Travel Diary

The Moose Run (17th-26th June)

Day 1: Vancouver to Whistler

So after the heavy monday night, I managed to get up early enough to pack and have a shower. I couldn't remember whether I was supposed to be in the lobby at 8 or 9am, so I got down there for 8. It actually turns out it should have been 9, then at 9 I got a message to say the bus wouldn't turn up until about 10, at about 10:45 it finally turned up. There weren't many on the Bus at all, which made it easy to get to know each other: another English lad, Gary, two English girls, Claire and Tammy and two Swiss sisters, Fabian and Stephanie. We first of all headed up to Squamish and stopped at a little mining museum place as Matt (our driver) had said there was some filming going on, turns out it was for Scooby Two or rather it had been as they'd finished the week before, still looks from the props like there's going to be a runaway mine cart scene.

Mining Museum where Scooby 2 was filmed

Next we headed up to Shannon Falls where we had lunch and then went for a little walk, after that we continued onto some more Falls (Brandywine this time). Then before we went to our accomodation, we visited the Whistler Bungee jump site, only Fabian had a go, it was to be honest a little pricy for such a small fall. We got to the Chalet Alta Vista where we were staying in the late afternoon and then headed down to Alta Lake for a bit of a swim before dinner, then out into town and ended up in some overpriced club called the Savage Beagle. On the walk home we saw the Northern Lights, although most of the people walking home couldn't remember them the next day.

Day 2: Whistler

The original plan for the free day had been to hire some rollerblades, so Gary and I headed down into Town only to find nowhere rents them but you can buy them for as little as $99! Instead Matt, Claire, Tammy and I hired some Mountain Bikes from the Chalet and went around the various trails that Whistler offers taking in a couple of lakes and nice scenery. For the evening meal we headed out to some park to have a group BBQ, but Matts firelighting skills weren't too good so we ended up getting food by about 9pm! After being set upon by mosquitoes we headed back to the Chalet and a couple of us availed ourselves of the Hot Tub before heading off to bed. I should at this point also mention that Chalet Alta Vista in Blueberry hill where we stayed was without doubt the most luxurious place I've stayed on my travels so far (and great value at $25CAN a night)

The lovely chalet we stayed in at Whistler

Day 3: Whistler to Kamloops

We gained a few more people on our bus today, a couple of Australian girls, a Dutch girl and another English girl. We saw quite a lot of things as well, the Nairan Falls, Joffree Lake and the Matier Glacier, Duffy Lake, Seton Lake and Lillouet Lake where we had lunch.

Group photo by Joffree Lake (I think)

And talking about lunch, whilst I was in subway ordering mine, the chap in front made me absolutely crease up, he was a bit of a redneck and had a mullet as well, so you can add the accent yourself, he was buying a couple of footlong sub rolls for him and 'his woman'. They were already filled with three different meats cheese and just about every salad item on offer, when the question of sauce came up:

What sauce would you like Sir?
You got any Dijon Mustard?
Yes sir? (Proceeds to put what I'd consider plenty of sauce on the sub) Is that enough sir?
No, put on a little more, a little more, a little more, make it swim baby (Turns to his woman) Ooh eee, I tell you this is going to taste fine.
Is that all Sir?
Have you got any Caesar dressing?
Yes Sir
Well I'll have that as well

and so it went on the subs literally had the same volume of sauce as they did meat and salad. But it just made me laugh especially the line Make it swim baby.

So back to the trip, in the afternoon we stopped off at Cash Creek for some Ice Cream and then got into Kamloops in the early evening where it was Fajitas for dinner, although one of the Australian girls had a strange idea of what went in one, so after much arguing, I produced a separate filling of Chicken, onions, and peppers (apparently this was completely wrong, but then what do I know?) and there was also a bowl of ridiculous size produced containing such delights as Broccoli, Carrots and other things that I doubt ever go into a Fajita.

After dinner, we headed up to an indoor climbing centre and got to climb for a couple of hours before the big surprise which was basically a giant swing. Some people complained about Kamloops hostel, but it had so much character. It was an old court house that had been converted into a hostel, and they'd kept all the old wood panelling in the dining room which used to be the courtroom itself.

