Renovation blues

Posted on July 25, 2012 by waggadventure

The house in Wagga is the second home we’ve owned. Both with this purchase and with the house in Edmonton, we opted for a build over an older home for the main reason that we like to know that it is ready to move in to and that the roof or heater or something won’t need replaced immediately. Or that we won’t have to redo the kitchen before we move in.

Sometimes, there are trade-offs. In both cities, there are some amazing older homes with a lot of character in absolutely fantastic locations. But those either require sinking a lot of money into them to buy already renovated, or a huge cash outlay after purchase to make it what we want.  So both times, we have headed to the suburbs for a worry-free, ready to go house. Well, sort of; in Edmonton, we bought a lot and had a builder put a house on it. That took a long time and was, in a way, the ultimate renovation. Here in Wagga, we renovated on a much smaller scale – even though it is a brand new house, we have had a joiner (cabinet maker in Canadian terms), plaster, plumber, etc. in making two pre-occupancy alterations. One of them was something that needed fixed, the other is a value-added upgrade of our own doing.

We were pretty sure our washer/dryer stack wasn’t going to fit into this space.

When looking at the house before we bought it, we noticed that the space in the laundry room where the washing machine goes wasn’t very big. We measured it and found that the space was about 5 mm to narrow. Lisa really likes this washer, and we both really like the house, so it wasn’t a deal breaker. We figured that we could get it fixed easily. So just after getting possession, we went to Harrisons Joinery, the company who had done the laundry, kitchen and bathrooms, to ask about this. They were a bit baffled that they hadn’t left enough space, and wondered if we have an extra large washing machine…they always leave about 60 cm. “No,” we said, “our washing machine is the average 59 cm wide, but the space is only about 56.”  So they said they would come look at it.

We don’t know why the builder left this space, but we managed to fill it.

As an incentive to get them there, we also dangled another job in front of them. For some reason, the builder designed the kitchen with bit of wasted space along one wall.  The kitchen is open plan, with an island and then a lot of drawers and the cooktop, wall oven, etc., along the wall.  That wall unit, however, ended about 30 inches from the door to the extra bedrooms. It was just a wasted space really, and our original intent was to buy a cabinet, some corner-oriented thing or maybe a wine rack, to go there. However, quite quickly Dan’s amazing brain went to work and he came up with the idea to get the Harrison’s people to build an extension. Brilliant!  The photos here show just how much of a genius Dan is – and Harrisons and the other tradies they brought in did such a great job that you can’t even tell it wasn’t part of the original plan.

Proof that Dan is a genius. His idea for this corner is far better than what the original designer had…which was nothing.

At our initial meeting at Harrisons, and later when Dan met them at the house to do the measuring, all that was ever mentioned in terms of price was for the wine rack. And then when they sent us a formal contract to sign, it was just for that part of the work – nothing for the laundry renovation.  When it was all done, we paid, we got a final receipt, Dan went to pick up the key we had left them, still no mention of a charge for this renovation. Sweet!

Maybe they were going to bill the builder for the screw-up. But it wasn’t really a ‘screw-up’ as they were just doing what they were asked, and had no obligation to alter it. Maybe they just built the cost of the laundry reno into the kitchen work, though we think what they charged us for that was reasonable anyway, and it adds value and character to the house.

Cutting the bench (what Aussies call countertops) and moving the sink this much caused havoc with the plumbing.

There was another bit of fall-out from the laundry reno however; when we put in the washing machine, the discharge hose wasn’t long enough to hook into the drain. When Harrisons altered the cabinet, they moved the sink and the new configuration required a longer hose. So Dan goes to Bunnings (we should own stock in it by now!) and buys a new hose, but it doesn’t have the correct ends. He tries to fit it on anyway, and when Lisa does the first load of laundry we end up with a wet floor. Not really bad, but…well, bad enough.  Dan is a genius, but not too handy.

