Former Shropshire Star reporter Rebecca Lawrence has moved to Moose Jaw, Canada, with fiance Simon, a pilot in the RAF who has been given a three-year placement with the Canadian Airforce.

Rebecca on her porch at home in Moose Jaw

Honestly, I have never seen such huge jars of peanut butter. Our trips to Walmart generally consist of us exclaiming over the size of everything. I have bought a huge bottle of shampoo, which will probably last me a year, for a bargain nine dollars.

But we gave the peanut butter a miss – especially with our wedding coming up in September.

We’re beginning to work out which supermarkets are best for which items. I liked Sobeys for cheese and meat while Canadian Superstore is very good on fruit and vegetables. It’s rather amazing that Moose Jaw, which has a population of around 32,000, has so many huge super stores.

Aside from the shopping, we’ve still exploring some of the many trails in Moose Jaw on our bikes as well as the parks, including Wakamow Valley and Connor Park.

Our car before the accident

I’m now a member of the library, so I’ve been taking out lots of books to sit and read in the sun on our terrace swing.

We had a relaxing time at Lake Difenbaker – about an hour and a half’s drive from Moose Jaw. We were able to sunbathe on the beach and have a picnic.

We went to Regina and tried out a restaurant called the Mediterranean Bistro, which served delicious fresh fish. We also visited the Imax Cinema in the city, which was an interesting experience.

We’ve taken up golf and had our first lesson in Moose Jaw last week.

My fiancé is a lot better than me but I’m practising on the driving range now. It’s a lovely sport to learn in the sunshine but I’m looking forward to trying out the ice-skating in the winter.

We’ve been invited to a couple of barbeques, which were a lot of fun in beautiful locations. The Canadians are very welcoming and made us feel like part of the family.

The weather has been beautifully hot the last few days – reaching about 33 degrees. We’ve started having the air conditioning on a couple of hours before bedtime to try and cool down a bit.

I had a bit of an accident with the car this week when a stone fell off a lorry and smashed the windscreen – hopefully we’ll have fixed it before we drive the six hours to Calgary on Friday for my fiancé to take part in a half iron-man contest.

We may stay a few extra days in the Rockies. I’m getting quite used to the long drives – and I’m looking forward to my Tim Horton’s coffee and Timbits (the holes cut out of donuts) when we stop half-way at Medicine Hat on the Alberta/Saskatchewan border.