Andrea, Chris and Barrie...

Drew

Chris and Barrie

Bryn on the blocks

Drews birthday

Sitting by the Lake

                                                           

                                                                 Mum on the swinging logs

                                                                Climbing Buddies
Yesterday for Drews birthday we spent the day doing "d'arbre en abre" (from tree to tree), which involved high-roping and zip-lining (flying fox) through the forest. We were invited by Andrea and Richard and then the Mckindseys came along as well..... we were given a harness and then a briefing on how to do it.... then you go through all the cousres' attaching your carabiner etc to the particular obstacle you're on and it gets higher and higher as you go.... this is definitely something we need in Nelson.... it is such great fun..... a big kids playground as Dad called it!! The only draw-back was the amount of blackflies (sandflies) and mosquitoes..... it was unbelieveable... if you didn't keep moving you were just swarmed by them and ended up focusing on swatting them away. It was cool, however, that we were in the right place to see a wood-pecker. It was flying around us while we were in the trees (cartoons don't lie!! They look the same in real life)!! They had a massive 20 metre high flying fox which we got to do at the end!! The strange thing was it went from low to high instead of the otherway round.... don't know how that works!!! After that part of the day we went back to the lake and had lunch and Drews cake!! We sang happy birthday in French!! Us kids went kayaking round the lake, then it was so hot we ended up swimming in our clothes... we never though it would get hot enough for that here.... we're having some really strange weather!! After we left (and everyone was to hot again) we went to dads work to see if the foxes were there but they never came... that was the conclusion to a great day and another birthday gone by.....

Dad in front of his work

Foxes Lair

We took a trip down to Mont Joli the other day to see where Dad works and to see if the foxes were there.... =(( sadly they weren't. But we did get a photo of their lair..... thats what the hole in the picture is... we back from Mont Joli down the coast where we saw these sculptures of stone people all over the beach.... there was a story about them but it was in French so we couldn't read it. Dad took a photo so he could try and figure it out later but he hasn't got round to it!!

Weird things about living in French Quebec - Rimouski ...

*  they sell milk in 1 litre plastic bags
*  Arete (stop) signs are everywhere, even on main roads where another st connects into it!! slows the traffic
*  if you get to an intersection and there are no signs it's bascially the first person there goes first
    (I usually have to close my eyes and hope for the best on those ones!)
*  intersections with traffic lights are only on the other side of the road, not the side you stop on,
    hence stopping in the middle of an intersection when I first started to drive here!
*  road markings here are practically non existent because of the winter snow and ice, apparently they redo
    them in the summer
*  in winter when it is snowing you can step out of your house and do a circuit of the river on cross country
    skis  (that ony works if you live by the river like our host family does) its also a lovely walk to do now
    without the snow, lots of intereting little wild life along the way
*  Baz eats his lunch with a little trio of baby red foxes who have a lair in a forest near his work
*  chicken and meat from the supermarket here tastes very organic
*  Rimouski is a bit of a sleepy hollow now but apparently everything comes to life over summer (alot of the
    tourist things are shut at the moment)
*  their interpretation of a capuchino is interesting, its basically a strong white coffee with a little frothy milk
    on top
*  they sell NZ wine here in the supermarket but its the cheap NZ$7 bottles that we get at home and here
    they are $18 Canadian
*  if you have mail, the postie puts the red flag up - very convenient
*  its gone from 6 degrees when we arrived to 30 degrees today
*  the crows are particularly partial to attacking Drew, perhaps because he is the slowest mover in the family
*  fruit and veges at the supermarket are sold by the lb and then converted to kg at the checkout!
*  most houses have a ground floor and then you see windows that are right down on the ground which
    looks weird.  But apparently it gets so hot here in summer people move down to their basements to sleep
    -  hence the windows to the basement and the actual basement is below ground.
*  they call a pin code a nip code
*  the pet shop sells weird things like bird eating tarantulas, chincillas, chameleons (they have the most
    amazing eyes - I want one) and the budgies are in a low glass cage with no roof they actually clip their
    wings so you can look down into them
*  maple syrup here is the best ... I want to bring a truck load home
*  although I think French is a very sexy language I'm ready for someone to come up to me and start having
    a good old natter in English  .... sometimes I head down to the info centre to get my fix from Mona whose
    daughter has lived and work in Nelson (of all places for a year) ...  and thank goodness for Chris and
    Susan and the kids
*  its amazing how quickly a new place can become familiar and can feel like its home ...  and even driving on
    the wrong side of the road is starting to feel normal (you were right Jane)
*  the peonies are coming up (my favourite flower) and I will have 3 seasons of them in one year ;-))

Why don't we have a ride on??

