18 July - Monday - Lake Louise to Jasper

G'day All,

Today we left Lake Louise and packed up for two days in Jasper. This is the last leg of the trip with Samantha and Oliver before we catch the Rocky Mountaineer train across to Vancouver.

On the way to Jasper we dropped in on a few scenic places along the highway and pulled in for look at Peyto lake before doing the Columbian Icefields glacier tour.

Peyto lake

The icefields are about 200km north of Lake Louise and 100km south of Jasper. We had pre-booked tickets but not a tour time and although we arrived around midday it was a mad house at the booking desk and it was a two and a half hour wait before our tour would depart. So we had a bit of lunch before heading up to stand in line for the tour. Met a couple of Aussie tour guides while waiting to board the coach and had a nice chat. The coaches take you out to edge of the ice field where you jump onto the heavy duty ice buses that take you out onto the glacier.

The Ice Bus

 Just as we were about to head down to the glacier the driver informed us that there was going to be a bit of a delay due to one of the vehicles losing some oil which required a clean up before tours could recommence. 30 mins later we headed off, the descent to the glacier is about on par with some of America's steepest, so another 'exciting' moment for Penny ;-) Had a wander over the glacier and learnt a bit along the way, also filled up our water bottles and camel backs with the purest water ever.

Standing on the glcier

Looking up the glacier

From the glacier the tour dropped us off at the skywalk, a viewing platform that juts out from the mountain over a huge void. To make the skywalk even more attractive the floor is made of glass. And Penny thought all the height activities were finished with! 

The Skybridge

Looking through the floor to the valley floor 1500 ft below

To her credit Penny put her fears behind her and walked the entire length of the glass bottomed platform and even managed to take a few photos while at it. By about 5 pm we finished the tour and headed to Jasper to catch up with Samantha and Oliver as they left us to do the tour and went on ahead as they had previously done the glacier tour.

Accommodation was at the Bear Hill Lodge in Jasper and it has become obvious that the peak season in Canada is Summer and you pay a premium for the privilege of needing a roof over your head during the peak period. Might look at trying to do the next visit closer to the off season :-)

Cheers
Gary and Penny

17 July - Sunday - Lake Louise & Banff Revisited

G'day All,

Since the weather has cleared up a bit we decided to head back to Lake Louise and Banff today to see the lake in better lighting and use the voucher to do the Banff Gondola ride. Definitely much nicer in the sunshine and a nice hike around the lake.

Lake Louise - Looking from Fairmont

The Fairmont Lake Louise

Next it was back to Banff to jump on the Gondola and it was an impressive view from the very top.

Penny did very well up and down in the gondola as it is a very steep ride and very high. Not sure she wants to do too many more high altitude activities lol :-)

Banff Gondola - Going Up.

View from the top.

Safely at the top,

As we were leaving Banff there was some commotion just past an intersection which turned out to be everybody taking a look at a group of three elk not more than 10 metres from the road. This guy walked straight towards me and was abut 5 metres away before he decided to turn away.

An Elk watches me closely

On the return trip to Lake Louise we did a side hike to Johnston Canyon upper and lower falls.

Johnston Lower Falls

Johnston Upper Falls

A big day for my Garmin step tracker with almost 18km racked up buy the end of the day.

Cheers
Gary and Penny

16 July - Saturday - Banff to Lake Louise

G'day All,
The day started off wet, wet, wet but undeterred we headed for Lake Louise and the iconic Fairmont Hotel.

Lake Louise from a very wet camera.

Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise through the rain.

We did walk the trail around the lake and back but were all dripping wet by the end of the morning so it was a safe bet to call it a day and check into the Lake Louise Inn. Nice digs and self contained. Did a quick walk around and found a mini city of ground squirrels and a red squirrel posing for some happy snaps.

Ground Squirrel on guard duty.

Red Squirrel snacking.

After the small hike around Lake Louise I realised my shoes were soaked and went to look for my hiking boots for the next few days of hiking and realised I had left them in the mud cupboard at Samantha and Oliver's house. Road trip time for me and Oliver to head back to Calgary (3 hr round trip) to pick up my boots as I really needed them for the hikes to come and also to get for some other odds and ends that Samantha and Oliver thought would also come in handy. All went well and with the sun setting well after 9 pm it was daylight travel all the way.

One of the four nature path bridges between Calgary and Lake Louise

Still a lot of low cloud and ran about.

The weather looks like its due to clear up so a few hikes in order for the next couple of days.

Cheers
Gary and Penny

Preparing for Canada

It is early days yet as we don't officially depart Australia until the 01 July 2016, but time stops still for nobody and it won't be long before it's upon us.

The tickets are booked and the itinerary is starting to take shape. We'll be flying with Air Canada as they now fly direct and non-stop from Brisbane, Australia to Vancouver, Canada taking about 13.5 hours. Not a bad run really, well for me at least, as Penny is not that fussed on flying :-)

Once we hit Vancouver we'll have an hour or so before catching a connecting flight to Toronto before settling down there for a couple of days. From there it's off to Niagara Falls to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary for a few days before flying to Calgary to meet up with our eldest Samantha and her better half Oliver.

A couple of weeks in Calgary to meet some new friends and take in the Calgary Stampede, Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper before we head out on the next leg of the journey.

From Jasper its time to relax on the Rocky Mountaineer through Quesnel and on to Whistler and Vancouver. From here we hook up with Holland America cruises to head north to Alaska. Seven fun filled days of cruising on the ms Nieuw Amsterdam up the inside passage to Tracy Arm Inlet and back via Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay and Ketchikan before returning to Vancouver.

From Vancouver its off to Victoria for a couple of days before returning once again to Vancouver to spend the last couple of days in the city before finishing up the vacation. It's a midnight flight from Vancouver back to Brisbane, losing a day to the international date line and ending 5 weeks of fun and frivolity.

The aim will be to update this blog frequently throughout the trip to keep you up to date on the activities, fun times and I guess all those events that will make the trip one to remember.

So for now, it's time to sign off, finalise the itinerary and secure those bookings, until we get a little closer to the departure date.

P.S. All the bookings mostly done and the tickets, itinerary and paperwork picked up, a big thanks to Samantha at Booval Flight Centre for her insight, enthusiasm and great communication in assisting us with the planning for the trip. :-)

Cheers
Gary and Penny