As all the shops are open until 9pm, I have even been able to sneak in a bit of shopping after work. The hotel is situated right next to a mall, however due to the highway and car park, they recommend that you take the hotel shuttle rather than attempting to walk.

For once I have the upper hand as a native English speaker, and it is I who is able to translate from the local vernacular. I must admit, it is refreshing to be able to communicate effortlessly with everyone around me, making small talk with the taxi drivers and hotel staff. I can even understand all the TV channels, which gives me the privilege to watch such informative documentaries such as “Extreme Couponing” and “Kate plus 8″.

At 3 AM on Tuesday January 15 2008, I joined fifty other mac geeks at the Pre-keynote meet-up outside the Apple Store on Stockton Steet (I’m the one in the long brown coat and cream pants in the middle), and we walked together to join the line at the Moscone Center, where there were already around fifty people waiting. Despite the early hour and the bitter cold, the atmosphere was electric with anticipation. We spent the next six hours in conversation over breakfast donuts and coffee, reminiscing over past Apple flops and successes, and speculating on what Steve would unveil during the big event.

Photo by Adam Jackson.

Finally, they unlocked the door, and we streamed into the hall to see Steve Jobs striding on stage in front of an audience filled with MacBooks and iPhones. He talked about the four billion iTunes song downloads, the new apple TV, and unveiled the MacBook Air. To conclude the event, Randy Newman – the composer for Pixar – sang a few songs, including Toy Story’s “You’ve got a friend in me”, saying “I always root against corporations, ’cause that’s how I am, but not this one”.

Photo by Tech Show Network.

This was just the beginning. I spent the next two days visiting all the booths, from Adobe to Microsoft to BusySync to Gelaskins, attending presentations on hardware and software, and even purchasing my very own iPhone – receiving a complementary case from one of the vendors. It was exhilarating to be surrounded by so many members of the Mac community in such a dynamic venue.

Photo by smenzel

By the end of the second day I was completely exhausted, trying to fit a lifetime’s worth of Macworld experiences into 48 hours. There were 191 educational sessions, 479 exhibitors, and 47,908 attendees. Luckily, one of the exhibitors was MetroNaps – a company that provides an essential service and which permitted me to trial one of their pods for much need rejuvenation.

Photo by laughingsquid.

I think that’s enough to keep me busy for twelve months or so. It is a bit overwhelming to be faced with so many changes, but I realise how lucky that we are to have this opportunity, so the main emotion I feel is excitement. We had a great time in North America over the past two years, and while I think we are better suited to Europe, I am very thankful for all the happy memories that we have of the United States of America.

After spending an hour out in the blistering morning sun, we decided to take a short cut back to the restaurant for lunch. Unfortunately, I had left my iPhone back at the hotel, so we had no map. Some passers by gave us directions, and we set of, we later discovered, in entirely the wrong direction. We were now in the middle of the Hilton golf course residential villas complex, and yet the footpaths were entirely unshaded. Everyone else was travelling either in golf carts or in SUVs, as this was still the USA, after all. The path twisted and turned, and although we passed miles of sparkling time-share apartments, we could not find shade nor shelter for ourselves. After an hour of trudging under the blistering Hawaiian sun, we emerge back at the shops, and stepped into the bliss of air conditioning. I downed a great deal of water, and savoured the luxury of cool air, shade, and hydration.

That afternoon we ventured across the other side of the island to see Volcanoes National Park. We walked through an old lava tube, and emerged into the damp rich rainforest, filled with birds and towering trees. We spent sunset overlooking the caldera of the active volcano, and as it became dark, I could see the pale orange light illuminating the smoke from the vents, and listening to the restless magma rumble and grumble below the earth.

As we only had two nights in Hawaii, I wanted to make the most of it, so I decided to book us on a helicopter ride across the island. A few days beforehand, Adrian had a nightmare where I raised my arms while I was under the rotors, and lost both my hands. He had also seen quite a few movies where the people in the helicopter fare very badly. So he was quite worried about flying in a helicopter over the world’s most active volcano. As we entered the cockpit, Adrian made sure that my hands were firmly by my sides, even though the rotors were still. There were five of us in the helicopter, with Toshi as our pilot. I sat next to him as his co-pilot. We were all buckled in, with our noise-cancelling headphones and microphones for talking with the rest of the crew.