Mum and I spent 3-4 hours (not sure that time was divided very evenly) today mowing the rugby field that is our section and we only got 3 quarters of it done..... now we're wondering why they don't have a ride on mower..... we need you Janet!!!

Drew up to his antics at the dinner table...

We had the Mckindsey's (our host family) round for dinner last night. It was nice.... we had a roast chicken and mum was busy all day cooking a pavlova and other yummy things....!!!

The Bic Church

The little bakery in Bic

The other day we spent the day exploring a small town called Bic.... we went for a walk in the Bic national forest. It was a pretty place and as soon as I get my hands on the other camera more photos will be put up!!

Ferral Animal on the loose....

Today we went for a walk through the park in Rimouski which follows the Saint Lawrence River. Drew and I decided that we would take an alternative path back through the forest even though mum thought we were getting her lost  (she would have had lots of ferral company in the forest.... hehehe!!)  On the way we saw two little chipmunks for the first time ever!! They look practically the same as squirells but have a black and white stripe down their back!! So cute!! Sorry didn't have the camera with us because our camera is full and Dad forgot to bring his laptop home!! But next time we will.... chipmunks seem to be flighty creatures anyway.... now we're going to make like chipmunks and get out of here!! Post more soon x

Life In Rimouski.......

Main Street Rimouski

Freezing in Moose Town

Super Market shopping takes twice as long in French....

Dad and his mini me

Yesterday Dad decided that we needed some exercise. So he dragged us out of the house (we felt kind of couped up as mum has had a cold all week and we hadn't got out) and did a circuit walk behind our house. This is one of the nicer days that we've had here!! =)) I got so excited I hugged a tree!!!

Rimouski

                           Fiddle Head Ferns and the local brew

This is a view of Rimouski from halfway up a hill behind our house (its the one with the bright red roof! The only one in the area... so very easy to find). Also Dad, preparing the Fiddle-heads to eat..... you boil them and then stirfry them and they taste like swamp.... mmmm..... nice.... a local delicacy!

Last night's sunset over Rimouski.

We get a really spectacular view of the town lights at night from our house.

And it wasn't even a full moon.....

Mum and I just couldn't resist putting this photo of the crazy marine biologist on the blog!!! Dad tried to swallow a crab whole but he couldn't get the legs down.... hehehe!!!

French Lace Curtains in our Home away from Home....

My crazy mother loves the little french lace curtains they have on the window here for decoration. I suppose I can't blame her..... they are quite pretty!! Mum's all blocked up from a cold she caught off me! =) Lucky...... not!! She also misses the cats.... MIAOW!!

A slightly cheesy photo of holding a live crab!! They looked like spiders their legs were so long! We ended up going round to some peoples house (Andrea and Richards) for dinner and had crab..... yum! It was a puffie jacket night that night..... there has been snow quite close to here lately so it has been really cold!! We took a pavlova to show them a real kiwi dessert.  Mothers day the next day.... we were invited to a mothers day high tea with our host family (the Mckindseys) at a tea house. We had little platter things with scones and fruit etc. A friend of the Mckindseys (Joan, who was also with us) invited us to to her farm after the high tea to go fiddlehead searching in the pouring rain in the swamp area in the forest at her farm. Fiddle heads are like baby korus coming up from the ground and they boil them, then stirfry them. Yum...... not. That was a really cool experience.... we were all cold and saturated when we got home but it was worth it..... Joan is trying to make a living here as an organic garlic grower..... even in deepest darkest Rimouski we can't get away from them!

Vera's second post ...

