20 July - Wednesday - Rocky Mountaineer Day 1 - Jasper to Quesnel

G'day All,

Today we said farewell to Samantha and Oliver bright and early at 5:30 am and headed to the train station to board the Rocky Mountaineer.

Carriage with a view.

This leg was from Jasper to Quesnel (with a silent 's') and took most of the day to do the trip. Along the way we saw severl townships including "Penny".

Penny Station

View along the train

Drink time.

Here is the dining car serving restaurant quality breakfasts and lunches

We arrived at Quesnel and did a quick tour of town before hitting the sack as it was another early rise to catch the train to the next stop, Whistler.

One of the landmarks of Quesnel

Some big wheels in town.

Quesnel also has some unique painted fire hydrants.

 
Next stop, Whistler.


Cheers
Gary and Penny

19 July - Tuesday - Lake Louise to Jasper

G'day All,

Today marks the last day of the Calgary to Jasper leg of the trip with Samantha and Oliver and there are a few sights to see; the edge of the world and Edith Cavell mountain glacier. A nice walk to Edith Cavell glacier with its small lake with icebergs.

Edith Cavell Glacier with iceberg lake at the bottom

Next we headed to a hidden (or at least unmarked) trail to a place called the edge of the world. The trail leads to the edge of a massive drop off with a view to Jasper city in the valley below. The edge just drops away to over 1000 feet below.

Edge of the world - a massive drop off overlooking Jasper in the distance.

After we got back there was enough time to put some washing on and try and get this blog updated. The internet was playing up so obviously that's why we ran out of time to update the blog. We did make time to get to the washing done and readied the luggage for the Rocky Mountaineer train trip tomorrow. At the last minute Oliver suggested a place to hopefully see some bears so he and I headed out, along the way we found several interesting photographic sites.

Medicine Lake - Jasper

The setting sun lit up the trees burnt in a forest fire, started by lightning in July 2015.

We went as far as the road could go, to Meligne Lake, without seeing a bear but about a quarter of the way home we saw some action about10 - 20 meters from the side of the road. A mother bear and her cub foraging for food.

The strength these bears have is amazing as this one tears through an old log.

. . . and the baby

Coming closer for a better look...

We spent about 30 mins watching them before the light had started to fad and the animals headed for the forest out of sight.

Cheers
Gary and Penny

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

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