Toshi pointed out the landmarks, crops, and formations as we glided through the clouds to the other side of the island. We were staying on the dry side of the island, black and desolate apart from the fluorescent green of the irrigated resort townships with their McMansions and golf-courses. As we crossed to the other side of the mountains, the land suddenly became lush, filled with squares of eucalyptus and macadamia nut trees. Finally, we were flying over Volcanoes National Park. Most of the park is vast rainforest, but amongst this life we saw huge black gashes caused by recent lava flows. The most recent lava flow occurred a few months ago, and is still pouring out to the ocean through a lava tube. As the lava stream cools, it retreats from the surface and forms a red hot tube underground filled with fast flowing lava. I have walked through old and cold lava tubes, but I have never seen one in progress. As we flew over the top of the tube, we saw the white water vapour from recent rains, as well as the blue sulfur dioxide from the lava vents. Part of the roof of the tube had collapsed, and we were able to peer down and see a pool of red hot lava swirling below the crust. In other nearby spots, some of the lava was still on the surface, visible in intense red waves that contrasted the the blackness of the rest of the landscape.

We followed the lava tube for a few kilometers, until it reached the Pacific Ocean. There, it poured out into the water, with black eruptions emanating from the cliff, and a huge plume of white water vapour rising from the point of contact. Yellow sulphur formed a ring around the entry point, and the island of Hawai’i grew larger beneath us as we watched. We flew back to the helipad via some spectacular valleys and waterfalls, and we returned to our hotel safe and sound, with all our limbs intact, and our minds full of the images of lava swirling below us.

As we were walking back, we saw the heads of a turn of sea turtles bobbing in one of the coves, and after breakfast we returned with our snorkelling gear. Just a few meters from the shore we were able to float above them, watching them graze on the plants just below the surface, and elegantly glide together through the warm rays of the morning sun that pierced the water.

It is a magical place. Adrian and I spent two and a half hours hiking through the treetops of coastal redwoods, watching the chickadees, and spotting a chipmunk and a squirrel. We took the ocean view trail, heeding the disclaimer that the trees are now so high, the water is no longer visible. We only met one other person on the trail, and it was so still and peaceful, among these giant living beings that are centuries old. We have had such a busy month preparing for the move, that this day of peace was exactly what we needed. We even spotted a loveliness of ladybirds, clambering together to preserve warmth in the cool air.

To farewell the USA, we are spending three nights in San Francisco. We spent the first evening relaxing quietly, as I was still feeling quite sore. I had chicken noodle soup at a downtown diner, and then we went to see “Role Models” because of a cranky looking clip on The Daily Show. We laughed and enjoyed ourselves, and then headed back to our hotel at Union Square.

The next morning I woke up at 5:30 to find some oatmeal from Starbucks, and then we were picked up at 6:30 for our day trip to Yosemite National Park. Designated a World Heritage site in 1984, it is full of grand vistas. The sheer granite cliffs form huge valleys, laced with waterfalls above snow-dusted forests. We saw Bridalveil Falls, El Capitan, a 3 593 foot high granite monolith, and Half Dome, which was never a full dome.

After lunch (I had soup again), we went for an atmospheric walk through Tuolumne sequoia grove. As we were 6 000 feet up, the ground was lightly dusted with snow, and a thick fog enveloped us. The sequoias, the world’s largest living organism, emerged from the mist and towered above us. One fallen giant rested on its side, slowly returning to the soil. We watched a silver belly squirrel carefully pack its nuts into the ground, and spotted a parcel of deer scamper through the long grass.

For dinner I had mashed potatoes with gravy and yogurt. Returning to San Francisco, we stopped beside the Bay Bridge and admired its strings of light leading the way back into the city.

As I would like to learn French, the other working language of the UN, Montreal would mean my immersion would be quite deep. There are excellent French schools that are cheap, and Adrian’s job may help to cover this. Also, as English is the other official language (not Dutch like Belgium), I would only have to learn one new language, not two. It actually appears that it will be quite easy for me to find a job in Montreal. IRIC will pay for a head-hunter to find me an interview, taking most of the stress out of that worry.