Me climbing

And the swing

Day 4: Kamloops to Valemount

The stop today was Spaht Falls (in the Wells Grey national park). We got to the hostel around 1:30pm as we had to give our bus to the next group. The hostel was excellent. We were put up in a giant log cabin, with a massive lounge, 50" rear projection TV, satellite TV, pool/snooker table and so on. The town of Valemount was literally 1 street and was really the sort of place I'd been looking forward to seeing since coming to Canada. After doing some grocery/alcohol shopping we paid a visit to the Swiss bakery, which provided some amusement for the Swiss girls (and the rest of the group) as they were telling Matt (the driver) things to say to the baker.

In the evening we had a BBQ and then a few of us played some evil swiss drinking games.

Day 5: Valemount -> Jasper

Before leaving Valemount (we had to wait for the next groups bus), we went for a little walk around the wetlands which was very nice, although no moose to be seen. We then headed off to Jasper, visiting Mount Terry Fox and the Mount Robson visitor centre. We then took a walk around the Maligne Canyon before heading into Jasper town. Ironically it was exactly a week since I'd been there on the train as well! We were told there wasn't much to do around the hostel, so instead went for a Pizza in town before heading up to the hostel, which gets my sordid little grief hole award for the trip. Still we had a little campfire in the rain and toasted some marshmallows. By the time we got back inside all the lights in the blokes dorm had gone out so after struggling to find my bunk and almost tipping it over trying to get onto the top I managed to get a bit of sleep. It was an early start the next morning but guess what the lights don't come back on until around 9am, about 30 minutes after we left, which was nice.

Day 6 Jasper -> Banff

Picked up a few more people on the bus and stopped off at Athabasca falls. We then had a group photo at Tanglie falls, before hitting the Columbia Ice Fields which were still covered in snow and for those of us who managed to walk to the top it was actually still snowing up there. We then went to the visitor centre before having some lunch. Next stop was Lake Pedo or as Matt calls it F*ck My Dog lake as when he first took a group up there last year, he was announcing where they were and had just said Lake when someone outside the bus shouted said nickname. Interesting fact: the nickname in swiss german is Feck Mi Hund so now you know. After that we visited Lake Louise where the challenge was laid down to get a picture of the Lake from a hotel room (by whatever means), the higher the floor deciding the winner. In the end Claire, Tammy and Naomi won by asking a maid on the 8th Floor if they could get a picture (as they couldn't see the lake from the room they were in!). However Gary had the best tactic, he told Guest Services that he wanted to book up a room for his parents wedding anniversary and that money wasn't a question, this last statement did however mean he only got let into a 7th floor room (as this was the Gold floor).

Columbia Ice Fields

Lake Pedo (or Feck Mi Hund)

After that we got into the Banff hostel which was very nice and also the most expensive of the whole trip at $27. It ended up being only the original group of 6 staying there as well as everyone else opted to stay at the Global Village hostel. So we had dinner in the hostel restaurant and I made the early mistake of having a whole pitcher to myself. We then went out to the Pumping Tap in town for Karaoke, I managed to be the first to sing with I'm Just a Gigolo/I ain't got nobody by Dave Lee Roth (something I've always wanted to sing on Karaoke I'll admit). I ended up singing 4 other songs, Lola (sorry Mum) which seemed to have slightly different lyrics for the Canadian market. More than Words by Extreme with a couple of lads off another Moose Bus and Tammy. Then finally Hey Jude and Wonderful Tonight with a german lad off another Moose Bus. The star of the night though was Tammy (turned down from Pop Idol, it's all a sham apparently) who scooped first prize $50 worth of free drinks! A mention should also be made of the compere of the karaoke night, a real redneck with a full on mullet and good knee slapping action whilst singing. Can't really remember getting home as Carling had been only $3 a pint and Vodka and Cokes only $1.75. However I am told that I was berating a Canadian at the vending machine in the hostel about the quality of his countries chocolate (it's very bad if you didn't already know).

The mullet who ran the Karaoke

Day 7 Banff

I didn't really do much on the free day in Banff, it was raining anyway. Played some cards in the afternoon then headed into town for a group meal at the Rose and Crown pub before heading down to the nightclub of $0.25 beers, they were only 1/4 to 1/3 pints but still that makes a pint only $0.75 to $1 which is very good value. The club itself was pretty dire, claimed to be a rock night, but after an hour of variable quality rock, switched to dance and general rubbish.

