Date of Rebirth

Ah well... hello.

I haven't written in here for well over a month. I will get around to writing about what I have been up to and uploading photos.

But right now I am writing from Vancouver Airport as I am waiti9ng to catch the first of my two flights on my way home to Sydney.

Vancouver Airport is awesome because it is the first airport in my many visits to airports that actually has free wifi. It gets my approval, for sure.

So I have two hours to kill till my flight arrives and leaves to Los Angeles. Our bags will be transferred which I am amazingly glad about. Last time on our way to Canada Kylie and I had to collect our bags and go to the domestic airport. At least that will be one less hassle to contend with. If our flight is on time we will have to spend another two hours in LA airport before boarding our final flight home.

I am disturbed by the fact that there are sparrows inside of Vancouver airport. How did they get in here? Spooky!

Anyway.... this is super boring right now. But I am looking forward to being home again even though it will be super surreal and I don't want to take on the responsibility of having an ordinary life again.

I had great fun in Canada, especially once I left Banff and went travelling again. Being in one place for too long makes you forget why you even bothered travelling in the first place.

New York was the best, Toronto was pretty fun and Victoria and Vancouver were super relaxing, sunny and warm.

I've had my two weeks of Spring and now I am heading off towards three more months of Winter. What an insane and cold year its been so far, eheheh!

So yes, I'll update and fill out those missing months later.

Later Days!

My entry was so long it exceeded the character limit. So here we go... continuing.

20th Mar

Ahh this day was highly amusing. We intended to go to HI Hostel for the Friday Night Karaoke nights. Got a taxi there because it's on the other side of Tunnel Mountain. On arrival we discovered that it wasn't open, on accounts of some Aussie DJ's being in Banff and everyone was there. So we decided to walk downtown in the dark. We found a trail leading down and found this really REALLY nice area. It must be the posh area of Banff. There were steps leading down to the road along a rocky cliff face. The cliff face had pine trees growing on it which were being lit up form underneath. You could see down the street, lamplights gently illuminating the road. It had a strangely European feel to it and was ever so gorgeous.

When we reached downtown we tried to go into a few pubs but some had a cover charge. We eventually found where the Aussie DJ's were playing (at Wild Bills) who were responsible for us having to change our evening plans. We couldn't even get in there because of a cover charge. So we just trolled around. First to The Paddock, then the Olde Irish Pub, where there was live music, so that was nice. And lastly the Magpie and Stump where I had my first Tequila shot. I don't have an opinion on that drink. I can live without it but it wasn't as gross as everybody has been saying. It's probably the licking of the salt and then the sucking on a lime that makes it more gross than it should be, ehehe!

We finished off our night walking back up the hill to the Banff Centre, laughing loudly.

21st Mar

I was enjoying my day off, sitting at home when Adam rocked up and said we should go to The Hoodoos. The Hoodoos are a natural rock formation, as well as the Mountain Range behind Tunnel Mountain.

We started our track, because it was a simply lovely day and I hate being couped up inside. It had been rather on the warmish side for days before and it hadn't snowed in weeks so I was overjoyed about the fact that most of the snow had melted. You could see the ground, the brown grass slowly starting to regain life after having been squashed and flattened from months of snow pressing down on it. You could smell the scent of Pine Trees in the air, the river was starting to flow again and birds could be heard and squirrels seen. It made me super happy. Months of deathly quiet finally superseded by mother nature breathing life into the world. On the walk I found a skull of... I don't know what it was. Probably a rat. I kept it till it started falling apart a few days later. Then I threw it out. Ili doens't know the meaning of 'biohazard'. But it's ok.... it was clean and no bits of flesh attached at all.

This is 'Third Beach'. Or 'Turd Beach' as all the Frenchies pronounce it. A beach..... oh it is so laughable! And that is the steep side of Tunnel Mountain you see there towering above it.

It was seriously warm..... like... 8 degrees! Rundel on my right, the Hoodoos mountain range in the background.

We got to a meadow. I think that was the highlight of my day. A brown meadow. But big open space with little to no snow. Mmm!

Along the way to The Hoodoos I heard this sound like a gunshot going off in the distance, reverberating around the valley. A moment of silence and then a rush like thunder rumbling or a wave crashing. Adam informed me that was the sound of an avalanche. Was very cool!

After a while we got to Tunnel Mountain Road and a bunch of car parks for lazy people who don't want to actually hike to the Hoodoos. It served as a very nice view of the valley.

Rundel to the left, Tunnel Mountain, a little mole hill in the middle there, sheltering the town of Banff behind it, and Cascade on the right. You can see the white band which is the Bow River, snaking through. I like lookouts like this. Lets me orientate myself and understand where exactly I currently am.

Here's another panorama a little further along the trail.

You know... the really amusing thing is... I don't actually have any decent photos of the Hoodoos. Go all that way and don't even bother to take a photo of them. They honestly weren't that impressive at all. Just a few craggy rocks surrounded by trees. The walk itself was more fun and interesting than the destination. So just Google if you want to see what they look like, I guess.

Actually.... here you go.

That's what they look like.

Just imagine they are in the middle of that above picture, below where that ring of river flows. You can 'just' see the very top tip of the Hoodoos poking up from where I cropped the picture, ehehe!

