The Rockies . . . Columbia Icefields link here too

I've finally started the trekking part of my adventure and am currently in Banff surrounded by huge mountains and lakes, and wildlife galore!!!! I have seen so many elk now that they seem like a regular old deer and are no big deal anymore.

We stayed at Jasper for 4 days and hiked around Patricia Lake, the Old Fort Point and back to the hostel, which is in the middle of nowhere and damn in convenient! If you head to Jasper make sure you either have a car or stay in a hotel in the main town. The area is beautiful though. We had an amazing time and met a few interesting characters.
A friend came to visit us too and had a car so we made the most of it and headed to the Columbia Icefields and took the tour onto the Athabasca glacier which was pretty cool. Our tour guide was hilarious which always helps. We also drove to Pyramid Lake which is beautiful and has some lovely accommodation along but looks pricey. I have heaps of pictures but not sure I can attach it to this computer so can't attach them. Maybe I can make a slide show to bore everyone when I return!!!

As we left for Banff and were sitting on the bus, Helen suddenly realised she's left all of her money, passport and flight tickets in the hostel. I tried not to laugh but really!!!! A holiday rep making a classic mistake!!!! Luckily the bus driver was really nice and drove up to the hostel to get them. I'm not a good friend and just told her not to worry until we don't find them, then we can panic!! Could have been a great first disaster for the trip!!!

Banff is really pretty. We went for a run yesterday morning by the Cave and Basin and then took a small hike along the Tunnel Mountain trail which zigzags up the front of a small mountain and you can see the whole of downtown and the river behind. It was nicely set out and a good walk after a 6K run. There's an older English guy in the hostel we're staying in who is nice and a bit lonely, we're surrounded by crazy drunks, so we went for a few beverages last night and just had a good old chat.

Today the temperature has suddenly dropped so we're planning on catching up on the internet, as you can see, taking a small hour long walk in the main area of Banff and just seeing what the day brings.

Its a bit of a shock to the system to not be in our lovely condo any more but we're adapting well ;-)