Moving Forward!

So we are in Banff, in the Rocky Mountains!

I had heard that Banff is the S.T.D capital of Canada and that it's full of Aussies. For this reason, I have had no urgent desire to visit, besides the fact I don't fancy snowboarding and its not the season yet.

There are a million Aussies here, that's true. And yes they are all the young, ignorant, obnoxious ones that give all of us a terrible terrible rep. I wont tell all the examples I've seen already, but if you can imagine the 'Aussie Aussie Aussie' flag wearing bogans then you have a pretty good idea of the hostels here.

Apart from the Aussies and the busyness of the place, it's absolutely BEAUTIFUL!

So last time I was here, we were in Whitehorse. We had a great time there, and the people were amazing and friendly, but it was time to move on! Liam and I bought our Greyhound 'Discovery Passes' which is valid for 30 days. Its actually the last month Greyhound are offering these passes so we are quite lucky.

I was really really against getting this pass at first, but I soon realised that I have a small window of time before it gets way too cold to move around. The weather is changing fast here. The last few days it has been mid 20's and sunny. On tuesday it will be minus 11. What the fuck weather indeed.

So anyway, the job driving trucks down south fell through, as the chick decided that we should pay for fuel to drive HER trucks to Vancouver. So after politely declining, we bought our bus tickets.

We decided to head to Alberta, first stop being Edmonton, which is 28 hours away on the bus (yes this place is ridiculously big)

We had organized some couch surfing with this cool chick in an awesome apartment in a good area of town, and got shown around by another couch surfer the next day.

Edmonton is spread out like Adelaide, but the downtown is dirty, drug riddled, and not much fun to look at or be in. Cross the river though and things change. For a small population (1 million abouts) it has a great university and therefore attracts lots of intelligent young people. Also because of the oil sands, these guys are only paying around 110 a litre for petrol! Lucky ducks!

We only stayed two nights, then got on the bus again (only 6 hours this time) to Jasper, which is in the Rocky Mountains. WOW. I knew I would enjoy the Rockies, but this blew me away. The only problem is that unlike Banff, which is a lot bigger and busier and therefore has public transport to a lot of the hikes and trails here, Jasper is more remote and can be very difficult to explore without a car.

Lucky for us, on our first morning, we decided to save some money and walk the 7km to town. On the way down the hill, an Argentinian bloke and two Germans pulled over next to us and offered us a ride. Hitch hiking is pretty common here, so of course we said yes.

Rod, the Argentinian, dropped us all off in town and we said our good byes and headed to the post office to send postcards. Rod went in as well and we started talking again and he offered to take us around with him to Maligne Canyon, as he was already heading there. Well the canyon turned into a few more lakes, and before long we were making plans for the next day too. In total, he drove us around with him for 2 days. If it wasn't for Rod, we would not have been able to see half the things we did, and barely any of the trails and hikes we walked. He really made our trip. We made his too he said so it worked out well and it's so refreshing to meet people as funny and nice as him.

Although we only knew Rod for a few days, we spent a lot of time together and I could probably write a small book on his funny quotes and quirks. While walking a trail, we began talking about bears and cougars and other dangerous Canadian animals. Two minutes later, Rod (who was walking in front) started running at full pace past us screaming in his Argentinian accent "There is..........something!"
I looked up and saw something black running at full pace towards us and started running myself. I looked back and what did I see??? A black dog and a cyclist owner coming around the corner! We felt like right dicks, but our apprehension was warranted as 15 minutes later, we walked right towards a black bear and her two cubs! We waited a while and went around, slowly so the mamma didn't see us as a threat. Interestingly, as soon as the bears saw us, the two cubs ran straight up the nearest tree as fast as they could. It was amazing to watch...

So after some more hikes and mountain climbing, Liam and I headed for the bus to Banff and here we are!
Banff is only around four hours from Jasper. (Un) fortunately, there is a world heritage listed ice field between the two towns, and because of this, the greyhound doesn't go directly. So instead of a  hour ride, we had a 15 hour bus trip back to Edmonton, south to Calgary, then west to Banff.

We are planning to hire a car on monday and head towards the ice fields and check out Lake Louise on the way. Can't wait!

That's as far as I can tell the story for now. I'll try and pop back when we get the chance!

Adios!

Did You Miss Me??

So bit of an absence I must say. Apologies all 'round.

Well the last few months has been steady.  I have been basically just working and trying to avoid massive benders in town.  On my days off I have been enjoying summer by going down to some local lakes in the area and chilling out with some beers, tunes and some good mates.

But the time came when it was time to leave and I haven't looked back. Sure I miss Victoria a lot, especially my friends, but the city was getting me down in the end. Drunks, crack heads, police sieges outside our apartment and ambulances and cop sirens blaring multiple times a day got the better of me and now it's time for something a bit smaller and slower.

So now we're in Whitehorse in the Yukon!!

After lots of farewell drinks in Vic, followed by The Great Canadian Beer Festival the next day, we headed to Van on the ferry on wednesday.
We stayed at he Samesun in down town Van and tried to keep our heads down a bit to save money. We met the couple that we ride shared with on the wednesday and organized to leave on friday at midday. Not having done this before, part of us feared that they wouldn't rock up and we would be boned. Luckily for us the did and we started on our 31 hour road trip up the west coast of this massive massive country.