Adam and I stopped to eat some rock hard muesli bars and then headed back home.

We got kind of lost. We took the trail going along the road. Decided it was really ugly and slushy to walk up there so we decided to descend towards where we knew the lower trail was, on which we walked to get to our destination. Sure... we were lost but we couldn't have gotten too lost as long as we kept heading down. We'd hit the cliff face eventually. It was fun bush bashing our way through the undergrowth but also came across some super icy spots and amazingly slushy mud puddles. We found the trail eventually. It was more sensible to walk off the trail because there wasn't snow anywhere except for on the trail. Go figure why that is.

Look, MOSS!

At some point Adam attacked me with slushy snowballs and I vowed revenge. This is an important thing to remember as you read on.

We eventually made it to lower ground where the river could be seen and walked along again. We opted to walk on the icy, snowed on river bank instead of climbing a massive hill which we traversed before. That was rather scary because you couldn't see what was solid ground and river. But there were footsteps preceding us so we bravely, or foolishly trudged along, hugging the cliff face where we could.

We made it back to solid ground safely. We eventually got back to the meadow. But just before we reached it I grabbed a fist full of snow and threw it down Adams back and ran for my life to the safety of the no snow zone. I got him back so good we called a truce but I kept a wary eye on him for the remainder of the walk.

Look, MORE MOSS!

I like moss.

We then had to walk up a really steep bit which seemed to take for ages because it was the very last leg of the journey before we hit the Banff Centre.

The very next day we got a huge dumping of snow, so I was amused and very thrilled about the fact that we had gone for that walk when we did.

Also, on that evening I made good on my promise to draw a portrait of Adam as a birthday presen to him, since I've been drawing everyone else since I've been here. I should charge people or something.

22nd Mar

The only thing I remember about that day is that there was a farewell party happening in Props for three people who were leaving. I sat down there for a while, stealing Steve's tomatoes from his plate of food. That's what I like to do, make an appearance for maybe an hour or so, say good-bye and then go back to my room to sleep. Mmmmm, sleeeeeep!

23rd Mar

Went downtown with Kylie and Adam to the Spaghetti Factory for $10 dinner. It was so good... well.... it's more like quantity instead of quality. You can get a decent meal for cheap... cheap service and cheap taste but it was still great. You get bread... the bread was so good, we nearly couldn't finish our main pasta-y meal because of the bread, and then ice cream. Amazingly delicious ice cream. So yes.... Spaghetti Factory... don't expect too much, but you will get well fed for cheap moneys.

24th Mar

We went on a Banff Centre Staff Ski Day. Was only $45, which was great.

Went with Kylie, Fiona and Dan. We had a really fun day out.

Ignore the blurriness of Dan's camera.

Dan was really impressive on the snowboard. He's been going since he was eight or something, although he hadn't been in a few years so he was a bit rusty. But not rusty enough to show us all up. The two of us had a feud going. He attacked me with snow, I attacked him back and then rode for my life down the slope. He got me back while I was sitting down by riding right past me and kicking up a blizzard of snow and ice into my face. Then later when we were back at the bottom of the ski hill he rode down to me on his board sitting on it like it was a toboggan, making it very easy for me to kick snow in his face... repeatedly. He admitted defeat and all was well.

We went up Angel Express. I couldn't make it to the beginner run so had to settle for going down a black run, which I couldn't manoeuvre away from. It wasn't that bad... the only difficult thing was that the beginning of it was utterly blinding. It was whiter than white... you couldn't see anything... not where the bumps where, not where the terrain dipper. It was a freakish whiter than white. But then the terrain became more normal colour as you went past the jump park. Dan and I lost Kylie on the way somewhere so we decided to head towards the Continental Express, a chairlift we all agreed on meeting at when we were done with Angel Express. Fiona, Dan and I waited for Kylie for about ten minutes before giving up on her and taking the very very very long chairlift up.

I was scared of Continental, coz it was so very high up and every time I have gazed upon it the very top has been covered in cloud. Going up on the lift there was a sign that said 'Welcome to British Columbia' around the end of the Angel Express lift, and then a minute later we hit a sign saying 'Welcome back to Alberta'. As I have said... the Continental divide amuses me because you can hop between provinces. When we reached the top of the Continental we were in the middle of a white out, when it had been clear while we were still on the lift. Typical that a cloud would roll across just as we land. So we flung ourselves into the cloudy whiteness which was thrilling but man, Dan and I were overjoyed when the cloud blew away and we could see again. Fiona abandoned us to go along a black run so I just guessed at where I had to go and found myself on a green run. The wind rushed past just the way I like it, and made the ride all the more thrilling. Then with much dread I found my way to the beginning of the Angel Express green run, which has the horrible flat bits. Dan and I couldn't find a way to avoid it so we just went for it. As per usual, I fell over again on the flat run and had to walk all the way to where the hill started again.

We all met up at the Angel Express lift, bar Kylie, and were debating whether to go back up or wait for Kye to come up or something. We decided to just head back up, musing about the fact that maybe we'll see her on the way up. We did, in fact, see her on the way up. Yelled out to her and waved like lunatics. The four of us where finally then reunited at the top of Angel Express.

After that run we decided to call it a day, head into Trappers and rest before we went back down to the base and waited for everyone from the Banff Centre to get back together so we could head home.

