All good things must come to an end...

We have now come to the end of our Canadian adventure; the return journey has begun, I'm currently at least ten feet above god knows where (the little computer isn't working), the outside temperature is -42 degrees c. I don't enjoy flying at all, especially this particular flight. I'd much rather be out exploring.

All the driving we've done (royal we - I mean Paul has driven while I enjoyed the scenery, thanks Mr B!) has very much been part of the trip. I've loved looking out for wildlife on the road, watching as the landscape changed before my eyes, trying to predict what the weather was going to do and trying to guess how many miles to the next toilet (usually about 76 in case you wondered). I've enjoyed stopping at places we would never have seen if we had gone as part of an organised tour and the hours of idle chit-chat between me and my Mr. I shall be very sad to say goodbye to this country and the people we have met along the way.

We decided to have one last treat for our final day in Canada and booked to go out whale watching for the day. We got all kitted out in cold weather gear and were given big thermal jumpsuits and ponchos to put on over our normal clothes. My jumpsuit was so heavy i could barely lift it and so big that the crotch came down to my knees and I walked like I was wearing a nappy.




The trip started out well, we were picking up good speed out of the harbour. It was quite a bumpy ride, but I was enjoying it in the same way you might enjoy a roller coaster ride - screaming with fear and giggling with excitement at the same time. Each time we hit a big wave, my stomach did a summersault as I flew up in the air and hit the seat again with a thud. It was quite invigorating being slapped in the face by an icy cold wave. The land soon disappeared behind us and we came to a stop in the open ocean.

When I say we came to a stop, I should explain. We didn't stop because we'd seen anything or because we were in a hotspot for sightings, no, we stopped because we'd broken down. One of the engines on the zodiac had completely died. Marla, our guide, tried her best to get it going again but it wasn't interested. She had to call in to the office to let them know what had happened; they advised her to get as close to land as she could in case we lost power completely. So, we crawled along at a snails pace back to shallow waters - there was much less chance of seeing anything so close to land but a couple of migrating grey whales had been spotted earlier in the morning so Marla wanted to give it a go.

On the way, we stopped at a small island and were really excited to see one big fat sleepy seal perched precariously on a rock looking down rather snootily at us.




To our delight, as we turned the corner, we found hundreds of them, all piled on top of each other like they'd just been emptied out of a child's dumper truck onto the rocks. They each had their head resting on somebody else's bottom and no one seemed to mind.




There was also a crowd of noisy youths laid around in the water with their fins in the air (apparently they do this to keep cool, just like when we stick our leg out from under the sheets at night). They were a chatty bunch, barking and growling at each other like kids in a leisure centre.




We crept on to the next island. As we were getting closer to the land, Marla squealed, "oh my, oh my, I have never seen this before!" I thought she'd seen a couple of whales doing the tango the way she shouted, but it was a sea otter sat on a rock. She went on to tell us that this is really unusual behaviour; sea otters spend 99.9% of their time in the water so to see one up on land like this is very, very rare. Unfortunately, her excitement scared the poor little thing silly and he quickly slipped back into the water and swam away, checking over his shoulder as he went to make sure that this mad woman wasn't following him.




Around the other side of the island, we saw a little harbour seal floating in the sea kelp. He also seemed quite suspicious of us and just peeked the top of his head out of the water to measure us up.

We carried on, chugging depressingly slowly around the main island. Paul thought he saw a spray at one point, but Marla said there was a single rock just where he saw it and that it was most probably just a wave breaking against it. We didn't see anything else after that.

Because we had not seen anything (they guarantee a sighting or promise you another trip, on them) they tried to get us out on the next boat but unfortunately it was full. They said that they'd stamp our ticket so we could come back another day but when we explained that we were leaving the country and might never get to come back, they gave us a full refund! So we had a great day out, saw some amazing wildlife and got to know lots of interesting facts about what we did see - all for free (I would rather have seen a whale though)! If you are ever in Tofino or Ucluelet, I would highly recommend a trip out with Jamie's Whaling Station.

Well, the landing light has come on and Manchester is steadily getting bigger and bigger below me - this flight has been an adventure in itself. So, that brings us to the end of the Canada chapter. Now to start planning the next trip.

Location:Canada, Tofino, Vancouver Island

Life in a bauble

Slap my wrists and call me slacker. I know, I've not been very good over the last few days.




On Thursday we took the ferry across from Tsawwassen in Vancouver to Victoria on Vancouver Island. We were hoping we might see some wildlife on the way, but nothing came up. The ride was pleasant though, very calm waters and we enjoyed looking at all the little settlements on different islands on our way. We spotted a few nice places which we will be sure to buy once we've won the lottery.




