Banff  and the magic of my winter wonderland     Our two days of pure indulgence had come to and end and we disembarked from the Rocky Mountaineer in Banff with more than a tinge of sadness. But how was I to know that the magic was only just beginning ! For what unfolded before our eyes over the next few days was so completely overwhelming, and so much more beautiful than I had ever imagined. As some of you will know, I am a country girl brought up in a world far removed from snow and ice and it was not until our trip to New Zealand that I had ever even seen snow from a distance.   So, picture the scene. I awoke on our first morning in Banff with Steve saying to me – “You’d better come and see whats outside the window “ Well, I don’t do mornings, but reluctantly climbed out of bed and went to the window. How can I describe it ? Everything was white over, the trees were heavy with snow, the mountains completely white and everything was an eerie quiet as the snow muffled all outside sounds and the snowflakes swirled against the window. We had had 6inches of snow overnight ! I don’t know how long I stood there, staring in wonder and amazement at this spectacular scene – it was beyond my wildest dream. The snow had taken out the hotels generator so the hotel had no power, so no breakfast could be cooked. No worries, I wanted to be outside, holding and feeling the snow was still so white and soft. We went outside where the roads where still covered and walked towards town to find a hotel with power, and breakfast. Steve was taking as many photos as possible before this all turned into a dream and I was able to plunge my hands into the soft snow and make my first real snowball which I threw at Steve as he tried to capture my childlike behaviour. Back at the hotel, the outside chairs on the balcony were heavy with snow and as the sky cleared, we could see this mystical panorama of white mountains and snow laded trees. I just stood and stared and stared knowing that I would probably never see such a sight again.   But soon came the practical realities of this dream. We had booked a hire car for the next week while we drove around the Rockies and on to Jasper. We knew that Canadians drive on the wrong side of the road and that the steering wheel is on the wrong side of the car and had mentally prepared for that. What we were not prepared for was practising these strange manouvers on snow and ice !!   However, Jess came to our rescue on her mobile phone with a stream of text message instructions on how to deal with this situation and this helped us get the car back to the hotel, where it stayed in the carpark, while we took a bus into town as the sun got warmer and the snow started to melt. By the next day, the roads were clear, so we drove around Banff and out to the gondola where Steve failed again to get me up in the air ! I waited below as he took of for the top of  Sulphur mountain !   I later saw the photos he had taken from the summit and wished that I had gone with him ! but, too late now. Maybe I’ll be brave enough when we get to Jasper to go up in the tramway ! (cablecar).       I had really hoped that we would be able to meet up with Ally in Banff, but the snow had made travelling more difficult and as she lives in Calgary which is in the opposite direction to Jasper, we reluctantly had to leave Banff and begin our journey along the Icefield Parkway with our first stop at Lake Louise.

I felt like a child in a story book, all about Christmas and the magic that comes with being in  a Winter Wonderland....that special feeling will never leave me....Thankyou Banff.....for making a dream come true!

I hope you all enjoy this segment of our journey as much as i enjoyed putting it together.

Much Happiness & Love to you all....Janice & Steve xxxxx

                             

                          We decided to explore as much as we could in a day, so Vancouver  here we come! Steve wanted to do one of  Vancouver's natural wonders- the "Capilano Suspension Bridge", on North Vancouver Island.....so have feet will travel, so off we went. After about 6 blocks, we stumbled across the ferry terminal, boy what  a terminal, Wow what a ferry.

Once at North Vancouver, we boarded a bus which took us on a scenic route to the "Capilano Suspension Bridge". The setting around the bridge was a reserve with many other activities for those like myself with no stomach for swinging through the air on lengths  of  rope !  Eco tours, Treetops Adventure,  Fish Feeding, Boardwalk Tour, plus activities for children.

Before leaving home I made myself a goal to conquer my fear of heights,  thinking along the lines of going up in a  chair lift to the top of a mountain, or as the Canadian's call them ( a tramway or gondola). Well after some enquiring at the entry gate and finding  that the suspension bridge was 230ft above ground level and sways to a great degree....MY GOAL SOON FLEW OUT OF THE WINDOW, for now.

Off Steve went to explore and relive his Mt. Everest trek, as he  traversed many a suspension bridge on that trek.

I in turn walked the area till I found this quaint coffee house, just looked like a house you would see in a Switzerland brochure....made out of logs, inside an open fire was roaring away.

This was just the place for me to sit and wait for Steve  ( who would be 1 1/2 hours )....while enjoying a couple of Roman coffee's, admiring the beautiful Tulips and stunning Magnolias !

So back to the ferry terminal. How good are you all at parking????? Both of us were totally amazed at the ferry driver's ability at parking this huge ferry into this small bay.