Lisa then had a novel idea of calling a professional to actually fix it properly. Dan consents… She tries one company, leaves a message, doesn’t get called back so tries another. The guy calls her, makes an appointment for later in the day. He comes,  but has brought ‘in’ hose, not drain…looks at the fittings, says he can make something up will be back the next afternoon to fit it on.  Comes back next day, installs drain hose and a longer inlet hose (the other one was so short their was no way to move washer if something fell behind it), and he and Dan wiggle the washer/dryer stack back into place. Then he realizes he doesn’t know how much to charge – he hadn’t checked ‘at his shop’ what the cost of the hoses was. Says he will call tomorrow with a price (and then, in the Australian way, he would just give us has BSB number and we deposit direct into his account).

Two weeks later, we haven’t heard from him.  So we planned on buying a house that didn’t need renovating, and though this one needed one small renovation, that was free and we the part we did pay for has been a great addition.

Posted in house, kitchen, laundry, real estate, renovations | 1 Comment

Digger Dan

Posted on July 21, 2012 by waggadventure

We quite often think of our situation here in terms of what things would be like in Edmonton, or even Ontario, six months off.  Like today, for example, where it is the middle of winter in Wagga. In Edmonton terms, this would be like the middle of January – given that it is a Saturday, we might have gone to the market (where there wouldn’t be much but root vegetables and meat), then hunkered down in the basement with the fireplace going because it would be in the minus double digits probably.

Edmonton markets sell hardy, starch veggies in the winter, while people here give away seedlings like this one, found at Wagga’s winter market. It’s a wattle, by the way.

What do Waggans do in winter? Well, they whinge about the cold and rug up…put on a blanket, that is. At least in the evening when it gets cold. But during the day, they do things that Canadians would do in the spring, summer, or autumn because it usually isn’t really cold. So what did we do today?

Well, Lisa got up and did work and laundry because she is headed off to Melbourne for the week. By afternoon she was even spending her first bit of time on the patio with the laptop! Yep, this is winter. Dan got up and went to the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker (we don’t like candles – the cats would burn our house down), the fruit and veggie shop, and the hardware store to buy a composter. Then he was going to go to footy, but the game that others were seeing started at an inconvenient time…right as we were having lunch. And it was such a beautiful day that he wanted to get working on the yard. Yes, mid-winter is gardening time!

We’re really looking forward to this camellia getting big. They are in bloom right now all over Wagga and absolutely beautiful.

After assembling the composter, he did a bit of planting.  He had put in a few little flowers and some strawberries earlier in the week, in an effort to prevent the rock wall at the back of the house from erosion.  But what happened today was on a bigger scale.

Last week at the farmers market, there was a local eco group giving away native plants – tube stock, or what we might think of as seedlings. We took a wattle, a bottlebrush, and some other things we forget what they are (a dianella, maybe a myrtle, and maybe a maleleuca. Should have paid closer attention…). Right now they are tiny, but will grow quickly. Those got planted in the morning, along with a camellia that a friend gave us last weekend.

The little citrus trees at Bunnings fit perfectly into the boot of the KIA!

Then, in the afternoon, rather than going to see the footy or taking advantage of the 16 degree weather to go cycling, we went back to Bunnings (above-mentioned Home Depot-like hardware store) and picked up a few more interesting things to plant. Along the south side of the house, we have a bed that doesn’t get a lot of sun or get seen often so we figured that would be a perfect place for some herbs. Those aren’t planted yet, but will be on Sunday. What sidetracked the gardener from the herbs was creating a small citrus grove!

We are now the proud owners of a meyer lemon tree, and Australian lime, and a Honey Murcott mandarin. We bought sort of dwarf-like citrus trees, not wanting them to take over too much of the yard.

One third of our little citrus grove! Maybe we’ll add a grapefruit tree and an apricot tree some day.

These will end up maturing at about 4 metres high. We had hoped to buy bare root stock, but for some reason there weren’t any…there were last weekend, but maybe all those other people at Bunnings (the place was packed today!) beat us to them. But these ones will probably be fine, and they have leaves on them now even… And hopefully next year, we will have our own fruit.