By the time we arrived in Victoria, it was quite late and we'd been travelling all day - I was grumpy (yes, really) and hungry and just wanted to eat something and go to bed but we went down to the harbour instead to take a few photos in the 'golden hour'.




After that, we enjoyed the best Japanese food I've eaten outside Japan at a little restaurant called 'Foo' just next to the hotel. We sat at the bar in the front where we could watch the food being prepared (and set on fire by accident) in front of us. I had the caramel chicken and enjoyed it so much, I pretty much inhaled it and finished my meal before Paul - and that's a first, let me tell you!




In the morning, we had a wander round Beacon Hill Park and laughed at the ducks enjoying a Jacuzzi around the aeration pipes. Seriously, they couldn't get enough of those bubbles!




After we checked out, we set off for our next stop, the one we had been most looking forward to, via a little place called Cowichan Bay which reminded me a lot of Whitby. It's a lovely little historic waterfront community where green is key. It's lined with lots of organic cafes and hippy type shops. We ate lunch in 'Hilary's Cheese' shop (I had lovely roast tomato and garlic soup with a nice crunch baguette) followed by a cake from 'True Grain' and organic and very sweetly scented bakery - the smell of cinnamon seeped out of the Walls of the place.




I loved how all of the stilted buildings were painted in different bright colours, it was a really cheerful place and the people were very friendly too.




Our next stop was the Free Spirit Spheres in Qualicum Beach near Nanaimo. Think giant Christmas tree baubles and that's pretty much what these are.




They are made out of wood with a couple of layers of fibre glass on the outside for water proofing with a winding spiral staircase up the tree to get you inside.




The design is amazing, even the composting out house is artfully designed to look like a mushroom.




I'm actually going to write a separate post about the spheres when I get back because there is just so much to say. For now, I will just say that sleeping inside this giant nest in the forest with the sound of the birds and the creaking of the trees, I felt like Titania in a Midsummer Nights Dream cupped inside the bud of a flower, protected from the elements and gently rocked to sleep by the breeze. When I came down in the morning, I felt like I'd been away at sea for months, I could still feel myself swaying!




Sorry to leave the spheres after only one night, we headed off to Tofino. We are right on the coast now but it is not what I expected. Tofino is to surfers what Banff is to snow boarders. As the sun started to set though, I started to see a different side to the town. Shades of pastel cut through the clouds and rippled over the water right outside where we're staying, the jetty just a black silhouette against a pretty watercolour sky. As we were enjoying the sunset, we saw the graceful arch of a dolphins back break the water just metres in front of us, a few minutes later, we saw what looked like a pod of dolphins swimming around, probably wondering what I was doing scrambling around in the rocks with my bum in the air trying to take a picture. I wasn't quick enough to take a photo of the dolphins but I did get s great one of the view.

Location:Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, Canada

Back to a warmer climate

I've just emerged a little prunish from the hot tub back in that lovely hotel in Summerland. It was a much needed soak after the long drive back from Banff today. The water was scorching, far hotter than the hot springs or the hotel tub in Banff. I'm now the colour of a plum!

The tub is outside, overlooking the lake and the reed area which is a natural sanctuary for all manner of wildlife - birds and ducks congregate in the water and trees while a little muskrat does laps end to end.

We were joined by a whole girls soccer team, obviously enjoying some free time away from their coach, dive bombing in and out of the pool and screaming like no one was listening. Just as I was about to hold one of them under, a couple of older women and an old man got in. One of the ladies started talking to us, asking about our trip. It turned out she was from Dusseldorf but moved here to Vernon, about an hours drive away, forty years ago. She said she was amazed by the country the moment she stepped foot in it and just never left. She still had a german twang, barely noticeable now over the Canadian accent she has unwittingly developed over the years.

On the way out of Banff today we spotted a small herd of bighorn sheep licking salt off the side of the road.




Yesterday we took a five hour walk around the outskirts of Banff town centre. Within minutes of starting the walk, Paul spotted something up ahead. I hadn't even got my camera set up yet! We followed it into the woods and managed to get a better look.

It was a lone coyote. At first we thought it was a wolf, but I noticed it had a bad leg so after the walk, we took our photos to the visitor centre to report our sighting and they identified it as a coyote. Apparently wolves have much longer legs, shorter tails and bigger shoulders. Sightings of both are equally as rare in that area.




The loop took us along the river and then up through the forest via various frozen lakes and brooks. I kept getting really strong whiffs of sulphur which I blamed on Paul... until I saw a steaming pool of hot water coming out of the ground and realised where the stink was coming from.




