Banff

Hi guys :)

On Friday we spent our first full day in Banff. There were so many Australians in this town! One of the Aussie store workers told us that 60% of the work force in Banff is Australian! There was also 'Help Wanted' signs in almost every store. We drove to Bow Falls, then went to the Banff Gondola and went up to the top of Sulphur Mountain. There was really great views of the town and the mountains from up there.

After this, we went to Lake Minnewanka (pronounced mini-wonka). The lake was such a gorgeous green colour. We walked along the side of the lake.

We then started a hike to Stewart Canyon. Apparently there is a pretty waterfall at the end, but after walking for miles and miles, we never found it. We were on the trail by ourselves and were starting to get scared we'd get attacked by a bear! So we turned around and walked back. The only wildlife we saw were a few squirrels (which are still so cute!). We were so hot, sweaty and exhausted from the hike, so we went back to the hotel and got Subway for a late lunch at about 3pm (yep, long hike!). We then had a bit of a rest before driving to Johnston Canyon. We hiked about 1km to the Lower Falls. They were so awesome. You could duck under this rock and stand on a section that was so close to the falls that you got sprayed by the water!

Later that day, we went souvenir shopping in downtown Banff before going to a really nice Italian restaurant for dinner. Afterwards, we shopped a bit more before going to Cow's Icecreamery, which is a chain of ice-cream stores in Canada. Their ice-cream is so amazing! And apparently their Prince Edward Island store is ratest the world's best ice-cream! They also sell hilarious merchandise, where they change things and make them related to cows. I ended up getting the Fifty Shades of Hay shirt in light blue ;) haha

Saturday, Dad and I woke up early to get ready for white water rafting! We waited in the lobby of a nearby hotel to be picked up by the bus. Across the road we saw two squirrels chasing each other around a tree, kind of playing hide and seek. They did it for ages, and it was so cute and funny. We got picked up by the Chinook Rafting bus, which already had quite a few people on it. It was about a 40 minute bus ride to their base camp. On the bus we got given forms and had to sign our lives away (which reminded us of skydiving!) Once we arrived at base camp, we got given wetsuit booties, a wetsuit and a spray jacket. We had to get changed in this large tent that had a sheet up in the middle to separate men and women. The tent had no light in there, so it was hard to see what you were doing! We then got our helmets and life jackets and went on the school bus down to the Horseshoe Canyon.

We had to walk down to the river and each got a paddle. We heard the safety instructions about what to do if you fall overboard or if the raft capsizes. It made us feel so nervous and scared! There was so many different instructions, I was worried I would forget it all if I happened to fall out! There was 8 rafts on the tour in total and we were then assigned to our raft. Our guide was Peruvian and the other groups in our raft were a family from Pennsylvania, a man from England, and two women from Canada. When we were approaching the first rapid, our guide started singing the Jaws theme song to make us more nervous! The rapids were a lot of fun and quite intense, but there wasn't as many rapids as I thought. Next time I want to do the more intense rapids :)

We stopped along the way for a group photo of all 8 rafts. We also had the opportunity to do either an 8ft cliff jump, or a 25ft cliff jump. Dad and I chickened out and just went the 8ft which was pretty scary actually! The water was absolutely freezing! They took photos of us jumping but my photo is so embarrassing so I don't want to share it here, sorry!

The guides were talking up how many bears they usually on their tours which made Dad and I so excited, but unfortunately we didn't see any. We headed back to base camp, got changed, and got a free cookie and hot chocolate. We bought the CD with all the photos they took of us. We then caught the bus back to Banff and relaxed for a bit. We went for lunch at Eddie's burger bar which was really great. Me and mum then went shopping in downtown while Dad had a nap. On the way back we saw a mountie taking photos with people but I didn't have my camera! Bummer! Lesson #1: must take camera EVERYWHERE! We then went to a really nice Greek restaurant for dinner.

On our last day in Banff we used the GyPSy guide, which is like a GPS with a personal tour guide that you can use in your own car. It figures out your location and tells you awesome places to stop at, along with interesting facts and history about the area you're driving through. We went to the Lake Louise gondola and rode up the chairlift to the lookout. Along the way from the chairlift we saw a grizzly bear eating in the open woods area! It was so awesome and we got so excited!!

The view from the lookout was really pretty. At the bottom of the mountain is Lake Louise in the distance.

We went back down the chairlift and saw the grizzly bear again :) We then went to Lake Louise which was absolutely packed with tourists. It was really beautiful, and we walked around the side of the lake for awhile.

