Canada!

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Well, we have crossed yet another border into Canada. We stayed our last night in Montana at West Glacier and headed north to make the border crossing at the Port of Roosville. You sort of expect there to be a bit more of a town or selection of buildings around a border crossing but there was very little bar the booths where you show your passport and answer questions and then get waved on through. For the next 80km's there was nothing but hills and forests and rivers with a few homesteads and VERY small towns in between, in fact, I am being generous in calling them 'towns'. They may once have been but they now only show there past in the few empty buildings left standing. We did finally feel like we had found civilisation when we got to Fort Steele, a working village from early settlement time. Luckily they had public restrooms so that provided some relief, but the ATM would not take any of our cards and with $5 Canadian in the wallet, we weren't going to get far! It was another 100 km's before we could find a bank to change some $US into Canadian dollars. Did you know the Canadian dollar is worth more than the US? Our intention was to stay the night in Radium Hot Springs, in one of the state park camping grounds. We were however hit with the entrance fee to the parks. In the US, you have to pay to get into the National Parks, but it has been between $10 and $25, depending on the park, and you get to go in and out of the park for 7 days. We had purchased an Interagency Park Pass for $80 which allows us access to all the parks for a year. The entrance fee for the Banff National Park is approx $9 per person per day, which adds up, so having paid for three nights stay, we continued on to Banff. It was made slightly worth it by the sighting of a mother black bear and her two cubs feeding beside the road as we drove through. No photo unfortunately...no where to stop on that section of road and my camera was not at the ready! Still amazing to see though! We spent two nights in Banff, at the state camping ground. It turned pretty cold on our second day there so we opted for a nice soak in the Banff Hot Springs. You also get a bit disinclined to stand outside and cook when its windy with a few spits of rain, so harking back to previous form, we found a nice Irish pub in town and ate there. (I think you may have heard this a couple of times before!)
You can always count on an Irish pub to serve you good food and ale on cold days. I have never been to Queenstown, (thats a bit shocking isn't it! I should not have left town until I'd seen my own country!) but Dean has and says that Banff is very like Queenstown in its winter resort type buildings and atmosphere and being surrounded by mountains. There still appears to be a substantial amount of snow on those mountains which I guess explains the temperature! From there we skipped up the road a short distance to Lake Louise. This is a glacier fed lake which explains its milky, teal colour. Although slightly warmer, it was cloudy, which didn't allow us to see the truely awesome colour of the water when the reflection of the blue sky above changes it to a deep turquoise. We took the 4km walk to the end of the lake and back and then settled into the Lake Louise Park camping ground. This one surrounded by an electric fence to keep both people and bears safe. Once Bears get a taste for human food, they become aggressive and have to be put down, so we are kept well separated. It was even wired between the grates of the cattle grate/texas gate and there were special pedestrian gates with specific handles and instructions to ensure you could get out without receiving a nasty shock! I must admit, I did feel a bit safer with that fence around. Whilst the state camps have reasonable facilities, they usually only have one shower block and this at the end of the camp, which can be quite some distance. Thank goodness for those hot pools over he last 3 days eh! From Lake Louise we have headed on the Trans Canada Highway, towards the west coast. We stopped at Revelstoke last night, a pretty Victorian resort Ski town and have made it through Kamloops and are staying at Cache Creek tonight. The road from Lake Louise to Revelstoke seemed to go downhill forever! I was glad we were headed downhill, as our van does not take too kindly to hills! The Rocky Mountain range is enormous and we have been constantly surrounded or shadowed by snow capped mountains for the last few weeks, first through Wyoming, then Montana and now Alberta and British Columbia in Canada. They are a continuously breathtaking sight. I can only imagine what they must look like in the middle of winter, with snow at lower levels as well! It is 4 weeks today until we give back the van and fly home, so we know we have to make the most of the time we have left travelling and seeing the world. More from Canada to come in the next installment. Happy Birthday to Mike for the 12th. Love to you and to the rest of our family and friends.
Shelley and Dean.

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Photos

Banff
Rainbow over Mountain in Banff

Comments

[Raewyn Macdonald]

Wooh its getting close
Only 4 weeks to go. That is amazing and seems to have gone so fast. I think Noeline has the girls looking around the west but no doubt others are doing likewise. Your writing is still amazing Shelley (bring on the book)and you show no signs of losing interest in your surroundings. Well done. You both must be exhausted at times. I had a brilliant trip but good to be home as well. The cruise was fab but bit cold and rocky with gale force winds and cold temperatures. Wouldnt ya know it. Do you want to visit any rellies while in Vancouver. Just in case Auntie Peggy's address is 49-43201 Lougheed Highway (not sure of spelling here) Deroche, Vancouver. She is mum's sister-in-law and used to live just up the road from where Donna is now in Titirangi. She was also the first one in the family to see Deano as a baby.... I know she would be delighted as she really pines for NZ at times but will leave it up to you guys. I think she lives with my cousins Joanne and Graham. Looking forward to hearing the next stages. Stay well and stay warm. Freezing here with some dreadful storms over the country at the moment. You mentioned Queenstown and that is closed today from, of all things, too much snow. Schools and businesses and ski grounds all closed. Gale force winds up here too. Lots of love from us. xxxxx

[Charlie]

Hi Guys,I am still following your journey with envy,we did that part of Canada some years ago,and as you say Shelley such wonderful sights,and such a big country our love to you both,take care Charlie & Iris
Hi Guys,I am still following your journey with envy,we did that part of Canada some years ago and as you say Shelley,the sights are wonderful and such a big country,our love to you both,take care.Charlie & Iris What a mess ive made of this message. [getting too old]