Kopje Beach

Every Saturday in various parks in Lake Country, an area just outside in Kelowna, there is a family day...games, bouncy castles, live music and other stuff.  So, Don and Judy asked us to go to the family day to be held at the beach nearest to their house.  Also, as an added bonus, the music was to be an Abba tribute act...what more could I ask for!  The beach turned out to be beautiful, playground, swims in the lake, soccer, the kids were in heaven, especially Lucy who had Judy's undivided attention for the day!  I was really looking forward to Abba, and so was bitterly disappointed to discover they were a couple of fat Kelowna housewives in silver platform boots and mini skirts, thinking they could sing like the legendary Anfridthingy and Annasomething else!  No matter, lots of dancing and beer helped with that!

We thought it was such a pretty place that we went back the following weekend with some Big Whiters!  Next to the beach there's a heritage house, and seeing as we were there, we thought we'd check it out, so....this'll make you laugh!  It's a house next to the lake, lived in by a family who emigrated from the U.K, bought the land, built a house, planted an orchard and raised a family there. The house is open to the public 2 days a week and is celebrated for it's history and age...guess when it was built...1912!!!

 View from the steps of the house...what a spot!

Hike to Ronda Lake

Ronda Lake sits at the bottom of the Cliff Chair, it's completely frozen in the winter but in the summer it's rumoured to be beautiful...and it was!

 And we even found some left over snow..in August!

 So, on the right of this photo is The Cliff, you can just see the chair lift, and on the left is The Easter Shoots...great skiing through those trees, so Charlie and I hiked up for a look!

 The water was freezing!

In the gully at the top of The Shoots.

Sicamous

We were invited to go to Sicamous with a family from school who have a holiday house there.  We had a whole load of fun, messing around on their boat!  The lake there is massive, a huge H shape with 600 miles of coastline and with the temperature of the lake at a steady 78 degrees centigrade, even I didn't mind going in!

 Charlie's hair after tubing...hours of entertainment looking at that!!

 Who's the dude driving the boat?

 The goods trains go through Sicamous ALL the time!  This one was 130 carriages long!  Ned counted!!

Kelowna Mountain

We heard about Kelowna mountain from Lucy's teacher who had been there the week before, so we decided we'd go and investigate.  The visionary behind the project has bought 640 acres of land that was burnt during the fire of 2003.  He intends to set up a ski resort, winery, housing and golf course with the intention of turning the black landscape green again.  I tell you if he pulls it off it will be an amazing achievement, however, rumour has it, it's a lame duck as he has failed to get permission from the authorities and has no amenities in place, no sewage, water or electricity.  Not deterred by this he has sold many real estate plots (what I believe has financed the project so far) and has installed a chair lift and built a series of amazing suspension bridges, reputedly the longest in North America.  So, The Carrs and the children's school buddies, The Brunts, went for a butchers after soccer one day, hence the rather bright yellow shirts. Minus Jamie who didn't even get onto the first bridge!!!  Check it out at kelownamountain.com

 Slightly dodgy workmanship!

 View over the city.