We then checked out the lobby of the very expensive Chateau hotel that's right on Lake Louise. We then drove to Moraine Lake, which was even more gorgeous. We stopped to have homemade sandwiches near a hiking trail. There was a bear warning sign to hike in groups of four or more. It's enforceable by law and you could get fined $5000! We then climbed the stairs to the lookout of the lake which was amazing.

When we were at the lookout, Mum put down the lunch bag and a squirrel came up so close to us by surprise! But it ran away before I could get a photo :( We then drove and crossed the border back into British Columbia and went to Takakkaw Falls. These falls were seriously so spectacular and impressive. They were so powerful and loud, and you could get so close that you got sprayed from the falls. It was freezing being that close and we didn't have our jackets.

We then drove to Emerald Lake which was really pretty.

We then stopped at Natural Bridge on the way back, before driving back into the state of Alberta and into Banff. We went to Cow's Icecreamery again for dessert :)

There's still more for me to blog about, but it's time for bed!

Love,

Emily



Revelstoke to Banff

Hey guys!

Two days ago we woke up, had our Maple Crunch cereal, and started the drive from Penticton to Revelstoke. We stopped at a quite large town called Vernon along the way for a break and lunch. For lunch, we went into the first place that we saw, called the Bean There Bistro, which happened to have really awesome food. Vernon also had random paintings on walls throughout town. We thought this one was pretty cool:

We then continued on to Revelstoke and I watched the movie 'Charlie's Angels' on my ipad in the car. When my movie finished, Mum and Dad were telling me about all the "cool" things they saw, that I missed out on, like a road sign to look out for moose, and a salmon habitat. We arrived in Revelstoke and checked into our hotel. It was really windy when we arrived. We went exploring in downtown and it started raining! We went into shops to hide from the rain, and I ended up getting a nice spray jacket. I wore it straight away, but as soon as I got it, the rain stopped. I got so excited in this town's souvenir store as well. They had funny t-shirts, and also sold "Bear Bells" to keep bears away from you when you're in the woods! We came back to the hotel to relax for a bit then went to the hotel's 112 restaurant for dinner. It was really good food. We all had steaks and then shared a chocolate mousse. We then headed to Grizzly Plaza, which is the heart of downtown Revelstoke, and checked out the live band that was playing that night. We were all wearing our jackets, it was a bit chilly!

Our sleep in was interrupted yesterday morning by Dad setting off the alarm to our hotel room’s safe. We then went down for our free continental breakfast and toasted our bagels round the wrong way! Dad experimented by putting both cream cheese and peanut butter on his blueberry bagel. Yuck! But he insisted it tasted nice. We then relaxed and bludged around the hotel for a while. We went down to the local pharmacy and got an underwater camera for kayaking, SPF 60 sunscreen (who even knew it went that high?!), and “deep wood off” insect repellent since we didn’t think our Australian repellent would work against Canadian bugs. We then had time to kill before kayaking. We read our kindles/books for awhile before getting bored and heading out to the edge of town to get a photo of these 3D bear sculptures.

Close by was an animal store and we went in expecting to see cute Canadian puppies and hamsters but the only pet they had in there was a guinea pig. So disappointing. After smothering ourselves in sunscreen and bug spray we headed down to Upper Arrow Lake for kayaking. We met the tour guides who happened to be British, and waited for the rest of the tour group to arrive. There were two girls from South Australia, a guy from Vancouver, and two ladies from Japan. We had to get suited up in our life jackets and crocs for footwear! We then had a lesson on land before heading to the water.

Mum and Dad ended up with a double kayak. It took a little while for us to get used to it but we got the hang of it pretty quick and it was really fun. We ended up probably kayaking about 6km all up. The water was really cold and luckily none of us capsized! The tour guides took lots of photos of us for us to keep.

About halfway through the tour we stopped all together in the middle of the lake and the tour guides got us to yell different things like “MOOSE” and “COOEE” to the mountains and hear the echo come back to us. You actually had to wait a bit for it to bounce back for you to hear it. It was so awesome. The view of the mountains from the lake was fantastic. We headed back to land and got a free bag of lunch.

Afterwards we headed back to the hotel to freshen up. We then got in the car and went to Mount Revelstoke National Park and went up the Meadows in the Sky Parkway. We drove up 26km to the highest point you could reach by car. There was lots of hairpin turns, or as they call them over there, switchbacks. While we were driving up there Dad saw a squirrel run across the road. It probably was one, but Mum and I didn't want him to win our wildlife competition so we insisted it was just a leaf blowing across the road, haha! We reached the first lookout and as soon as we got out of the car we were attacked by mosquitoes and flies. Lucky our bug spray lasts 8 hours! We saw the lookout and Balsam Lake. We then hiked (yes the Bressington’s hiked!!) about 1.5km up to the summit of Mount Revelstoke.