How cool is this!

Once off the ferry, I came to face my goal of conquering heights once more. Vancouver Tower stood towering before us. On top of which an observation floor was to give us a 360- degree's view of Vancouver.

Ok I can do this, into the elevator we go...being on the ground floor I didn't realise that the elevator went up the outside of the building, til we hit the first floor....oh suugggaaaarrrrr, I swiftly  turned to face the back of the elevator and buried my face into Steve's chest. On arriving  at the top, I could feel myself shaking, sweating and physically feeling sick..

Steve took some fantastic photo's of Vancouver, so my  fear of heights was still with me on returning to ground level.

The next day was to be the start of one of the highlights of the trip --- two days of luxury aboard the "The Rocky Mountaineer Train"  described as one of the most awesome train trips in the world. We splashed out  to travel "Gold Leaf" which would put us in the glass domed carriages with panoramic views, whilst being plied with free grog and beautifully served food. If this is how it's done in Canada ----- bring it on !

We arrived at Vancouver station to be met by the crew who would look after us for the next two days and we settled in to watch the suburbs of Vancouver pass by as we followed the Fraser river and its many spectacular bridges.

The cabin crew were fantastic, lead by a Burmese immigrant Canadian callled Thapper, who knew so much of the country's rich history and enthralled us with an inspiring commentary, full of anedotes and amusing stories. All this whilst his colleagues served us with drinks and meals to die for, as we sat spellbound at the every  changing scenery!

As a keen trainspotter from his schoolboy days, Steve was fascinated by the 2kms long Canadian Pacific freight trains that passed by on the other side of the river. Two huge diesel locomotives in front, two more in the middle and another two pushing from behind!

In order to make sure we missed nothing at night, the train stopped at "Kamloops" (greeted by the Canadian Mounties)

and were taken to a lodge on the outskirts of town where we spent the night.

At "Kamloops", the train splits into two, our train took the "Kicking Horse pass" route to "Banff", while the other section took the "Yellowhead" route to "Jasper".

The next day, as we climbed higher towards the Rocky Mountains, the scenery became more spectacular. From our glass dome seats we could watch the snow capped mountains pass by, as Thapper continued his stories about how the salmon spawn in the rivers and why this route was called "Kicking Horse".

The train is climbing steeply now and about to head into a marvel of railway engineering, called the spiral tunnel ! Here, the train goes into a tunnel which curves inside the mountain on its steep climb and emerges 15 minutes later high up above the track below.

Now we really know that we are in the Rockies, and heading on the last part of this incredible journey into Banff. Little did I know that the experiences of the past two days would be surpassed by what we were about to experience in Banff !

If you  are reading these last few words, I congratulate you for making it to the end of my very long blog...hehe! Reliving my memories our dream trip, with you all makes it all that much more special.

Much love to you all, Janice & Steve xxxxxx

 

