On the road again....

Greetings from the airport lounge at Winnipeg where I have started my l-o-n-g journey home. I have another 3 hours to kill (I've already killed 2) here before my flight to Vancouver, a couple of hours in Vancouver airport then a 15 hour direct flight home. Phew!

I was, as always, very sad to say goodbye to my brother. It just about breaks my heart to say goodbye to him - do a squeeze test now Matt ;-) Fortunately Rommel & I have come up with a very good excuse for him to come home & visit us in just over 9 months :-)

Now I got in trouble for my last post for talking so much about how freaking cold it is here (*she waves*). However the fact of the matter is that it is freaking cold. You know its freaking cold when -

- you need to plug your car into an electrical point at night to stop the engine block from freezing

- you can feel the hairs in your nose freeze when you go outside

- frost forms on eyelashes again if you spend too long outside!

- ice forms on the inside of the window of the car even when 3 people are talking (lots) and the heater is going - so much so that you can scrape the ice off with a credit card

- you need to put this clear plastic stuff - a bit like cling wrap - on the inside of windows in the house to prevent draughts

- you need to leave your down jacket on when travelling in the car despite having the heater going

- snow which comes off your shoes onto the floor mat in the car does not melt (even during a 2 hour drive!)

- you need to consider what can freeze and what can't or shouldn't freeze when packing the car. Stuff that can freeze goes into the trunk (ie boot if you don't speak Canadian) and stuff that can't freeze (like cameras etc) have to go into the main body of the car

- a bottle of water freezes in the back seat of a car despite the body heat of 3 people who are talking lots & the heater being turned up high.

However having said all that, I have loved my time here in Canada. The cold / snow / ice / lifestyle has been fun; of course it's easy for me to say that because it is a novelty & I don't have to put up with it for long. Winter here is also incredibly beautiful. Two days ago I watched two deer poke their way through the deep snow in the backyard. This morning I watched big, white, fluffy snowflakes fall against a backdrop of a dark spruce tree which looked almost black in the misty monochrome light of early morning. It was magical ;-)

All good things of course must come to an end. I can't believe that I have been away for 3 months. It feels like yesterday that I left. I have been blessed to have seen so much, accomplish so much and meet so many wonderful people in that time. To be honest, after the cold here I can't say that I'm looking forward to returning to a hot Sydney summer. I am however looking forward to seeing my welcoming committee in Sydney :-)

My stay in Sydney is not for long. In just over 3 weeks, I fly out again. This time to Argentina for what I think of as ' the big one'. Aconcagua. The highest mountain in the world outside the Himalayas. I am extremely nervous about this one. It will be, by far, the hardest thing I have attempted to date. My preparation has not been ideal thanks to the colds that I have had twice during the last 3 months. But I will go with a positive frame of mind and give it my best shot. If anyone is interested, you will be able to follow our progress (hopefully) on an almost daily basis. More details about that later. But before I head off to Argentina, I'll be sure to finally put some photos of my travels during the last 3 months up here. Promise!