We still have a lot of planning and planting to do, and not sure how fast we will get to it. We have some plants that we brought from the other house – kangaroo paws that lived in pots – that are going to go into a bed. Those pots will then be used for blueberries. Yes, we’re going to try to grow a few blueberries, even though we reckon we’ll have to fight the magpies for them. And then at some point we’re going to figure out where to put in a veggie patch and see what it is like to have a 12-month growing season. It’s a whole different world from when we used to plant our garden in Edmonton, watch it slowly mature and then freeze before we could harvest anything.

Gratuitous animal photo…this black shouldered kite kept distracting Dan as he gardened by just sitting on the light pole in front of our house, looking for mice. Those bright red eyes are very mesmerizing…and maybe good for finding rodents.

And yes, this post may seem a bit out of sequence since we haven’t posted anything about moving, or about the house. Those will come, we were just so excited about gardening that we decided to put this up now.  And also coming soon a story (a sad story) about why we haven’t been posting much…

Another distraction (and useless critter picture) – the view over our south fence while Dan gardened…or more accurately part of the view, there were about 20 roos there. And one lone one in the park across the road from us… how do Aussies get any work done with all these cool animals to watch?

Posted in agriculture, Australia, citrus, cold, fruit, gardening, wagga, weather, winter | Leave a comment

Slowly, slowly….

Posted on July 13, 2012 by waggadventure

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One week in our own house and we have about half the art hung, most of the rooms are organized, and even some of the garden has been weeded. Still too busy for a full blog post though…will update soon…

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Herding cats, Wagga version, part 3

Posted on July 6, 2012 by waggadventure

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I’m not going anywhere. Mail those other two off to Christmas Island and I will stay here and be happy.

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Herding cats, Wagga version, part 2

Posted on July 6, 2012 by waggadventure

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My brother gets to go with a postie, and all the big boxes are full so I have to squeeze into this one.

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Herding cats, Wagga version, pt 1

Posted on July 6, 2012 by waggadventure

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Last time they talked about that thing called moving I went on something called an airplane. This time I just want one of those Australia Post guys on a motorcycle to take me.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Home is just anywhere…

Posted on July 1, 2012 by waggadventure

One evening on our recent trip back to Ontario, we were playing cards with Lisa’s parents. This has been a very common occurrence over the years we’ve been together – thousands of games of euchre, bid euchre, and cribbage have happened around the kitchen table at their house in Owen Sound. It was getting late, and our last night with them before we headed up the Bruce to spend time with Dan’s mom. As we got up from the table to head off to bed, Lisa’s dad pointed out that this would be the last time we played cards at that table…

The house where Lisa grew up. Interested? Soon to be on the market, so just let us know…

The past year and a bit has been a huge time of transition for us, but also for our families. Within the span of about 53 weeks, we sold our house in Canada and bought one in Australia; Dan’s parents left their long-time home (last post…), and now Lisa’s parents are moving out of the house in Owen Should where she grew up, after 38 years of living there.  She wasn’t born there, or even brought home from the hospital there, but it was the place she lived for much of her pre-adult life.

It’s a strange thing to know that you’ll never go “home” again. But what is home? Home can be a country (adopted or otherwise), the place where your family happens to be living, or the place that fills your memories. So, the home of memories — of playing cards with the parents, sipping pina coladas in the backyard and opening Xmas prezzies under the tree in the upstairs living room — will soon belong to someone else.

During our visit we expected to have a bit of down time with Lisa’s parents. You know, the usual – playing cards, a few drinks, dinners out… that sort of thing. We did do some of that, but we also spent time with them just talking about the future and possible plans for where mom and dad would spend their golden years. Lisa’s parents are in their 80s and have been doing really well but living in a split-level house (i.e., two sets of stairs, with laundry down in the basement) is a bit more challenging these days – not to mention dealing with the snowy front steps in winter and the flowerbeds in spring. Lisa’s siblings (and contracted snow plowers and grass mowers) have been a big help over the years, but mom and dad thought the time was right to look ahead to a new adventure. So, during our visit, we offered to take them on a tour of the local retirement village hot-spots — and we met with great success!

