The Lakes of the Cariboo

We arrive into Bridge Lake having rugged up for the Rockies weather only to discover SUMMER finally its a balmy 30 degrees and we love it. We meet the cousins and have a wonderful weekend at the Lake with Terry and Gord and their mob of kids, Trevor Kelly and her friends and Shane and Mitchell. We are here for Kellys birthday and the kids all have a great time together on the water swimming, skiing, wakeboarding, kneeboarding and fishing.

Kevin loves driving the boat as we get Gord and Trevor up on the Wakeboard and Terry and I decorate the boat beautifully with our gorgeous tanned bodies (well we think so anyway).

James gets to finally do some wakeboarding which he has been missing and Steph being the water baby she is doesn't get out of the water for most of the day. I can't believe it, its actually boiling here during the day and we all get rather burnt, at night however because we are so high up around 1200 m its still very cold. The water is a cool 17 degrees but because its so hot we don't mind too much and I don't stay in for long anyway.

We have a great weekend with the Pratts, great food, bit of beer drunk and lots of great catching up. I realise why I love camping again just being in the outdoors especially in the mornings, nights are a bit hazardous with the bugs, its so peaceful up here, very picturesque on the lake.

We also experience more amazing wildlife here in particular the Loons which are lovely Canadian birds that are really beautiful to watch and listen to, we also see more deer, muskrat and Canadian geese.

On Monday we head over to Sheridan lake to stay with Doug and Andrea, Kevins Aunt and Uncle and we have a lovely time at their cabin although the weather turns a bit nasty again we have a well needed rest here for a couple of days before heading to Kamloops. Its great to catch up with more family and wonderful to see Doug and Andrea so well. They have a very cute little littel cabin on the lake and Steph and James enjoy kayaking on the lake.

Heading of to Cariboo Country

Well we get up this morning to would you believe it some sunny sky, still very cold and we get our first glimpse of the mountains only to discover summer snow on them, no wonder we were all a bit cold last night. Anyway the view is breathtaking as usual and we decide to go up the Jasper tramway before we head to a weekend with Kevins cousins Gord and Terry.
We have a wonderful view of the Rockies a bit of cloud around but very lovely all the same, its elevation is 2460m up and we are actually surrounded by Aussies as the tour guides its great to hear the Aussie twang again.
After a short detour we head out of the mountains on the way to Bridge Lake.

Along the Mountain Trail

Athabascar Falls

Our hotel in Banff Banff mainstreet

The Icefields

After a beautiful day around Lake Louise we wake again to find more rainy skies and dark clouds, which is a real shame because the clouds are so low we can't see the mountains, but we are heading off to Jasper today so hopefully the weather gets better. We are staying at Hinton just out of the National Park booked because it had cabins and we thought it may rain good one Mum!!! After a quick drive around Banff we head of, it really is a lovely little town anyway just a 390 km drive today through the amazing Rockies, we don't get out to see as much as I would have liked but I think the kids are sick of us saying look kids out the window at the huge mountains, and look at that beautiful lake etc.

We do however go for a tour up to the Columbian Ice Fields which is quite something, did you know it takes melting glacial water 45 years to reach the ocean, and Canada has a third of all the worlds water supply mostly in glacial form, and glaciers are not ice but packed snow, all very interesting. Unfortunately its raining when we get up there and very cold but it is very cool going up on the big bus and walking on a very old glacier.

On we go to our camping ground and find our cabin which is very small but dry and warm because its freezing here and its even snowed up in the mountains, ah yes the Canadian weather got to love it!! We settle in for the night and hope for better weather tomorrow.

We wake late the next day to surprise more rain but head up into Jasper to have a look around and go and visit yet another lake and mountain top but our eyes today are on the lookout for bears and wildlife and we are not disappointed we see 3 grizzlies today and one black bear, and the funny thing is that all the signs say to stay in your car and do not go near them yet everyone stops and takes photos and get out of their car they really create what we started calling a bear traffic jam, its really was very funny actually.

We also travel to Athabascar Falls which are on the Athabascar River glacial fed so still very blue turquoise looking very stunning but as you can see raining and pretty ordinary weather.

Anyway we have had a good day saw lots of wildlife and had some fun.

Onto the Canadian Rockies

Lake Minnewanka

Johnson Canyon Falls

Moraine Lake

Lake Louise

Banff Hot Springs

Leaving Sandy and Waynes

We leave the farming life in Alberta at Sandy and Waynes house with the 4 horses, 5 cats, 2 dog and 12 cows (grazing elsewhere) for the big trip into the Canadian Rockies, and surprise, surprise more rain. They need it, they are actually in drought although its not like any drought I have ever seen everything is still very green, but we are planning to camp and those plans go out the window again as we arrive into Banff with driving rain and a million people to contend with trying to get accomodation, anyway we find somewhere high and dry for 2 nights and when settled head to the Banff hot springs and a lovely soak in the 40 degree natural spring water, a very nice way to end the day.

Monday we are up bright and early the sun is out and we head to Lake Louise for a walk around the lake it is absolutely beautiful very turquoise water and stunning scenery, we leave the crowds here for Moraine Lake another amazing sight and more stunning views of snow covered
rock faces and turquoise lakes. We again walk around the lake and are struck by the beauty of the scenery. We then go on the sightseeing chairlift to the top of the Lake Louise ski area and have a wonderful view out over the Bow Valley and the Mountains we are told on the way up to watch out for a bear and when we get up the top we are not allowed out of the chairlift area because there is a grizzly bear on the road just 100m away so we of course comply and head down for lunch in the ski lodge. We hear later that there is a 2.5km perimeter electric fence around the ski lodge area to keep bears out, they also have electric fences around the campgrounds to protect people and bears, they are very prolific up here. Anyway, today we also see lots of squirrels, gophers, deer, moose and mountain goats, which we all were excited to see.

Driving back from Lake Louise through the Bow Valley we stop at Johnson Canyon for a walk up into the falls and see some amazing limestone rock walls and waterfalls, its a 5 km walk in and out and the kids are tired by the time we head out so we head down to the lake side at Lake Minnewanka and have a bit of a rest then head home to Banff and more rain. We have discovered that there are some Aussies that we have met on exchange in Toronto staying here at the same hotel as us so we have a few quiet ales with them and then head of to bed after a huge day of sight seeing. Of to Jasper tomorrow.

Calgary Stampede Day Yeh Hah!!!

Well today we head into Calgary with Sandy and Wayne to see the famous Calgary Stampede they say 1.2 million people come to Calgary to go to the Stampede each year. It was much like the Sydney Royal Easter Show lots of animals, cowboys, rides and junk food. A speciality of Canada is the Corn Dog as well as Funnel Cakes, and Elephant Ears, all deep fried of course. We see here the cattle dogs with their sheep herding skills, probably the most frustrating thing I have ever watched in my life, it was much more fun with "Babe". The kids thought it was quite funny.

We then take a walk through the many stalls and pavillions, see marching bands, lots of cowboys with funny hats on and then onto the Rodeo. Having never seen a Rodeo before I wasn't quite prepared to watch grown men risk their lives on crazy animals that in my opinion tried to attack them whenever they could. It was quite an eye opener, they were very clever and did an excellent job of staying on the crazy animals for 8 seconds. We also saw Cowboys catch and rope steers and calves, as well as cowgirls riding around barrells and kids trying to jump on wild donkeys, it was a real laugh and lots of fun.

A few beers were very much needed by the time we got home.

When we get home Steph and James have a chance to ride Sandys horse Toad a lovely gently appaloosa, this really made their day.