Kylie Campbell-Clarke

Aussie Girl Columnist Kylie Campbell is an Australian writer and photographer exploring the Yukon. She has completely fall in love with this place and has decided to call it home. Kylie takes on freelance stories as well ranging from event coverage to business profiles.

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A pregnant woman exercising at home

A Northern Pregnancy

I had high expectations coming into the second trimester. I thought it would be like waking up from a bad dream …

A woman showing her 12-week pregnancy

 A Northern Pregnancy

So it’s official: I’m pregnant! Yep, the Aussie girl (who said and wrote, for years, that she would never have kids) is having a kid!

A woman and two dogs sit on a bech with a mountain bike nearby

The Yukon by Mountain Bike

Over 700 kilometres of trails, and growing every year. For most residents, it’s a short drive or bike to the mountain biking trails.

A woman on a mountain bike looking down at a dog who is looking back up at her

Biking With Dogs

What makes dogs great biking companions? They never complain, they always want to go with you and make you get outside.

Biking With Your Spouse

Mountain biking, like relationships require work. From the first date to the wedding day, you’re constantly learning how to be with someone.

Dining In The Dark

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to eat … without being able to see? Well, you can experience eating at a restaurant without being able to see! Yes, that’s right, your only senses would be touch, smell, taste and hearing.

Two women in period clothing beside a wagon

Try to escape (if you can)

Skagway plays host to a unique venue for their first-ever escape room. At 777 Alaska Street, you will spot an old White Pass train car that hosts the challenging puzzle.

Cat Camping

Cat Camping

Camping with a cat can be both rewarding. Howie the cat got his first taste of camping in the Yukon and made some memories along the way.

Becoming Canadian

Becoming a Canadian citizen means different things to different people. For Kylie Campbell-Clarke, it was a journey five years in the making.

Spring snow-ventures

The Thursday evening of the 2018 Easter long weekend was predicted to be perfect bluebird weather with warm temperatures. The snow had not been the best during the season, so it was time to come up with an adventure.

Moose sausages

A step by step to learn this moose sausage recipe to serve family and friends just in time for the fall season.

Feather adventures

It was 7 a.m. on a Sunday in late January. We put all the ski touring equipment in the car while trying to simultaneously keep the three dogs from escaping the vehicle. I introduced myself to Bryan, who I had just met in person for the first time after connecting on Facebook, and off we went …

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Discover the Okanagan

Part 3 of 3 – West Kelowna and Kelowna Breathtaking views, delicious food and delectable wines. The Okanagan is the top wine destination in the world, according to Huffington Post and I had to go find out how true it is. Day one and two where a blur of delectable foods, stunning views and copious amounts …

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Discover the Okanagan

Breathtaking views, delicious food and delectable wines. The Okanagan is the top wine destination in the world, according to Huffington Post and I had to go find out how true it is. Day one incorporated incredible views, delicious food and possibly too much wine in Naramata Bench, so the following day, we (Ryan and I) decided …

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Discover the Okanagan

Part 1 of 3 Breathtaking views, delicious food and delectable wines. The Okanagan is the top wine destination in the world, according to the Huffington Post, and I had to find out if they were right. My boyfriend Ryan and I took a long weekend to fly down with Air North to Kelowna, where we …

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Friends discover Yukon

Part 2 of 2: Showing the delights of why we choose to live in the middle of nowhere  Day 2 We awoke to a ferry horn blaring its arrival into the port. We went to Glacial Smoothies & Espresso for a delicious breakfast burrito to fuel us for the drive back to Whitehorse. On our …

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Friends discover Yukon

When you tell your friends and family that you’ve finally found the place you want to settle, they get a little excited. I mean, after living in London, Moscow, Dublin, Edinburgh, they figure it must be a truly vibrant city with access to the world. Or after living in the Austrian, French and Georgian alps, …

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Krank It Up

This month, Mt. McIntyre will host the new summer mountain bike festival, organized by the Contagious Mountain Bike Club (CMBC). Klondike Krankfest replaces CMBC’s previous summer event, 24 Hours of Light. Plans until late May anticipated a three-day weekend event that would feature many activities including a downhill mountain bike race, an enduro race, a …

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What it takes to be Canadian

What does it take to be Canadian?  I’ve been in this country two-and-a-half years. After 18 months of processing, I received my permanent residency on Jan. 5,  2019 and started the march towards citizenship. In 2021, I will be able to take my citizenship test and officially call myself Canadian. I was lucky. Being an …