Now, for those of you who have never spent time in a retirement home, let us dispel a few myths. First, retirement villas are NOT nursing homes. These are two very different things; however, many retirement homes are now comprised of various levels – i.e., apartments (with 2-3 bedrooms), retirement lodges (often 1 bedroom or studio style) and nursing facilities. People can move into the apartments, say in their 60s, and live for 25+ years, moving across the complex as their health or care requirements change. There are many options and it can take a lot of time to sort out what’s best for each person/couple.

This retirement home, where Lisa’s parents will soon reside, is really just a cruise ship in permanent dry-dock.

Thanks to the baby boomers (and to 60 minutes and other investigative reporting shows that have exposed the poor conditions of many facilities) retirement homes have really changed in recent years. We had no idea what we would find on our day out with mom and dad, but we were pleasantly surprised. These facilities are now catering to a very different clientele than what your grandmother might have experienced. Culinary demos by the resident chef, movie night in the in-house cinema (with a popcorn machine), a few hours in the salon, or surfing the net in a well-appointed library. What’s not to like?

We visited two complexes and Lisa’s parents really fell in love with the second place. In addition to the peace of mind that comes with round-the-clock care, a wellness centre, and the thrill of having all of your meals prepared by the resident chef, there are a ton of activities — or you can just decide to chill in your apartment and watch some TV. Whatever you like, you can do! You’ll find euchre clubs and bridge clubs, or you can go on a small-group day trip to Tobermory and other cool places around the Bruce. You can get a manicure, have a coffee on your own private balcony, or you can have a cookie at the 24-hour cafe off the main lobby – you know, next to the fireplace and the big-screen TV. There isn’t a bar but you can BYO throughout the facility. After our visit (which included a free lunch, with some of the best banana bread we’ve ever had!) Dan wanted to know where he could sign up.

Lisa’s parents signed themselves up, then and there. After a few years of thinking and talking about “what next” and after wondering how long they could stay in their own home (thankful that their health has been very good!), they decided that it was time. And the best thing — they have made this decision themselves, together, and will be on their own adventure in the coming weeks as they sell the house and move on. With Dan’s father’s illness we were really mindful of how quickly life can change and people can find themselves in situations they might now choose. You realize how the goofy decisions we make day to day (what colour of car should I buy? Where should we hang this painting? Do we want a house with a pool, or not?) are not so goofy when you aren’t able to make these decisions yourself, on your own terms. You hear so many sad stories of couples who are forced out of their homes when one person is sick, leaving their partner to make some difficult choices alone and at a very stressful time.

So, as we have been making our own life choices here in Australia, it’s wonderful to see Lisa’s parents doing the same. It’s a brave and bold step, especially after 38 years in the same house! We now look forward to helping them celebrate their 65th wedding anniversary in 2013 — in the party room on the cruise ship, of course! You can book a huge party room with a chef-style kitchen, to cook your own feast — or a smaller private dining room for a served meal. Is there such a thing as too much choice? We don’t think so.

Posted in Canada, homesickness, Owen Sound, real estate | Leave a comment

We’re moving on up…

Posted on June 23, 2012 by waggadventure

One of the good things about buying the house when we did is that we have about one month to move. We are doing a lot of what needs done slowly, trying to be as efficient as possible. First thing we did was clean – it is a new house, and quite clean actually, but there were some spiders that needed to be introduced to the sucking end of a hoover…  And we wiped out the kitchen cabinets, washed windows, etc. It wasn’t ‘dirty’ really, just a bit dusty from sitting empty for several months.

One of the ‘wants’ on our list was that our house have refrigerated cooling, not evaporative. We got it. The outdoor part worked, but the unit in the ceiling didn’t seem to want to come on.