We were constantly looking out for wildlife, but nothing else was playing. There were plenty of foot prints; wolf, coyote (the same one we'd seen by the river - there was a drag mark after each print where he was limping on his front paw), deer, elk, hare, moose but no sign of life, not even a sound.

We eventually came across a red squirrel eating an acorn. He didn't seem to mind us being there and even smiled for the camera.




On the way back, I took this photo of a man kayaking up the river - just a tiny dot on the landscape in comparison to the towering mountains behind him. You don't really get an idea of the scale of those hills until you have something to measure them against.

Location:Banff / Summerland, Canada

Icefields Parkway

We spent today driving the length of the Icefields Parkway, part of Banff's National Park.




We had been looking forward to seeing the snow tipped mountains mirrored in the glassy lakes for months before arriving in Canada. What we hadn't banked on was the weather being 18 degrees lower than normal for this time of year and the lakes still being frozen.




I'm not talking just a bit of slush on top, I'm talking over a metre of ice covering every inch of every lake in the area! It was quite an amazing sight to see actually. From ground level, it just looked like a big expanse of snow, possibly a field but from the summit of a mountain, looking down on what is obviously a lake which looks like the colour has been taken out on Photoshop.




Our first stop was Lake Louise. One of the most famous and picturesque lakes in the area. We walked as far as we could until we reached an area which had been blocked off by a previous avalanche. Every step provided another breathtaking view. We walked for over an hour in complete silence with only the squeaky crunch of the snow under our feet. We hoped to see some wildlife but there was no sign of anything at all - not even a foot print! We did see a couple of birds including a big ass crow the size of our dog!




At Bow lake, we walked right out onto the ice, right into the middle of the lake, on top of the thick ice, was about another metre of snow. Every now and then, the snow would give way underneath you and you'd completely lose one of your legs right down to your hip! We spotted more bear shaped foot prints but still no bears!




At Bow Summit, we looked down on Peyto Lake which was surrounded on all sides by black and white mountains and a perfect blue sky. The snow up there was really soft and very sinky - I had some fun trying to run as fast as I could, as far as I could without sinking. I didn't make it very far before I was flat on my face.




Lake is one of the most researched lake in Canada. Just recently, fragments of wood, over 3000 years old, were found deep in the glacial ice which shows that this glacier was once forest. So where parts of the world are melting at an alarming rate, this glacier is growing bigger.




Along the parkway were more amazing mountain vistas, there was one more lake we wanted to stop off at which is supposed to be a very common place to spot moose, deer and bear. We came to the sign, started to turn in and almost drove into a wall of ice! The lake was completely closed off, there was no sign of a way in and the sign was pointing at two metres of solid snow and ice.




Reluctantly, we gave up our nature search for the day and returned to out hotel. We only have one more day left in Banff so I really hope to see something with a pulse tomorrow!

Location:Icefields Parkway, Banff National Park, Canada

Ice, ice baby!

We've been on a mission today to spot a bear, or an elk, or a deer... even a mouse. Wildlife is what we're here for but so far we've not seen anything other than a bit of a blur as we whizz past on the highway.

The lady in tourist information said that the bears were awake, albeit a bit confused by the unusually cold weather for this time of year, and we were quite likely to see them up at Johnston's Canyon.




The roads up to the canyon were bad; it had snowed heavily in the night and the ploughs had not been out so we were pretty much driving on a sheet of glass. We managed to keep the car under control though and made it to our destination in one piece.




The ice on the footpaths was a foot and a half thick, a few inches above the bottom rung of the safety barrier. Paul slipped on one section, his legs went straight through the gap in the barrier - I though he was a goner but all those burgers we've been eating not only gave him a cushioned landing but also jammed him by the backside between the two bars. We put on crampons after that.




The gorge is older than the pyramids; carved out over thousands of years by the icy mountain water cascading over the rocks, carrying sharp pieces of stone and grit.



During the winter and well into the spring, all of the falls and most of the river itself freeze solid in rippling folds of blue and grey ice. Icicles metres long hang from the rocks, glittering when the sun shines just right.




During the freeze, a tree had been washed down the fall and been caught in time, protruding from the frozen fall, ready to continue its journey downstream when the ice melts.



You have probably guessed from my ramblings that we didn't cross paths with any bears or any other animals for that matter - we did spot some giant clawed footprints though on the ice just near an emerald pool.



After a four hour hike wearing crampons (it's really hard work walking in those things!), we were cold and very achy so we headed up to the thermal springs which have mountain views on each side. After fourth minutes in the hot 38 Celsius water, we felt almost human again... and very sleepy! So it's an early night for us tonight to give our aching bones chance tore over before doing it all over again tomorrow!