In the evening we headed down to Wild Bills for Karaoke.... for some reason Adam was really adamant about Karaoke, but the funny thing was... we were foiled again. No karaoke at HI the week before, no Karaoke at Wild Bills this week, because they had... I do believe... an aussie band on... again. It was amusing that it wasn't our destiny to go to Karaoke.

26th Mar

The highlight of that day.... we cooked soft tortillas. Adam went downtown and bought all the food stuffs. How very nice of him.

27th Mar

Ahhh... this was a funny day... well more so evening. Laura has a car which has no working battery and isn't insured or registered. She had it parked outside of the Security office for some reason for two weeks. Security told her she had to move the car coz it was a liability to the Centre or something. So we, her good friends, were charged with the duty of moving it into the underground parking under cover of dark. That part wasn't too bad because the car park we had to move the car to was situated downhill from its current location. The main problem we faced was the fact that the front left tire was practically encased in snow and ice. Kylie and Dan managed to sort of dig some of it out by kicking at it. Then we tried to push the car, which failed because we were laughing too much with thoughts of getting weird looks from people driving past. It also didn't help that there was a concert on that night and the car parks were virtually full.

The car wouldn't budge... till Dan got to the back, pulling the car from the rear door and kylie pushing from the front in a rocking action. I joined Kylie at the front while Adam took the other side of the car and pulled from the door. We were all elated when we managed to rock the car over its snowy prison and then the fun began of having Laura inside the car trying to manoeuvre it but she found it really hard and the break didn't work properly which we discovered whilst pushing the car down the hill to the car park. We got it into the car park and rolled it to the back where there was a tiny spot next to a badly parked car and a wall. Dan took mover, turning the car, while we pushed one way than th other as we tried to rock the car into a good position without hitting anything. While that was going on someone drove out of a more favourable parking spot so we moved the car to that spot instead, having Dan park it with the rear facing the wall. Cars in Canada only have number plates on the back. Go figure why.

28th Mar

Kylie and I woke up early and went to Staff Caff for breakfast, because this was the first time Adam had to work in there and we wanted to laugh at him. After a good breakfast we went to PDC and got on the Snowy Owl Powder Hound Express which would take us half an hour out of Canmore to a remote area where we could go dog sledding.

When we arrived at the location we walked past trucks full of dogs in cages, further down the trail where sleds had been set up. The people encouraged us to pat the dogs and give them as much love as possible, so we did.

After that we were given the talk about what to do and how to do it right. First and foremost was to never let go of your sled, because the dogs will know and take great enjoyment in running faster to kick you off the sled entirely. We got told the basic commands of 'Hike' being go, 'Easy' being slow down and 'Woah' being stop. It was also explained that the tone of voice was very important and that the dogs love getting encouragement. Also that when you go up hill you need to make an effort to help the dogs or they will hate you.

While the commands were being yelled out all the dogs were quiet and just sitting there, because they have all been doing it long enough to know that it was just a demo. But as soon as we all started moving to our sleds the dogs perked up and started barking and pulling in anticipation.

Kylie and I got put on a sled together. Our lead dogs were Avalon and Blaze. Then we had Firestar and at the back Schnookum and Rush, who were the brute workers and were the only actual huskies on our team. The other three dogs were cross breeds with all kinds of breed traits in them. Husky and greyhound as well as other things. It was explained to us that Huskies are like supermodels of the dog world. They look great but would rather sit around and be lazy, so dogs have been bread with traits that make them strong, durable and enjoy working.

I had to take driving the sled first and it was kind of nerve wracking but exciting too. We were right at the back, so we watched everyone else depart first. I didn't even have to say "Hike'. As soon as our sled was released from the tie the dogs ran off.

The next scary thing was stopping. Trying to estimate when to stop. We all halted at the beginning of 'poo hill', which is the first hill where most of the dogs decide to go to the toilet. We also got explained that if one of the dogs on your team stops to relieve themselves you have to stop the sled. Stand on the metal break and just wait till they all slow down. I stopped a bit too late, but it wasn't too bad.

After a few minutes we were off again, up the hill. I tried getting off the sled and running along but gave that up after a few seconds because they were moving too fast and just decided to take one foot off and push along. It is by far the safer option.

We went along like this, stopping and starting for the next half hour. Over a narrow wooden bridge, up and down slopes, around corners which you have to lean into so the sled doesn't topple over. My dogs were going too fast so I had to ride the break with one foot for a great deal. Whenever we came to a full halt I usually didn't have to yell 'Hike' to get them moving again, but when I did it was great. A rush of movement as the dogs powered up with a jolt.

After half an hour we stopped on a frozen lake where it was time to change over mushers. I got to sit inside the sled and rely on Kylie to have enough strength to stop and control the sled. Now that was scary. I got a really nice view as we ran along the lake, then back onto solid ground and continued to run along a river. We stopped and saw a Bald Eagle sitting atop a tree.

Kylie did alright though and really dog her feet in when it came to stopping, si I was safe :D

When we got back to the beginning of our trek it was really awesome. There were new sleds set up with a bunch of dogs, on either side. So we went down this corridor of excited barks and wagging tails. One of the people who worked there started jogging next to us, telling us to slow down and that he would stop and tie the sled down when we got to our station.