Bonjour everyone in cyberspace ... well we have been in our house for a week and feeling quite settled and getting around a bit now ...  its bloodie freezing here so Baz is glad that I convinced him to bring the puffie jackets ... the ground is starting to bloom and the trees are starting to sprout buds here despite the cold.  Its rained alot this week and the winds have come up.  Went to Drews little friends guitar concert tonight at the Music school here some great talent blossoming here.  Baz is managing quite well in town conversing in French but is a bit put out that everyone he works with speaks fluent English, as he was hoping to get better at his French whilst we were here.  As for me and the kids we are working at some French lessons but it doesn't seem to be helping us yet ... we obviously have to work harder!!  Have had some gastronmis stuff ups using different ingredients here ... luckily the family have been hungry and eaten it anyway!  I will try to make a pavlova tomorrow as we are going to a work colleagues of Baz's for dinner and having crab -his colleague looks like shes straight off the Avatar set, she is taller than he is but much prettier!!   We are going to a Tea house for High Tea with our fab hosts Chris and Susan and their kids on Sunday for Mothers Day ... looking forward to that.  The natives are very friendly here ...  Aurevoir mon amies

Vera's First Post ...

Hello everyone in Blog land ... well here we are day 5 of our stay in Rimouski, I did try to get Baz to stay in Quebec (omg what a gorgeous city and we only really saw it at midnight by night light and briefly in the am looking for breakfast before our bus journey southeast) but he was hell bent on taking me down to the back whops of Rimouski where the shopping is non existent (there was method in his bringing me here) and we are on a rural back block so to get anywhere I have to drive on the wrong side of the road which is freaking me out, even freaks me out when he does it (drive I mean) as I swear he is going to collect cars on my side of the car and just about have a heart attack yelling at him to get over to the right!

We celebrated Bryns birthday on Sunday 2 May and went to the Canyon to the Gates of Hell if you make the second picture bigger that Bryn put up of the waterfall, you can see the steps going up the side of the waterfall, its huge!!  It was a stunning weekend here weatherwise which we weren't really expecting ... our host family cooked a lovely dinner for Bryn's birthday and Bryn and I baked a cake to celebrate her turning 14, luckily they have two children that our two get on with like a house on fire a boy Jonas 12 and a girl Charlotte 10 who loves everthing to do with Twilight - snap just like Bryn.  We saw 3 bears which Baz attacked with bare hands hahahaha - that's actually not true.  But we did a see a lovely little deer on the side of the road. 

This place has quite a small township but is quite pretty Baz was telling me that the whole town burnt down in the 1950s and the whole place was rebuilt so you don't see many old buildings here. 

We had a fabulous time in San Fran and am planning to go back there sometime ... highlights for me were the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, the gay area (Caestro), op shopping and the kids and I saw our first ever humming bird at a park not far from where we were staying, they are really cute, looked like a giant bug of some sort because you can't really see there wings flapping they flap so fast, it took me a we while to work out what it was!  We were really well looked after in San Fran by Gabi and Cole, so it was a cushioned introduction to our first week away.  Yum the crabs ... hmmm Baz missed out because he was in Boston at a Conference!

The house we are staying in here is like a wooden log cabin but is very homely and warm and has been done up so very comfortable.  They have pretty French lace curtains and little English type windows so 6 panes of glass to each window.  And double doors to each entry I guess for when it snows here.

This is day two for the kids and me with Baz at work so we have been trying to learn French as the majority of people here are French speaking it is there first language ... there are hardly any books in this house that are in English.  Luckily our host family prefer to read in English so we have borrowed books and mags from them, although they have been here ten years they said they find it difficult to read French books.

Drew escapes into his books, I had the kids doing bootcamp this morning ... Gaye may have some competition when I get back and we are probably going to venture into town shortly to look for some local info and get Bryn a birthday present.  Ciao for now ... that wasn't very French was it ; - ))

RIMOUSKI!!! WHERE THE MOOSES ARE!! Or not.....

Notice the steps going all the way up the waterfall.

The waterfalls we saw (look at the bottom one sideways!) They were really pretty!! 

                                                                   The house we're staying in!

Just some pictures of where we're staying. The house, the town and the view on the edge of the town. There's a board walk all the way along the coast here! Also what we've been getting up to.... like the snowball fight and walking to the waterfall!