Canada Week 2

Saturday commenced with a tour of Victoria on Vancouver Island. We visited some interesting places and saw many parts of Victoria. The highlight for me was watching the seals at Oak Bay Marina.

Later in the afternoon we had some free time, and spent time in the centre of the town. We visited the Canadian Parliament Building, we spent time down by the harbour, and some time in the shops in the town.

Sunday included a visit to Buthchart Gardens, the flowers and displays were absolutely stunning, and the weather was amazing, hot and sunny. We spent 3 hours looking around the garden.

From there we made our way to the ferry, which took an hour and a half to reach Vancouver,  and then we made our way to the Inn on the Quay Hotel for a two night stay.

Monday commenced with an 8 hour tour of Vancouver. This included visits to Chinatown and Gastown. It was was interesting to learn that all the parts of the Gastown Steam Clck were manufactured in Croydon.

In the afternoon we continued our tour with a visit to Stanley Park and Queen Elizabeth Park.

Tuesday, once again cases were packed and loaded on the coach, there was a lot of travelling to be done as we made our way to Kamloops.

On the way we stopped at a Cafe called Rolly's where I had the best cup of tea throughout my stay in Canada, as very often the water in not boiling hot and so the tea doesn't brew properly. As we left the cafe we could hear lots of birds singing, they were in a tree, there were lots of them but I did manage to get a couple of photos.

In the afternoon we visited Sun Peaks Ski resort, although a lot of the shops were shut as the season had not commenced it was good to have a look around.

As we made our way to the hotel we saw a beautiful rainbow.

Wednesday we travelled to Salmon Arm, once again we stopped for a Cafe break!! I decided I need ed to get some exercise and so walked around the block, as I did so I saw a Salvation Army Shield, on further inspection it was the local Salvation Army Corps, I went in and introduced myself. It was good to meet the officer and listen to the work they are doing.

We then travelled to Last Spike, this was where the last spike was placed to conenct the Canadian Pacific Railway from the east to the west coast. We also had the privilege of seeing some Bald Eagles.

From there we travelled to 3 Valley Gap, which has a hotel, a gift shop, a lake and an attraction called Ghost Town. After enjoying some refreshments, I discovered that we could visit  the 'Gost Town for 5 dollars. Although I only had half an hour I decided to take advantage of this, the Ghost Town is similar to Beamish, with lots of Olde Worlde shops and businesses.

We then travelled to Revelstone and spent an hour in the town before making our way to the hotel for an overnight stop.

Thursday was our last full day in Canada the day was spent travelling as we made our way back towards Calgary. On the way we visited Lake Louise, although it was wet the lake was stunning.

From there we travelled on to Banff where we had the opportunity of shopping for gifts and souvenirs.

Then we travelled on to Canmore for our last hotel stop. The views from here were amazing!!!

Friday morning, and we were all packed ready for our journey home, but there were two more stops before the flight. The first was to the Olympic Park in Calgary, this was where Eddie the Eagle participated in the Winter Olympics.

The final visit of the holiday, was to the Cross Iron Mills Shopping Mall, our driver encouraged us to visit the Bass Pro Shop, just to look at the scenery!!!! It was amazing!!!!!! There were wild animals of every description.

And so the holiday ends with a flight back to Gatwick. There was a bit of turbulence, but all in all it was a good flight. As we came into land it was good to see the coast, and then in the distance Gatwick Airport.

And now the next adventure begins on Monday morning as I travel to Lee Abbey in Devon for a course on Journalling. A time of learning, retreat and rest.

Canada

I have had two fantastic weeks in Canada. 

The adventure began on Saturday 10 September, when the day commenced at 3am, leaving my friends house at 3:45am to make my way to Gatwick airport, where I needed to meet the group I was travelling wth at 6am.

We made our way through security and then boarded the plane at 9am, unfortunately the plane developed a technical problem which meant we sat on the runway for an hour and a half.

Finally we were on our way.

On arriving at Calvary, we were met by our coach driver, and then travelled to our hotel, after having a meal, I made my way to bed as I had been up for 24 hours!!!

Sunday, our day commenced after breakfast. Our first visit was to the Rafter 6 Ranch, where our coach was held up by 'Cowboys'.

Whilst at the Ranch we had some hot drinks and had the opportunity to toast Marshmallows over an open fire.

After this we journeyed onto Banff, where we stopped for lunch, and then a tour guide joined us, to show us around the area.

Monday, we visited Icefields Parkway, this was possibly the coldest place we visited, it is extremely high up in the mountains.

During the afternoon, we visited Jasper, where we had lunch. We then went on to Athabasca Falls, Maligne Canyon and Mount Robson.

Tuesday we visited Clearwater, and then we travelled on to Dawson Falls, Helmcken Falls and Sphats Falls. We saw some spectacular waterfalls, these were recommended by our driver, and she had to do some pretty nifty manoeuvring to get us over the bridge to visit them!!!

Wednesday, we visited Hat Creek Ranch at Cache Creek. The buildings on the ranch are just as they were in 1901, we were transported back in time, experiencing what the ranch would have been like in the early 1900's.

Whilst at the ranch we also visited a native Indian reservation and had the opportunity to go into a Pit House

We then had a beautiful scenic ride into Whistler where we were to spend the next two days.

Thursday was a rest day for Sherry our driver, so we spent the day in and around Whistler, a group of us decided to experience the Gondola ride to the top of the mountain.

Before we returned to the hotel we had a lovely ice cream at Cows Ice Cream Parlour in Whistler.

Friday we visited Shannon Falls and made our way to Vancouver to catch the ferry to Vancouver Island. On arriving on the Island we visited the town of Chemainus, we spent time looking at all the many different murals, on the buildings in the town.

And so ends my first week of my visit to Canada.