We spent the next 15 minutes walking back to where the bus would be. It took us 15 minutes because as we walked along we stopped and petted all the new dogs that had been brought out. Some of them were just so adorable. Especially two golden huskies I was petting for ages. One of them dropped to the ground and rolled over to get its belly scratched and the other started leaning against me when I stopped paying attention to it. Makes me miss my doggy.

When all of us had gotten the doggy love out of the way we were lead to a campfire where we could warm up with hot Cider and chocolate chip cookies because the bus came to pick us up and drop us off back home.

On the way back home I took photos of the mountains around Canmore.

I like this mountain.... it looks like there's a face of a bear on it. Ehehe!

We got back in time for lunch. It was short but a very good and fun activity. Kylie and I were both sort of sad that we didn't opt for the all day tour instead.

Later that evening we all went out for Tara's (an Aussie girl) birthday at The Irish Pub. It was packed but we got a table and had dinner there.

30th Mar

Kylie and I went back to Calgary, this time to go to Chinook Mall. The weather was nicer than last time we went to Cagary, it was warmer and just all in all more enjoyable. We bought new clothes and just enjoyed being amongst non remote civilisation. Chinook Mall is really funky. There is this large T-Rex skeleton made entirely out of metal. It looks like some sort of steam punk dinosaur. And at the top, hanging from the ceiling is a large contraption with strange trains and planes which move around in a circle. There's also a Merry-Go-Round. I took photos of the Dinosaur on my phone because we didn't think we'd need our cameras. You always need a camera when you think you won't. Remember that, kids.

So that is everything that had been happening in March. By far the most activity filled month we've had.

This entry is over 6000 words now so I am going to stop, and have an April entry up when April ends :p

As of right now Kylie and I have less than a month left of work, And then we will head off to New York City, Toronto and Vancouver Island, for two weeks before coming back home.

I'm so glad the trip is almost over, ehehehe!

Later Days!!!

Oh wow, how time flies. It's been over a month since I last posted, and I have done so much. It's one of those endless cycles. You go and do stuff, are too tired to spend time writing and resizing photos and uploading so you think 'I'll post it later because I am too tired and have no time' and then it all piles up. The list gets longer and longer, you keep saying you'll post later and then you have a months worth of stuff to catch up on. In my defence I was going to update last Thursday but funnily enough I totally killed my laptop. It wouldn't boot up at all. But more about that later.

Lets trace back the steps. All the way back to February.

25th Feb

We built a snowman. Laura, Adam, Kylie and I went downstairs, outside of DCH and built a snowm an on the rolling hill, because the freshly fallen snow was too tempting. But the snow didn't stick, because it was too dry. So we just pushed snow into a heap and tried to vaguely shape it. Adam nicked a large carrot from the kitchen for its nose. We got some pine branches for arms and.. antenna of all things. I don't recall what we used for eyes. But I had a banana which we used as a mouth. I found a squash racket in the free pile in DCH and we stuck that on it as well, so he could defend himself against the wildlife.

It was a lot of fun because a snow-fight preceded the snowman building session. Our snowman stood there for less than a week before someone came and defaced it inappropriately with a phallic object. And about another week later it was totally mutilated. Got up in the morning to go to work, looked out the elevator window to where our snowman usually stood to find a heap of dishevelled snow. Kylie and I were slightly annoyed, but later in the day Dan and Laura told us that they saw what had happened to our snowman. Apparently two deer came along and decided to eat our snowman and then fought about who gets to eat the carrot and totally trampled him to his snowy death. How sad, but far more amusing. It's been over a month now, and the snow is melting away from the hill but the base of our snowman is still there, amongst the brown grass.

27th Feb

Not really exciting. Just went to the Pump and Tap with Laura, Kylie and Adam. They had a drink before going to Auroras to dance the night away. I went back home and ended up talking to Fiona for two hours till Kylie came back home at 1am or something.

28th Feb

I had signed up that week to go for a walk at Johnston Canyon with the Community Services, just because I wanted to get away from these four walls I live in. Adam came with me. It was only $5 for the bus. A lot cheaper than going with the Banff Discovery tours, but I don't mind. The tour was good and informative. Whereas this trip was just random people from The Banff Center going to the Canyon... in a SCHOOL BUS! The novelty of it! The bus was very cold and had signs up with kids names on it. How strange to think they have allocated seating. On the way the bus stopped because there were some Stags at the roadside so we all hopped off and took photos. As of that moment I'd only seen the Does.

Because Adam and I had both already been there we decided we'd try to head for the Ink Pots, which were a good three hours away roughly, but we had the problem that the bus would be leaving at 3:30, and we got there at 10:30. We made it to the Upper Falls in half an hour of walking really fast. Saw some Ice Climbers at the falls.

More Ice. Mmm!

And then the treacherous route began to the Ink Pots. Not as many people head that way so the trail was extremely snowy. In some spots if you went off the slightly worn trail you'd be up to your knees.

I couldn't keep up with Adam because it was so difficult to walk in deep snow and uphill for the most part as well, I just told him to go ahead. I walked for about an hour and gave up what I guess was half way up a really big hill. I ate some sandwiches and then plodded back towards the Bus. Leaving various messages for Adam in the snow, for when he turned back too. Even did a snow angel. He caught up with me half way down, while I was in the middle of writing him another message. He didn't see any of them. So disappointing -_____- He didn't make it to the Ink Pots either which he complained and was huffy about all the way home, ehehe. British people are funny, always complaining.

