TestPilot
Well-known member
We have just returned from a fantastic 3 week trip to Canada to visit our son and DiL who are working in Banff for the next few months. We received some advice from RocketDoc which was extremely helpful and not fully heeded :wink: (John, sorry we didn't get accross to Victoria - the schedule just did not allow it, and summer would be better for it too).
Unfortunately we had to stick to 4 wheels and 4WD, because this was what we drove in much of the time:
I also had some fun, planting Aussie flags in front of webcams (claiming parts of Canada for Australia), and someone even got a screenshot of me having just attached an Aussie flag to this roadside sign:
We flew via LA to Vancouver on the way in (5 hrs on the ground), and via SFO to Auckland on the way out (10 minutes on the ground escorted running through the bowels of the airport to catch the connecting flight, as our flight into SFO was delayed due to weather causing SFO congestion). The trip came together at really short notice - we booked the tickets 10 days before we left, and had been speculating about it for a week or so before that. We had to be in Auckland 10 to 12 Jan for a wedding, and Canada is on the same map as Auckland (if the map is big enough). I shopped for flights for a week or so, and when I gave up suddenly Zea found affordable fares flying Air Canada. One of the issues this raised was that we didn't get to see people on our list - but this was a trip to visit the kids and experience a white Christmas.
In summary:
* Canada (well, the part we saw) was awesome - we just can not see that scenery in that snow-setting here.
* Driving in snow/on ice was interesting.
* Canadian drivers are way better disciplined than Aussies as regards lane-discipline.
* Speed limits - what speed limits :yahoo: How can they book you when front number plates are optional, and the rear plates are so covered in snow/ice/road gravel that you can't even read them at 6 inches.
* If you want to meet Aussies or Kiwis in Canada just go to Banff - only 1 in 4 people there is from Canada.
* I'm really sorry that I didn't get to an NHL game - I have loved hockey since I skated as a teenager. I do have a Canucks jumper now, though (and a puck).
* Canadian people are friendly (those we met along the way)
* Vancouver is a beautiful city (based on approx 2 days there)
* Calgary not so (based on 1 afternoon)
* Would love to do the same trip on a FJR in summer
* The Icefields Parkway - you just have to drive this even just to say you've done it
* Excellent Cinnamon Scrolls at the Soft Rock in Jasper
* Snowmobiles are fun. Thank goodness for soft powder, when you forget that you aren't on a FJR and you countersteer into the corner to miss the tree. It is hard work digging out an almost buried sled.
* Skating on a frozen lake on Christmas Day at -6 - awesome
* Minus 20 something is cold. I have never understood heated grips and heated clothing until now!
Having fun:
Getting helped out:
A straight section of the Icefields Parkway:
The Weeping Wall:
I think I could easily become an honorary tourism promoter for Canada - everyone at work has been checking flights :crylarf: :crylarf:
And yes, being with family was good. We have had a tough few years as a family, and it was important for the 4 of us to be together at this time.
We took some roads less travelled, including Highway 99. This is another amazing road (have I used that word before?). Not long after leaving Cache Creek and turning onto 99 it took us about an hour to drive 20 or 30 k's at one stage, because we were constantly stopping to take piccies.
We did see Elk along the Bow Valley Parkway (and I'll say it quietly - deer along the road and in the town itself too).
Almost everyone in Banff was speaking with a 'downunder' accent. Our youngsters seem to have displaced many of the Japanese on the counters, but the asian groups still own many of the stores. Had many a great beer at the Elk and Oarsman watching NHL on the big screen. Steven works accross the road, and Lee next door, so on their work days we would meet there for their 'lunch break' around 5pm, have something to eat, and I'd settle in to watch the game (you can keep NFL and NBA though - they do nothing for me).
We were also very fortunate to see these 2 wolves in the wild near Jasper:
And there must always be piccies of Lake Louise:
The Ice Castle on the frozen lake with people skating in near background and the glacier lost in the snow/mist:
Zea and me at the Ice Castle:
Zea and Steven:
And we also stopped and explored Johnson Canyon:
I was determined to get piccies of me with icicles on my beard, and I did. They are not fit for this site, however. I was having fun (does it show?):
And I had to get a piccie of me at Horseshoe Bay where Highway 1 starts (and Highway 99 starts here too):
The above was written just after we got back home.
