Day 326: more Victoria

Today we allowed ourselves a lovely lie in.  With no windows in our cupboard room, there was no sunlight to wake us up.  Today has been designated as museum day, but first i wanted to have a proper breakfast rather than just snacks so we went down the road to a cafe.  It was surprisingly busy and more expensive than i would have liked, but never mind, it was good to have a cooked breakfast.
I think it was today that Matt invented "I SantanDARE you" as a double dare response.
We walked past the posh hotel where people who can afford it go for cream teas and went to the parliament building.  There was a tour just starting so we tagged along, midway through, the tour was interrupted by an actor dressed as the building's architect.  That was interesting.

Then we popped next door to the Royal BC museum.  I bought myself a cup of tea, but was then thrown out of the exhibition for drinking it.  Even though there were no signs saying so and it was given to me in a to go cup in the museum.  First was the viking exhibit, which was my parents' reason for going here, although i thought it was a bit dull, just lots of things to read.  Then the natural history section, which was great, i always love these bits.
Downstairs was history, half first nations stuff and half european settlers.  There was very little mention of the residential school system and everything was spun positively.  There were lots of recreations to walk around though, which was cool.  Especially the salmon cannery.  weird.

cormorants!

After the museum, we wandered around the nearby park looking for more totem poles.  There are so many everywhere but we couldn't find the ones in the park.

Then we went to a hot dog place to get something else to eat before going to the bus depot.  No posh seaplane back to Vancouver, this time it was the four hour coach and ferry trip.  The weather was much nicer though so it was good to hang about on the deck of the boat watching the islands go past and listening to more radio shows.

We checked back into the hostel, we were given the same room, and just decided to go to A&W again for dinner.

Day 325: luxury trip to Victoria

We got up bright and early today for some extravagant tourism that Matt had booked ages ago.
First, the sea plane!

it had about 12 passenger seats.  We were leaving our bags in the hostel and just taking small bags with us, but they still took these off us as we were getting onto the plane.  Just after i gave them my bag i realised i should have taken my phone out first so i could take silly pictures on the plane.  The flight was a little over half an hour and quite exciting, especially the take off and landing.

We went straight from the docks to the whale Watching office to check in there.  The weather was a bit chilly and overcast so we decided to sit in the covered section at the top of the boat behind the captain as we headed out to where the whales had been spotted.  There was hot chocolate to drink too.

We all piled downstairs and to the front of the boat to watch as a whole pod of Orcas bounced around looking for fish.  It was amazing!  There were so many of them, sometimes we got to see a tail flap or a fin wave, and once we managed to see a proper "free willy" style jump.  The on board expert was an Irish girl who had moved here 12 years ago just for whale watching and she was great.  There were lots of other boats out all following the whales along, including the zodiac from the same company as us.  I was glad i wasn't in that boat, it looked fun, but cold and wet.
An extravagant morning, but well worth it.  We even stopped on the way back to look at the sealions on the rocks.

As we got off the boat, there was a busker's festival going on, so we stayed to watch a guy juggling.  He was pretty funny and ended up juggling on a unicycle with some guy's shoe.
We then went to find our hostel, but it was too early to check in.  The receptionist tried to get us to change to a different room.  She said "its really small".  we know.  It's also really cheap.
We wandered for a bit until we found a board game cafe, although you had to pay to play the board games so we just ordered food.  I also had a bacon milkshake.  I couldn't resist.  It wasn't very strongly flavoured and the ice cream was really good so it was pretty nice.

After checking in to our tiny tiny room, we headed out to find the public bus over to Butchart Gardens, which is quite far away from town but on Matt's to do list.  As it was colder than i was expecting, i bought some snazzy socks in the gift shop to keep my legs warm.

After i put them on i could see people staring in disbelief.  The gardens used to be a quarry and were quite nice to walk around.  The fountain in the sunken garden was particularly impressive. (ideas for Mancetter...) Some things were a bit disappointing - the frog fountain sounded great but then was just a tiny stone frog.  There was a dribbling boar though, which was ridiculous.  We each had some salmon chowder in the slightly cheaper cafe and then went back to the concert green as there was going to be an orchestra.

We watched for a bit, and especially enjoyed the number of people who got up to dance, in particular two small girls, but then we had to leave to catch the last bus back to town.  And our mini room.

