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Published: January 29th 2009
Canada has so far been a spectacular country to travel through and we have both thoroughly enjoyed the sights and sounds of the Eastern Cities. However when somebody talks about Canada as a place to visit, the most likely images to spring to mind are those of snow capped mountain ranges, ski resorts, icy lakes or even man eating grizzly bears! Now, of course we didn’t see any of this whilst exploring the cities (not that we expected to either). In order to experience the ‘stereotypical Canada’ we would have to leave the cities behind and search elsewhere, in somewhere like…. the Rocky Mountains!
From Toronto we flew to Vancouver on the far West coast. Our initial thoughts were to take the 3 day train journey from East to West and along the way explore the prairie provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan in central Canada. However having heard that these provinces are extremely baron and don’t offer so much for the passing tourist we chose to take the quicker and cheaper option of flying. This saved us 67 hours of travelling time and meant we could spend it more wisely exploring Vancouver, the Rocky Mountains and Victoria on Vancouver Island.
First stop Vancouver
Before arriving in Vancouver we prebooked our seats on a tour of the Rocky Mountains with a company called the Moose Travel Network. The tour was scheduled to start and finish in Vancouver, therefore we flew in 2 days early so that we could see the city.
On arrival at Vancouver airport we were taken into the city on a shuttle bus by a super happy Japanese driver who sang along to the radio for the entire 30 minute journey! Our hostel on Granville Street put us right in the heart of the city. Little did we know until we went to bed that night that our room was connected to the main (creaky) staircase on two of its walls. Needless to say, we heard every person go to bed and the thud of cases bounding down the stairs for the early morning check-outs! Not to worry though… at the prices we’re paying for accommodation, we really can’t complain about small annoyances like that!
In preparation for the Moose tour we spent our first morning/afternoon in Vancouver shopping for clothes for every eventuality! Jayne was in her element! $300 later we finally left
the shops and strolled down to Canada Place where the cruise ships set sail for Alaska and the ‘Inside Passage’ (neither of us are quite sure where this is but we’re sure it’s a very nice place!). Jayne’s new found fascination for large boats meant quite a lot of standing around and waiting for her to take photos from every angle of the cruise liner currently in dock!
With so much to see in such a short amount of time, we had to make a decision on what we would do with our last day in the city before heading out into the mountains. Based on numerous recommendations, we chose to visit Stanley Park on the edge of the city. After an hour or so of walking and taking in the sights of the harbour, totem poles and picture perfect mountain backdrop, it was time to look for some lunch. An easy task you would think, since a number of cafes were listed on the map of the park. However, with it being 2nd September, the summer season was now officially over and therefore all the cafes were closed up for the winter! By 4pm all we had managed
to find was a stall selling crisps and we were still a long way from completing the circuit around the park. We eventually made it back into the city and bolted into the first restaurant we came across - The Loose Moose, how apt!
Moosing around!
And so the Moose trip went like this…
Day#1 - Vancouver to Shuswap Lake As soon as the Moose bus pulled up outside the SameSun hostel we both knew that we were in for a good time. Not only was the bus smaller than we had anticipated (a 9 seat minibus rather than a 20+ seat coach) our driver, Matt, was of a similar age to us and just as excited about the trip as we were! Once we had stopped by to collect more passengers at Vancouver's other hostels, there was a total of 7 people on board! This made for a much more personal trip than that of a large crowd and we later found that several friendships were formed that may otherwise have passed by.
First stop of the trip was Bridal Veil Falls, a spectacular waterfall that believe it or not has a surprising resemblance to
a bride’s veil! Dinner time was spent beside a lake at a small town called Hope. Our driver, Matt, said that this would be a great spot to go for a swim. The lake looked perfect so we all donned our togs, only to be told to get back on the bus. Feeling a little confused, Matt told us that we would move on a little further down the road to a swimming spot on the river. The swimming spot was quite a contrast to the lake which we had just been at - there was no easy way in except to jump off a rock, the water wasn’t calm but flowing and to top it off, the water was ice cold and was fed from a glacier further upstream! Leading by example, Matt eagerly jumped in first to show us how it’s done. However he also came out just as quickly - you know the waters cold when the only Canadian amongst us turns blue! We all followed suit despite the icicles now forming on Matt’s nose and yes it was cold, no kicking your legs to get warm - it just got colder and colder and colder and
colder…… Surprisingly we all came out with smiles on our faces (except Jayne who was convinced she had caught hypothermia) knowing that we would never have to do it again… or so we thought!
