Driving

We have found out just how big Canada really is in the last week and a half. It turns out that just because something looks small on a map, it isn't necessarily that way in real life. We've been driving a lot, but we're seeing some beautiful places.

After crossing the plains, we have arrived at the Lake Superior region. Our drive from Thunder Bay towards Ottawa has meant that we are able to see the lake as we go - although not always as clearly as we'd hoped! It is truly enormous - all you can see is the horizon when you look across it!

We have seen some beautiful sunsets over the last few days, as shown in our piccies.

The highlight for both Dave and Mel in the last few days has definitely been our moose sightings. We've seen three, all by the side of the road, but haven't been able to take any pictures yet. Hopefully the Algonquin Provincial Park will give us an opportunity to photograph these amazing creatures. And also to say 'moose' again... Mel Mel likes that word. Other animals spotted include a bison, hummingbirds, porcupines and skunks (although we're yet to see a living version of these last two).

Crossing the plains

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Say it three times. Out loud. Go on, you want to. That's where we are holing up for the night tonight, as we speed (kind of) across the Canadian plains from the west to the east of the country. The skies are huge here - you can see for dozens of kilometres, it's kinda cool.
We visited the Edmonton Mall yesterday, once the largest shopping centre in the world. It has an area with huge rollercoasters in it, and another area with a wave pool! Still a shopping centre at it's core though....

Calgary Stampede

The view of Banff from the top of Sulfer Mountain

Dave and Mel have spent the last three days in Calgary and it has been a blast!! We were lucky enough to be able to organise our days here so that they fell over the period of the Calgary Stampede, which is the 'Biggest Outdoor Show on Earth'. It's very similar to the Easter Show, except that the main shows are the rodeo and the chuck-wagon races. The local cowboys come out and strut their stuff in the arena, and there are thousands of dollars of prize money to be won.

Some cowgirl with her recycling wagon


Calgary comes alive during Stampede. All of the locals dress in their cowboy gear - hats, boots, belt buckles - the whole nine yards! It sounds tawdry, and it sometimes is, but mostly it's just a lot of fun and a great experience. Needless to say, Mel felt the need to fit it by buying a cowboy hat. She wore it everyday, everywhere!

The Stampede itself was very energetic. We went on the lamest ride that we could find - the chair swings. Some of the others nearly made Dave vomit just by looking at them. Unfortunately for both Dave and Mel, it went a lot higher, a lot faster, and had some kind of strange dropping moment at the height of your swing.



The chuck wagon races. In the past they had to light a fire after completing the circuit of the track to actually win.


There was a really great evening show after the chuck-wagon races: The Big Show. It had amazing singers and dancers, along with some very timely fireworks throughout. Dave's favourite part were the stunt motorbike riders, who defied death by leaping over ramps and doing tricks, occasionally letting go of the motorbike or completing 360s. Very cool.

We were also lucky enough to meet up with our friend Carl. He showed us a great time on Friday night, explaining the road rules we didn't yet understand (like etiquette at four-way stop signs), and which beers were the best. We like pints!



The colourful spectacle of the Indian powwow at the Indian Village at the Stampede. Even a few Mounties got in there and shuffled around!

On Sunday we all attended a baseball game. Here's the situation: it's the bottom of the ninth and the game is tied. The home team is up to bat, 8-8 after being down 6-0. Bases are loaded, three balls, two outs, two strikes. It's all down to this one hit. The crowd are on their feet clapping and chanting as the pitcher winds up. And then.... they win! Considering this was a third rate professional game, it couldn't have been any better. We now need never see another baseball game again!

Thanks to Carl and his friends for being so welcoming to us here in Calgary. We had an amazing time! Thanks also to Treeva who took us on a great walk and showed us the north of Calgary.

The photo at the top of the post is from our last day in the Rockies. Dave climbed to the top of Sulfer mountain, a 550 metre ascent but the view made it totally worth it. We also had another dip in some hot springs at Banff.

We are now heading out to the plains. We have at least a week of driving to cover 2,500km of road, where apparently you cheer if there is a curve or hill in the road.