Day 324: North Van and Gastown

Today's plan was to go to Grouse Mountain and Lynn Canyon - the free version of Capilano.  Matt was disappointed about not going to Capilano, but i didn't want to pay.  I was also intending to go up the Grouse Grind leaving Matt to get the cable car by himself.
We went to Lynn Canyon first, and it was quite a long journey via seabus and then two busses, but the ecology centre there was lovely, it was a really nice day and the walks were all short and pretty.  There was a suspension bridge, some waterfalls, and a really deep, crystal clear pool that made me wish i had bought a swim suit and towel with me.

Next we bussed all the way back to the Quay and up to Grouse Mountain, where i left Matt to get the cable car and check out all the things to do at the top that i had already done.  I walked round to the start of the Grouse Grind, checked my watch and started hiking up the endless endless stairs.  It was very enclosed in the woods, which was lovely and also protected me from the sun.  However, it was the middle of the day, i was wearing regular clothes rather than run kit, and i had a backpack, so i got really sweaty.
There were a lot of other people on the grind.  Some were bounding past me in run kit and some were struggling along in groups.  I really enjoyed it and got to the end in maybe just under an hour, which i felt quite pleased about.  Most people seem to take 1.5 hours and the fastest female time is 31 minutes.
We had arranged a meeting point at the bear talk, due to start at 4pm, which gave me over half an hour.  I was soaked with sweat so decided to just give in and buy new clothes at the top.  First though i bought a smoothie to help cool me down.

Me and Matt found each other.  He had not enjoyed being a tourist on his own so much but at least he could tick it all off the imaginary list.
Once we got back to the quay again, we bought some cheap slices of pizza in the ten minutes we had to wait for the ferry.  We still had just enough time to shower before the "Forbidden Vancouver" walking tour i had booked yesterday.
We met our guide at 6:30pm and it turned out it was just us, which made it a bit intimidating as we were supposed to be in character as reporters and there were quizzes as we went around.  The tour was all about prohibition and really enjoyable.  It finished in gastown, right in front of the steam clock, just before the chimes started for 9pm, and as there were only two of us, we were guaranteed the prize from the quiz, which was a tub of tootsie rolls.

With the pizza slices just being a small "first dinner"  we topped it up with a trip to A&W.  When we left, there appeared to be some kind of festival going on just up the road so we wandered up to check.  It was the band that were headlining one of the festivals in Edmonton a while back.  I had missed them then and they looked like fun.

Day 323: arrival in Vancouver

I woke up quite a lot earlier than my alarm and eventually gave up, got up and watched the view from one of the domes.  When Matt got up we went to get breakfast.
We had to add our names to a waiting list and wait for an announcement calling us, but it wasn't a long wait.  We both went for slight variations on a full cooked breakfast and it was pretty good.
The driver announced that they had made up some time overnight so we would be arriving in Vancouver at around 11am.
First, we dropped our bags off at our hostel, which is pretty central and cruise ship themed, then headed to the skytower.  In the queue for tickets was another Edmonton couchsurfer whose name i forget.  He was visiting family there for a few days before heading off on a road trip.

Next we wandered along the seawall until we reached Stanley Park.  The weather was much better today so we sat and had a snack (stolen from the train) and then found the aquarium.
The sea otters were particularly captivating, i could watch them for hours.  They also had belugas, and a really interesting section on frogs and amphibians.  Then some unusual aquarium animals, like sloths, butterflies and birds.  It was pretty cool to see the sloths milling about.

After this we went to see the Lost Lagoon and started wandering on round the sea wall, although it was quite hot now and i was starting to get hungry so we found a place with cheap tacos on mondays and between us we ordered all four flavours and swapped around so we could try everything.  I especially liked the beef and vegetable ones, i think Matt preferred the chicken and fish.

Eventually we made it back across town to our hostel, checked in and then headed out again to go up the skytower once more.  Again, the same CSer was there!
I was pretty tired now.  and waiting for sunset meant it was already quite late.

Day 322: in the clouds

it feels like we have done quite a lot of cable cars, but today's is the highest.
It wasn't the clearest of days.  The haze from the forest fires has gone completely now but there are clouds rolling around, at the same level as us.
From the top of the Skytram, there is a rocky trail up to the summit.  Sometimes we had wonderful views and sometime we couldn't even see the trail in front of us.  It was kinda fun!
The shuttle driver was very chatty both to and from the mountain and I certainly noticed the 10C temperature difference.

we decided to save money on lunch by going to KFC.  Its the first time I've been to KFC in Canada.  Then we went to the Jasper Brewing Co. pub to get a set of sample beers to try.  The stout in particular was really good, and this just about killed enough time so we could go back and pick up our bags, then check in at the train station.