In the afternoon, we were given a tour of the city by Robert Turgeon, the President of Heritage Montreal and Dinu Bumbaru, key advisor to UNESCO’s World Heritage. Adrian and I spoke of some of our favourite World Heritage moments – getting engaged in Dubrovnik, married in Banff, and recently visiting Kiev and Lviv in the Ukraine. The parks were beautiful – in summer serving as a venue for picnics and puppies, and in winter the pond becoming a huge ice-skating rink for the whole city. Although out of all the candidate cities it has the lowest number of days above freezing (58%), it also has the highest number of days without rain (61%). I am told that the winters are still bright, despite the cold. In our other cities the winters would be grey and rainy. The attitude of the locals seems to be that they survive the winter every year (all four metres of snow), and that’s enough.

We had dinner in Little Italy, savoring the food and admiring the huge farmers market bursting with fresh produce.

Adrian’s friend Sylvie, a fellow immunologist, very kindly hosted our visit. We were able to stay with her for the weekend and experience what it is like to be a scientist in Montréal with a family. We spent the day in Old Montreal with Sylvie and her two children, Valerie and Loïc. The weather was stunning, and I was able to soak up the atmosphere and enjoy the bustle of the “Just for Laughs” festival.  During summer, there are non-stop festivals. During winter, there is ice-skating and cross-country skiing, and numerous winter festivals. The family seems very happy here, the children already speaking French and quickly learning English.

In the afternoon we wandered through Plateau, and marvelled at the beautiful stone Victorian townhouses that are somehow in our price-range, due to the very low cost of living in Montréal. We could live in a vine-covered mini-castle, with wrought-iron frills, parapets and turrets, opposite an open park and metres from a metro station. Even many of the old churches are being converted into condominiums, and we could even live in a home with a spire. The low cost of stunning housing in Montreal is a definite plus.

On Sunday we watched Wall-E at a local Cinemaplex. The movies are shown in both English and French, one just chooses the appropriate session. Valerie and Loïc obliged me by joining us in the English session. It was a relaxing and enjoyable end to three days in Montreal, and we both realised that we could be very happy living in this town, and eventually becoming Canadian citizens.

However, despite appearances, Montréal is on the opposite side of the Atlantic to the rest of Europe. No quick trains to Paris or London, no long weekends in Spain or Amsterdam. There are direct flights to over 120 destinations (New York in 90 minutes), but on rails we could only reach Ottawa, Toronto, Quebec City, and Halifax. Do we want to share a border with the USA?

We saw two white-tailed deer, an elk, a very close Bighorn sheep, a pair of nesting Loons (which can only live in large still lakes since their solid bones require a long smooth runway to take off), an Osprey and a bald eagle, a pika and a few very cute Colombian ground squirrels.

In the afternoon we also went in and signed for our wedding licence, affirming that we understand that marriage does not make the other person your property, and that every person has the right to a marriage free of violence.

On Sunday our wedding day was suddenly here. Lydia had been hiccuping all day Saturday, but woke up on Sunday thankfully spasm free. In our room in the Fairmont Banff Springs, we had a romantic breakfast of Froot Loops and Frosted Flakes. Lydia got dressed in her ivory halter-neck dress and Adrian in his black suit and ivory tie. We picked up our flowers, and walked hand-in-hand down the lobby of the hotel.

Other guests at the castle would smile, applause and congratulate us as we passed them. One little girl asked her mother why Lydia was dressed like that, and she told her it was because Lydia was a princess. Lydia felt very royal in a beautiful gown in her very own castle.

We met our celebrant, witness, and photographer in the lobby, and proceeded down to the Bow Falls at the base of the hotel. We found a very picturesque spot on the shore of the river, and our celebrant conducted the ceremony that we had written ourselves. Lydia was nervous and excited, while Adrian was simply happy and excited. As we exchanged vows, we fell into each others eyes with love and adoration. Adrian gently took Lydia’s hand, and slipped on her wedding ring, and then Lydia did the same for her groom. The celebrant pronounced us husband and wife, and we celebrated the moment with a kiss.

We signed the paperwork, and we were officially married as husband and wife. Our celebrant presented us with a bottle of sparkling apple juice, and the newlyweds were toasted to a long and happy marriage. We fare-welled our celebrant and witness with hugs, smiled, and thanks.

Next, our photographer took us to some of the most beautiful places in the rockies, where we could stand together to celebrate a love that was both grand and majestic. We had a fun and romantic time, clambering upon rocks and over bridges to find the perfect backdrop for a kiss. Adrian gently held Lydia as she braved the boulders and cliffs in her wedding dress and shoes.

