Towering towers of Toronto

Landing in Toronto from Calgary we caught a taxi (first taxi of the hols....) to our shared accommodation with the Brooks and Smith families. Tom was meeting up with us at the apartment after our Maple Leafs hockey game to watch the Eagles v Collingwood...starting at midnight. We were on the 48th floor of 67 floor new high rise tower. Being the last in the 'First in best dressed stakes' meant that we got the bedroom with the clear glass doors looking into the lounge room.....perfect spot to relax and view the footy.....Judy suggested we could tape a sheet to the glass for privacy omitting the word DUCT not to traumatize Paul....he is still recovering from his loss.

If you are not into hockey/footy I would suggest you skip this paragraph and move onto the next. The hockey was brilliant, fast paced, amazing skills on the ice, and fans galore. This game and atmosphere was the pre match warm up we needed to keep us awake for the AFL. With Tom and Tash now joining us on the 48th we cracked a few tinnies (Toronto is known for its breweries) and filled out MB's bread paper form guide....guessing who would be best on ground, first blood rule, margin at half time and who would win and by how much. If you know Paul then you don't need reminding how he swaps from team to team depending on which team is winning.....the first blood rule might have taken place on the  48th and with no DUCT tape to strap him to the chair or tape up his mouth to quieten the noise permenating out of the room I was expecting and looking forward to a knock on the door from a "Mountie"......no such luck! . Thank the lucky stars the Eagles won as Tom, Judy, Mike, Kevin and Emily had all cheered them on into the early hours of the morning.....Paul screamed them on......Paul says he was reserved on the night.

A quiet start the next day to walk the streets of downtown Toronto and then a family gathering at Medieval  Times organised by Tash. A fun night filled with lots of laughs, brave knights and elegant equines. Our knight the red and yellow knight emulated the eagles by winning the championship.

Sunday we said our goodbyes to Kevin and Emily who were flying back to Portland with a hat trick and we were also off to stay with Tom and Tash in East York, with Judy and Mike heading on to Niagara. Tom helped us navigate the subway system which has 3 lines very small compared to London but a great way of transport and peak hour like every where can be a little daunting. Paul and I were looking forward to living in Toronto for the next 2 weeks......Tash is an amazing cook and we would experience our first Thanksgiving with the Stocks family.

Winners are grinners

Partying on the 48th floor

Glaciers galore ~ Driving the Icefield Parkway

Paul and I had prebooked our Icefield Parkway tour (thanks Chelsea) before leaving Australia and we were both unsure of what we were embarking on come Wednesday morning when we had an early start. Should we wear our thermals, how many layers do we wear so in the end we decided to fall back on the scouts philosophy of always being prepared. Picked up at our accommodation by the best ever bus/tour guide Ed from Galway Ireland we continued on until we had a bus load of scouts and headed towards our destination.

The drive through the Rocky Mountains  Continental Divide saw us sweeping through peak after peak of snow capped formations was unbelievable. Paul was not sure what to photograph as it was so visually stunning your eyes and brain were overwhelmed to the point of no return. I can't even imagine how it would be in winter here other than being cold. We had some stops along the way at various lakes which were all beautiful in their own way but I guess we were excited about the thought of walking on an actual glacier.

Arriving at the base camp a three storey purpose built interprative building we had a quick lunch break before being ferried out to the base of the glacier to hop into a 6WD monster bus with 2m high tyres - reportedly worth 1.2 million each with a total of 26 of these vehicles world wide with the only 2 outside the icefields being purchased by the AUS and the USA governments for their use in Antarctica.

The short 6WD trip felt like you were driving through a snow covered open cut mine site in Australia which culminated in a 30 minute walk around the glacier for some stunning photographs. We also had a  chat with the 2IC from the local National Parks body who was out of his office for the day. It was most disconcerting to hear that this particular glacier is shrinking 5M vertically and 15M horizontally each year - and people are still sceptical about global warming.