Moving on, we stopped to stretch the legs at a lookout over a town called Kamloops where Matt grew up. Back in the van again we headed for our first overnight stop at Shuswap Lake. After dinner we all went down to the lake and played volleyball. A great first day!
Day#2 - Shuswap Lake to Banff First stop of the day - Go-Karting. This was great fun - rule book out the window, no health and safety managers watching over this little outfit operating in the middle of nowhere! Everybody left the track at least once, thanks to Matt, and the next hour or so was spent removing dirt from between our teeth!
Onwards to the Golden Spike at Craigellachie, the place at which the last ("golden") spike was driven into the ground to complete the Canadian Pacific Railway. Continuing on further towards Banff, we drove through Rogers Pass and over the Continental divide (the point at which river flow changes direction),
stopping at Emerald Lake and the 'Natural Bridge' in Yoho National Park. Arriving in Banff (Alberta) we had lost an hour due to crossing a time zone and it was time for tea. After a quick bite to eat we went down to the local leisure centre for a couple of hours RnR in the swimming pool playing water basketball!
Day#3 - Banff to Jasper (temperature dropping!) By now we were well into the Rocky Mountains and the temperature had dropped considerably. The first stop on today’s drive was the infamous Lake Louise. Shear natural beauty at its very best. After a quick stop at the 'Crow-foot' Glacier, all of a sudden Matt was in the mood for swimming again! This time however, the outside air temperature was a mere 3 degrees Celsius and by now we had pulled out the fleeces, hats and gloves and every sensible person was wearing thermals. The Moose crew however were stood starkers (well, we may as well have been starkers for the fat lot of good a pair of swimming togs were going to do in the icy waters that stood before us!) on the edge of an extremely cold, glacial
Bow Lake. In we go........ and out we come at twice the speed! The mind couldn’t decide what hurt more - the icy chill of the water burning at our skin or the pain caused from running over the gravel and shale on the lake shore!
Moving on to Mistaya Canyon, the Weeping Wall, Athabasca Glacier and Maligne Canyon we finally made it to our "rustic" hostel and were greeted with a much needed chilli dinner, cooked for us by our host 'Sasha.' After dinner Jayne managed to trip over a box and place her hand flat on the top of the metal casing of a fire in the middle of the room. Quickly lifting her hand off she then steadied herself on the equally hot smoke stack. The rest of the evening was spent sitting around the campfire (hoping that bears wouldn't eat us) with Jayne's hand in a bucket of cold water! The vodka didn't seem to be helping at all and the tears of pain lasted for quite a while. Bandaged and blistered off she went to bed.
Day#4 - Jasper to Banff “Right guys, it takes about 30 minutes to reach the top so
I want to see you back at the bus for 12.15…..” We’re now at Parker Ridge and have been promised spectacular views once we reach the top of the ridge. 50 minutes later we’re still not at the top - we decided to take a little extra time. As promised, the views from the top, looking out over the Saskatchewan River were incredible. We even got a few flakes of snow to the joy of Lauren who, being from Adelaide (Oz), had never seen snow in her life!
Dinner time was sombre as our beloved team volleyball, aka ‘Smiley’ took a tumble out of the van and over the edge into a canyon raging with water! Although Jayne denies any part in this, she got the blame as it ‘touched her last!’ Thanks Jayne!!!
Next stop Peyto Lake, another stunning turquoise lake worthy of a few photos. Out on the road again we hit traffic, total gridlock in the middle of the Rockies. Well, at least 20 cars pulled over at the roadside. Why…? Grizzly bears, 2 of them a few hundred metres from the roadside. It took us a while to spot the young bears but with
a little help from the ranger and a pair of binoculars we picked them out eventually. This made the trip there and then, thank god for the 40x zoom on the camera! The sighting was made all the more special as our guide Matt told us he had never seen grizzly bears in the wild before, despite having lived in Canada all his life! The ranger informed us that she had been tracking the bears for some time and they had moved on to the current location from Bow Lake, where we were swimming yesterday!