1st Mar

We went to Balkan's, a Creek Restaurant, for Adam's birthday dinner.

It was enjoyable enough but the restaurant screwed us over as they said they'd do some plate smashing but they never made good on their promise. So now we glare at the place every time we walk past it. After the dinner we went to a pub right below it but it was crowded in there. So then we went to what is probably my favourite pub, The Paddock. I love it because the times I've been in there it's always been close to deserted. They have a real log fire and big comfortable sofa chairs right in front of it. So we sat in there for a good bit. Then I don't recall what happened any more. I think a few went to Auroras. All I remember is that I didn't go there but we all had a late night getting to bed.

2nd Mar

Now the post that everyone's been waiting on! We woke up early because Kylie and I were getting a lift with Adam and two of his friends who came down for his birthday, Charlotte and Mireya , all the way to Golden, which is two hours away from Banff and located in BC. We stopped by Lake Louise for a quick detour.

Castle Mountain, on the way to Lake Louise.

Now a bit of historical and cool information.... we are all familiar with the Kubric movie 'The Shining'? Well it was filmed at Lake Louise. At the Chateau. Not the one in the picture though. They renovated the nice old building to look like that ugly block of styless junk you see there. And I heard some of the interior stuff was filmed at the Fairmont Spings Hotel in Banff too. Pretty nifty :D

So then we continued our journey to Golden. We got there eventually in pretty ugly weather. We got a bit lost trying to get to the wolf sanctuary. We made it there eventually. Went inside a small hut, signed our lives away and were told that we have to get back into the car while Maya gets put into a 4 WD and that we have to follow and then when we get to where we are going, jump out super quick and give the handler and wolf some space. Sounded all very exciting, and was amusing driving behind a guy who had a full blooded wolf in the back of his car.

We only got to go for a walk with one wolf because the others weren't in the mood lately and one was so used to human s he was a bit too wild and unafraid so he had to have a time out. But we got Maya who, although shy, is also accustomed to being around people and was guaranteed to be around us more than her brother who'd just hide in the bushes the entire walk.

For the first ten minutes Maya was very wary of us and had her tail between her legs. We just tried to ignore her and move on. We also had Jackson accompany us who is a Karelian Bear Dog. He had lost an eye but was very cute and smelly and was there to keep Maya comfortable and company. Our guide was a man whos name I can't remember, but he is the Alpha Male of the pack of wolves that they have at the Northern Lights Wolf Sanctuary. Oh look, I went to the website and it's got it all there. His name was Casey. There we go. Marvels of the Internet!

Go look at the website if you are interested. Northern Lights Wildlife Wolf Centre

Anyway, Casey told us many things about wolves. How very shy and skittish they are. Looking at Maya we could all believe it. Wolves don't eat people and would never attack them unless really hungry and the entire pack is surrounding you. We enjoyed our hour walk but made such little headway, because we stood around, talking, and taking a bazillion photos of Maya. Casey lured her close to us with his container of food. The wolves hadn't been fed in almost a week so she was very responsive to the rattle of the meat inside the container.

Maya and Jackson

Jackson wanting some love

Us... being tourists...

Just me... being a tourist

She so cute!

Make her dance! If she wants food she needs to dance!!!!!

Ooo, scary!

Then we headed back to the Wildlife Centre. There we got an educational talk about wolves and all the wolves at the centre. It was cold standing out there for half an hour but interesting.

Wiley and Maya. Wiley is massive in comparison to Maya, though this picture may not accurately demonstrate that fact.

After that amazing experience we had to rush off because Adam, Kylie and I had to catch a bus at 3:25 and it was already past 3. We made it to the bus depo with time to spare but not enough time to get anything proper to eat for lunch. So the two hour bus trip was filled mostly with sleeping and eating chocolate and chips. Adam and I were musing about how good it would be to have Chicken Fingers at Staff Caff for dinner that night. Having food like that is a blue moon occurrence. So when we got to Staff Caff for dinner we were shocked, amazed and laughing to find Chicken Fingers for dinner. It was a good day.

3rd Mar

That day was Adam's actual birthday so Kylie and I went up to Sunshine with him. Kylie chose skiing, Adam and I boarded. This is where I have to mention that at some point prior to this day I bought a second hand snowboard off Adam for $30. He got it from someone who had left for free and wanted to pawn it off so I grabbed it. $30 is super cheap. I had to get it waxed for $15 coz it was super scratched but overall it has saved me loads on hiring, as all I need to hire out now is the boots.

It was a really nice day because for once it was semi sunny and not snowing. I dont actually have any photos of that day, but I think Kylie has some stashed away somewhere. It was great being up there with Adam because he took us up Standish and Angel Express. I have to say that going down the beginners slope on Angel was amazing. It was so high up and the really amusing thing about reaching the top of Angel Express is that you leave Alberta and are in British Columbia. The Continental Divide runs through there so one moment you are in AB, the next in BC, and when you go down the mountain you are back in AB. The really fun part was heading towards the horrid flat bit. Getting up the speed and momentum, zooming through the snow with the wind rushing past you. That was exhilarating. Until I fell over and had to get Kylie to drag me across the rest of the flat because I didn't want to undo my bindings. We had lunch, sitting outside because it was brilliantly sunny and warm... until the sun abandoned us. Kylie managed to fall over with her food and everything, and my how we laughed. She's made a real habit of falling over ALL THE TIME and it always being highly amusing. She hasn't found her snow/ice feet yet. And that's saying something, because as of writing this there is hardly any more snow or ice left, aside from the mountains.

