Jono and I walked along the Lake Bourgeau trail today - about 24 km (there and back) with over 730 meters elevation gain, so a good hike to get the blood pumping. The trail follows Wolverine Creek (though I didn’t see any wolverines) up to a sub alpine Lake nestled in a limestone ampitheatre. Across the Bow valley you could see Sawback Range. Absolutely amazing views. It was windy and snowing (and need I mention, cold) but that all added to the beauty. We ate a quick lunch at the first lake. (which I wouldn’t have even wanted to swim in [View Full Entry]

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As I have said before, I get uncomfortable with being a tourist. I try to be more of a traveler. I prefer to experience things, places and people rather than merely see them. But, while in the Rockies, we were definitely well and truly 100 percent the tourists. Today we drove to Lake Louise via the Bow Valley, stopping via Johnston Canyon and checking out Morraine Lake on the way home. Every one of these stops is clearly written on every tourist map. We were glad to be traveling in non-peak time, otherwise it would have felt like a circus. As [View Full Entry]

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We woke up to a sunny day with no fixed plans, so Jonno and I did what Jonno and I do, and returned to the scene of yesterday's awe. Marilyn and Richard went driving and walking about checking out new places as you are meant to do, Jonno and I just went and climbed up and down a bit of rock all day. I think M and R went to Banff. But I am not quite sure... memory gets hazy very quickly. We made the mistake of trying to "warm up" on the less steep wall. While leading some 5.9 which [View Full Entry]

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We were all pretty wiped out today from our epic car trip the day before so we did not set very ambitious plans for the day. It was awesome waking up to near-360 degree views of snow capped mountains. I love arriving somewhere in the dark, to have it reveal itself to you in the morning as though you have just magically teleported there. I think I recall a fairly easy, relaxed slow breakfast. Then we went for a drive to Grassi Lakes, a park just out of town Canmore and went for a bit of a walk up the hill. [View Full Entry]

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After picking ourselves up a Budget hire car and stuffing it as full as a Turkey, Marilyn, Richard, Jono and I set off for a long day of driving. We drove the “scenic way” to the Rockies. Past Whistler up through Pemberton, Lillooet, Marble Canyon, Kamloops… and a whole pile of other towns that kept us busy from about 8:30am to 1am. The actual travel part of travel is the least fun. Actually, unpacking is probably even less fun. But we saw some awesome places on the way, snapped them up and consumed them as we blew exhaust-fuelled kisses on our [View Full Entry]

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This blog is in danger of becoming a photo blog at the moment, not that there is anything wrong with that. But words are hard to come by if they don't happen straight away. Events and conversations become a blur. I guess it is also that I am using words all day for work, so they get all used up by the end of the day. I will try to write a little more regularly again, but in the meantime, here's a recap on the last couple of weeks: Jono's parents - Marilyn and Richard - got here just over ten [View Full Entry]

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I am going to start something new here, and when I don't have any travel stories, I am just going to make an observation about North America and/or Canada. Today's observation is just how big the sinks are here. And apparently ours is a small one. You could fill them up past your elbows, if you didn't grow up in Australia where water conservation is ingrained from a young age. I guess they need big sinks here to put all their super sized plates in. Ok, so I guess everything is big. Oh, yesterday when I was driving to the bike [View Full Entry]

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Jono and I decided this weekend to get off the beaten track and climb some where quieter that we had not been before. Last time we tried this, we ended up sleeping in a gravel pit and climbing underneath someone who was throwing chunks of cliff on top of us. This time we opted for a secluded forested valley with towering granite gorges on both sides. Dark, damp, mossy, eerie. Perfect. After about a 30 to 40 minute walk we found ourselves in the valley of Shaddai looking up at a 10.C (Aust. 19) finger crack. We both had a go [View Full Entry]

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Life is good. Ticking along. In the interests of maintaining a blog, I will just put a few quick words up here without boring you too much about the mundane details. We have not really done too much tourist stuff, just a lot of local living stuff, like dinners, bbq’s and parties with friends. Good climbing at the local crag that is the Chief, runs, walks, bike rides… A couple of friends from Canberra are around at the moment (Damo and Bertram), so that has been fun and kinda weird. We all met up at a pub in town last night, [View Full Entry]

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My family have left now, which is sad, but on the bright side, Jono’s parents will be here soon. That’s how we humans get by, more like amphibians than humans, jumping from one lilly of excitement to the next, before sadness, loss and emptiness can drench us. It was great to have mum, dad and my lil’ sista around. The time went too quickly though, and now I miss them even more! The last week went especially fast, as I was working for most of it. Jono got back from his field trip on Wednesday, which meant he had the chance [View Full Entry]

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