We may have been huffing and puffing at the top but we made it! We felt like we were getting in touch with nature, and I hugged a tree! Haha! We also saw a group of people that were using the bear bells to warn off bears! We got worried because we didn't have any. Along the way we saw these claw marks on a tree. Definitely from a bear.

The summit has really spectacular views of all the snow-capped mountains and it made the walk so worth it.

The flies and mosquitoes up there were insane. Even though we had our bug spray on, they still buzzed around our head and made me scream and dance around crazy trying to swat them away.

We headed back down to the car, disappointed we didn’t see any wildlife. Dad thought we heard a growl, so we stopped and listened, but it turns out it was just his stomach growling, haha. Once we were at the car park we saw a chipmunk!! It was so cute!

We then drove back down the mountain and to our hotel. We felt so dirty and gross, so we took showers. Our limbs were so sore from all our exercise and we felt like just collapsing, but we went out to a Japanese restaurant across the road for dinner. It was delicious. This morning we toasted our bagels round the right way! Woo! On the TV during breakfast, the news was reporting about a lady in Vancouver that was attacked by a raccoon! I hope that doesn't happen often... We started our drive to Banff, where we're spending 4 nights. We stopped into a town called Golden for a break and lunch. We then crossed the border into the state of Alberta and had to put our clocks an hour ahead. The radio stations along the way were so country!! Banff is a really beautiful town. Much bigger than the towns we've stayed at before this! There's a lot more tourists, and pretty much every second store is a souvenir store, so I'm in heaven! I miss you guys!

Love,
Emily

Vancouver to Penticton

Hey guys!

Time for an update now I'm here in Canada!!

So we flew from Sydney to Los Angeles which was a 13 hour flight. Such a long flight, ugh. I ended up getting a really bad headache during the flight and I had to sign a medical waiver form to get panadol from the flight attendant since I forgot to take some with me (Sorry Nan! I know that's one of your tips!). Luckily it worked pretty quickly. I ended up watching 4 movies on the plane: 'American Reunion', 'This Means War', 'The Lucky One', and 'Project X'.

Once we arrived at LAX we had about a 5 hour wait for our flight to Vancouver. We spotted Lionel Richie at the airport, unfortunately Nicole wasn't with him, but he did have an entourage! We had starbucks and I bought an American magazine (seriously, I want to buy every single one, I love them! That's what Mum and Dad will be bringing home in their suitcases for me!)

Eventually, we made it to Vancouver. We caught the Skytrain from the airport to the city centre, and then had a 4 minute walk to our hotel. From what we saw, Vancouver looks really nice! and the weather was gorgeous. We were so exhausted and jet-lagged, and just ready to collapse! We freshened up and then went to the hotel's bar and grill for dinner. On the dessert menu you could order a deep fried peanut butter and jam sandwich! Sorry guys, we didn't try it!

The next day, we had breakfast at the hotel and packed up. We then walked down to the car rental place down Granville St, which looked a bit dodgy, kind of like Sydney's King's Cross. We got our car and it took Dad a little while to figure it out, and it was so nerve-racking for Mum and I when he started driving on the wrong side of the road and wrong side of the car! Luckily, he's done it before; just took some getting used to at first.

We started the drive to Penticton. We got quite a bit of traffic at first when we were leaving Vancouver, I think everyone was going on holiday! We went past a lot of mountains, and also a town called Chilliwack which had a place on the side of the road where you could get Drive Thru Corn!! We stopped for a late lunch at a town called Hope, where we tried to say the word hope in every sentence, haha! The town was a cute little country town, and had great food. Then we continued on our journey to Penticton, past even more spectacular mountains. I entertained myself by taking photos out the windows. We've started a competition that whoever spots Canadian wildlife first, wins! Unfortunately, we haven't seen any yet :( I really want to see a moose!!