It was a fun filled day of snow activities.

7th Mar

Only thing to report is that we, the usual crown headed downtown and watched 'Watchmen'. That was a pretty good movie.

8th Mar

We had been putting this off for probably a month so I finally made a date and decided that today was the day Kylie, Adam and I were going to head to the Fairmont and go Bowling, like Adam had suggested ages ago. It was a freezing cold evening and we had to wait outside, on the main street for a bus going up. In the time we waited we could have walked up to the Fairmont but nooooooo. Instead we went into the Rose and Crown, a pub. Hung in there for twenty minutes before venturing outside again in the freeze.

Anyway, we got there and played a round. It was weird bowling. The aisle was half the length, the pins were only numbers 5 and the ball had no holes and was small. Kylie got a freakish two strikes in a row to start off with. Then she couldn't hit anything after that. I kept losing point, which I didn't figure out why until it was too late and I had hit -76 points. Apparently if you accidentally go over the imaginary line there's a sound and it deducts the points you should be gaining. By the time it clicked we were already half way through the game, so I had about 4 turns left to make a comeback. Adam was miles ahead of us so its not even worth mentioning. On the last round I managed to get a strike, and another strike straight after. So my score at the end of the game came to a totally amazing big fat goose egg. I finished with what I had started, and I thought that utterly hilarious in a pathetic way.

After that we went to adjoining arcade and played some games. The basketballs in the hoop throwing machine were so deflated we could grab them and pull them through the bars so we had free goes throwing the balls into the hoop.

After spending an hour or so there we decided to head home. But had missed the last bus by half an hour so there was no choice but to walk in the cold. We ended up running a good way, because it was downhill.

10th Mar

We went to Wild Bills for Karaoke. Took Kylie and Adam over an hour to decide on what songs to sing, so once again we only got one song in.

17th Mar

I had the day off and decided to go for a haircut and got it dyed a shade lighter than my natural hair colour, just for a change.

19th Mar

Had another uneventful and relaxed day off from work. Adam and I went downtown, rented some movies and bought a MASSIVE cheese pizza as well as some white wine. Spent the evening watching Sunshine and Perfect Blue, stuffing our faces and denying Kylie when she wanted some of the pizza. The wine made me super sleepy, as well as giggly so I slept like a log.

Kylie and I couldn't go Dog Sledding yesterday but instead we decided to go on the Johnston Canyon walk.

We had a decent lunch at Vistas, which served ice cream for dessert (YUM!!!) and then headed to the PDC to wait for the bus to pick us up. When the bus arrived we met Ben, one of our tour guides, from Leeds, UK. He had a cool accent, ehehe! And our other tour guide, Alex, who was born and grew up here in Alberta. The bus had a few other people on it, from Belgium, America, the UK and other Canadians. In total there were probably 13 or so of us.

The bus went along the Trans-Canadian Highway. Ben was telling us about the history of the area, geographically speaking. About the formation of the Rockies due to tectonic plate movement and the sediment forming limestone, about how the glaciers and ice ages (all four of them in this area) shaped the mountains and valleys we have today. About how one mountain was totally ground through by the ice so the top of the massive mountain was sitting on top of the glaciers and once the ice melted the mountain collapsed, forming the rolling hills all around its ragged peaks. This collapse caused a certain creek to change course while flowing towards the Pacific Ocean and that created the Johnston Canyon we were soon going to hike through. We were also told about the railway line and how Sulphur Mountain smells of sulphur and is the reason Banff stands where it is today. While people were building the railway lines in about 1803 they stumbled upon the hotspings where the Fairmont Hot Springs Hotel now stands, which is also one of Banff's oldest buildings. The people who found the place wanted to buy the land to try and make some money but the Government decided to reject their claim as they wanted the land for tourism to help pay for the train line. And so this area became a National Park which expanded and now capsules a vast expanse of land.

It took about half an hour to get to the canyon. Once there we were given cleats to strap onto our shoes. They are basically just spikes and oh how I love them! If only I had had a pair while climbing Tunnel Mountain those few weeks ago! The whole track was about 5km long. 1.5 miles to the lower waterfall and another 1.5 miles to the upper waterfall. The walk was pleasant and no one was in a hurry. We took lots of photos and talked with each other while enjoying the gorgeous scenery. It was snowing all day but not very heavily. Which was also nice as it hadn't snowed in a good three or so weeks. The water holes left in the ice were amazing... these deep blue/green colours of the water were simply scrumptious! We also walked along a rock face with a few fossils in it from when there used to be coral around here.

The lower waterfall was really cool to get to because you could walk through a little hole in the rock-face, where the river had created a weakness and some people decided to break their way through it so tourists could get a better look at the waterfall. The waterfall was really nifty. you could see the water running behind the frozen part of the waterfall. If it hadn't been snowing it would have been like looking through glass at the water behind it. And again the water fell into an astonishingly blue pool.

