Kamloops to Banff

Hit the road at 8am after breakfast at Harold's - same place as last night.

                 Harold's had a nice view though! It was just next door to our motel on Hwy 1 east.

We viewed lots of hoodoos where the rocks eroded more in places causing ridges. We drove from the arid area along Shuswap Lake into lusher regions. The lake was so calm the borders were reflected in it. Unfortunately, I was in charge of photography, as Jim can't take photos and drive, so photos are more limited than they might have been!

We saw an osprey nest on top of a pole with the osprey sitting in it. It reminded my of the stork nests in Estonia. Our Gypsy Guide told us that in places they put platforms on the poles in order to encourage the ospreys to nest there.

 

Heading for the Rockies.

Stopped in Revelstoke for a coffee. Revelstoke is a lovely Canadian town nestled within the mountains - I think it's the Selkirk Mountains. Outside Revelstoke we headed into avalanche country where there were glaciers coming right down to the road and where there was packed snow/ice at the sides of the road. We hoped to do a few detours for walks e.g Skunk Cabbage Trail and The Giant Cedars Trail but unfortunately they were closed. Gypsy mentioned bear activity so I took to song - If you go down to the woods today you better go in disguise, for every bear that ever there was will gather there for certain because, today's the day the teddy bears have their picnic! Anyway we could see that the snow hadn't melted and this was confirmed when we reached the Visitor Centre in Banff. Most of the highlights are still closed because they had a phenomenal winter of snow. Some of the skiing places are still open! So, disappointingly, we have come a month too early. It doesn't take away from the drive though, in fact it probably adds to it!

 

Getting closer to the Rockies!

 Snow sheds are erected along the route of avalanche country to prevent the roads getting blocked by the snow. The first one we went through had snow packed on its roof.

This snow shed was at tyhe start of Glacier National Park.

We stopped for lunch at Golden where I had carrot and ginger soup - more of a puree - and Jim had yam fries. Both were streets ahead of last night's meal.

 

Views en route.

In the distance a view of an animal overpass built to protect the wild animals from the highway. Unfortunately we saw no bears or elks or moose or mountain goats or bighorn sheep. Maybe tomorrow!

Above 5 views just before entering Banff where we are staying tonight.

Heading for the Rockies

Up early this morning to get the 9am ferry from Sidney to Vancouver. It was a beautiful trip across on the most beautiful day so far. Not long into the crossing the Captain informed us that we were passing a whale pod on starboard. I'm sure the ferry listed as most of the passengers rushed to see the whales. And we did! They waved their tails at us from a distance too far to be photographed but close enough to be sure that we weren't imagining things! 4th variety of wild creature that we have seen in the past week. 3rd sighting was Friday evening when we went for a walk from the house and saw wild deer but very tame deer as they are now living in the suburbs.

During the walk we discovered that we were really close to the sea.

Anyway, the crossing was beautiful as I said and really relaxing. It took one hour and 40 minutes.

A view from the ferry

Before we could get on the road to the Rockies, we had to go to Vancouver Airport to pick up our guide - Gypsy Guide, a sort of GPS system that acts as a tour guide and gives a commentary along the road. That involved a lot of circling round Vancouver until we got on Highway 1, the Trans Canada Highway. The road was fantastic and, unlike most motorways/dual carriageways or whatever, it was scenic all the way! We went from seeing the Rockies, snow clad or sprinkled in the distance, to driving with them on either side.

Jim on the motorbike, I'm in the car!

We stopped for lunch at Bridal Veil Falls where we had a picnic and climbed up to the foot of the falls.

A very different Bridal Veil Falls from the one we saw in New Zealand - more like My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding!

We went from Hope through the Fraser Valley and into the Fraser Canyon, a lush region with tree-covered mountains and deep ravines. At Lytton the Fraser River met the Thompson River and we proceeded into the desert. It was unbelievable!

Jim was amazed - he was expecting snow, not desert! The Thompson Canyon was very barren but there were a number of ranches with irrigated land. Ginseng is a serious crop here! I forgot to say that the south of British Columbia (around Chilliwack and near the border with the US)  is a serious place for marijuana. Some enterprising beings dug a tunnel to Lynden in the Us to transport drugs etc. They were caught!

We proceeded to Kamloops where we found a motel for the night at seniors' rate!! In the suburbs to avoid figuring out the city. It had restaurants in its vicinity so we headed to Harold's Family Restaurant,the only one open, for food - or cardboard in my case! We were certainly slumming it after last night at the Royal Theatre in Victoria where we enjoyed Beethoven's 9th, The Choral Symphony. Anyway, the views from the restaurant and what we had enjoyed en route more than compensated for  a greasy spoon! Have a photo of the area but the connection here is a bit erratic so I am trying no longer. Night, night!