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Women fight fire

Life after Ember Fire Academy Many ancient civilizations had a form of organized firefighting. The earliest recorded fire services was in Ancient Rome. Firefighting became more organized from the 18th century onwards. In 1818, Molly Williams, a New York City slave, was recorded as being the first female firefighter in the United States. In the …

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The dreaded ‘P’ word

Yes, that’s right, I’m going to write it. The “P” word.  That’s right. Period. (Not the little dot at the end of a sentence, but the one that affects half the population for most of their lives.) It’s funny how a word can make people cringe, even the sex it impacts directly. Why can’t we …

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Dimensions Tech Services

Dimensions Tech Services is a specialized company that mostly provides technical training to emergency services staff in the Yukon.

He builds them (and they are coming)

Tyler Nichol, originally from Dawson City, has been building parks since he was a kid on the Dawson Dome and has gone from gold miner to a nationally renowned park creator in Canada.

From the Punjab to the Yukon

Gurdeep Pandher was one of the first people I met when I moved to the Yukon. I walked into a Scottish country barn dance at the Old Fire Hall, in Whitehorse, and here was a guy in the remote North in his pagri, at an event, sitting and absorbing the dances and people.

Managing avalanche terrain

Eirik Sharp, owner and operator of The Sharp End: Mountain Adventures, with his extensive avalanche background, is bringing change to how the Yukon manages avalanche terrain.

Snow!

Thanks to snow-nerd scientists. Their lives revolve around snow and they couldn’t wait to “nerd-out” on the subject:

Fairweather Skis

The small town of Haines, Alaska, lies near 72 miles of glacier terrain and 15,000 feet below the icy summit of Mount Fairweather, which is the namesake of Fairweather Ski Works. Here is where a small hobbyist’s dream has become synonymous with the ski industry in southeast Alaska. Graham Kraft, 33 (from British Columbia), was …

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Oh Les Filles

Yukon Backcountry Skiing’s owner, Claude Vallier, introduces his two girls, Kiona and Heidi, to the world by making a movie of skiing the wild Yukon mountains. “I didn’t really want to make a movie, but after participating in other movies and TV shows, I wanted to show more what I want,” said Vallier. “People always …

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Keeping the trains on track

The famous White Pass & Yukon Route (WP&YR) Railway is a busy and beautiful journey through the White Pass of Alaska and the Yukon. Every year, as Alaska and the Yukon emerge from winter, so does the work to make sure these trains can carry tourists safely through avalanche paths and safely along the railway. …

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It’s ‘snowing’ at Sima!

Every October, Mount Sima starts snow production and welcomes hundreds of athletes from all over Canada for pre-season training in November. Whitehorse, Yukon, is the perfect location and climate to have early snow production to build the national-level freestyle park terrain and have runs open for athletes to practice ahead of the winter competition season. …

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Poetry Corner: Kylie Campbell

Submitted by Kylie Campbell I’m not much of a poet, but here’s something I wrote while on the trail, with a picture at the Chilkoot Pass summit, looking down towards Dyea. Standing atop the Golden steps, The scales far below my feet, The Chilkoot Pass. I’ve arrived. I’ve survived. The breeze sweeps coolly through the …

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Nude & Rude

The Nude & Rude Revue started with two best friends, Taylor Vidic and Cameron Brockett, and their love of performance art. Vidic, 25, was born and raised in Juneau, Alaska, and met Brockett during high school in Juneau. Brockett was born in Fairbanks, Alaska, and has lived in Colorado, Ketchikan and Kodiak before moving to …

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The Aussie Girl Guide to surviving Yukon winters

I first arrived in the Yukon on April 30, 2017—springtime. Throughout the summer, Yukoners would catch my accent and ask where I was from, to which I would reply, “Australia.” “Oh my, why would you move here?” they would say, as though they thought I had gotten lost on my way to Whistler. “Why would …

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Ten years in Whitehorse and ready to celebrate!