We reached Penticton, and checked in to the motel. The motel owner, Christine, is so lovely and welcoming. After talking to her for about a minute, you feel like you're already friends. The motel is really nice, with a full kitchen. We bought some Maple Crunch cereal (which is really nice!) and then walked along the waterfront at sunset, which was really pretty. Penticton is a town at the end of the Okanagan Lake (which is HUGE! We drove past it on the way here and it's 135km long! Yes, I may have just googled that). So Penticton has a beach at the end of the lake, with no waves. At the end of the waterfront there was a fair on, because yesterday was the last day of Penticton's Peach Festival. Unfortunately, we were one day late for the Peach Parade! After walking along the waterfront, we went to dinner at a restaurant called Bufflehead, which was really nice. We then headed back to the motel.

Today, we had a sleep in. We drove up to the Lost Moose Lodge which is at the top of a mountain, and got some great photos at the lookout.

We then headed back down the mountain and into downtown Penticton. We strolled along and had a look in a few shops. I got so excited in the souvenir shop. Every five seconds I said "Oh I want this!!!" We didn't get anything though, we're going to wait for a better store. We then went to the Hillside Winery for lunch. It had a fanastic view of the Okanagan Lake, and the food was amazing. Mum and Dad then did a wine tasting, and bought a couple of bottles. We then headed to another winery and bought some cheeses. We then went to a local supermarket and bought some biscuits and dip. Next door was a butchery called T-Bones which is insane! Dad was so excited in there! They sell absolutely everything in there. Like this:

We then went down to the beach and tested the temperature of the water, and it was really nice. The weather here has been really hot, so it was nice and refreshing. We then walked to check out this thing called the River Channel. It's a river with a strong current, and people rent tube rings and float down the river. Dad looked it up and just go to halfway it can take up to 2 hours! We were worried about getting super burnt with our fair skin so we opted out of that one. We then went down to the beach, and Dad and I read our kindles, while Mum read her book.

We then went back to the motel and had our cheese, chips, and dip for dinner. After, we went to play a game of mini-golf! It was so much fun, but I ended up coming last! Boo! Dad was the clear winner.

We then went to reward ourselves with ice-cream. I had a scoop of maple icecream, and a scoop of peanut butter and jam icecream in a waffle bowl and it was yum! We're now in the motel just relaxing. Tomorrow, we have a 3 and a half hour drive to Revelstoke. We're having a lot of fun so far :)

Love,

Emily



How to comment on my blog

Hi everyone!

So, I have now figured out how everyone can comment on my blog!

If you check out this link http://www.expand2web.com/blog/create-google-account-without-gmail/, the guy in the video describes how to create a Google account, without having to make a Gmail account. If you already have a Gmail account, then I assume you can just comment on my blog through that, but for those who don't, you can just create a Google account.

Click on this link: https://accounts.google.com/newaccount?hl=en

Here, you can create a Google account with your existing email address! Just put in your email address, create a password, and fill out the other details. (Note: when putting in your birth date, it must be the American way, like 2/25/1993). Once you click "create my account", you will receive an email. Open the email, click the link, and your account will be verified. Once you're on my blog and see a post you would like to comment on (you can practice on this post if you like!), click on the "No comments" link (if there are comments it will say how many), then type in your comment. Where it says "Comment as" select "Google account" then select "Publish". It will get you to sign back in to your google account, and before publishing, you have to select a profile. I tested this with Mum's account and just hit limited Blogger profile. You can then create a username (Mum's is michelleb876), and add a profile picture if you wish, and then post your comment!

If this is super complicated for you (and I'm sorry if it is! I tried to best to describe it properly), you can just send me an email with your comment.

My email address is eeemily678@hotmail.com

In other news, there's only 3 days until I leave! I'm almost all packed, and my suitcase is at 18kg so far. Getting really nervous! My next blog post will probably be once I'm over there, so see you soon!

Love,

Emily

Canada Party

Hi friends and family!

Thank you all so much for coming to my Canada Party this past weekend. I had an amazing red-and-white day, with great food and awesome company :) I hope you all had a great time too.

As you all know, I leave for Canada this Saturday (just 5 days now! eek!). I'm travelling over with my Mum and Dad to Vancouver, then we're hiring a car and doing a road trip! We'll be visiting Penticton, Revelstoke, Banff, Jasper, Lake Louise, and Edmonton, before flying back to Vancouver. We'll be spending a few days in the city of Vancouver before I move into on-campus housing at the University of British Columbia and start my exchange!!

Right now I'm feeling such a mix of nerves and excitement, and I'm missing everybody already!!

I plan on using this blog to post about my travels and interesting things I get up to while overseas, and post some photos for you guys to see as well :)

I'm pretty sure if you sign up for a Google+ account you can comment on these posts. I'll get Mum to try it tonight and see how it goes!

Here are some photos from yesterday:

Love,

Emily