Location:Johnston's Canyon, Banff, Canada

Banff

In England, if your SatNav announced "in 173 miles, turn right", you'd let out a groan, aside from the possibility of driving off the end of the country, you'd be in for a very long and boring drive.




Not in Canada.




In a seven hour drive, 173 miles of it on the same road, we drove through torrential rain, hail, sleet, sunshine, low cloud, a blizzard. We saw lakes frozen solid, roadside toilets buried up to their roofs in snow, wild deer and two baby bears.




We even crossed time zones! That's something I've never done in a car before!




We arrived in Banff just as the light started to fade. It's a lovely, quaint little town; just a couple of streets lined with log fronted shops, restaurants and hotels. The sapphire night was lit by the the shop windows, soft white flakes the size of dollar coins were falling all around us and landing in our eye lashes - it felt like we were walking through the scene of an old fashioned Christmas card.

Location:Banff, Canada

Moving on... Summerland

Due to a real lack of soundproofing in the hotel in Vancouver (with a roudy bunch of old ladies on one side and an over-amorous couple on the other - think Meg Ryan in 'when Harry met Sally' and then raise the volume until the remote explodes, a bit like that) we've had very little sleep over the last few days. This morning I was up at 4am and out taking photographs of the sunrise by 6.

On the first night, we had noticed a really nice scene down one of the main streets; all lit up with neon signs with the snowcapped Rockies in the distance, highlighted by a setting sun. I was way too tired that night to go back for my camera so I planned to go the next night instead. However, the clouds were too low over the next two days to even see the Rockies so I thought I'd missed my chance. But this morning, there they were in all their glory.

I set up my tripod at the side of the road, entered a nice slow shutter speed to catch the movement of the traffic and got snapping.




Since the Canucks victory the other night over Chicago, all of the buses have had "Go Canucks Go" emblazoned across the front of them so when I saw this one pulling up at the lights, I took my chances, ran into the middle of the road, plonked my tripod down, got the picture and then quickly darted out of the way as the lights changed.




After breakfast, we picked up the hire car and set off for Summerland. It was a beautiful scenic drive, mile after mile of rolling hills and craggy mountains. The sun was out but there was thick snow everywhere, about four foot at the side of the road in some places.

The hotel (Summerland Waterfront Resort and Spa) perches right on the edge of the lake, with the yacht club jetty right outside our window.




The receptionist must have liked the look of us because we got upgraded to a studio room with a corner balcony looking out on the lake and pool - absolutely huge room with a full kitchen, dining area, very posh bathroom, massive bed, 3 piece suite, 32 inch telly and DVD player, and a log fire!




I could quite happily live here - I can see myself sat at the dining table with a hot chocolate and my laptop, writing this blog while watching the boats sail by.




There isn't a lot to do here so we're just enjoying the time relaxing with a good book before we have to do the 7 hour drive to Banff tomorrow.

Location:Summerland, Canada

Rain

Today it rained. And rained. And then it rained some more. My waterproof coat and pants are no use in this, I'm soaked to my undies and cold to the bones.

We went this morning to Gas Town to see the steaming clock which, every 4 and a half minutes, whistles the tune of the Westminster chimes and blasts out a big plume of smoke, spitting water all over you if you stand close enough. Gas Town is where Vancouver began after Gassy Jack Deighton, a sailor from Hull came over in 1867 to open a bar. It is now known as Vancouver's best bar district and is where we are heading tonight to meet up with one of Paul's students who lives here.




There was not a lot else to see there during the day other than a few old shop fronts and a statue of Old Gassy himself so we then trundled off to Chinatown where we visited the Dr Sun Yat-Sen Chinese Garden.




The garden was rooted around a small lake covered in lilies with a little pagoda and a lovely looking Chinese building - you could almost think you were in China were it not for the towering skyscrapers looming behind which so epitomise the Vancouver skyline.




The rest of Chinatown was pretty scruffy (and smelly because of all the stores selling all kinds of varieties of dried fish) so we jumped on a bus over to the University of British Columbia campus.

By this point it was REALLY lashing down and we were starting to get quite uncomfortable as we squelched around in our wet shoes and socks!

The campus is huge and home to numerous tourist sights as well as all those students. There was a lot of things we would have liked to have seen had it not been raining; the botanical garden, the Nitobe Memorial garden, the Wreck Beach, but under the conditions we settled for the Museum of Anthropology which was dry, and warm.




The museum contains one of Canada's best displays of northwest coast aboriginal heritage. Totem poles, original ones this time with the signs of age showing in their rotten wood.




The imagery in them suggests that their designers may have been under the influence of hallucinogenic frog licking!

Location:Vancouver