Born in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Antoinette GreenOliph came to Ontario at 13 years of age. She recalls that her family was the only black family in the neighbourhood and recollects the awkward questions and excluded feelings of growing up different. She fell in love with food at a young age. “I was …

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The Queer Songbook Orchestra

The Queer Songbook Orchestra is a Toronto-based 12-piece chamber pop ensemble making their Yukon debut on September 30. The group formed in 2014 and has been dedicated to exploring and elevating queer narrative in pop music. “I was at loose ends after several years freelancing in the indie pop music scene in Canada,” said Shaun …

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Yukon Ski Patrol

The Canadian Ski Patrol is a national organization is composed of more than 5,000 volunteers from coast to coast, in Canada, in 59 zones and nine divisions. The Yukon Ski Patrol is part of that non-profit organization providing a variety of services (not just ski patrol) year-round. What does a ski patroller do? The Yukon …

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Down, down, downhill at Mount Sima – Part 5 of 5

It’s Wednesday afternoon, the sun is warm and not a cloud in the sky as avid mountain bikers unload their bikes and prepare themselves for Mount Sima downhill riding. It’s my first time riding down what is described to me as a “downhill course.” This means that instead of the usual “cross-country” riding, where you …

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Time for Thai!

The longer I have lived in Whitehorse, the more I have grown to understand that Yukoners crave Thai food and many will drive to Skagway just to taste the delicacies it offers.

Catch ‘the Kraken’!

Catch the Kraken offers Alaskan saltwater charter fishing (targeting halibut), but other species include rockfish, cod, flounder, wolf fish, pollock and shark.

Learn to fly

Alkan Air offers the chance to try flying through their Discovery Flights. Alkan Air Flight School opened three years ago and Jenna Collee, chief flight instructor, said the Discovery Flights get people interested in flying.

The Perpetual Immigrant

Since I was 18 years old, I have been an immigrant 12 times. My entire adult life has been spent as a foreigner to those I live and work with. Always being different. Never quite fitting in.

Bicycle fun under the midnight sun

The Contagious Mountain Biking Club (CMBC) is hosting their annual 24 Hour of Light bike race. This is one of the last remaining 24-hour mountain-bike races in Canada, and it is the only 24-hour race in North America where no lights are allowed,

Learning how to ride and not die

It can be intimidating starting a new sport, especially one that is generally about riding downhill, on unpaved mountains, with perilous things like rocks and trees that don’t seem to move out of your way.

National Aboriginal Day

It’s the longest day of the year, and what better way to appreciate this new Canadian statutory holiday than to visit local First Nations and to be part of this national celebration and enjoy live music, artist demonstrations, traditional food, ceremonies and more.

Bike maintenance for idiots

I enjoyed hiking but wanted to explore more of the Yukon. It was a decision between a kayak for the rivers and a mountain bike for the mountains.

Enjoying a ‘Skagway Quickie’

Enjoy one of the brothel tours with the lovely and knowledgeable Madam Toler Skagway holds its quirky charms with its Klondike-themed buildings and summer staff dressed similar to the time period. It’s no different as you step inside the Red Onion Saloon. The blood-red walls, wooden furniture and old-time music gives the feeling of stepping …

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Indigenous Music Awards

2018 CBC Indigenous Music Awards

On May 18, the Indigenous Music Awards will return to Winnipeg with awards in 19 categories that honour music that has been created by First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples of Turtle Island.

Are you prepared to survive Yukon’s wilderness?

The Yukon is a pretty incredible place, but with so much wide, empty wilderness, few people and limited technology capacity in backcountry areas, it’s important to remember to prepare, plan and train before you venture out there.

Going green never looked so good

Fahrenheit Hair originally offered only hair services, but have recently expanded into further beauty services that include body sugaring, massage, threading, organic skincare and lash extensions.

Skagwegian Camping 101

Our American neighbours do things a little differently… I have not made the trip to mainland Alaska yet, but my experience of those oddballs and genuinely interesting characters that live in the tiny village of Skagway truly are one of a kind. Hiking and camping are certainly a great way to get out and explore …

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Party at the Hill

Since 1999, Simapalooza has become a yearly tradition for Yukoners to enjoy their local ski hill with a variety of events and prizes. Now in its 19th year, Simapalooza is bigger and better in anticipation for its 20th year anniversary next year.

Yukon spring sledding

As those cold, dark winter days start to fade like a bad memory, Yukoners emerge and many will dust off their snow machines, or sleds, in preparation for popular spring sledding.