The ride was great, we stopped once in a while so we didn't stiffen up, and the drive went pretty quickly. We were very lucky on the way up as when we headed closer and closer to the border, we saw more and more wildlife. By the end we had seen a few Caribou, a few different herds of massive buffalo, a black bear and her two cubs, and the Northern Lights!

Words can't really describe how excited I was with all this. I felt like a kid who just let off his first firecracker.
Seeing all those things easily made being stuck in the back seat of a compact car totally worth it!

About 6 hours from Whitehorse we stopped at some hot springs and relaxed our muscles for an hour or so before heading off again. The hot springs have a lot of sulphur, and as a result, the whole place stinks of eggs. Now I understand what Rotorua in NZ smells like. Also I have discovered that hot springs attracts lots and lots of old fat people in bathing suits meant for people half their age.  Luckily the springs were stinky, otherwise everyone would have smelled my vomit coming up every now and then......

So upon arrival in Whitehorse we headed to a camp site as all the accommodation in town was booked out. Apparently once a fortnight there is a plane full of Germans who fly from Frankfurt and come directly to Whitehorse. As a result we had to sleep in the cold. Luckily Liam and I bought cheap 15 dollar Walmart tents in Van.

The only issue we had with the campsite was that we had to leave our bags and valuables in the tent if we wanted to go for a venture. We decided to stay at the campsite with the fire for most of the time until we could get a hostel booked for monday.

When we finally moved into the hostel, we decided to catch up with a girl at a local bar, who Liam met on couch surfing. It was quiet at first, but eventually we were introduced to some of her mates and we ended up having a wicked night! One of her friends Matt, drove me out to some look outs of town where we saw a wicked Northern Lights display! This one was 3 times as intense as when we saw them while driving up, so Liam was quite jealous when I told him. Matt is First nations as well, so he was telling me about his ancestry and the connection his people have with the lights and the area. Tres cool.

We are meeting up with everyone again on thursday and getting our drink on at a local pub that is selling $2.50 pints, and $11 jugs. We are planning on doing some hiking at Hidden Lake in the morning, followed by a brewery tour for pre drinks, then heading to the pub after that. Should be an epic farewell for us as we have to get our tickets and leave on the bus friday morning.

We were actually offered a small job from a chick at the bar the other night. She owns a small company and needs to get 15 vans driven down to Vancouver, then some from Van to Edmonton. She would have us drive the cars down, fuel paid for, and no time limit to get them there, effectively giving us free travel!! It would mean A LOT of driving, but it will allow us to take our time and see some of the sights we missed on the way up, plus save us $230 for the bus from Whitehorse to Edmonton.

I'm really keen to do it as I think it would be an amazing opportunity, but Liam is being very stubborn about it and refuses to do it as he thinks we're wasting our time back tracking where we have already driven. I'm trying to be more positive than that, but he is dead set on buying a monthly bus ticket and heading to Alberta.

Liam and I have been disagreeing a lot recently. I guess its natural when you travel with someone but I didn't expect it this early into our trip. I think I made some serious miss judgements about Liam when we planned this trip. Being a massive stoner, I presumed he would be really relaxed and laid back about things and take it easy like I try to do. Turns out, just like a few of my other stoner friends, they are actually stress heads who use weed to calm down.

As a result, we're always at loggerheads. He tends to stress about everything and needs everything booked and organised in advance and gets shitty that I don't have the same urgency as he does. I like to go slow and keep my options open all the time.  Everything he does is done in a rush. Eating, drinking, walking, hiking, its all about being finished and having it done and ticked off. I am the exact opposite so its been frustrating for both of us I think.

Also, I was under the assumption that he had no time limit and was keen to take his time across the country. As it tuns out, he has organized to be in Kansas by End of October. So his plan for us is to buy a monthly bus pass, stay in cities for 1 or 2 days tops, then cross it off the list and move on. I want to take my time, spend as long as I need in a city or town till its time to move on, even do some wwoofing for a week or two somewhere to keep the funds strong and ease our way over to the east coast in due time.
It's a shame because these are very different ways to travel around and we can't do both. I really like the guy, but I don't see us travelling together well. I can see us going our separate ways sooner rather than later.

Apart from that though, everything is going great! It feels so good to be on the road again. I'm loving meeting people again, sharing stories and experiences and giving and getting advice. I'm loving the randomness and adventure. I have seen some amazing things already, and it can only get better.

Compared to NZ, my mind is in a much better place to appreciate and enjoy everything that's going on. I'm in a good place now, and I'm not going to let anything change that....

Anyway, it's been a very long catch up post. I know I can harp on a lot about how great life is and all this weird hippy stuff, but well, that's my mental state right now. I'm happy and positive and thinking about the present and looking forward to the experiences ahead.

Also my plans have changed quite a lot since my last post and now, if things go well, I will probably be home in February to travel Oz  for a good chunk of time

Its all good!