Calgary Expatriation
Episode 1
Wednesday 15th February, 2006
Greetings!
Well I finally have internet access since arriving in Calgary on Friday. I
am staying in a furnished apartment on the edge of the CBD that is only a
5-10 minute walk from the popular parts of town. Calgary is similar in size
to Adelaide except it is much more spread out and the CBD is much much bigger
due to many oil companies setting up headquarters here. (The province of Alberta
has some pretty huge oil reserves similar in size to Saudi Arabia, but it
is harder to extract since it is mixed with sand so close to the surface.
As a result of the high price of oil Alberta is a pretty wealthy state, and
construction can't keep up with the city's expansion.)
Right: The view from my apartment before a heavier dump of snow
set in.
Calgary is an hours drive away from the Rockies and sits on
the edge of the "praries", which is so flat you could see your dog
run for 3 days (or so they tell me). The snow capped Rockies are visible in
the distance off to the west and we'll be heading up there as soon as one
of the other guys arrives and we get a better car (one of those large gas-guzzling
SUVs to really fit in).
Above: Calgary looking east towards the praries.
Above: Calgary looking west towards the Rocky Mountains.
Above: Calgary looking north-east with the Bow river in the foreground.
Above: The Rockies from atop Calgary Tower. On a clear day the
magnificent snow-capped mountain range is clearly visible from the city.
One of the city's highlights is the Calgary Tower, which is
like Centrepoint but only 190m high. Part of the floor is made of glass so
you can see straight down to the pavement below. The majority of people there
would only peer over the edge but not stand on the glass. I can confirm that
it is safe enough to jump on, however.
We've been lucky with the weather too. The day we arrived it
was dry and 0 degrees but over the weekend a weather pattern called the chinook
came through. This is basically a warm air current from the Pacific that gives
above average temperatures for a few days. It was 8 degrees on Saturday and
12 degrees on Sunday which is (apparantly) typical spring time weather. Warm
enough for at least one local to walk through town in short sleeves with an
ice cream. Currently it is -11 degrees and today we had the first sign of
very light snow, or "flurries" as it is called. Tomorrow morning
will be -15 and it is expected that temperatures in parts may drop to -20
(ambient) in the next few days. And this is one of their warmest winters on
record! Bring on summer....quickly!
Right: Calgary Tower.
Left: Looking down from the glass floor in Calgary Tower. It
was surprising how most adults stayed well away from this area, however their
kids had no such concerns!
Above: A downtown ice rink with curling targets.
Left: Two very amusing signs. The top one for the fact that
the river is completely frozen over at this section, and the bottom as it
is indicative of the quality of food for general human consumption.
Above: The Bow River, which flows down from the Rockies.
Below: Me, trying to learn how to turn without face-planting. This photo was taken at the Sunshine resort by Christian Freriks.
Above: Almost-successfully executing a controlled landing. Photo
taken at Lake Louise by Christian Freriks.
All photos and content (except where marked) Copyright Craig McIntyre 2006.