In the course of this cleaning, we noticed a few ‘minor’ things not working – the gas stove, gas water heater, electric oven, and electric heating and cooling. The gas issues made sense – the builder hadn’t had the gas turned on while the place was empty, so all it took was a call to Origin Energy…presto, we have hot water and a way to cook.

The electrical issues were a bit different. The first thing we tried was turning on the heat, as it was about 14 degrees when we were there on the Saturday after we got possession. Dan turned on the main power on the outside unit, then came back in to turn on the thermostat. It did nothing, not even light up. Aussie friends who came by looked at it (we thought they might know more about this weird system) and couldn’t figure it out either.  Then later we tried to turn on the oven, which is just down the wall from the thermostat, and it didn’t come on either.  So we figured that there was some connection between the two, and that something was blown or there was some switch we couldn’t find.

There is no logical reason that you should have to turn all three knobs to get the oven to come on.

On Monday morning, Dan texted the real estate agent to have him ask the builder about this. Quite soon after, an electrician called to make an appointment to look at the problems.  Or, more accurately, the problem because the oven wasn’t a problem it was just silly. The electrician pointed out that there are 3 controls: type of use (bake, grill, etc), temperature, and a timer. Turns out you have to turn all three on…we only tried the first two, figuring we weren’t timing anything. But the timer is actually the main control for the oven, and also has a manual setting for when you aren’t timing. We felt like idiots, but the electrician did say it was a stupid setup and he gets this same call often. He then looked at the thermostat and did the same thing that we had all done – push the on button a few times, go flick the main on the outdoor unit, look in the main power panel…nothing. So he says he will tell the builder it requires the HVAC people who installed it.

You would think that at some point in the building process, someone would have pushed that blue on/off switch to see if the thermostat was wired correctly.

Later that afternoon, HVAC guy comes. Pushes on button a few times, flicks main power switch, looks in panel…and decides he needs to go up in the ceiling to look at another part of the unit we didn’t know existed. He fiddles around up there for a while (we were starting to worry that he had been killed by spiders) then comes down and tries it again – and it worked!  He said that the control panel has two sets of leads that the thermostat could be wired into – one of which says “connect thermostat here” and the other says “do not use”.  Well, one of his illiterate colleagues a few months earlier had hooked the thermostat to the one that seems only to be there to test the reading comprehension of apprentice electricians. And no one had tested it. Duh.

So now we have heating and cooling, hot water, and places to cook. And we have a few other things in the house. Each evening after work, we load up the car with a few boxes (dishes, clothes, CDs, whatever) or something small-ish (dining room chairs, for instance, whatever fits in our car), and make a run to the new house. Things get put away, boxes brought back for the next evening.  Weekends, we can do a few trips.

Dan had brought these Australia Post bins home from work for moving. We thought we could just write IN on one and OUT on the other, and leave them on the front lawn rather than buy a real letterbox. Then we decided we didn’t want the neighbours using our ‘super mailbox’.

But the most important thing we have is a letterbox. There wasn’t one installed when we got the house, and we have been discussing what we want to do. Most likely, we will get someone to build a really nice one with stone to match the rest of the landscaping. But Lisa thought we should have a  temporary one, quickly. So we went to Bunnings and bought the cheapest little post and the second cheapest letterbox, and Dan put it up. The post is so thin that he just used a little garden trowel to make a hole to stick it in, then packed the clay (our neighbourhood is red clay) back around it, and it is still standing a few days later.  The day after we put it in, we got junk mail!  At least we know it works.  Day two, it had a garbage collection calendar in it, because someone from council dropped off our wheelie bins.  And the third day: mail.  We weren’t even going to check, but it had rained hard the night before and Dan wanted to make sure his pathetic installation was holding up. While looking at it, he thought he might as well see if there was anything inside and, lo and behold, real addressed mail brought by a dude on a motorcycle! There were two pieces, both from our bank, which makes sense because pretty much only them, our solicitor, and the real estate agent know we live there and might be mailing something. And we got the docos from the solicitor to the house in Kooringal already…Aus post in amazing – the house settlement was at 2 pm Friday, the solicitor put the stuff in the post at some point after that, and they were in our mailbox Monday morning!