After we had traipsed through the wilderness, it was time for the bride and groom to return to their castle. We explored the nooks and crannies of the historic building together, embracing on marble staircases and in antique elevators, and running through grand ballrooms hand-in-hand.

Then, sadly, Lydia had to swap her long gown for a short white dress for their afternoon adventures, while Adrian exchanged his suit for jeans and a shirt. After a quick and delicious lunch, we caught our wildlife tour to Lake Louise and Lake Moraine. It was a magical afternoon, walking along aqua and sapphire lakes, watching golden mantled ground squirrels, chipmunks, Clarks nutcrackers, bald eagles, and ospreys.

On the trip back we even were lucky enough to see a mother black bear with three very cute baby cubs. We watched the tiny bears clamber up the meadows, though the wildflowers and over the logs. Lydia wanted to give them a big hug, but she wasn’t permitted out of the bus.

We were both filled with love and delight at being able to announce our love to the world. We returned to our hotel so that Lydia could dress up in her gown again, accompanied by her sharply dressed groom. We promenaded down to the Bow Valley restaurant and enjoyed a delicious dinner courtesy of some delightful old friends from Sydney.

We toasted to the next chapter in our life with some Canadian chardonnay, and finished up with a selection of cakes and some dessert wine sent to us by a generous couple from Louisiana we had met that day. We left the restaurant to the applause of the other patrons, and finished off our perfect weekend with a gentle stroll along Bow River.

Lydia:
I do solemnly declare that I do not know of any lawful impediment why I, Lydia [...] may not be joined in matrimony to Adrian [...].

Adrian:
I do solemnly declare that I do not know of any lawful impediment why I, Adrian [...] may not be joined in matrimony to Lydia [...].

Celebrant:
As no impediment was declared, I ask you Adrian;

Do you give to Lydia the love of your person, the comfort of your companionship, and the patience of your understanding? Do you share equally with her the necessities of life as they may be earned or enjoyed by yourself, and do you respect the dignity of her person? Do you offer yourself wholly and joyfully, and do you choose Lydia as the person with whom you will share your life?

Adrian:
I do

Celebrant:
Do you, Lydia, give to Adrian the love of your person, the comfort of your companionship, and the patience of your understanding? Do you share equally with him the necessities of life as they may be earned or enjoyed by yourself, and do you respect the dignity of his person? Do you offer yourself wholly and joyfully, and do you choose Lydia as the person with whom you will share your life?

Lydia:
I do

Celebrant:
Please turn to face each other and join your hands and repeat after me:

Adrian:
I call upon those persons present to witness that I Adrian [...] take you Lydia [...] to be my lawful wedded wife.
To grow with you and learn with you.
To cherish you for who you are.
To be a loving friend and equal partner in marriage.
To laugh with you and live life to the fullest with you.
You are my best friend, and you bring out the best in me.
You have brought me my greatest happiness.I love you dearly, completely and utterly.

Lydia:
I call upon those persons present to witness that I Lydia [...] take you Adrian [...] to be my lawful wedded husband.
To share hopes, thoughts and dreams
To communicate fully and fearlessly
You are an amazing and extraordinary person
You have my deepest friendship, respect, trust, confidence and love.
I give you my hand and my heart
as a sanctuary of warmth and peace
I ask you to share this world with me.

Celebrant:
May I have the rings please? Love is a circle of happiness, wonder, and delight. Let your rings be regarded as a symbol of the love you expressed today.

Adrian, Take Lydia’s ring and place it on the ring finger of her left hand.

Adrian:
Today I give this ring as my gift to you. Wear it and think of me and know that I love you.

Celebrant:
Lydia, take Adrian’s ring and place it on the ring finger of his right hand.

Lydia:
Today I give this ring as my gift to you. Wear it and think of me and know that I love you.

Celebrant:
Lydia and Adrian having shared your vows and exchanged these rings, now by the authority vested in me by the province of Alberta, I pronounce you husband and wife.

Stanford
I had always wanted to study at Stanford, and now I finally had the opportunity. Later on in the course, they even gave me an umbrella for coming the furthest to attend. My dorm-room was a very freshman experience, but the Advanced Course in Immunology was great. All the other students were really friendly, and didn’t form the impenetrable cliques that sometimes form at conferences. The good lecturers usually spent an hour or so going over the classic experiments in the field, and then the next couple of hours encouraging us to explore the unanswered questions that they were leaving to the next generation of researchers.