Rampart Creek Campground - Top 2 in the World!

We've just arrived in the town of Banff and it has welcomed us by being exceedingly cold and wet. Never mind, we had a stellar day yesterday which makes up for this.

We drove from a gorgeous campsite, Rampart Creek, the second best in the world according to Dave (after Yadboro Flat, Morton National Park, Aus). We were right on a beautiful river surrounded by towering mountains. One mountain had about ten small waterfalls dropping about 100 metres. It was incredibly peaceful.
'Our' chopper

The day began with a helicopter ride over the Cline Pass! We flew past three glaciers and were able to see lots of alpine lakes and also a waterfall. We were going nearly 200km per hour in the helicopter, but it felt almost as if we were hovering! Needless to say we took masses of photos, trying to capture as much of the vista as possible. The geography of the terrain was amazing. There were different types of mountains (some that looked like castles, some that looked like the teeth of predators), and even evidence of the glacial forces which created them etched into the sides of some.

Somewhere in the air above the Rockies.

Our ride was shared by a brother and sister from Red Deer, Alberta. They were great fun and even invited us back to their campsite to hang out for a bit. When they say that Canadians are nice, they meant these two. We were even sent on our way with two difficult-to-obtain Bud Lime Lights. Apparently Canadians are crazy for this beer, and it sells out within hours of hitting the stores!

We then crossed over the Bow Pass, and were able to walk up to a viewing point which afforded us an amazing vista of Peyto Lake and the glacier which sits above it. This was gorgeous - definitely one of the most beautiful places we have stopped thus far (right).

Our final destination for the day was Lake Louise. Dave and Mel decided to walk around the lake and then up to the Six Glacier Plains - starting the walk at 5pm!! Needless to say, we didn't have too much company on the way down.

This walk moved through several different types of vegetation and scenery before eventually arriving at the base of the glaciers. We were very moved by the imposing nature of the mountains and the glaciers themselves. We were even blessed to see a beautiful rainbow on the way up, after a light rain.

Doesn't get much better than this.

As we neared the end of our walk we heard several avalanches in the surrounding mountains (one sounded like a crack of thunder). Whilst standing adjacent to one of the glaciers we heard a massive crack as the ice below us (not directly of course!), shifted. It was a thrilling experience, but a little bit scary too!


A beautiful scene in the Rockies - not sure where, but somewhere along the Icefields Parkway.

Mountain view at sunset (about 10pm)





We are right in the Rockies now! A couple of days ago we stayed at an 'overflow' campground, as all the other campgrounds were full (busy season). It ended up being great, because as it was so open it had a 360 degree panoramic view of the surrounding mountains. The light lasted until about 11pm, so it was a top place to stop for the night.
We have had a few issues with the campervan. It needed two new front tyres which were close to exploding, and we've had a few coolant spills so we are having it checked out at a mechanics. When it gets the all clear we will be driving the 400km Icefields Parkway!We saw our first wild bear. Hurrah! S/he was grazing along the side of the road, thus our obscured picture. He did a little pounce at something in the moments we were there, quite cute indeed as he was a little fella. We also saw a mountain sheep.
We visited the Miette Hot Springs. They were hot, about 40 degrees, and it was very relaxing immersing ourselves. We even plunged into the cold plunge pools (Mel's record = 3 seconds).

Beginning of the Rockies

The most beautiful part of our drive across Canada is just about to begin. We have entered the Rocky Mountains and already the scenery is breath-taking. The picture above is of Mel in front of Mount Robson, the highest peak in the Rocky Mountains. We were lucky enough to be able to camp at a site located at the base of the mountain, affording us some pretty amazing views.

We attended a very informative and amusing talk at the Robson campground: Put on Your Bear Goggles. Crystal, the lovely park naturalist who held the talk, gave us some much needed information on how to differentiate between grizzly bears and black bears. We now know when to back away, when to play dead, and apparently that we need to say “Whoa bear” to both of them. Bears understand English??

At the moment we are in Jasper and are going to head out to some hot springs. They look beautiful in the brochure and both Dave and Mel are looking forward to lying in the warm, warm water and doing - well, not much.