Made it!

Phew....it's been a long couple of days! We managed to finally get everything packed up in Sheffield and headed over to the farm last friday (with a car-sick Luna the cat in tow who reeeeeeallly didn't enjoy the journey in a small box...mind you i'm not sure I would either!).
Saturday was Emily (my cousin) and Gareth's wedding (another Gareth in the family!) down near Milton Keynes and was a beautiful day and great chance to catch up with family, many of whom we hadn't seen since our wedding last May. It was the first day it actually started to feel like we were really going as well, with lots of people asking about our plans, and the stress of getting the house cleaned and packed up finally out of the way.
Sunday and Monday were spent meticulously packing, listing items in boxes ready for customs clearance, weighing, and then unpacking and starting again when we realised we needed to squeeze more stuff in, or the bags/boxes were too heavy! I hate to think what it would be like to move abroad permananetly given how much faffing was involved just in getting stuff together for a year's trip! It would also be a lot easier if we were both into something like knitting rather than mountain biking, climbing and skiing!
Tuesday finally came around and it was a good job we'd asked my mum and dad to loan us a large van and drive us down to Heathrow (thanks Mum and Dad!) ....the amount of stuff we had was ridiculous......300kg in total between us, part to go by freight and part on the plane, including 4 bikes, a huge rack of climbing gear, camping equipment, many ropes, ski boots etc etc!
After some emotional farewells to Dad, Mum and sisters and luna (I think it was even more upsetting saying goodbye to everyone than when I left to come and live in Canada 10 years ago :( ) we managed to drop the stuff off at the freight terminal, get ourselves to the airport on time, and still have plenty of time to eat free toblerone tasters in the duty free shop, sniff most of the perfumes, and look at shiny gadgets before the flight left :)

The flight was fine, and the views as we flew over the mountains of greenland and icebergs floating in the sea were brilliant. Apart from the grilling we got from immigration control in Vancouver (how do they always make you feel guilty even though you've no need to?), we managed to get all our luggage picked up (always a relief that it has arrived with you!), pick the car up, and find our way to the freight terminal and customs before it closed.

Amazingly all the stuff fitted in the vehicle (although absolutely nothing else would have fit in by the time it was all stuffed in!) and we got on our way on the scenic drive up the sea-to-sky highway to Whistler. The road is really nice to drive, passing some fantastic scenery as it hugs its way along the coast with the mountains on one side and the inlet of howe sound on the other. The weather was awesome too, bright sunshine and clear skies, and hot but not muggy like it had been in london for the 2 days before we left....hope it lasts!

The jet lag started to hit us just after we arrived at our home for the next 2 months in Whistler, and unfortunately Gareth started to feel ill too. He then spent most of the night throwing up after i guess he must have picked up a bug on the plane....(so far I thankfully seem to have escaped!)

Anyway, it's now Thursday eve and Gareth is starting to feel a bit better.....we've managed to get lots of sorting done today and I'm pretty sure that once we've finished putting the bikes back together tomorrow morning he'll be fine to ride all day in the bike park!