I had my post-doc interview at Stanford, and met some of the leading researchers there and heard about their unpublished work. Their offices are decorated with their own images on the covers of Cell and Nature, the department is full of exciting discoveries and inventions, however the working environment is very focussed on the individual.

I went on a walking tour of the university, and saw the Stanford Church and the main quad, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted who also planned NY Central Park. I also saw the large Rodin outdoor sculpture gallery, and the first Google computer in the basement of the William Gates Computer Science building. Mr and Mrs Stanford had created the university in honour of their son, Leland Stanford Junior. One of the conditions of the original founding grant was that tuition be free for all students. Obviously, this last condition no longer holds, and now undergraduates pay $38,000 a year to attend. The weather was amazing, and the ground squirrels very cute, but with San Francisco so far away and no on-campus housing for post-docs, I was told a car was almost compulsory.

Seattle
One final weekend in Seattle before returning to Australia. As I had caught a cold at my immunology course, Adrian and I had a relaxing weekend filled with naps and gentle activities. He took care of me, even walking to the store to buy me three different types of Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream to soothe my throat. We saw the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, found a bright apartment in Fremont with a stunning vista to rent, went to the movies, and treasured all the shared joys that we could squeeze in before I had to fly back to Australia.

That evening we watched Fantasmic! – a pyrotechnic and theatre show on the water, and then experienced the new Pirates of the Caribbean that now features several animatronic Johnny Depps. I had gone to Disneyland thirteen years ago to see the Haunted Mansion, only to find it closed for renovations, but this time it was open and I could experience its 999 happy haunts. Sleeping Beauty’s castle was very beautiful in the night, lit up in pink and blue from below.

The next morning we saw Disneyland in the daylight. Adrian was disappointed at the entrance – he was expecting something imposing and intimidating, rather than some flowers and a small plaque. I was feeling brave, having survived California ‘Screaming, so we headed towards Space Mountain. The first time I was so scared I could barely keep my eyes open, but I enjoyed it so much we repeated the experience straight away, and felt like a true astronaut, streaming through star fields and exploring the universe.

We also soared over London in a pirate ship on Peter Pan’s Flight – one of the original Disneyland rides from 50 years ago. We had fun picking the countries represented in It’s a Small World, and I saw Yetis when I rode the Matterhorn Bobsleds. We then wandered though Downtown Disney to watch Pirates of the Caribbean 2 in the excellent movie theatre with ultra-comfortable seating, crisp audio-visual, and, exclusively for me, perfect company. By this time I was feeling super-brave in my Tinkerbell mouse ears, and we experienced the Tower of Terror, which now makes me feel very nervous every time I catch an elevator. We both loved Disneyland so much, we are planning to visit again soon, so we can experience the other attractions and revisit our favourites.

The churches in Mexico were very shocking and disappointing. They are the same colour as the Mayan temples, which is not surprising, because the Spanish forced the Mayans to dismantle their own temples and rebuild them into churches. Every white limestone church I saw reminded me of another Mayan temple destroyed.

The food was amazing – fresh coconut and palm hearts, pineapple, banana, and watermelons. We ate plenty of tortillas and tacos, and the rice was also surprisingly tasty. It was delightful to be able to eat chocolate ice cream in the homeland of the cocoa plant.

From Merida we ventured west to Celestun, a small fishing village in the middle of a biosphere reserve, with tightly regulated seasons to permit renewable harvesting. Nearby is the Eco Pariso resort, set back from the beach to allow the sea turtles to hatch in peace. We stayed in one of a small handful of thatched huts overlooking the ocean, and could watch the sun set over the Caribbean from our lounge room.

Mexico was really beautiful, and I loved walking around saying “buenos dias” or “buonas noches” – the first time I actually got to speak a foreign language in a foreign country. I swam in the Caribbean, and was surprised to find the sea actually warm, which was a delightful indulgence. The bird life was amazing, and often Grey Pelicans would join us in the sea. Geckos invaded our thatched hut during the night, and made cute chirping noises, although later I found that these were feral geckos that were driving the native species out of inhabited areas. At first we thought that there were three different species of lizard in the area, however later we learnt that they were actually just the three distinct life stages of the Black Iguana, who must begin life emerald green to avoid being eaten by its elders.

