THE ROCKIES AND BEYOND…

First things first, apologies for the lateness of this post which I hope you have all been eagerly awaiting…it's partly because of the hectic past week and a half I have had, but mainly because of the amount of drunken nights I have had and consequently the amount of hangovers I have had to deal with, corrupting my creative juices, which I need to entertain you all whilst writing this blog.

So, last time I left you I was in rain-soaked Montreal, and having spent 3 nights there, in rubbish hostels sleeping on uncomfortable and noisy airbeds I was quite glad to see the back of it and jump on a plane to Calgary, where as it turned out I would have to end up sleeping in the airport overnight, in a quiet little corner of the arrivals lounge as I missed the last shuttle bus to Banff, my next destination on my World Tour. So arriving in Banff the next morning after little sleep and my iPod the only thing keeping me going, I checked in to my hostel, a great little lodge, half way up Table Mountain. Banff is a great little town with a combination of hot springs (which I didn't get the chance to visit unfortunately) and epic mountains. Right next door are Banff and Jasper National parks and it is not that uncommon to see an array of wildlife and quite frequently groups of deer strolled casually along the road whilst I was there. In fact, in 2001, a grizzly bear apparently walked right down the Banff Av. the main street in the town. So after checking out a few of the smaller trails, and walking along the rivers edge amidst spectacular scenery, I felt ready to jump onto the Moose Tour I had booked onto, for what would be the best, and most drunken 5 days of my trip so far.

For those of you wondering what a Moose Tour actually is I'll give you a brief idea now. The Moose Travel Network is Canada's premier jump-on jump-off adventure travel system for backpackers, students and the young at heart. It offers a range of tours across the country and it gives you the chance to see parts of Canada with the aid of your bus driver/tour guide, otherwise hard to see by yourself and in the process meet a load of like minded people, make some new friends and share the experience together.

After the fire alarm going off in the middle of the night and a 30 minute wait outside in -5 degree temperature it was an early 8am start, where I jumped-on a tour which had been running for the previous 3 days from Vancouver. Being the only new arrival I was quickly welcomed into the group and within 1 minute was handed a bottle of cider by two Aussies (Toby and Jill), and as you can probably guess, the rest of the day, and in truth, the rest of the tour continued in that fashion. We did though get the opportunity to see, some of the most breathtaking scenery in the world to date. A short drive from Banff up to Lake Louise was our first stop, where we were met with snowfall and grey skies. Unfortunate because, Lake Louise is the most photographed lake in Canada, and arguably the world! But with no clear blue sky and shining sun to make the glacier fed water so blue, it looked rather ordinary. This, however was the start of the Icefields Parkway, probably the most incredible drive along winding and twisting roads anyone could take through the Rocky Mountains. With towering peaks, unspoiled rivers, massive sheets of glacial ice, ever abundant wildlife, the bluest lakes you will ever see (when sunny), gushing waterfalls…the Icefields Parkway stretching from lake Louise to South Jasper has it all! Along the way we visited Columbia Icefield and climbed Athabasca Glacier amidst a blizzard and -10 degree temperatures, Mistaya Canyon, a unique limestone canyon showcasing erosion caused by the fast flowing Mistaya River and Maligne Canyon, where we took an interesting and relaxing end of day hike. On arrival in Jasper we stayed in a rustic hostel, with no running water and the threat of bears attacking us in the night. But, after after a group meal and a few drinking games later we had survived the evening and the next morning we headed back down the Icefields Parkway, back down towards Banff, where on day 2 we visited Athabasca Falls, supposedly the most impressive waterfall in the Rockies, Peyto Lake, another glacier fed lake of the Rockies, and with the sun shining down on it and the clear blue sky above was the highlight of my trip. The single most beautiful and spectacular thing I have ever seen! On return to Banff, we did stop again at Lake Louise, but we just missed the 'Money Shot' as the sun had crept behind the mountains and only half the lake was showing its natural beauty.

With most people hoping off the bus in Banff, we sampled the town's nightlife and in the process all got pretty hammered, but for the few of us that were staying on until Vancouver, we had a 7.30am rise and a very sore head to accompany it. Luckily, 'The Back Seat Bandits' as we fittingly named ourselves, remained, and so did our drinking habits, but with only 6 people now on the bus we were able to stretch our legs and nurse our hangovers. Day 3 saw us head from Banff to Revelstoke and along the way we stopped at Johnston Canyon, which had an awesome waterfall through a cave at the end, a Wolf Sanctuary, where my perspective on Wolves was completely changed and finally arrival at our home for the night which came with its very own hot-tub and needless to say we took full advantage, drinking into the early hours and watching the stars light up the sky. Day 4 saw us make the trip from Revelstoke to Kelowana, where we stopped for lunch at Kalamalka Lake, a turquoise beauty, stretching over 100km and voted one of the Top 3 Lakes in the World by National Geographic. Later that day we sampled some local organic wine at the Summerhill Organic Winery, where they store their win in a Pyramid before driving over Kelowna's floating bridge…floating because divers haven't actually found the bottom of the Okanagan Lake yet and legend has it that mythical monsters lurk beneath in its murky waters. That night was our last together, so we cooked a curry and carved pumpkins before starting the last leg of our journey the next morning over to Vancouver. On the way we visited Othello Tunnels, Kawkawa Lake and finally the arcade where we also played Mini-Golf and hit a few balls in the baseball cage. On arrival into Vancouver we all went our separate ways to where ever we were staying and I still remain in Vancouver now, 6 days later but plan to head down to Seattle on Wednesday as i can't get a bed tomorrow night, probably because its election night.

Whilst staying in Vancouver the longest out of anywhere so far, I have done relatively little touristy things. A few of us from the tour cycled around Stanley park and I had a great night out on Halloween (dressed as Rambo) with Toby and Larissa from the Tour and again a very drunken night last night with a few others from the Tour (Toby, Jill, Caroline, Dianne, Jane, and Patrick), however a lot of my week has been taken up with dealing with my stolen iPod and having to buy a replacement camera after sitting on my existing one whilst the lens was up!

I look forward to telling you all about my next adventures...until then look after yourselves!