But the real crescendo was the upper waterfall. All through our trek we had seen frozen walls of ice along the canyon walls from where the water was being squeezed out of the porous limestone due to the cold. The upper waterfall had this in greater and more impressive amounts, as well as the waterfall itself of course. It was marvellous standing there, looking at the amazing frozen torrents of water.

We got some hot chocolate and biscuits before walking back the way we came. The way back was more fun because it was more downhill. Always a bonus!

Now for some photos:

The lower falls

The upper falls

Back on the bus we drove down the first road that was built through Lake Louise and Banff, running adjacent to the railway line and the Trans-Canadian Highway. It's called the Wildlife Corridor because there are more open spaces for the animals to find food in. We also got told about how important fire is for the Rockies. It's basically the same as back home in Australia. The trees need the fire to open the seed pods, but because the area is a protected one natural fires, which used to come through every 8 to 100 years are no longer possible. So the forests have been overrun by conifer trees instead of a type of Poplar Tree which used to be far more abundant. The Poplar like the sun and grow really tall to get a lot of light. They also have thinner foliage and lose their leaves in winter. This is extremely important because the Poplar forests gave greater manoeuvrability to animals like deer and moose. These trees also allowed for more sunlight to filter through to the forest floor allowing for underbrush to grow, wildflowers and berries which animals could eat, and the autumn leaves also helped with sustaining the ecosystem. But now the thick Conifers are so dense that no sunlight gets through. Only moss grows which has little to no nutritional value for the animals. But in the area we were driving through the land was cleared through controlled fires about 20 years ago. The government in this province is starting to create controlled years every year to make sure the underbrush gets cleared, the forest can regenerate better and that the towns won't be burnt down. This is definitely very good.

We didn't actually see any wildlife. We were told that the place is basically overrun by Elk and deer and that there are only about 50 Moose left. Explains why I haven't seen one. They are being wiped out by some sort of bacteria. Kind of sad

We got dropped off at the PDC again, said good-bye to all the nice people and walked home. On our return Kylie stopped by Laura and Dan's room down the hall because Laura had left a note on our door declaring that she had a present for us. Turns out it was a small TV she got downtown for $10, which we had not been able to inquire about as we were too busy or lazy. So now we have a TV in our room. It sits on the floor because we have no other space to put it. It was very nice of her to get it for us XD. They also got a pretty good car for free so if they decide to keep it, pay for rego and insurance we might be able to go on road trips to Edmonton and avoid havign to pay bus fares. But we shall see what they decide to do.

Some people are also leaving Banff so there's a load of free stuff in the common area. I found a large black sheet which I snapped up and use now to drape over our curtains at night to keep the annoying construction light out. It is so much better to sleep in an actual dark room, and will also come in handy for when the sun starts rising earlier and earlier as it is starting to do now. I also found a remote out there to use on our TV.

This place is starting to feel like home now.

And in other news it finally started snowing again. This is good. We were starting to see grass everywhere again. Might be able to go up to the mountain again soon and not be worried ab out it being too icy. But the bad news is... the weathers' gotten cold again. I miss -7 temperatures

I seem to have forgotten to update this blog for the past three weeks >__>

We had a stint where the Internet was horrible again and I couldn't upload photos and do much of anything. I shall blame that. My evenings have also been pretty busy. It's either just being le tired from all the work or doing stuff with friends. If I decline anything Kylie immediately starts chirping the 'anti-social' line. Yeah, well... sometimes I like being anti-social, bah!

So let me backtrack...

31st January

This was an uneventful day. But in the evening Markus invited Kylie and myself along to a performance held in one of the theatre halls here at the Banff Center. It was for a guy called The Mighty Popo, yeah yeah, stop laughing. He had a band and they did African drumming and singing. It was really good. People got up and danced, it was a really positive and energetic atmosphere. At the end everyone stood up, clapped along, Markus, Kye and I joined the people on the performance floor and danced/clapped along as well. It was a good night.

That also reminds me that on the 27th of January Aiden asked us to join him at the Max Bell Auditorium to listen to a talk about this guy named Doug Fine, author of "Farewell, My Subaru". The talk was about how you can turn your lifestyle into an environmentally friendly and sustainable one without giving up your everyday comforts. It was fairly interesting and amusing in spots.

2nd February

Went Snowboarding with Kylie and Fiona. My second time on the slopes. We went up Strawberry just to get our bearings and then hit Wawa where I spent the rest of the day, going down the hill. There was one hill which tilted upwards before sloping down again. I always managed to come to a halt there, except for this one time where I went down a black diamond run but then moved over to the left side and onto the green run again. I had enough momentum to avoid stopping on that infernal flat bit. But I only managed it once. In the afternoon I was getting exhausted and kept falling over... a lot. Kylie and Fiona had left me, as they were on Skis. They decided ski all the way down the mountain to the carpark, while I would catch the Gondola down. I headed down at about 4pm and met up with the girls at the bottom. The good thing is I didn't feel sick when in the Gondola. The weather was a lot better than our first time going there so the windows weren't all frosted over and I could actually see out.

It was a pleasant day. The snow was amazing and powdery, but also a bit icey in spots. It was definitely more exhausting doing runs all day than being taught for three hours.

Following Fiona around on Wawa as we had no clue where to go.

