Alaska, Canada and NYC Day 26

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Up early again (0720 bus pick up) to the train. Again good organisation and away we got to stories from the driver - they have a good sense of humour.

On to our carriage and the hosts greet us and go through the safety talk in a humorous manner this morning (they have to do it each day). The train has doubled in size - they hook the train from Jasper onto this one for the trip to Vancouver.

Away we go, with today's scenery a lot different to snow capped peaks, etc.. - today we have more farm land to look at. We are the second sitting for food today so we get a scone and jam while the others go down for breakfast. Not bad either.

Eventually our turn - more good food. We are moving along reasonably well today. Everyone is a lot quieter today - tired after a long day of delays maybe.... Scenery turns from farm land to canyons and fast running rivers. Some of these rivers are huge and at one point - hells gates - it is said that the volume and speed of the water is getter than Niagara Falls.

Views from the vestibule (outside platform) aren't as good today with carriages behind us (can only look out either side today - we were really spoilt yesterday). Chris spends quite a whole outside looking at the rivers and says that the movement from there is huge.

Our turn for lunch. We get to sit with handlebars and his wife. They are from Hobart but he was born in Canada and came out when he was 15 (47 years ago). They have spent the last 10 weeks catching up with relatives, etc.. Interesting couple.............

When we went down to lunch, the train has stopped - again - which we didn't think much of. But it stayed stopped for the entire lunch and a bit longer - all of 1.5 to 2 hours. A few jangled nerves now - one couple were meant to be meeting friends for dinner around 1830 (train due in at 1730 - not going to happen). Finally get rolling, slowly. No real news, then we quiz the staff and eventually get told there had been an issue with a freight train and we were just in the queue. ETA 2000 - looks like dinner date is off for the others.

They had a poetry contest where we were meant to write a poem about the trip, etc. We put one in about the staff. They read them out and one is about a page and a half. Ours gets a good laugh and the crew love it. They give the prize to the page and a half, but one of the girls says she voted for ours coz it included all of them. They then thanked us and gave us a signed card with some post cards of the railway.

I made a comment that if they come up and give us cookies, we are sure that we will be really late - guess what - cookies arrive. That is when we get told we will arrive around 2030, as long as the suspension bridge in to Vancouver isn't up for shipping traffic.

More snacks arrive in a nice boxed presentation. Bridge is down so cheers from all on the train. Get into the station at 2100. Buses arranged to take those who want to their hotels. Bags are waiting on trolleys with water if you want it. Again, the service is fantastic, pity about their timing and advice on the delays.

Get to the hotel, ask for a king size bed but none available - might get one for the last night. Do a quick call to the girls in Mildura and catch up on emails, etc. then off to bed.

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