We eventually tore ourselves away from the bears and continued on to our final stop of the day, Moraine Lake. More climbing and fun! After a rather energetic climb over logs and steep rocks we made it to the top to look out over the lake. An unfortunate passer by got the job of taking photos for us acting like moose on about 7 different cameras!
Day#5 - Banff to Revelstoke After yesterdays excitement we were raring to go for another day. First stop Johnston Canyon, another example of erosion at work, topped off with a waterfall at the end of the walk.
The original Moose Crew
Back row: Doorman Doug, Moose Matt, Kiwi Matt, Anita, Grizzly Chris, Long Lauren, Front row: Mini Meg, Little BearOnwards to Takakawa Falls for a quick stop before heading somewhere a little different - a wolf sanctuary. We learnt all about the wolf’s role in the environment and how important it is that they are protected. Our last stop of the day was kayaking on Lake Revelstoke. With Jayne’s hand all bandaged up we had to share a double kayak - and by share we mean Jayne (sat at the front) shouts orders for directions while Chris does all the donkey work at the back of the boat, paddling for his life to keep up with the others! She sure knew how to milk the fact that she had a poorly hand!!! The lake was perfectly still until we decided to take an obligatory swim on the opposite shore.
To finish the day we had a pub tea in Revelstoke, picked up some beers and jumped in the hot tub back at the lodge where we were staying, luxury!
Day#6 - Revelstoke to Kelowna On the basis that we had so much fun at the go-kart track last time, we started the day with some more high octane shenanigans! However, this time Jayne’s feet didn’t quite reach
Day 3 - Glacial glee at Bow Lake
This was sooooooooooooooooo cold......
the pedals fully and she therefore lacked speed and coasted around the track like an Old Aged Pensioner on a nice Sunday drive in the country! Everyone else on the track took advantage of the situation and like a sitting duck, Jayne found herself the target, thus spending more time on the grass than on the track!
The following stop of the day was a strange one. We visited a nutter at a winery who was convinced that the pyramid shaped building in which he stored his wine, would make the wine taste better and could turn milk to Yoghurt - and this was supposed to be a serious tour! We could hardly contain ourselves!
Day#7 - Kelowna to Vancouver Although the Moose tour that we were on was scheduled to last 10 days, today was the last day of the tour for the other members of the group who were not going to be on the Whistler leg in a few days time. In a way it felt like the tour was also coming to an end for us. Everyone seemed slightly deflated as we boarded the bus for our last day together.
Our only stop
of the day as we headed back for Vancouver was Othello tunnels, a series of passages cut through the mountain to allow trains to pass more easily from one side to the other. Although now defunct, the tunnels once played a crucial role in the Canadian rail network.
By 2pm we were back in Vancouver and it was time to say goodbye. At the start of the trip, nobody expected to form such close friendships and therefore a few tears were shed (from the girls that is). We exchanged email addresses and promised to stay in touch. When we finally dropped our bags at the hostel the exhaustion hit us. Getting up early every day for a week and enjoying every minute of the day until late at night had really taken it out of us. The distance on the roads that we had covered further added to this. We managed to stay awake until 9pm and then it was lights out until 11am the following morning!
Day#8 - Vancouver With a free day in Vancouver to spend as we wished, we made the most of not having to rise early. After a lazy morning we caught up
on some laundry and took a stroll down Jericho beach. We caught the bus to the train station to collect our Amtrak tickets in preparation for our trip down the West coast. Feeling a little lost without our fellow Meeses’s, we arranged to meet 2 girls from the Moose Tour, Long Lauren and Mini Meg for a farewell meal and a few drinks. We said our goodbyes again and promised to visit them in Oz when we’re passing through. We caught a taxi back to the hostel and got an early night in preparation for the last leg of our Moose Tour starting eary tomorrow.
Day#9 - Vancouver to Whistler Today we set out for the final two days of the tour on a dfferent bus with different people. From Vacouver we drove North towards Whistler. The only stops along the way were at Cypress Point (a lookout across Vancover) and Shannon Falls, another of British Columbia’s giant waterfalls.