It’s a pretty crappy little letterbox, but it seems to work really well!

Oh yeah, and the NSW Roads people know where we live too, because after driving for a year with our Alberta licenses, we now have Australian licenses that have our permanent address on them. We can now prove we live here!

Posted in Hilltops, Moving, real estate, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Home isn’t where it used to be…

Posted on June 19, 2012 by waggadventure

Last year, not long before we moved, Dan was corresponding with one of his sisters about their parents moving off the property they had lived on for 58 years, where the four children had grown up. Staying out in Pike Bay had become a bit of a challenge for his parents, so they were going to move to a senior’s apartment in the nearby town.  He commented that he didn’t really consider that home anymore; even more interesting, he said didn’t really consider anywhere home. So, what is home?

Wagga is the third city we have lived in together, and it may or may not be the last. We lived in London for 11 years, then Edmonton for 11 more (hmm… will we leave Wagga at the 11 year mark? What’s with that number? Anyone have suggestions on where we should move to in 2022?).  But we didn’t ever think that we would end up living in either of them forever. We don’t really put down roots like a lot of people do. Academics often move, and can often do it quite easily, especially if you are in a field (like Lisa is) that often has more job openings than job candidates. And who knows, maybe that wanderlust is part of why she went into academe? Definitely the normal associated travel, all those conference destinations, was part of it, but maybe there was another, bigger, aspect to it.

We went for a stroll on (a short section of) the Bruce Trail – an 800 km hiking trail that runs from Niagara to Tobermory. Here’s Dan and his sister standing on Skinner’s Bluff, overlooking the Slough of Despair…how could such a great view be labeled despair?

Getting back to Pike Bay though. Well, sort of. Our recent trip back to Canada (notice we aren’t saying ‘back home’) was Dan’s first time there since 1) his parents had moved from his childhood home and 2) his father died. So it was his first time being in Ontario that we didn’t spend a lot of time in Pike Bay.  Kind of weird. We spent several nights at his mother’s apartment in Lion’s Head, and went for long walks in the evening around there. For Lisa, that was a bit strange because she hasn’t really ever spent time there; for Dan, it was even weirder because he went to school there but hadn’t been there much since. But it also wasn’t that strange because Mom was there, and Dan’s sister came up for a day, etc. Sure it was a different place, but a building or town isn’t what makes something home – it is the people. Unfortunately, Dad wasn’t there, so it didn’t really feel like home. But then again, maybe it was  better that we weren’t staying at the house in Pike Bay because that place is so full of memories of Dad.

But we did spend an afternoon on the homestead in Pike Bay with all the family, including Bud! It was, we think, the first time that all of us have been together as a family in close to 10 years. We only get back to Ontario about once each year, and though there is always a family get-together (on both sides of the family) there is often someone who can’t make it. This one, though, was special and everyone made the effort to get there (thanks everyone for fitting our schedule into your lives!).

Go to the light… This is the beautiful forest where we spread Bud’s ashes. Who wouldn’t want to end up here?

How, you may ask, did this happen? Well, first of all, when they moved, Dan’s parent’s didn’t sell the property; it is now deeded to his brother. It has been in the family for a long time – Dan’s maternal grandparents owned a lot of Pike Bay land at one time and his parents wanted to keep it that way. There is 100 acres of mostly bush, with a house and an old barn. And one of Bud’s last wishes was that his family spread his ashes on that property. So, six months after his ‘official’ memorial service – there wasn’t a funeral, but there was a visitation and a memorial held by the Royal Canadian Legion, of which he was a member – the family gathered for the memorial that he really wanted.  The last few weeks of his life were spent in a nursing home in Owen Sound, and he really wanted to get back to the Bruce Peninsula – that would have been back to Lion’s Head where Mom was, but really he wanted to be in Pike Bay. And now he is.