Well our journey continued from Hawaii, flying with Northwest Airlines to Seattle a five and half hour flight. We understand that Airlines are in the business of making a profit by installing as many seats as they possibly can. Boarding the flight we soon realised what they mean calling it “cattle class”!   Me being 5ft 6ins tall, had a 2inch gap from my knees to the back of the seat in front, once seated. But low and behold it was a different story for Steve, who is 6ft 2ins, he couldn’t even manage to put his legs in behind the seat in front, thankfully he had a aisle seat and could put his legs out in the aisle, which you are not meant to do…. the crew took pity on him in allowing him to do so. Need-less to say Steve stood for most of the flight, while passengers slept as it was a night time flight. Our flight from Seattle to Vancouver Island was a short hop 45 minutes and on a much smaller plane, I believe this plane was designed to prepare you for Canadian weather, hehe. I am sure you all have heard  that saying “Teeth chattering from the cold”…well it was my feet chattering, it was freezing. From my window seat I caught a glimpse of snow on the mountains, my senses soared with expectation of seeing more, but alas it was not to be, it was raining and cloud cover so low visibility was zero. But nothing could dim our excitement at landing on Canadian soil - our dream holiday was to begin NOW! Going through customs was hilarious, asked if we were bringing food into the country to which I replied, Vegemite & Frogs, Vegemite was fine ( they knew all about Vegemite, sorry OB), but frogs brought a puzzled looked until I explained they were just chocolate frogs,( forgot to tell them about the caramello bears). We were allowed into the country. WE WERE FINALLY IN CANADA! On walking out of the airport to load our bags onto the bus which was to take us to our hotel, we knew we were in Canada. 0 degrees, raining, grey and gale force winds which nipped at your bones. We were ill prepared for these conditions, clothes wise our thoughts of buying all weather gear once in Canada was on the top of our list of priorities. The views on our drive to our hotel was limited to low clouds cover, down to just the tops of the trees, but what our eyes took in was pure beauty - so lush and green, the closer we got to the town of Victoria, flowers & cherry blossom trees as far as the eye could see. On arriving at “The Royal Scot Hotel” we were two weary travellers in need of a hearty breakfast and somewhere to lay our head. The hotel’s décor was very English and felt homely, and after indulging ourselves with a hearty breakfast, we slept till 2pm. In need of stretching our legs, we walked the short distance to the town centre,  past horsedrawn carriages, straight from Jane Eyre and down to the harbour and shopping centre. First priority was outfitting ourselves with arctic survival gear – just in case !   It was the end of the skiing season, so bargains were plentiful, so we both returned to the motel with warm and windproof jackets.   The next day was perfect ! warm sun and clear skies as our coach collected us for a tour of the island and a visit to the world famous Butchard gardens . The island was a picture of spring flowers and blossoms, beautiful English architecture and a most relaxed environment. We marvelled at the grandure of the Empress Hotel and of Parliament House, with a public car park on the other side of the road with one parking spot reserved for the Govenor ! - the rest for tourists and the government ministers and staff – first come first served !!   We parked next to the Governor’s car and made the Minister for Whatever find a spot further down !  Loved it !   The Butchard gardens were quite breathtaking !  ( Sunken Garden}  Starting with a disused quarry, long since abandoned, the gardens were designed and created by the Butchard family and opened to the public on their death. Covering many acres and incorporating many unique themes, the gardens were a mass of spectacular colour, we counted over 12 different colours of tulips which a team of gardeners change weekly as the seasons develop. We took so many photos, but could have taken so many  more. The Italian garden was just breath takingly beautiful..      When it was time to leave, the coach took us to the ferry terminal and the two hours trip to Vancouver, during which time we sat in the restaurant for dinner and watched the world drift by.   Another coach trip to downtown Vancouver, and the hopes for a good nights sleep ! Wrong !! We are used to sleeping with the windows open and lots of fresh air !   The windows were locked to prevent us escaping in the night, or plunging 20 floors to the ground if we happened to be sleepwalkers, or jumpers ! and so we could’nt breath, so neither could we sleep !!   We would have loved more time on Vancouver Island, it was so beautiful, and the wildlife so tame but tomorrow we will explore Vancouver and then, we leave on the “Rocky Mountaineer” the most spectacular train trip in the world ! Sending Love to All Janice & Steve xxxx      

 

Well it’s time!                             Have been putting this off, as I wanted a reminder of the wonderful moment I got to meet, Marg & Jess. But it’s time to delete our countdown clocks. How I don’t want to & wished it was just starting all over again. Though I know in my heart of hearts, that we will see each other again, in the not too distant future - That I know.  

 It is also time that I started down the road of annoying everyone, with  adventures & photos of our dream holiday.   It is now a month since our return home, yet in our minds eye, it only seemed like yesterday.   Steve & I   are still finding it a bit hard to feel settled being back home.

We started our holiday in Hawaii after a 9 hour flight from Sydney.What a pity that air travel is so traumatic these days! So unlike all of the travel brochures which glamorise this stressful activity. And what a shame that airport operators cannot design and position signs, which help you find your way, rather than help you get lost !  

  But we finally made it to Honolulu, only to find that they are trying to redesign their airport to be even worse than Sydney’s ! All they have to do is go to Singapore and copy Changi airport ! It is that simple. Instead we waited over an hour for our hotel transfer, as the bus got bogged down in airport road works !  

Waikiki beach is now just a tourist strip of T shirts and key ring shops, but it was nice to have a break in our journey, where Canada was our real destination.   So, we did the tourist thing and enjoyed this beautiful fountain on Waikiki Beach, after a long walk up & down Kalakaua Ave.     A couple of locals welcomed  Steve & me and at least reminded me of the birds I had left behind at home.     Whilst our mobile phones worked OK on global roaming, our 240v chargers did not seem to be compatible with 110v sockets ! We sought technical advice but it seems that we were the first Australians with mobile phones, ever to have visited Hawaii ! So much helpful advice, but so little result. !   In the end we just bought a two pin plug and stuck it in the wall socket- and it worked ! The battery charged, just a bit slower on the lower voltage ! Just part of the overseas travel experience !    This was Waikiki Beach before the crowds. Stopping in Hawaii was just to have a couple of days break before continuing on to Vancouver Island, Canada,which was another 7 hour flight, via Seattle. We enjoyed the rest but Honolulu was too commercialised for us & we both felt our dream holiday was not going to start till we arrived in Canada.   Love to all Janice This one i'm sneaking in of Steve enjoying a local?????? Please no-one tell him!