** Again putting this post as 6th March so it fits under the South America blogs - its actually 20th Jan 2018 ** Follow on instagram k8e37 for photos of the trip whilst we are away and for prep photos! Quick update regarding jabs, all is good from the yellow fever *touch wood* so far and I'm 10 days after having it so only another 4 to go until I'm clear of any apparent side effects. I would say that around day 5 I did feel pretty tired and as if I was coming down with anything but I felt better after some rest and apart from a bit of a funny throat I'm all good. So rabies... I still haven't had jab number two. Had to phone up Boots on Tuesday to check they had ... read more

We left the Sandman hotel about 9.30 after a nice lie in. Packed up the mini and headed south to Niagara Falls. It was about an hours drive from the hotel and this time it was Stephs turn to drive. The roads were still pretty busy and it was taking a bit of used to driving on them as back in the Rocky Mountains it was a more leisurely relaxed pace of life. Over here the drivers are more ruthless and the roads faster. The turn offs from their motorways are strange and if you're in the slow lane and don't have your wits about you next minute you're heading off at the exit. So after good driving by Steph and excellent co-driving by me we arrived in Niagara Falls about 11am. Check in at the ... read more

We woke up early yesterday at Emerald Lake Lodge and decided to head down to the lake to get some photos. The weather was better and the lake was more still. We wandered down to the bridge that leads to the lodges from the tourist car park. There were very few people around and it was so peaceful and still. The blue colour was really shining through as well. After walking about for a bit we decided to have breakfast here before heading on to Banff. We had gingerbread pancakes and coffee which was good. Once we finished breakfast it was back to the lodge before wheeling the cases down the hill to the main reception to check out and get the shuttle bus back to the car. As we were heading to the reception we ... read more

Today we left Jasper and headed along the ice fields parkway to stay at the Colombian ice fields hotel. It overlooks the athabasca glacier. We left Jasper about 9.30am and drove for a little while before pulling off at the first stop. There was a set of waterfalls called the Athabasca Falls. There was a boardwalk that you walk on to get different view points of the water. We got some great photos. The water flows over the falls then becomes the athabasca river where it's a bluey turquoise colour. After visiting the athabasca falls we carried on driving until we reached the suwumpta falls. The path down was a bit slippery on some smooth rocks but we made it down. The fencing was a bit dodgy in parts but the view of the falls was ... read more

We had aimed to get up early to leave Clinton as we had a three and half hour drive to our next stop at Blue River. After the beers the night before we woke up a little later than planned, we checked out then decided to have breakfast at the onsite cafe. Steph had eggs on toast and I had buttermilk pancake with sausage and poached eggs. It was whilst we were munching away that we noticed the local from the night before who had paid for our beers was sitting there with two other guys who had been in the pub the night before! Not sure if he noticed us or not but they soon left and then we finished up and headed off. It was my turn to drive today. We decided in the ... read more