We made sure everyone was safely out of the bush before the guns came out for a loud tribute to an old soldier.

On Saturday, June 9, Dan’s family – his mother, his siblings and their spouses, and nieces and nephews – gathered at the old house; with them, they had Bud’s ashes. Those ashes were doled out among the family members, and everyone dispersed around the property, spreading them as they saw fit. We immediately headed off deep into the woods. Dan was sprinkling bit of ashes here and there, along the myriad of tractor-trails that Bud had cut through the woods. He was a hell of a woodsman – not only was the house heated by a woodstove all these years, but he also sold firewood to local cottagers, and the bush was where he loved to be. He knew what trees to cut to keep the bush producing and thriving.  What we were looking for, however, was a stump… a particular stump among thousands, probably impossible to find. But we found one that was good enough, and Lisa poured her cup of ashes on it. The significance: on her first Christmas with the Given family, Bud took her out in the bush to cut a Xmas tree. Having grown up with artificial Xmas trees, this was really special!  After that, we kept wandering down a track. Lisa saw a rabbit scurrying by, and when she mentioned it, Dan threw the rest of his ashes after it…Bud was a great hunter, and for Dan, those ashes were like buckshot.  Not  a very good shot…Bud would have brought that rabbit (and a few others and maybe some partridge) home for dinner!

Look what happens when Dan gets back on the Peninsula…in the background are two of his nephews, wondering how anyone could be so stupid as to give him a loaded weapon.

And then, with everyone safely mustered again, the grand finale of the afternoon: a 21-gun salute. As we said, Dad was a former soldier and a hunter, so it seemed a fitting tribute (suggested by a niece, facilitated by her husband who is another avid hunter and has several rifles).  Dan and 6 of the nieces and nephews lined up and each fired 3 times (toward some blocks of wood that were set out, but 4 of the 21 hit…there were a lot of flying leaves in the bush behind!). Dan got to use his father’s old deer rifle…

The day ended back in Lion’s Head, with dinner at a local restaurant then back to the apartment for dessert…the venue might not have been familiar, but what happened there was: the family gorging on Mom’s homemade apple crisp, cheesecake, cupcakes, cookies… Home.

Posted in family, Pike Bay | 1 Comment

How to shop Canadian

Posted on June 14, 2012 by waggadventure

A few months ago, we wrote a post about how most of what we buy – specifically food – is Australian. At the end of it, we said that though we were willing, or even happy, to exist on Aussie fare and the odd import, one thing we wouldn’t be getting was maple syrup because it was too expensive. Just how expensive? At the ocanada.com.au website, a one litre jug of amber maple syrup is $55.99! That is almost 3 times what it costs in Canada…we know that because we bought some in Lion’s Head last week.  And what we bought wasn’t just any generic Quebec syrup; it was made in Kemble, near where we grew up. So not only is it good, it has sentimental value.

A well-spent $20 at the Lion’s Head farmers market. We foresee blueberry pancakes in our near future.

Maple syrup would be the obvious shopping choice for any Canadian to bring back to Australia and it was easy to get into the country…the customs guy just smiled and waved us along.  But it was only one of five items on our shopping list for while in Canada, on our quest for things we can’t get here, or can’t get at a good price. What were the others? Let’s see, what is uniquely Canadian? Nanaimo bars? Probably wouldn’t get past customs so easily. Date squares – same problem. Kraft dinner? Ick! Maybe some bison steaks…the quarantine sniffer dogs would love those! We thought about bringing back some ice wine, but prefer the Rutherglen stickies.

