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From The President - Jan 2019

24 Jan 2019 5:19 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

On behalf of the Society’s Council and staff, I wish all RGSQ members a happy and successful New Year in good health and prosperity.

While many of you will have spent Christmas relaxing by the beach or at home in air-con, my family and I enjoyed a snowy white Christmas and greeted the New Year in Invermere, British Columbia in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Most days the temperature reached a maximum of minus 9 or 10 deg. C. but our “Airbnb” chalet was super warm with 2 log fires and central heating.

The small town of Invermere, 800km east of Vancouver in the Columbia River Valley, has an interesting history. It is the traditional territory of the Ktunaxa and Shuswap First Nations people. In 1890 European settlers named it Copper City because of the rich copper deposits in the surrounding East Kootenay and Purcell spectacular mountain ranges. Adjacent to Lake Windermere, the town’s name was changed in 1909 to Invermere (Gaelic for “mouth of the lake).

The lake freezes over in winter enabling people to enjoy skating, ice-hockey and the Canadian game of curling, a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice towards a target goal. In this photo the locals are having a “BBQ” in a tin brazier on the ice on a Sunday afternoon !

The Columbia River valley is famous for its hot springs. We took a dip in Radium Hot Spring, just north of Invermere. Relaxing in the 39deg.C spring water while snow falls from the surrounding trees is an unusual and delightful experience.

Vancouver in winter is very rainy but we had a few fine days and saw the sights of this beautiful Pacific coast city. Canada’s 2nd largest port, Vancouver has an efficient and very user-friendly public transport system – buses, trolley buses, trains and subways. Highlights of our visit included the Museum of Anthropology located on the spacious grounds of the University of British Columbia, Grouse Mountain cable car and ski resort only 45 minutes by Seabus across the harbour and then local bus, and Capilano Gorge and suspension bridge, where the Christmas lights turned the Capilano forest into a magical fairyland.

Photos: Iraphne Childs

Best wishes to all, and I look forward to seeing you at the next RGSQ lecture night.

Dr. Iraphne Childs, President


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The Royal Geographical Society of Queensland Ltd.
Level 1/28 Fortescue St, Spring Hill QLD 4000
info@rgsq.org.au  |  +61 7 3368 2066
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