Vancouver

Gastown

After Kamloops Kevin and I head off to Vancouver for some adult time away which is wonderful having been on the road with the kids for 2 weeks we are ready for it. I wasn't really impressed with Vancouver in winter it was very cold and wet, low clouds and pretty dark so we weren't expecting to go back, I am now so glad we did it really is a beautiful city so clean and well organised. Kevin and I spend our first night walking along the water and I am so excited to see the sea at last if there is one thing I really miss is the smell of the ocean and the sand. We have a lovely dinner in a pub by the beach (this reminds me of Manly) and then walk around Stanley park which is a huge park out on the headland of Vancouver.

The next day we decide to hire bikes and ride the bike track around Stanley Park and Vancouver, I have never seen such an amazing array of bike tracks in a major city there are people everywhere on bikes or roller blades, and its sunny and warm and just beautiful, we are very impressed with Vancouver. On our ride we go through a very seedy Chinatown which is actually quite desperate and lots of homeless people, we then ride into an area called Gastown which was lots of fun and very pretty we see this crazy bug all decorated and a clock that steam toots on the hour. We go to dinner at a lovely seafood restaurant that night and enjoy our first decent seafood in Canada.We travel to the restaurant in these cute little water taxis I call them teabags floating in the water.

The next day we get the kids and take them on the bike ride which they really enjoy and we go to dinner in Gastown at the Olde Spaghetti Factory which is fun Kevin keeps getting beggars tapping him on the shoulder for money and the kids see another side of life that they don't particularly like but its good for them to experience. We are actually struck at how many homeless people we see in the big cities in our travels there are more than we have ever seen anywhere else in Australia.

Time Spent with the Pratts

Well we leave Bridge Lake for Sheridan Lake just around the corner to stay with Doug and Andrea and just have a lovely rest, it is wonderful to catch up with them and find them so well. The kids enjoy kayak rides on the lake and James enjoys sleeping in till late in the morning.

After a few nice days with Doug and Andrea we head of to Kamloops and spend time with Ken and Barb, Karen, Gord and Terry and the kids. It is amazing to see Kamloops now after we were there in Christmas it was -20 now its 37 in the shade such a huge temperature range and the place looks soo different. We have some wonderful dinners and lots of friendly beers are consumed around the pool which is what I have been waiting for, having been so cold for so long.

Kevin and I then head to Vancouver for adult time and the all the kids stay with Ken and Barb for the weekend which is wonderful.

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.