Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Dogs

What I find quite amazing........ The Fairmont Banff Springs, world famous, world class top rate hotel is dog friendly. There are dogs and owners walking through all the public areas all the time and one meets them in the lift on the way to the guest rooms. I don't quite know where they fit, be cause our room wasn't on the large side, in fact it was pretty small and some of these dogs are rather large.Maybe  you book a special room with dog accommodation.
Wish I had bought Mac.

Banff

Wow, after an amazing bus trip from Calgarry, with a very chatty  bus driver and free wifi on the bus - couldn't believe that - we arrived at our hotel, the renown Fairmont Banff Springs (below) and it is just like sll the pictures portray.  We are on the 7th floor with a view of Sulphur Mountain, not THE Mountain, but a great view all the same.

 
Yesterday afternoon was spent exploring some of the hotel and a walk through the downtown area. Very touristy and at this time of year absolutely packed. All around town one can hear Aussie voices, so many of them work here that I felt quite at home.
                                                                                          

Dinner was followed by several hours in the Spa, where there is a large pool of the famous mineral springs in addition to an outdoor hot tub, steam room, sauna and a number of plunge pools - it was very easy to float around and just relax forever
.
Today it was off to one of the ski fields for a look around. I was quite surprised that all the skiing requires a bus ride from town, which with all the pick ups takes quite some time. But off we went to Sunshine  Valley, which also was absolutely packed - quite manic actually. It was snowing a little but the season has been pretty lousy so far. I am beginning to b elieve that all this cold and snow in Canada is just a big myth, everty time I come the weather turns mild.. Dinner downtown then another hour or so in the spa. Surprise, surprise Lynn got dressed again and headed off to the hotel shops - she loves that.
Anyway tomorrow it's off to Lake Louise for our New Year adventure
Sunshine Valley


Saturday, December 28, 2013

Canada 2013/14

Calgary.

Easy trip over on Air New Zealand, and surprisingly I caught some sleep, probably because the audio system on my personal screen was rubbish and drove me mad trying to listen, but it meant I slept. Total mix up with the food, as I had all my own packed only to be told the day before that I couldn't take it through Auckland, so they ordered me a version of theirs - not impressed but they did try and the air crew were very helpful. Luckily I saw some NZ smoked salmon in Auckland and ate that for dinner and breakfast - me eating fish what a joke, how things have changed.
Easy transfer in Vancouver and even managed to get and earlier flight, so flew over the Rockies in daylight, but lots of cloud so  not much view, although the approach in to Calgary was amazing, but didn't have my camera in hand and they wouldn't let me get it. It is just so flat and white and the straight roads just lead off into the curve of the earth sand the horizon - amazing, Then there were all the circles of the suburbs, a great sight.
It was a balmy 9C when I arrived around 5.30, as the warm winds from the Chinook had kept the  temperatures  high for the last few days - high for here that is, it's all relative. But last night around midnight, the cold, cold wind blew through town dropping the temperature to about -21C, very glad I was asleep. So b y the time we ventured out this morning it was back up to -16C, but it was bearable.
Lynn & I did some wandering,  but they are still in total holiday mode, so most places are closed, but I did find some staples for the next week - like sauerkraut and kombucha!!!!!
Now back and re-packing for the start of the big adventure tomorrow when we are off to Banff..
More to come.




Sunday, August 04, 2013

Africa 1973



40 years ago today, I left London after 2 1/2 years to head home to Australia and being contrary as always, with everyone heading the Kathmandu, Afghanistan route, I decided to head off through Africa instead, a journey of 4 1/2 months.
There were 18 of us on the SIAFU trip, manly Aussies, but a couple of Kiwis and Americans, a few Brits and a Frenchman. We traveled through T8unisia, Algeria, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, Congo, Zaire, Rwanda and Tanzania to Kenya, where the trip officially finished. Several of us continued on through Rhodesia - now Zimbabwe, and onto South Africa and from there I came home.
There were lots of adventures, desert breakdowns and oil rig saviors - funny how they always knew where we were, mud and holes in the road so deep that 2 trucks could be stuck down the hole at any one time and lots of money changing hands attempting rescue to set the trucks on the way. As we left Algeria we were awoken early to the sounds and sights of waves of Russian MIGS on the way to the Yom Kippur war, we camped in the midst of wandering animals in game parks, spent time in a pygmy village, and met some amazing people and saw some amazing sights, certainly a trip remember