Day 6

Back to hopping on and off today, that is once the bus managed to get back on route after detours because of accidents in 3 different places. It was obviously a busy day for the emergency services as when we were on our way back home we passed another where a small truck had demolished a light pole!

First hop off was at the Art Gallery where we got to see the development as an artist of Emily Carr (1871 - 1945) who was born in Victoria and of whom they are obviously very proud as we keep hearing her mentioned. She is known for her interest in the first nation and her painting of Aboriginal totems and themes as well as for her later paintings of forest scenes. We also got to view works of art from private collections - obviously very wealthy people who wanted the public to see what they owned!

Hopped on to hop off at Oak Bay Marino for short walk, coffee and wild life (rather tame actually because of the number of people who feed fish to the grey seals and sea otters.

Well fed seal!
   

My heart was in my mouth as the little girl was leaning forward so much to feed the seals and otter. I was sure she was going to fall in. Her parents were not in the slightest bit worried!        Jim was equally unaware that he was also in danger of getting caught in a fish weighing hook that was just in line with his head as he was taking the photos.

On we hopped again to hop off at Miniature World. En route we passed a statue of Terry Fox the young Canadian whose battle with bone cancer prompted him to run across Canada despite having had one leg amputated. He was forced to abort his trip when he learned that the cancer had spread to his lungs. The Terry Fox Foundation has raised hundreds of millions of dollars for cancer research and treatment.

Terry Fox Memorial.

I was initially disappointed in Miniature World as I had anticipated playing at being Gulliver in the land of Lilliput and wandering through tiny cities and towns but the exhibits were all behind glass. However, it was amazing. The detail was phenomenal and we even saw Gulliver in Lilliput!

Well and truly tied down and clambered over!

Some of the models were very pretty. There were quite a few houses with everything in them, even the chamber pot under the beds! They had quite a few depictions of scenes from the novels of Charles Dickens and also lots of Nursery Rhymes.

The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe was busy trying to get all her children to bed!

That was the end of the hopping on and off. We lunched in Chinatown which is the oldest in Canada and second oldest in America. We admired the ice-cream in Oh Gelato but refrained from sampling! And we browsed the native Indian shops.

 Oh Gelato!

Jim has decided that Canada is cap country not hat country but has not invested yet in either.

Tomorrow evening we are going to Beethoven's 9th Symphony in the Royal Theatre. We plan to spend the day preparing for our Rockies trip which we start by taking the ferry from Sidney to Vancouver early on Sunday morning. I'm not sure how easy it will be to continue blogging while we're travelling but if the motels have WIFI I should manage unless I am too tired from fending off arguments between Jim and your one on the sat nav!

Day 5

Raining - supermarket - housework - washing - drying - ironing - cooking - planning for Rockies - no photos.

Day 4 - Sidney

This morning we set off to suss out the ferry at Sidney on which we will travel to Vancouver on the first stage of our drive across the Rockies. Then we went in to see Sidney.

This is me and Sidney. He was very quiet and would not tell me the name of his dog.

Jim found a friend of his own but he was positively unfriendly!

Unlike the above 2 citizens of the city of Sidney (small town!), everyone else was very friendly. We did a 5km round walk of the waterfront area and everyone we met said "Good Morning". Sidney is very nice and has some lovely shops and more book shops per capita than the rest of Canada earning it its title of Canada's Book Town.

                                                                                                      

To the left is a view of Sidney harbour. The last Sydney we were in had a bridge and an opera house!              

 In the afternoon we went in to Victoria again to visit the tourist office to get some advice on our trip through the Rockies. We now have a huge amount of literature to go through in order to finalise our itinerary. Our holiday is a little different to usual and, in fact, a little disconcerting as Jim is not wearing a hat. I have to keep reminding him that he is on holiday!

3rd Day - Pacific Marine Circle Route

We set off in glorious sunshine this morning to drive the Pacific Marine Circle Route which we had been informed would take 6 hours driving and obviously longer with stops. It wasn't long till it clouded over and became quite miserable and not conducive to the walking stops we had planned. We stopped at Port Renfrew for coffee in a place that could only be described as being in the middle of the wilderness. The journey cross country was in logging country so we saw lots of trees in various stages of growth, of felling, logging and being transported. We crossed innumerable creeks over single lane bridges and made our way to Duncan where we did a detour to Chemainus which is famous for its murals. Seemingly, when Chemainus hit a downturn, steps had to be taken to turn it from a logging village to a tourist attraction. Someone came up with the  bright idea of painting giant murals depicting scenes from the past. And it has worked! Tirau in New Zealand did a similar thing with corrugated iron sculptures in order to revitalise the town - you might remember the photos in the New Zealand blog.

