First Stop – Calgary Alberta

   

Flight time 13.5 hours  – Air Canada flight number AC 035. Direct flight Brisbane – Vancouver.                                           

We arrived on time then onto Calgary via a domestic Air Canada connection.

Calgary

A city of 1.3 million people. The main game is oil and they love their Ice Hockey. The City Centre is a modern city with a beautiful park that sits aside the Bow River. There are great restaurants and bars that are easily within walking distance of the centrally located Calgary International Hotel.

The locals are friendly and happy to assist a couple of lost Aussies. The city is famous for the Calgary Stampede which we missed by a month.                     We did however catch the Calgary Rib Fest. Serious stuff – smoking BBQ’s set up behind large facards that resembled a theatrical amphitheatre from the wild west with the final four very vocal teams armed with knifes and tongs fighting it out to be declared Best Ribs Champions.

We were firmly in cowboy land – big hats, big trucks and big people feeding their faces on “ribs”. Yet there was a cool laid back style to all this bravado and we were both enjoying it immensely.  This was fun and as they say “when in Rome”…. so I had to dive into a feast of ribs – wow what a great feed !

Calgary hosted the 1988 Winter Olympics and these days the Olympic site is utilised for downhill mountain biking and luge activities. The downhill ski jumps stand there as a monument to how crazy this activity is. First piece of trivia – the site was also used for the recent film “Eddie the Eagle” starring Hugh Jackman.

The Calgary Tower with its revolving restaurant and glass observation floor is definitely worth a look -that’s if you don’t suffer from heights? Catch a short train ride to the Zoo and of course if you’re in town – the world famous Calgary Stampede would be an eye opener.

Calgary is definitely worth a visit. It’s a friendly and very clean, modern and progressive city.  A word of warning, go prepared for quick changes in the weather and pick your seasons as the temperature can drop to minus 35 degrees in winter. Sorry but that’s not for me.                                  Time to move onto our next stop.

Heading east on the Trans Canada Highway – I can’t get the Gene Pitney song of the 70’s out of my head!

We stop for a helicopter flight to take in the foothills of the famous Rocky Mountains. We aren’t disappointed and it gives us a taste for the visual landscape pleasures to come.

 

Another piece of trivia – this is the spot where the Leo Di Caprio movie “Revenant” was filmed. We are now definitely in Grizzly country

 

Banff

Just a few hours from Calgary and situated within the Canadian Rocky Mountains is the delightful town of Banff. With a population of eight thousand you can only live in Banff under the “Need to Reside” policy. This certainly controls any population growth issues! Banff is full of character with a great Alpine feel. We stayed at the fabulous Banff Park Lodge which is centrally located, allowing for an easy walk to the centre of the township.

 

We would recommend having a meal at the boutique restaurant “The Block” which offered a refreshingly innovative menu from the standard bar & grill that seem to appear on every second corner.

We hired two push bikes and explored the township an the beautiful surrounding area including the steep ride to the Sundance Canyon.

 

 

On arrival at the canyon, the sign warned us that Bears were at their most active and that we should have our Bear Spray and know how to use it!  We both looked at one another – Bear Spray? What the bloody hell is Bear Spray, let alone how to use it ? A brisk hike filled with paranoia saw us complete the final two kilometres’s of this outing in record time. Then back on the bikes, back down the hills and trails to discover the surrounds of the beautiful Banff Golf Course which sits perfectly positioned against the staggering backdrop of the Rockies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The classic Fairmont Hotel is also a close distance from the golf course.

 
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The Banff township for most is a little further than an easy walk.

So be aware, if you want to hang out in the village and get the true feel of Banff, then as attractive as it is, the Fairmont may not be for you. There are plenty of other quality accomodation options within the Village. Make sure you get at least a couple of nights in Banff, it’s a great place.

Onto Lake Louise

Only an hour or so from Banff is the very pretty Lake Louise. The water is a beautiful turquoise colour that is similar to many water bodies in this part of the world due to the rock flower – I’ll leave that one with you to work out!

Situated right at the lake’s edge is another Fairmont Hotel. It’s a stunning postcard picture that’s been seen the world over and featured on many travel shows and guides.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This time we decided on doing white water rafting down the nearby and aptly named Kicking Horse River. All equipment is supplied including full wetsuit, booties, flannel pullover, life jacket and helmet. And of course a qualified and experienced boatsman to control the inflatable boat. It was freezing with rapidly changing weather conditions and it didn’t take long to appreciate why the thermal equipment was being utilised. All good fun. But maybe not for everyone. Leave your comfort zone back at the hotel for this activity. Alternatively, there’s a gentle paddle on the lake in a canoe and plenty of varying grades of walking trails around the lake or just simply relax and enjoy the view with a cold beer. Accommodation options are limited at Lake Louise, so if you want to splash out, then stay at this Fairmont Hotel. Another spectacular stay!

 

From Lake Louise we move onto the Athabasca Glacier and the township of Jasper where we will join the famous Rocky Mountaineer Train bound for Vancouver. But that’s all for another Blog.

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All photos – taken by RD (including the Grizzly. I’m pretty happy with that one).

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