Day 8 Banff -> Revelstoke

Leaving Banff I was the only person staying on the bus, but a couple of Australian lasses got on, a scottish couple and about 5 from the far east. First stop was Johnstone Canyon, then Moraine Lake (whilst we were there an avalanche started up the top of the mountain opposite - sounded like a thunderstorm - very strange really). We then got stopped by the Police for a routine vehicle inspection, the funny part being that Matt couldn't remember if he was allowed to be wearing flip flops or not, so ended up borrowing my trainers! Apparently the police do this every year to check up on commercial vehicles. We then went to Emerald Lake, and then stopped along the Kicking Horse river to see the natural bridge that had been caused by erosion of the rocks.

The Moose

Then we also saw a giant moose cross the road (which is very rare - still only managed to get a shot of its backside though). We stopped in a little town called Golden for lunch. Then in the afternoon visited the Rogers Pass Discovery Centre (or Roadkill Museum as it's been nicknamed due to where all stuffed displays come from). Once we got to Revelstoke we then headed out to do some Kayaking. Being the only one in the group bar Matt who'd Kayaked before I got free rein to just do my own thing. All the kayaks were hand built by the chap who was running the activity and they were beauties. Mine was a 17ft wooden sea kayak which really kept it's speed well and the scenery around the lake we were in was (as with most of Canada) spectacular. The evening meal was a BBQ laid on by the hostel.

Day 9: Revelstoke -> Kewlowna

This was the day of Bug Bingo (that is a window at the front of the bus had a grid taped on, everyone put in a dollar and picked a square, the one with the most bugs at the end of the day wins the money).

We got a few more people on the bus today as well, mainly english and australian. First stop was go karts (or something claiming to be them). They really were the worst karts I've ever been in, but the owners didn't seem to mind some playful ramming so it didn't matter that much. We didn't stop off anywhere of interest apart from a flea market as we had to get into Kewlowna early to get on the houseboat. This was a rip off, $30 for 3 hours on a boat and lunch. The lunch was 1 burger. However the sun was out and we could go swimming, jump off the boat and drink beer so we didn't overly mind at the time.

Then in the evening it turned out that I'd drawn the bug bingo with 2 others so it came down to scissor paper stones play offs. It went like this, first challenger

Drew
Won
Won

Then the next

Won
Won

so $17 was mine.

Apart from that headed out with a few others and Matt to a pub for a cheap wings night.

Day 10: Kewlowna -> Vancouver

Quite an empty bus again today as most people stayed in Kewlowna. The only activity of today was sky diving, which at $200CAN was a bargain (thats around 90 pounds sterling). When I was signing my life away, the chap behind the desk asks where I'm from, England I say, where abouts he asks, Guildford. Do you know the Star Pub he says as I was manager there last year. Small world isn't it. Anyway got all suited up, had a very short lesson on what to do etc. Then I got weighed as they didn't understand stone and they were looking at me quite warily. 232 lbs I came out at, which was fine for my tandem instructor Igor. However I was warned to expect thigh pain! Still at least I was going to be first out the plane. We were all pretty crammed in and I was chatting to some guy going for his 540th or so jump, I think he was trying to freak me out, but it didn't work. Then the moment came at 9000 feet we freefalled for about 30 seconds and all this time the other chap who'd done 540 jumps was somersaulting in front of me and waving. Then the parachute opened and the pain in my thighs started. Still the scenery was amazing and I managed to get a couple of pictures of myself and Igor coming down (you were allowed to take cameras up with you which was nice) and the spot I was landing in. The landing was great, just came to a perfect stop. I'd definitely do it again but I'd probably lose some weight first as my thighs were bruised to high heaven. Then after a few other people had jumped we headed back to Vancouver. Anyway here are some pictures of myself and Crazy Igor (apologies if the last two are a little bad, it's quite hard to take pictures when you're descending and the straps are chafing!):

In the plane

Descending

Descending

Posted by Alexis at July 4, 2003 09:10 PM