This is a mural of the Hong Hing waterfront Store. Hong Hing ran a laundry and then a general store from 1915 to 1950.

 Telephone service became available in Chemainus in 1908. This Victorian residence served as the telephone for 30 telephones in the community.                                                                                  
                                                                                         

Steam Donkey At Work.

Based on the figures from the Native past and present in this area, 3 tribes are depicted.







We returned to Duncan and took out on foot to do the Totem walk. Duncan is famous for its totems. The oldest, original, still standing totem poles are found in the northern regions of Vancouver Island but, because of limitations of time and space, many tourists are unable to venture that far. The City of Duncan and the various artists who have carved the poles have provided a microcosm of the world of the Northwest Coast peoples.

The middle totem is a Kwakwaka'wakw carving by Oscar Matalpi. Oscar Matilpi is a carver who believes the material has its own spirit and spiritual power. The totem is Dzonoqua Wild Woman of the Woods. She is a cannibal giantess or ogress. She has bushy unkempt hair, half-closed eyes and a pursed mouth. She travels through the forest making the sound "Ooh Ooh" as she steals children and throws them into the basket on her back (which is supposedly made of snakes). At her house she makes them into her slaves. This is a good story to teach the dangers of going into the forest alone to little children. The coppers on her chest indicate her wealth.

This pole is a Kwakwaka'wakw carving by Richard Hunt - Cedarman holding a Talking Stick. It is the largest pole in diameter in the world. It is 200cms at the butt end , 39'6" high and weighs 7 tons. It was carved in the street in front of the public, took a year to carve and when finished put up with a special crane.

The journey home was uneventful and now Jim is calling for his dinner so I must obey!

Day 2 - hopping on and off in Victoria

When we got to Victoria this morning it was raining off and on but we thought we would brave the hop on hop off bus in order to get an overview of the city and to decide which sites/sights we wanted to spend time on. We were seated in the small covered front of the open top bus with the wind whistling in and stray cherry blossom settling momentarily on Jim's bald patch. By the time the full 90 minutes were up we were frozen to the core. After a brief hop off, for the driver to get a coffee, we hopped on again and 3 stops later hopped off at Spinnaker's Brewery Pub on the west bay for lunch and some hops for Jim in the form of Nutbrown beer. Seemingly there are a lot of micro breweries in Victoria but, thankfully, Jim has not found out where the others are or he would be seriously going to drink Canada dry! We had a lovely lunch in Spinnakers where a seat by the window where the sun was shining through helped to thaw us out after the freezing condition of the bus. We followed lunch with a walk on the westside walkway. There are lovely views from there and it would have been even better if it had been less cloudy when we would have been able to see the Olympic Mountains in washington State. as it was we got a very brief view of one snow-capped Olympic peak when the clouds shifted ever so slightly. We did, however, get a view of the floating houses of which we had seen only one yesterday. Yesterday's one was in a different wharf.

Floating village at Fisherman's wharf seen from West Bay.

We also saw an interesting sculpture made of driftwood:

Beside this was a throne for King and Queen Neptune, also made of driftwood. It was too awkwardly placed for us to get a photo though.

A heron in a tree on Westside walkway.

We hopped on again to hop off at St. Andrew's Cathedral. We quickly admired the stained glass windows but found little else to spend time on though maybe some prayers for good weather might not have gone amiss - ah well, lost opportunity! We did no more hopping but continued walking down to the wharf where we decided to go get a good look at the floating village at Fishermen's wharf. It was quite a walk but worth it to see the floating houses.

We had the added bonus of seeing 2 grey seals up close. They were obviously very tame and not in the least perturbed by people.

Lazily swimming.

Just lazy!

We have nothing to report from our return walk to the car or indeed from our return drive. The bus tour was well worth doing as we saw parts of the city that we would not have seen if we had been on foot all the time. We drove through Rockland which is known locally as nob hill because that is where the wealthy bankers live in beautiful mansions with beautiful gardens..We also learned a bit more than we would have without the tour. For instance we learned that Francis Rattenbury, an English immigrant of 25 won the contract to design the Parliament Buildings that Jim photographed yesterday. He also designed the splendid Empress Hotel which has seen Kings, Presidents and all sorts of other famous people stay there. That's probably where we would have stayed had we not already had an arrangement with Ted and Nancy!

There should be no trouble preparing dinner tonight as I have figured out the high tech cooker!