I have had a fantastic 12 months – a truly amazing experience. Thank you so much for making this all possible. The school has been terrific – welcoming and supportive and my department has gone out of its way to make me feel at home.
Not everything went perfectly of course. But overall the professional side of my year has been highly successful.
We have had a lot of weekends away with Canmore being my second home. I was lucky to have access to a staff member's condo, and found the hostels on the Ice field parkway fantastic. We skiied, hiked and rode bikes all year round. In fact I rode my bike to school for almost the whole year just missing the February cold snap. I cross country skiied to work (about 5km) on one day which was something I had always wanted to do.
So classes have now finished and we have a week of exams. I am clearing out our house and saying my goodbyes but not farewell to Canada yet. We are spending the summer here. On Canada Day my wife and I start a bike trip to Whitefish Montana over about 12 days. Then we hope to get to Glacier National Park and ride Going to the Sun. Other plans are hiking in Lake O’Hara and also Mt Robson as well as canoeing in Saskatchewan before finally heading home at the end of August.
So things have gone really well. We can’t wait to get on the road but I will certainly miss my colleagues here at Lindsay Thurber. I hope some of them will come visit us in Australia. With four PE staff having done an exchange to Australia there are plenty of connections and shared experiences.
Peter Haynes exchanged to Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive School in Red Deer, Alberta from Radford College in Canberra. Peter's exchange partner was Jamie Siler