The view from Wawa.

Top of the chairlift leading to Wawa.

Going back down to the carpark in the Gondola.

4th February

On this day Laura, Dan, Adam, Kylie and myself went down to Wild Bills for some Line Dancing. The guys just sat back and watched us girls make fools of ourselves standing on the crowded dance floor trying to get the steps right. I don't know about the others, but I did horribly at it, ehehe! Turns out also that there were quite a few Austrians there that night, ahaha!

5th February

I just sat around for the most part of the day. There was supposed to be a cardboard sled derby at one of the carparks around the Banff Center so I went to check it out with Adam in tow as he was fin ished with work at 2. We found the carpark, but there was not a soul in sight. Understandable since it had been so warm that all the snow had started melting a few days prior. For some reason we started walking up a trail and that lead to a totally unprepared hike up Tunnel Mountain. The track was icey for the most park, which made getting up there quite difficult, no matter how zig-zaggy and un-steep the trail was. It took us roughly forty minutes to walk all the way up. It probably only 20 to thirty minutes to walk down again because we were slipping and sliding and nearly falling down the mountain. It was a good hike, but I'm never doing that in joggers ever again. And there were some really pretty views, especially the one on the back of Tunnel Mountain, not overlooking Banff.

Do what the sign tells you to do.

The Bow River snaking through the valley. That's a golf course on the right hand side there where it' all cleared.

TA-DA! Ili made it!


7th February

We went to the movies that evening. I bought a Hershey's chocolate bar which I only actually opened and ate yesterday. It's alright. I don't see what the fuss is about Hershey's. I've had better.

9th February

Kye and I had the day off together so we went Downtown to go Ice Skating. The ice was worse than before because it was more snowed on, and I think I got a size to small in ice skates, so it was particularly painful. Only stayed there for an hour and then we went looking for shoes. I found some extremely comfortable hiking shoes, which aren't super heavy and I'll be able to wear them in Australia too. I bought some socks and some shoe deoderizer as well and that all came to around $180. I love my shoes and wear them whenever I go Downtown now. I still slip sometimes but it's nowhere near as bad as in joggers.

In the evening Dan approached us asking if we'd join him, Laura, Adam and a friend of Dans' (Candice) for dinner at the Elks. We said yes and headed down there. Dinner was very nice and we all had a good time.

10th February

The following day we decided to go to Wild Bills because Tuesday nights are Karaoke night. We sat there for a good hour and a half, drinking drinks, waiting for the Karaoke to start up. Dan and Laura left us because that's what they do. Just up and leave at random times. That only left Kylie, Adam and myself sitting there. But a few minutes later Fiona and Marc showed up. We had invited them but they hadn't been certain if they'd make it. I was glad to see them. Everyone bar Marc got up on stage to sing. We sang 'My Way' and then a good hour later 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. Was fun sitting around, singing along to everyone elses songs too.

The scary stage

12th February

Absolutely nothing happened on the 12th. But, the night before Kylie, Adam and I were sitting in The Hub, having truly horrible food for lunch and we started talking about the fact that the food was so horrible. I mentioned that I missed good and proper lasagna and then it was quickly decided that we'd make lasagna the next day for dinner. Adam and I went downtown to do the food shopping the next day and at four we started cooking the pasta, mince, vegetables. It took about an hour and a half and we didn't have a pot big enough to fit all the pasta strips in properly, but we got it done eventually. Even made garlic bread. Everything from scratch. It was yummie. The pasta could have been a bit softer and the whole thing could have been more cheesy but it was good and edible and we burnt nothing. We made Kylieclean all the dishes as she had done absolutely nothing.

13th February

We went to a farewell party for Aussie Fiona as she was leaving on the Sunday. We headed down to Props at about 9:30. Sat down, talked to people. Fiona insisted on buying me a drink. It was a Malibu and coke and was pretty good. I was sipping on it for nearly two hours to avoid anyone else offering to buy me a drink. Adam at some point decided to buy three shots of Sambuca. He had one, I had one and Marc had one. It tasted strange but not horrible. At some point during the night I convinced Matt, an Aussie guy I work with, to lend me his Guitar Hero and World Tour games. We left Props at maybe 12:30 to collect the games and guitars from his room on the other side of the Banff Center. It was very, very cold out so we ran all the way, which was bad having drunk my drink and then that shot. Back at Props Kylie, Adam and I said farewell to Fiona and then headed upstairs to play some Guitar Hero using Adam's roomates XBox. We got to bed at 2:30. And I swear I am never doing that again when I have work the next day. I was just very, very tired, ehehe.

17th February

Went downtown with the usual group to watch 'Friday the Thirteenth' My one and only Jason movie I have ever seen and will ever see. Adam and I were cracking jokes all the way through it. Jason is such a boring horror character. He has no backstory. And you can't convince me he's human if he just never dies. Freddy Kruger is so much better and I hope the Freddy remake will be far more awesome than this poor Jason remake.

And that is that. Three weeks worth of stuff caught up on.

Today I'm heading downtown to buy some stuff like DVD's because I only have about 3 gig left on my laptop. How horrible is that! T__T

Monday Kylie and I are planning to go Dog sledding and then the Monday after that is our date with the wolves up North, in Golden. Exciting!

Later Days!