However, the train was running two hours late.  With our bags we were a bit limited with what we could do with the extra time, and Matt's bag was making him especially grumpy as it's difficult to hold.  I managed to do a little bit of chocolate shopping, and i used my gift card to buy an oreo flavoured Tim Horton's Iced Capp.
Back in the station, they had put out free tea and biscuits so i had a cup of chai tea and a cookie, then finally the train arrived and they started calling us up.
We ended up getting the last sitting for dinner as we were too slow, but that's fine as we'd been told there would be free champagne and canapes once we left Jasper so we just dropped our bags at our seats, went exploring and found the dome car where the "welcome to the train" was being held.
I really like the dome car as it has great views so we mostly stayed there, but the last carriage also had a dome and there were free teas, juices, fruit and cookies everywhere.

Next on the agenda was the beer tasting.  There was a small group of us who turned up for this, i guess everybody else was eating dinner, and we got two samples to try as well as some beer-related trivia.
Finally, we were called for dinner.  We ended up sharing a table with a German couple who had been at the beer tasting too and they have been on the train for days now.  Dinner was three courses.  I had a salad, then steak and it was delicious.  There were two pudding options, so we got one of each and split them between us.  After all that i was completely stuffed.
Back at our seats, the attendant had already converted them to beds, so we pretty much went straight to bed.
They were really comfy, but i think I'd just had too much caffeine and i really struggled to sleep.

Day 321: Matt's birthday bus to Jasper

We had to be up early again today to catch our tour bus, so we made sure we also had plenty of time for a good breakfast in the hostel first, including me making some pancakes.  I gave Matt his "birthday card"  but he hates birthday stuff so we must keep it quiet.
We got picked up from our hostel, taken to the bus depot, then loaded onto the trip to jasper bus.  The bus driver seemed really upbeat and chatty and constantly pointed stuff out to us.
The first stop was Lake Louise, very different weather from the last times i came here as it started raining.  We also drove right past the smoldering remains of the forest fires.  Very close to the road and it looked pretty bleak, but forest fires are good for rejuvenation and the rain may help calm it down.

We also stopped at Peyton Lake, which was really beautiful, very remote and high altitude, named after a guide and explorer who liked to spend time here.  It doesn't come out well in the photos but it was an amazing blue colour.

There was a brief photo stop at the highest point of the route before we arrived at the Athabasca Glacier.  We had a buffet lunch included in our tour, so i took full advantage of that, but i was a bit worried about being cold on the glacier given the nasty weather.
The tour bus took us up to the bottom of the glacier where we bundled into our Ice Explorer (with heating) for the trip onto the glacier.  The driver gave us lots of information, but i think i preferred the walk on the glacier in New Zealand.

After the glacier, our coach took us a bit further down the road to the skywalk, which is fairly new and i didn't get to go when i was in Jasper for the relay race.  I was wondering how they could charge so  much for it, but there is more to it than a few metres of transparent walkway, there was lots of information about local wildlife and stuff and great views of the glacial canyon and waterfalls.  We have been really lucky with the weather too, the only times it's rained heavily we have been inside.

Once we got to Jasper, the coach dropped us at the train station and we walked down the road to our homestay with Judy and Sandy.  This was handy as we now know how long it takes to get to the train station.  They have a really nice house, and the room was big.  The bathroom was exessively big!  It was also one of the cheapest options of places to stay.

We then headed back into the centre of Jasper (the whole town is tiny) with the intention of checking how to get to and from the Whisters Mountain "Skytram" and whether the train station has lockers we can store our bags in during the day.  We found the shuttle bus stop and schedule easily, then in the visitor centre i noticed a poster for a free guided walking tour later that evening and got us tickets.
In the train station we found out that, as tomorrow is sunday, the station would not be open early enough for us to drop our bags off and catch a shuttle up to the mountain.  Curses.  Another shop with lockers would also be closed for the same reason.  Bah.
There wasn't much time left before our walking tour started, so we went to a cafe to get a quick plate of nachos for dinner and tried to come up with another scheme.  Finally Matt suggested we quickly pop back to the shuttle bus office and see if they have any other suggestions.  we had about 6 minutes, but it turned out to be the best idea ever as they offered to look after our bags there.  For free.  As a favour.  Hooray!

The walking tour was actually quite nice, and our tour guide was very keen and knowledgeable.  The tour ended at a church, and it was perfectly timed as there was the strangest rain storm i have ever seen.  Where we were standing the weather was fine, but just one street away there was really heavy rain coming down in a sheet, and it was moving our way.  it looked crazy!  we ran into the church just in time, but ten minutes later or so there was just a light drizzle and it had passed.

