Back in Blighty

I've got no idea if anybody's still checking this blog (if you are, get in touch!) but I'll update it anyway with this postscript.

We're back in the UK for the forseeable future... Anna's got her place at the London Met Uni, which was pretty much her first choice so she's chuffed... she starts back at the end of September. We've rented a lovely flat in Islington from some Ibizan friends of Anna's who give us a great deal in return for letting them stay in the spare room a few nights of the year when they visit... and on Monday I go back to work.

So there we are, back to reality. It's not really as bad as I feared it might be just yet. It's been really great to see everyone and have time to spend around the country catching up and telling tales... my new job looks pretty cool - it's at the BBC, using agile methodologies for all you geeks out there, and i can wear jeans and ride my bike to work. we've got the wedding to, err... look forward to, and then there's the five-year plan to move over to Nelson, BC...!!

if anyone wants to write or come and stay, here's where you can find us:

14B Chapel Market
Islington
London
N1 9EZ

Farewell to the Hamster!

Ahhhh... On this sad day it was time to say farewell to our trusty steed. Good old craigslist hooked us up with a lovely couple of surfers who are going to take great care of her and show her many more adventures.

Nice to have some cash in my pocket again, and with the jazz festival kicking off, it's come just in time!

Hope all's well at home, looking forward to seeing you all soon!

even bigger news....

well hello there big wide world, anna is back on the blog.
it does seem like a while ago that we left our lovely vancouver flat, and headed off to the ferry with mum in tow. but time has whizzed on, and now we are only a couple of days drive from the big smoke of vancouver again, and the BC, alaska, yukon and then BC again loop is nearly complete.
last word we left on the bloggage was that we were heading off on a 44km hike, (22 there and 22 back). this was in jasper national park, and was truly splendid, - weather, scenery, company and cabin. the cabin, we had to ourselves, and same for the whole blumen hike! not a soul around (except for one moose, and some ground squirrels)
our feet were a bit of a mess afterwards so we did a spot of very sucessful hotspring hunting to sooth the achey bits.
since then we have been to stay with roger tierney at wasa lake (recreation manager for the kootenay region, who i had been emailing about a backcounty cabin that he had built), and met the family - matt had a chance to fish with his son isaac, watch the first england game, and we got bitten head to toe by the mozzies on the beach...
then today we just got back from a serious snowshoe hike up to see rogers cabin in the kokanee glacier park, and matt and i were only the second group to reach the cabin on foot this season. (others come in by helicopter for the winter skiing).
beautiful cabin (sleeps 26! with it's own mini hydro plant, it also has hot running water, makes its own drinking water, lighting and heating energy, and deals with its own poo. fantastic.)
so now, we are in Nelson, BC, just two days drive from vancouver, and enjoying the comforts of the 'dancing bear' hostel. and the soothing delights of the towns own brewery.
just one other piece of news, for those who don't already know.
matt proposed, while on our jasper park hike (the long one), on a beautiful sunny day, miles from anywhere, with a back drop of snow-topped mountains.
it has taken him a while (more than 5 years) but he got there eventially, and he couldn't have chosen a more perfect place. thanks matt.
see you all soon.

Homecoming and Big News

Lots of people have been wondering exactly when we're coming back to the UK, the answer is ...drumroll... 7th of July. We're flying back to gatwick so all Brightonians expect the phone to start ringing about the 5th begging for somewhere to stay...

In other significant news, a Big Decision has been made. We have been offered a good deal on a rented flat in Islington, London from August and we've decided to... gasps... take it, so we won't be moving back in to Ventnor Villas just yet. Sorry Brighton, we love you and we still call you home, it seems (from this distance at least!) to make sense to grab this chance at a cheap pad in the smoke since we're both going to be having to communte up there otherwise. If we hate it we can still kick Maya out of VV and retreat back to base camp, but we might as well give it a shot eh?

Jasper

Hello all. We just got to Jasper today, stunning scenery as you enter the national park. Bit shocked at having to pay just to be here ($9 per person per day) and then also having to pay to stay overnight but it is a lovely park with great facilities... Tommorow we'll walk 22km up the friat valley to stay in a cabin run by the Apline Club of Canada.

Sorry about the lack of pictures, we haven't had the luxury of a decent internet connection for a while.

Oh go on then here's one...

that is a picture of the metropolis that is 'downtown' chicken, alaska at about 2am (note the lack of darkness), during our final night out in Alaska before crossing the border. A fine time was had.

I like this, so we've got time for another one...


This is (a small part of) the unbelievably enormous 'forest of signs' in Watson Lake on the Alcan highway which travellers from all over the world have been adding signs back to their hometown to since the fifties. Being proper tourists that we are, I had Anna fashion one up from a bit of packing crate and shinned up one of the poles to nail it up for future generations to admire:


time for one final one then I must dash... a lovely view from a campsite we stayed in off the Alcan in Yukon:


right, that'll do. confusingly, a post titled 'jasper' with no actual pictures of Jasper in it. You are keeping up with this OK aren't you?

Lots of love, Matt and Anna