Following our walk on the glacier we travelled 15mins on another bus to experience the recently constructed skywalk,  a man made steel structure on the edge of a steep 80m ravine. The skywalk culminated in a circular glass floor deck hanging out over the valley which proved impossible for some people to take the giant step for mountainside views. One lonely mountain goat was visible through the glass laying around catching up on some sun and sleep.

After this we headed home with a stop off at Lake Peyto, another watery icon.....it's getting hard to expand my vocab to do the visual wonders justice. Back to Banff we met up with the Brooks family for a meal a notable pizza evening at the Bear Street tavern.

Our bus appropriately named after me.

Looking out to the glacier

The greenie in front of of our vehicle

Scouts

Lot of big busses for lots of tourists

I too can be green

Hanging out on the deck

Beautiful colours of Lake Peyto

Banff above and beyond

Judy, Mike and Emily caught up with us in Banff with Judy being braver than Paul and I put together as she drove a hired car from Calgary. Paul and I couldn't even walk on the right side of the road let alone drive on that side. How could Paul ever get to look at his maps if he was driving?

Tuesday saw us head towards Sulphur Mountain to ride the Banff Gondala with promised views of the Bow Valley including the Bow river. The gondala starts at 1583m above sea level and the upper terminal is 2281 m above sea level.   Norman Sanson who was a pioneering meteorologist first started recording the weather conditions in 1903. He would hike to the top of the mountain and had done this over a thousand times. His last climb was in 1945 at the age of 84! The views were spectacular and the boardwalk climb to the weather station was very easy....a little cold and windy however very refreshing.

Our next adventure for the day saw us at the Bow river paddling a canoe. Another canoest who had just arrived back mentioned there were some elk grazing by the river bank upstream so we were absolutely delighted when we saw them.

Riding the gondola

Nothing like having a ciggie in the fresh air. 

At least people can butt out in this contraption 

rather than littering the mountain.

Surrounded by views

Boardwalk to the summit

The Sanson weather station

Paul alive with the sounds of ........

Looking down on Banff

Who was the olympic rower who threw in the towel?

The beautiful Bow river

The Elk feeding

A celebratory drink.....I knew I wasn't driving!

Highway to Happiness

Since returning from way up there in Alaska we caught up with Judy, Mike and Em in Vancouver who were still on a high from the Eagles win to make it to the big grandfinal. Paul and I were now en route to Calgary home of the big white hats. One night stay before venturing out on the highway to Banff via Brewsters a company established back in 1892. With a luxurious coach ride through the prairie towards the mountains I had a feeling of deja-vue as we got closer to the Rocky Mountains.....I then remembered it was like a scene out of West World......too perfect and the beauty surrounding us seemed to good to be true!

We found our little cabin and Paul's description of it being a gnomes house we settled in and walked around Banff and the outskirts of the town. We rested at the Banff Springs Fairmont Hotel a heritage building open to the public as well as it's paying guests.

Everyone talks about Lake Louise as being beautiful and there is no doubt that it is and it's more than a picnic stop....however, I think it is being ruined by its reputation. I would find it hard to be one of the visitors in peak season time. Its mind boggling thinking of how many people this place keeps in employment which is a great thing of course.....bus drivers by the hundreds who take charge of the shuttle busses when the carparks are full and they move onto the overflow car parks. The tour operators, the traffic wardens, the National Park staff who are there on ground level and also those on the trails keeping track of us and the wildlife. We were told not to expect to see any wildlife and so we were very excited to see a duck.....doing what ducks do. As we progressed further along the trail we were informed that there was a grizzly bear with her two cubs up in the undergrowth but we didn't see them. We did see a family of mountain goats on our way back down the trail so that was a bonus. Not wildlife but the number of pooches out walking was a surprise and people riding horses. Paul did ask if there were spare horses for us at one stage......the dejavu feeling started to come back.

The trail to the top was quite extreme and I should have got hike fit along with the bike fit but with lots of rests in between photos and indescribable views I made it to the top.......egged on by the fact there was a Teahouse where we could grab a bite of lunch and a cuppa. Not wanting to descend on the same trail we chose a longer one and a little more harder on my netball knees. We arrived back in time for the return trip into Banff with our heads full of how beautiful it is up here in the Rockies.