So, the things we did shop for are actually pretty odd…

First item we needed was a SIM card to get an iPad online. This sounds simple, but was a huge challenge. Apple Canada says go to Rogers…but Rogers wanted a Canadian credit card (we have one), a Canadian address (we don’t have one), and it seems also a Canadian iPad. Whatever that is…after almost 45 minutes on the phone with their tech support, Lisa gave up when they said her Australian iPad wouldn’t work on their network (it must have been upside down…but seems pretty stupid for customers from other countries not to be able to get pay as you go). By chance, we happened to walk by a FIDO kiosk and asked them. When the guy finally stopped laughing when we told him Rogers thought the problem was that it was an Aussie iPad, he explained that they don’t have data-only packages, but would sell us a phone package with data. Same SIM, you just don’t use the phone component on the iPad.

Lisa has worn her pretty new shoes (that Dan picked out for her) once so far, and received numerous compliments.

Then we got this smart idea to buy a cheap phone from them, so now when traveling in Canada we have a Canadian phone number, just have to switch the SIM from the tablet to the phone when we want to use it. And it was cheaper than what Rogers tried to set up for us! And took about 10 minutes. And he didn’t ask for an address.

Anyone who knows Lisa won’t be surprised to hear that she bought shoes. Or, more specifically, Fluevogs. We had a one day layover in Vancouver, so went straight to the source. Yes, there are a couple of stores in Australia that sell them, but the selection isn’t as broad as at the actual Fluevog stores, and the prices are a bit outrageous here. So, two new pairs of funky shoes came home with her. Not to be outdone, Dan also bought two pairs (he really wanted to replace his Micahs, but they have stopped making them 😦 ). We also found it interesting to see another person shopping there, suitcase in tow… According to the salesperson they get a number of people who pop in to buy shoes while waiting for flights (the good ol’ Skytrain can have you downtown and shopping within about 30 minutes! A good reason to book your next flight with an extended layover). We also learned that there is a rumour that John F. might open a new store in Oz soon… probably Sydney or Melbourne, but perhaps we can lobby for a store in Wagga Wagga? Let’s start the online campaign/petition now!!

Dan hasn’t received any compliments on his new Fluevogs. Waggans aren’t sure that a guy should wear shoes with pink highlights.

The next stop in Vancouver: Mavi for jeans. They are hard to find here – not just in Wagga, but even in Melbourne there wasn’t much of a selection. And Mavis are good jeans and good value…unless you pay the $160 or so a pair in Australia.  Again, two pairs each. Good thing we took a lot of TimTams to spread around among family, cleaning out room in the suitcases for the clothes. FYI – these bikkies are so good they even have their own Facebook page!

And then the really odd shopping trip – London Drugs to buy deodorant. Yes, deodorant. It seems like something that shouldn’t be a problem getting here, but it is a bit of a challenge getting what we use. Lisa’s ultra-sensitive Dove for girly-pits is very expensive here – upwards of $16 per stick. So she stocked up on it in Vancouver at about $6 each. Dan has an even bigger problem. For one, he can’t use scented products so Axe and all that smelly crap is out of the question.  So his deodorant of choice is unscented Mitchum. But the bigger issue is he can’t find gel in Australia. Just roll on. Roll on?!?! Yes, roll on. Didn’t even know they made it any more.  Or maybe they don’t, and Revlon (did you know that Revlon owns Mitchum?) shipped all their unsold roll-ons here in 1995 and there are still some left!

Add a bit of sudafed and some butane, and this stuff could be addictive.

And luckily, London Drugs happened to have just what he wanted, on sale! The cashier probably thought we were nuts, buying a year’s worth each. But then again, this was in downtown Vancouver, so she probably sees a lot stranger purchases…pretty hard to get high off of deodorant. Especially the unscented kind, though there is probably a store policy that they have to call the cops if anyone tries to buy a dozen Axe body sprays.

For anyone coming to visit us, wondering what to bring as a gift, now you know – we can give you our jeans and shoe size, though even then it might be risky buying those for us (of course, gift cards will do!). And we don’t really eat that much maple syrup, so the litre jug will last us a long time. But deodorant is always appreciated. [Lisa edit: Or Fluevogs! They sell bags, too!]

Posted in Canada, cultural differences, farmers market, maple syrup, shoes, shopping, travel | 2 Comments