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Traveling Mandy
Hi guys
We tried to upload some photos from our lake louise day trip yesterday and the computer stuffed up twice and we were tired and about to dissolve into tears, hence only a few pics.
Don't let that fool you that photos were not taken - we have 188 from today alone. We will have another go at uploading them, but probably not tonight - Amanda is not emotionally ready to face the process yet.
A few things of note about Banff - it stays light here really late - its about 1030pm before it gets really dark. So you are out and about thinking it about 5pm and its really 9pm. Weird. Also, Aussies EVERYWHERE - aparently it's nicknamed Banff-Australia. Also, given that we are at the start of the season it is mostly senior citizens so we feel very young and hip.
The cross-lights at traffic intersections have this thing where they count down so you can see how long you have before the light changes. Amanda loves it and will start a letter writing campagin when she gets home to get them introduced to Sydney.
The trip to lake louise was fantastic. The lake it an amazing blue colour which we learnt is a result of rock sand - really small particles of rock that reflect light and make the water look blue. We were told that the last ice had melted from the lake just a few days before and that it was the best day so far this season at the lake. We walked around the edge of the lake and managed to shake off most of the (fat, lazy, american or japanese) tourists and had a sublime moment sitting at the edge of the lake.
Today we went helihiking. Neither of us had been in a helicopter before so that was exciting in itself. Amanda sat in the front seat with the pilot and took 188 photos (some are just amazing so stay tuned for that). We went for a sightseeing tour over lakes and moutains for 25 minutes. We then landed on top of one of the mountains (literally). We were above the tree-line. We then zigzagged down the mountain to the valley, then back up to another site to get picked up by the helicopter. It took about 3 hours to do the walk - there was no trail and we were walking across bolders, through moutain streams and up the side of the mountain face.
The scenery was just amazing and there was a host of wildlife. In particualr were mermots, which are native to the area and live in the high moutains. They are kinda like a groundhog. The day before, our guide Kristie had only seen one or two as they were still in hibernation. Today must have been wake up day, as we saw heaps of them scurring around, kissing each other and preparing to mate (although we didnt see them actually shag). They dont often see people so are not worried about us and came really close. One little guy tried to drag one of our day packs away with his teeth (don't worry misha - it just got a few teeth marks).
We then got picked up by the helicopter and flown back to base.
A truely amazing day.
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