We had an amazing guide who showed us the surrounding wildlife. We went on a boat cruise during the day to explore some of the wonders of the region. We saw a semi-petrified forest, complete with turkey vultures perching on the grey skeletal trunks. We went swimming in a freshwater spring in a hammock mangrove forest. We boated past thousands of bright pink Greater American Flamingos, feasting on crustaceans and mosquito larvae. Occasionally they would take flight in a very ungraceful fashion, their lanky legs running across the water as they built up speed. At night we went on an expedition to attempt to catch crocodiles for measurement and tagging, and watched our guide attempt to achieve this by jumping into the water and splashing through the mangroves whenever the eyes of a crocodile were revealed by a flashlight. Perhaps not surprisingly, no specimens were actually caught, although we did see a juvenile Morelett’s crocodile and a three-meter long American Crocodile, which was amazing. We battled storms of mosquitoes to find rare plants, and I even saw the tequila plant growing in the wild.

Our days at Celestun were very relaxing. Adrian and I share a love of siestas, and we were able to indulge in delicious food, warm swims in the ocean, unique wildlife, and afternoon naps. After my hectic past few weeks, I really appreciated the chance to wind-down, and get used to being Adrian’s girlfriend. This involves being constantly reminded how wonderful I am, and being surrounded by love, acceptance, joy, and romance. He is a fascinating person – gentle, creative, kind, and brilliant. I feel very lucky to be able to have him by my side as we share in so many amazing experiences.

We spent a day at Chichen Itza, which was astounding. The main temple, built in the later stages of development, towered over the rest of the complex, with the number of steps and crevices representing the Mayan calendar. The ball court was huge, with the large stone hoops staggeringly high up. The engravings on the sides of the walls, which I had only seen in books, were startling in their immediacy. The illustrations reflected the Toltec influence of curves and realism, lacking the heliographic writings of the traditional Maya. There were no names or dates on the carvings, but the message was clear. The two teams faced each other, and the captain of one team held the head of the opposing team’s captain. Nearby was a platform carved with skulls, where the skulls of the defeated captives were displayed to the rest of the town.

The sacred cenote of sacrifice was breathtaking. A deep jade colour well inside a huge limestone pit, with just the foundation of the temple remaining beside it. People, animals, and incense was thrown into the cenote to ask for rain, although most of the artefacts found are thought to be from one final cleansing ceremony when the city was finally abandoned. The items were deliberately broken, and the people turned away from a kingdom structure back to smaller individual farms.

The observatory was a surprise, as I was not expecting to see any circular buildings in Chichen Itza. The drinking cenote was black and still, hidden behind the lush green foliage that once covered the whole site before it was restored.

The original Maya buildings, built in the traditional manner, were one of the most fascinating areas of the complex. There was a two-tiered tower decorated with images of the big-nosed rain god, built facing north so that the sun would arc over it during the day. The ahou (God/king) would stand upon the top platform, performing his bloodletting rituals in front of the people gathered in the plaza below.

After a hot few hours in Chichen Itza, our guide drove us a short distance up the road to swim in the Ik Kil cenote. It was just magical – a limestone cave cenote filled with birds, waterfalls, and vines reaching all the way down the deep well. Stalactites hung from the ceiling, and Yucatan catfish swum calmly in the waters.

I had my first post-doc interviews, and everyone to which I talked said they loved living in Seattle. Giving my seminar was very intimidating, because even though it was an informal seminar in a small room, there was an amazing amount of expertise in the audience, including two of the keynote speakers from last year’s Australasian Society for Immunology conference. I was a little nervous, but I think that I gave a good talk, and everyone seemed very interested and asked lots of excellent questions. I had interviews with lab-heads, and received a written post-doc offer from my favourite PI, which was very flattering.

It was Canada Day, and it seemed like all of Victoria was out in red and white, waving flags and wearing endearingly silly hats. Saturday was spent eating, napping, and shopping. We admired the Parliament Buildings outlined by thousands of fairy lights and night, and watched the very bright fireworks with a huge crowd of locals. Often spontaneous renditions of “Oh, Canada” would spring from the gathering.

Sunday started with a whale watching trip, admiring the pods of orcas gently gliding though the water, and we even saw a new calf, J41, who we christened Juliet. Later on in the day we bought a baguette that I waved around to emphasise important points, ate mini melts that were twice as cold as regular ice-cream, and went to the museum learnt all about the dangers of global warming from a wise yet comical animated sheep.