Unfortunately we had to stick to 4 wheels and 4WD, because this was what we drove in much of the time:
I also had some fun, planting Aussie flags in front of webcams (claiming parts of Canada for Australia), and someone even got a screenshot of me having just attached an Aussie flag to this roadside sign:
We flew via LA to Vancouver on the way in (5 hrs on the ground), and via SFO to Auckland on the way out (10 minutes on the ground escorted running through the bowels of the airport to catch the connecting flight, as our flight into SFO was delayed due to weather causing SFO congestion). The trip came together at really short notice - we booked the tickets 10 days before we left, and had been speculating about it for a week or so before that. We had to be in Auckland 10 to 12 Jan for a wedding, and Canada is on the same map as Auckland (if the map is big enough). I shopped for flights for a week or so, and when I gave up suddenly Zea found affordable fares flying Air Canada. One of the issues this raised was that we didn't get to see people on our list - but this was a trip to visit the kids and experience a white Christmas.
In summary:
* Canada (well, the part we saw) was awesome - we just can not see that scenery in that snow-setting here.
* Driving in snow/on ice was interesting.
* Canadian drivers are way better disciplined than Aussies as regards lane-discipline.
* Speed limits - what speed limits :yahoo: How can they book you when front number plates are optional, and the rear plates are so covered in snow/ice/road gravel that you can't even read them at 6 inches.
* If you want to meet Aussies or Kiwis in Canada just go to Banff - only 1 in 4 people there is from Canada.
* I'm really sorry that I didn't get to an NHL game - I have loved hockey since I skated as a teenager. I do have a Canucks jumper now, though (and a puck).
* Canadian people are friendly (those we met along the way)
* Vancouver is a beautiful city (based on approx 2 days there)
* Calgary not so (based on 1 afternoon)
* Would love to do the same trip on a FJR in summer
* The Icefields Parkway - you just have to drive this even just to say you've done it
* Excellent Cinnamon Scrolls at the Soft Rock in Jasper
* Snowmobiles are fun. Thank goodness for soft powder, when you forget that you aren't on a FJR and you countersteer into the corner to miss the tree. It is hard work digging out an almost buried sled.
* Skating on a frozen lake on Christmas Day at -6 - awesome
* Minus 20 something is cold. I have never understood heated grips and heated clothing until now!
Having fun:
Getting helped out:
A straight section of the Icefields Parkway:
The Weeping Wall:
I think I could easily become an honorary tourism promoter for Canada - everyone at work has been checking flights :crylarf: :crylarf:
And yes, being with family was good. We have had a tough few years as a family, and it was important for the 4 of us to be together at this time.
We took some roads less travelled, including Highway 99. This is another amazing road (have I used that word before?). Not long after leaving Cache Creek and turning onto 99 it took us about an hour to drive 20 or 30 k's at one stage, because we were constantly stopping to take piccies.
We did see Elk along the Bow Valley Parkway (and I'll say it quietly - deer along the road and in the town itself too).
Almost everyone in Banff was speaking with a 'downunder' accent. Our youngsters seem to have displaced many of the Japanese on the counters, but the asian groups still own many of the stores. Had many a great beer at the Elk and Oarsman watching NHL on the big screen. Steven works accross the road, and Lee next door, so on their work days we would meet there for their 'lunch break' around 5pm, have something to eat, and I'd settle in to watch the game (you can keep NFL and NBA though - they do nothing for me).
We were also very fortunate to see these 2 wolves in the wild near Jasper:
And there must always be piccies of Lake Louise:
The Ice Castle on the frozen lake with people skating in near background and the glacier lost in the snow/mist:
Zea and me at the Ice Castle:
Zea and Steven:
And we also stopped and explored Johnson Canyon:
I was determined to get piccies of me with icicles on my beard, and I did. They are not fit for this site, however. I was having fun (does it show?):
And I had to get a piccie of me at Horseshoe Bay where Highway 1 starts (and Highway 99 starts here too):
The above was written just after we got back home.
