Hi everyone, Well we have finally got organised enough to start a travel blog. We will be uploading photos and updates to keep all our Aussie relatives and friends informed of our adventure in Canada and the USA.

A lot has happened in the last seven weeks or so since we left Bendigo. It started with a chill out weekend in Phillip Island before boarding a plane for San Francisco. We had a great week in San Fran sightseeing, acclimatising ourselves to colder weather and a different language (?). Well it seemed like we spoke a different language at times because it was sometimes hard to make ourselves understood!!

We then headed into Alberta, Canada and spent a few days shopping for cold climate clothes in Edmonton. We stayed at the Fantasyland Hotel right in the West Edmonton Mall (the 5th largest Mall in the world). You didn't need to leave the Mall if you didn't want to. Everything you could imagine in retail shops was practically there. But we did make a little journey into Edmonton to buy a laptop.

Clothed in northern hemisphere gear we felt game to tackle the even colder climes of northern Alberta and headed north to Fort McMurray. Here we experiened our first travel drama. We flew to Fort McMurray, circled the airport there and then they flew us straight back to Edmonton where we had started. The weather had closed in in Fort McMurray and it was unsafe to land. So a frantic dash to the bus terminal saw us in a Red Arrow bus and on our way to Fort McMurray eventually. I would recommend the Red Arrow bus line to anyone. Spacious, comfortable and helpful. In Fort Mc Murray we meet with our old friend Sally Lockhart from Wedderburn, her partner Dwayne and their two children Tye and Halle. What great hosts they were, showing us around, feeding us, driving us around and taking us even further north to Fort Chipeywan. Originally a Hudson Bay Company fur trading post it is now a small tourist outpost. Here we had the fortune to experience the hospitality of Robert Grandjame and his wife Barbara. Robert took us dog sledding out onto Lake Athabasca and around the town. What an experience!! Robert explained Cree Indian culture and ways to us and where appropriate pointed out wolf tracks and other animal tracks in the snow. We also talked about the Cree connectiveness to the land and how it is still important to them today. I could have spent all day there swapping hunting stories with him.

It was with both a touch of sadness and excitement that we left our wonderful hosts in Fort McMurray and headed for the next stage of our adventure in eastern Canada. Ottawa here we come!