Snow sculptures are snow cool…

Mount Sima’s snow guns, ready for action at Shipyards Park Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous has partnered with Air North, the City of Whitehorse, Days Inn, Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre and Shaw Direct to keep a favourite Rendezvous event. Fourteen years ago Whitehorse artist Don Watts, an internationally-renowned snow carver, started the International Snow Sculpting Challenge and …

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Dining with future queens

Enjoy two high-class afternoons with the Quest for the Crown Rendezvous Queen candidates   The Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous Quest for the Crown competition features opportunities for us to dress in gold rush era finery and spend a civilized afternoon visiting with the women hoping to be Queen: the Queen’s Tea and Social and the Queen’s …

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A royally good time

The Rendezvous event called Her Majesty’s Royal Feast is an elegant evening with a 5-course meal on Feb. 13 at the KDCC In its second year, Her Majesty’s Royal Feast was created to give the Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous Queen candidates a high class venue to deliver one of the most important components of the competition: …

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Skagway shenanigans

Early morning at 7 a.m. on Saturday, December 23 I began my journey to Skagway. The brisk Whitehorse temperatures of -27ºC would be a distant memory once I got to Alaska. I arrived to a balmy -6ºC in Skagway and I started the trek up to Upper Dewey Lakes on the steep snowless tracks, regretting …

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Helping the community climb to new heights

Chris Gishler, owner and operator of Equinox Adventures, has spent the last 15 years building and developing his outdoor adventure and education company as the Yukon has continued to grow. Back in 1999, Gishler arrived to Whitehorse in preparation for a Mount Logan trip in Kluane National Park, only to discover plane issues, which led …

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The magic of darkness

The weekend of January 26, 27 and 28 will see the Klondike Snowmobile Association journeying out on a group ride to Mount McIntyre and Fish Lake area to observe the night sky. The idea for the Aurora ride was hatched by James Connor, director at the Klondike Snowmobile Association, who also works at Air North. …

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The evolution of Icycle Sports

Icycle Sports started in the summer of 1998 by Patrick Plemel in his basement in Riverdale. In 1999 they opened their first location on Wood Street, then had multiple locations until 2006 when they moved to their current location on Quartz Road. Since its inception, it has undergone many changes, including a change in ownership. …

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From passion to success

It’s been 20 years since Thomas de Jager first discovered the Yukon. Today, he runs his successful business Yukon Wide Adventures that gives locals and tourists the opportunity to enjoy the Yukon’s outdoors. Thomas, originally from Monheim, Germany first came as a tourist through Alaska and the Yukon in 1996. His parents were avid kayakers …

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Yukon built entrepreneurs

Third generation, born-and-raised Yukoners, brothers Myles, 26 and Tanner Hougen, 24 have begun their own journey into the Yukon entrepreneurial market.

Filling the Void

For Patrick Jackson, the owner and operator of Changing Gear, it seems like only yesterday that he moved from Vancouver up to the Yukon, but 20 years later he’s still here using his experience and passion to run a successful store. Jackson started the sporting goods consignment store Changing Gear just over a year ago …

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A Memorable Night in a Red Caboose in the Forest

Choo-choo-choosing to camp in an old red caboose in the middle of the largest national forest in the United States was certainly very wet, but an experience I won’t forget. During a visit to Skagway over the May long weekend, I had taken the White Pass and Yukon Route train to the White Pass summit. …

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My Fresh Meat Trial

It’s been 20 years since I put on a pair of skates, so as I arrived at Elijah Smith Elementary School I was a little bit timid about trying roller derby for the first time. Having only seen one game back in Australia, and the movie Whip It, I began to wonder if this was …

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The Week that Was…

Once summer arrived, along with consistent plus 25 temperatures, it was time to enjoy some swimming, hiking and generally the beautiful weather in Yukon. (In the Yukon, if you see a single day of plus 20, there is a likelihood it will come to fruition, but a few days showing the same, you’re guaranteed good …

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Yukon Search and Rescue: The Basics

Yukon Search and Rescue (YSAR) is a volunteer-run organisation that provides ground and water search and rescue support for the territory. Prior to 2014 each community had their own search and rescue organization, but since then the amalgamation with one head administrative office in Whitehorse has allowed a better centralised support system for the territory. …

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The Week That Was…

The week began with my English friend finally making it with her CanaDream Camper – a one-month, one-woman journey from Calgary to Whitehorse. For the special occasion , to celebrate her arrival, we decided to head to Takhini Hot Springs; my first time. The boiling hot water is pleasant and it’s a pretty quiet Wednesday …

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An Epic Weekend of Hiking

The saying in Yukon is you only truly experience the Yukon when you get out in the wilderness, and those words are accurate beyond belief. From incredible hikes, to a free boat ride, to some refreshing beers and a Sunday afternoon Canadian barbecue… it was a busy, but great weekend! After a month in Whitehorse, …

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