The Big Adventure: May and June update

As promised, here is our highlights of May and June.

At the end of April Trevor and Priscilla's boat 'Water Rats' went into the water at the Outer Harbour Marina and a few days later we moved in! The boat became our home for the next couple of months. The boat is 35ft long and has two bedrooms, a kitchen diner and living room. It wasn't much smaller than our house in Padfield! We loved living on the boat, although the first couple of weeks when the rain came down, were quite testing.

Kate started work with Kobo, an eBook company in the west of the city, at the beginning of May. Not long afterwards David started work for High-Road Communications - a PR company in the heart of downtown Toronto. The journey to work started with a 2 mile cycle ride to the Streetcar (tram). This did not amuse Kate at first, but after a couple of days of aching muscles and sore bums, we both started to enjoy the ride! We even took to cycling for fun at the weekends!

Water Rats

One of our bike rides took us out to Tommy Tomspon park which is a peninsular that runs parallel to the city with the marina sandwiched in between. Had it been a clearer day we would have been able to see the US at the other side of the lake!

The Marina and downtown Toronto from Tommy Tompson Park

Whilst on the boat, we encountered a fair few thunder storms which are actually pretty cool experienced on a boat! Neither of us had ever seen a storm like the one below. The thunder boomed across the sky and the lightening flashed for nearly an hour before the storm actually hit the marina!

Epic storm

Just as the rain started

At the end of May we took a break from flat hunting and took part in Doors Open Toronto where we got to go into places which are normally closed to the public. We started with a tour of Corus Quay, a new media centre at the water front before heading to the Harbour Comission, the old Roundhouse, the Campbell House, Old City Hall and the Gooderham building. For more details see http://wx.toronto.ca/inter/culture/doorsopen2011.nsf/BuildingsAll?OpenView

The Harbour Comission

Gooderham Building

On June 5th, David turned 30! We celebrated the onset of old age with a Mexican meal out on Queen Street West and a comedy club on the Friday night. Below is a picture of David wearing his 'reality vision' glasses and enjoying some local wheat beer at the comedy club.

David @ the comedy club

On the day of his birthday we took and trip to the Toronto Islands. We took our borrowed bright pink mountain bikes over to the Islands and had a lot of fun exploring and lapping up the sun. The views were stunning and the ice-cream was tasty!

Downtown Toronto from the Toronto Islands

Birthday Muffins!

At the end of June we decided to be proper tourists and we took a day trip to Niagara falls by Greyhound. We went on the Maid of the Mist, walked behind the Horseshoe Falls and had a lovely Italian meal in Niagara. We also walked over Rainbow Bridge into the US and took a walk along the cliff edge on the US side. It was a great day & we had a lot of fun.