fix by simply soaking up the warmth and urban feel of one of the world’s most liveable cities. So why did we leave Vancouver? As I often tell people, Vancouver is a fantastic city and we really enjoyed living there. But after living in Auckland, Melbourne, Christchurch and Wellington we found Vancouver to be too similar to these other fantastic cities in the southern hemisphere and decided to seek out something more authentically Canadian.

Cosmopolitian Canadian cities of the south all have their own Canadian-isms but I’m sure that Yellowknife takes the cake in the Real Canada stakes. Cold, vast open spaces and lakes. Lots of lakes.

While Nicole got her hair cut and some good culinary tips from her hairdresser I spent 3 hours talking to a local about life, love and art – while getting a tattoo that for me represents many things but among them is my time in Canada and especially Yellowknife. No I didn’t get a Maple Leaf and a “Yellow” knife tattoo.

Caribou Carnival

Caribou Carnival

Yellowknife’s Caribou Carnival is one of the must see events as a newby to the NWT. It has played a part of Yellowknife’s history for about half a century and I was glad to have the afternoon off to take it in. 

The dog racing was pretty cool – our first time seeing it in real life. Seeing outdoor volley ball was pretty funny, but by far my favourite was the Dene Hand Games. The drumming, chanting and atmosphere was reminiscent of watching a good old Kiwi Haka.

Walking on Water

It’s now been over four months since we moved to Yellowknife. I probably wouldn’t go so far as to say it feels like home but it’s certainly starting to feel familiar. 

We were walking to work one day last week, enjoying the relative warmth of -18 degrees and Nicole mentioned how it was only -19 the day we arrived here and how we thought it was absolutely freezing. It now seems like an eternity ago when we walked off the plane, I was rushed to my job interview and then I felt like I couldn’t breath when I was walking down the street.

We now feel like we’ve acclimatized, but apparently we’re not even close to being considered locals until we’ve survived a whole winter here. So fingers crossed our work permits are extended beyond July.

My work environment (in the Planning Department) has me surrounded in maps, and it’s amazing how much water is around Yellowknife. I’m excited about the on set on the apparently amazing summer here for a number of reasons – the warmth being an obvious one, and to see this place without a cover of snow is another.

We went for a walk a few weeks ago and were walking across a lake when I took a short video of Whare trudging through the snow behind me. It’s funny how for 8 out of 10 steps the snow is quite solid and then every now and again your foot mysteriously sinks down to your knee (or in Nicole’s case her waist)! Walking on water in Yellowknife:

Snow Castle

Nicole has already described the Snow Castle (see her blog A castle made of snow) and posted a great video of the Snow King. My highlight of the live music there was definitely the guitaring by Jason Burnstick – and I managed to capture a bit of it on video. So it’s not the best video in the world, but it gives you a taste of the music – it was awesome.