Alberta and the Canadian Rockies

Knee deep in Snow....slight twist

After a 5 hour flight from Hamilton "international" airport we arrived in a dark and drenched Calgary. First impressions of Calgary....not so busy! The first couple of days we managed to experience what seemed to be a monsoon, snow storm as well as a heat wave. Thanks to Rick we managed to complete a 3-5 hour hike, whilst in camouflage gear, up onto the top of Ravens End where we were greeted by a the clouds. The following day Rick drove us through both Banff and Jasper national park. The whole journey included breath-taking views and a lot a wild life, such as Moose, Grizzly Bear, white tip Dear and black Bears.

Grizzly Bear eating roots

The next leg of the journey involved a rented car and 5 exchange students. We spent a total of 7 days driving through both national parks stopping anywhere that had great views...so everywhere. Luckily we had great weather throughout our road trip and so we took the opportunity to do as many hikes as we could. The ink pot hike was great because once we arrived at the top there were clear blue mini lakes surrounded my snow covered tress and mountains. The Banff stop was not complete without a dive into Banff's 39 degree hot springs.

Ink Pot Hike, Banff National Park

After another Hike over looking Banff itself and trip to the top of the mountains in a gondola, we made our way to Jasper. Before arriving into Jasper, we stopped off at a Ice glacier as well as Athabasca falls. Once we arrived in Jasper, a small town in the middle of Jasper national Park, we rented mountain bikes. Mountain biking in and around Jasper was amazing. Although i didn't jump into a Lake, the whole experience was surreal. We also made a trip to a new friend who happened to run a cattle ranch. Whilst there we enjoyed angus beef burgers, some shooting and a tour of a real Canadian ranch. So much more happened, but if i wrote about everything in detail we would be here for a while! You'll have to definitely make a trip to the Canadian Rockies to fully appreciate how beautiful it is. 

Canadian Rockies

Canadian Rockies

'Spring' Break Continued

Few of Quebec's oldest buildings

After a long but comfortable train ride from Ottawa we arrived in ice cold Quebec City. Since coming to Canada in September we have been warned about temperatures plummeting to -20 CE, instead we were greeted by a mild winter with the odd few days of heat. This all ended in Quebec City as temperatures ranged from a maximum of  -7 CE and a minimum -25 CE.


Before we arranged any outdoor activities, we spent some time walking around the city as well as taking a long bus journey to the Montmorency waterfall. This is where we finally experienced the knee deep snow that every Canadian friend had mentioned. It was so deep that the Aussies struggled to cope with. The all too regular "I'm cold" phrase was mentioned more times than cheese (read on). Walking around the field we stumbled across snowboarders at a park, took the chance to slide down frozen steps as well as giving the Australians a chance to make their first snow man. It basically looked like a scene from Narnia. Eventually we ended up in this village cafe where the poutine portions were too much to handle... eh Richard? He shovelled the cheese curds down like a Frenchman who has been away from France for too long. Anyway we made our way back and gorged ourselves on Swiss fondue, some more than others...Richard. The fondue itself was a bit too cheesy for my liking so I quit earlier than the others. It was ok though- Richard took one for the team and took care of the leftovers whilst discussing the prospect of a trip to Philadelphia. Ok that's enough cheese jokes.

Brie-lliant Time (Sorry last joke)

More than knee deep

Struggle

The next day we made our way to Valcartier Ice Park. I think it is fair to say that we were probably one of the oldest groups there but seriously a 80 year-old gran with two hip replacements would have had as much fun as we did. Valcartier Ice Park consists of huge steep snow covered slopes that you could either go down on your own or whilst holding onto a friends rubber dingy straps. Located amongst scenic snow-capped mountains, it was the perfect winter break activity. Sliding down was truly epic  and worth the sweaty climbs back up to the top. It was even more epic when we discovered the drag lifts, which sarah eventually mastered. The best slopes had to be the steepest, on the 8-man log rafts and the spinning rafts.

Say 'Cheese'

  

Part of the Valcartier deal was that you also gain access to the 2km outdoor ice skating trail. Even though we were made to look like complete fools on the ice by our friend Drew (Canadian pro ice-skater), it was fun to just mess around. Once we had enough of that we made our way back onto the slopes! Time management was essential. Maybe the only similarity with the 10 year olds at the park was our packed lunches.

Ended up in a pile

Surreal-Pimpin'

The following day was the day that I eventually had the chance to go dog sledding, something I had been looking forward to since applying to do an exchange year abroad. Once we geared up with more layers of wet dog smelling clothes, we braved our way out into the cold. After a quick/short talk on how to control the sleds we were on the sleds steering away in under 10 minutes in the great Canadian outdoors. Having paid little attention to the instructions that were given to Sarah and I, we quickly made away into the bushes off the clear path in front. Whilst on the sled within 2 hours it managed to snow heavily, harshly hail and beam with sunlight on a repeating loop. The route was really scenic, especially when we entered wooded areas. Eventually we fell off the sled, having saved my camera from the fall, we had to quickly get up and chase the dogs in order to stop them from running off. After playing with the pups it was sadly over and so was our trip to Quebec City. Overall it was a wicked spring break and I made the right decision to go Cold.

Canadian Winter break

P.s A big merci to our French tour guide Arthur, albeit overpriced :D