Matt's next brilliant idea was to walk to a lookout point called Old Fort Point. We would have to hurry to beat the sunset, but it would give us a bit of extra time tomorrow.
It was quite a nice walk through some really pretty woods and then we reached the car park for the lookout, saw some stairs and thought we must be nearly there.  It turned out to be a series of false summits and it was further than we were expecting, but well worth it for the views out over the Milky coloured Athabasca River and very blue lakes, with the mountains all around us and the lights starting to come on in the town below us.

There were three other people at the summit, including one lager drinking local who was very chatty.  He moved here for the summer from the oil camps and was really happy to be living there.
It was starting to get dark as we were on our way back and it was late by the time we got home, but a very busy day and hopefully a really nice birthday for Matt.

Day 320: mountains and mozzie attacks

I probably slept more than any other night as I remember little bits of dreaming, but I got woken up a few times by people coming in and out of the room. We still made it down to breakfast fairly early – like first in the room – it was a self serve buffet with toast and oats (although they didn't really cook with just hot water poured on them) and juice and muffin and orange slices. I will investigate the pancake maker tomorrow.

We headed out and caught the bus over to Sulphur Mountain. Back in September I hiked up this, but this time round we are getting the gondola. Nice and quick and only slightly terrifying. 

It was quite chilly this morning and at the top of the mountain I needed my sweater AND my waterproof to try and keep warm. Due to the forest fires, the view wasn't quite as spectacular as it could be and the sun was orange and not blinding to look at, but you could still see all the nearby mountains and it was still a lovely walk along at the top to Sanson peak. I bought a hot chocolate to warm me up and to collect bus change, then we gondola'd back down and waited for another bus.

This time we went straight over to the cave and basin park where there are a few more walks.

We headed along a paved path, with beautiful views of strangely coloured rivers, although there were quite a few mosquitoes. I was warming up again now so had to shed my layers, exposing more skin for the bugs to bite.

At the end of the road was a trail leading into Sundance Canyon. Bridges and scrabbling over rocks, bubbling falls and sparkling water. It was lovely. However, the further we went, the more and more mosquitoes attacked. It was hell. I was constantly swatting myself to try and keep them at bay and cursing that I didn't take the bug spray with me to reapply. I wasn't expecting them to be bad.

Eventually, we left the river and headed up into the forest but the bugs only got worse. There was a carpet of white flowers and it was a really nice walk so still kinda worth it, then I saw something just ahead of us on the path... we got a bit closer and found it was a deer! Amazing! I wanted to stay still and take a picture to not scare it away, but I also wanted to keep moving about to try and get rid of the mosquitoes. I have so many bites now.

As we left the loop, we finally saw some other people heading along the trail. I asked them if they had bug spray and warned them about how bad it was. They lent me some, which will at least stop things from getting any worse.

On the way back we stopped at a bench with a nice view of one of the Vermillion Lakes to eat some food.

Back where we started was the Cave and Basin national park, where the original hot springs had been discovered and there was a board walk telling the history behind it.

There wasn't going to be a bus for a while and we didn't want to spend more money on tickets so we walked back towards town, then across and up the hill towards Tunnel Mountain.

According to the notice board it would be 1-1.5hours round trip. I quite enjoyed the climb but I don't think Matt did as much. Tunnel mountain had looked so small from the top of Sulphur Mountain but now we seemed pretty high up. There were good views along the river and of the very steep looking Rundle mountain and some nice flat rocks to sit on at the top to eat some more snacks.

The trip back down the mountain was much faster, we even ran some bits as I'd been talking about the problems I've had running down mountains for my races. It was also a pretty good distraction to stop me scratching my bites.

When we got back to the hostel we still had plenty of time to shower and change before dinner, so we've had a pretty productive day! Although showering took me ages due to the ridiculous amount of filth. I had lines when I took my socks off – white feet, brown ankles.

We had decided to be lazy and cheap and have dinner in the hostel – the special is $6.50. They also have drinks specials so I ended up having quite a few white russians. The bar maid was British instead of Australian, which made a surprising change.

The bar was gradually filling up and by the time we were done it was still really early, around 7pm, but we were getting pretty sleepy so just went back upstairs to laze around in our room.

I snuck out to the Kitchen to gather up our food items and ripped apart one of the boxes to make a birthday card for Matt.