We arrived at our chalet in Whistler early in the aftnernoon and after settling in were left to explore by ourselves. What immediately captured our attention was a note attached to the front door of the chalet that read…
A broken Moose
Jayne's bandaged hand after her little accident. “Please close the door behind you - Albert the bear is back and he is hungry!” Another stark reminder that we were in the middle of a bears playground and to keep our whits about us!
Instead of heading into the ski resort town itself, we chose to explore the local area in which the chalet was situated. We set out on foot and wandered down to a park area at the side of Alta Lake and sat on the end of a jetty with our legs dangling in the refreshing water. The lake was still and there was little noise around us until a dog began to bark uncontrollably. Thinking nothing of it we ignored it for a minute or so. When the barking continued and the people in the park started moving away, we began to realise something was wrong. Out of the bushes strolled a big black bear! As we were at the end of the jetty and didn’t want to get cornered, we picked up our bags and towels and started to move towards the foot path with the other people. Despite the dog barking right in the bears face, the bear seemed more interested
in sniffing around a ‘bearproof bin’. Captivated by the aromas of left over sandwiches and whatever else was inside the bin, the bear stood on his hind legs and completely upturned it. He began sifting through the rubbish without a care in the world for the crowd of people gathered not more than 40 yards away. Satisfied with his findings, the bear finished rummaging, had a poo and strolled off again into the bushes! Unsure of where the bear might show up again, we decided to head back to the chalet and chill out on the verander out of reach of anymore nosey bears.
Day#10 - Whistler to Vancouver The final day of the Moose Tour gave us another free day in Whistler. Feeling brave after yesterdays close encounter, we walked down to Whistler Village. We stopped along the way to marvel at the accuracy and fruity content of a bear poo situated directly on the centre line of the footpath. Yet another reminder that we were in bear country! At lunchtime we enjoyed our homemade tuna sandwiches by the mountain bike park. (Perhaps not such a good idea to be walking around with tuna sandwiches when there are
bears on the loose!) The mountain bike park is used as such in the summer months but in the winter when the snow is on the ground, the same area is a ski slope. Clever eh! We continued along the village trail to the Lost Lake where we sat for a while and admired the beautiful view over the lake surrounded by dense forest. Our bus was leaving for Vancouver at 3pm so we hurried back and waved goodbye to Whistler. We were back in Vancouver for 6pm, just in time for tea.
Victoria, Vancouver Island
So the Moose Tour was over and it was time to be self sufficient again. Another stop recommended for us was Vancouver Island, so where better to start than with a recommendation. We got up early and caught the coach and ferry and were in Victoria by lunchtime. On arrival at our hostel we were disappointed to find that the booking had gone wrong and there was no room for us. Thankfully we found another hostel who could accommodate us and all was ok. We dropped our bags and went out to make the most of our short stay in Victoria. We
took a stroll around the harbour and sat in the park outside the Parliament Building, watching the world go by before popping in to a local Irish pub for tea.
Our last day in Canada was spent exploring Victoria. We walked over the Johnson bridge to the opposite side of the harbour and looked back over Victoria. On our travels we found a fish 'n' chip shop where we stopped for a quick bite for lunch whilst fighting off the seagulls! Next stop was Thunderbird Park and some more Totem Poles. Before we went back for our bags we had a quick peep inside the ever so grand Fairmont Empress Hotel and marvelled at how posh it was compared to our hostel. Mid afternoon we made our way back to Vancouver and prepared ourselves for our return to America and the 'American way' of life.
We have found Canada an absolute delight to visit. The people are so much more polite and well-mannered than the Americans and the cities are far cleaner and more pleasant to be in. Victoria was a prime example of a Candian city. The streets were immaculately clean, everybody who passed you in the
street would great you with a smile or 'hi' and the general atmosphere was a lot more positive. Victoria is known by many as the city of the 'nearly wed or nearlydead!' Young couples like us or the retired tend to settle here. We found it to be a pleasure to visit.
sorry it's taken so long to get this to you, this one has taken a lot of time and effort to put together, but we're sure you'll agree it was worth the wait!
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Katie
non-member comment
Jaynes poorly hand
Aww Jayne I hope your poorly hand is better soon... you silly moose lol hahaha!!! still loving ready your fab adventures... Cant wait to see you both Love Katie xxxx