Hello Again

So it's been a while since I've updated this. While staying in Neerlandia I had very limited access to internet so I couldn't really put in any updates the past 2 weeks. 

We had a really great time over those weeks. Spending time with friends, making new ones and hanging out with Merinda and Ben's families. 

We were busy doing lots of last minute wedding decorations, seating arrangements, drinking tea and finalising other necessary details. I was put to working using my creativity in making bows and signs and all little things that still needed to be done

We also made numerous trips into Edmonton (a 1 1/2 hr drive) picking up others, going shopping and hanging out in the west edmonton mall. The mall isn't just a shopping centre, it also has a indoor amusement park, a big water park, mini golf, a skating rink and other fascinating attractions beside all the shops.

We also spent a day all together at the water park, swimming in the man made waves and trying out all the different slides.

It was a great 2 weeks. We even got a big dump of snow while there and it was nice and sticky which was great for making snowmen and having snow ball fights (as it wasn't too cold)

The wedding also was wonderful. We had a wonderful time in the day and the reception was great too. 

Now I'm staying with the Vane family again before starting the long trip home tomorrow morning. 

See all of you soon xxx

   

New friends, mattress sliding and wet socks

Although my stay in Jasper was short it was beautiful. Jasper is like the little, less touristy, sister of Banff. The mountains here are just as beautiful and their is more snow around. 

As I mentioned in a previous post, the hostel I stayed in has only big dorm rooms which isn't so great if you want your privacy or if someone else snores but it is really great to make new friends. I made friends with someone with a car eh I made life so much easier :-)

The hostel has someone who works there who likes crafty things and flow charts.... This is what they had on hiking.

Yesterday I tagged along with 2 girls from Germany, with a car. We went for a drive to a lake near the town and then went for a beautiful walk through the snow with amazing views of the mountains and the town of Jasper. 

Apart from me being told off for using the word sorry too much, it was a really great day :-) Unfortunately, hiking shoes which are bought in Australia are not designed to walk through the snow for 3+ hours, so even if they say that they are waterproof they will not hold out that much moisture. That's right,  by the end of our walk, my feet and socks and shoes were all kinda wet.

For the rest of the day we found a nice coffee place in town, refuelled our bodies (and minds by the inspiring quotes on the bathroom walls) and then drove up another mountain for a splendid view over Jasper town.

After dinner and once it was dark, I went out with a group of other girls from the same dorm room and we went mattress sliding down the mountain side. The hostel has left out 2 vinyl cover mattresses at the bottom of a slope behind where the hostel is. We managed to drag them up and then sat on them for the thrilling ride down. It was so much fun and we got snow everywhere, what made it more fun I'm sure, is that we did it in the dark.

Someone had a waterproof camera so there should be pics coming up sometime soon.

that's all for now xxx

The beautiful drive to Jasper

Today I took the bus along the ice fields parkway from Banff to Jasper. Needless to say the view along the way was gorgeous. I tried to take a few pics of the view but they don't begin to do it any justice

 

Really, it was breathtaking.

Now I am checked in to a hostel with an incredibly large selection of Germans and one French guy. Everyone is very friendly and happy and the dorm rooms have so many beds in them that they remind me of school camps and no sleep. Hopefully I will be sleeping tonight :-)

xx 

Another day soaking the glory of God's creation

God has created so many wonderful, beautiful things. Today I was once again blessed to spend time soaking up the glory and beauty that can be found in the a Rockies.

I went for another walk and enjoyed lunch overlooking the Bow River, absolutely amazing.

Wow, just WOW

Today I trekked up the side of one of the mountains here. It was a bit of a steep hike and reminded me once again how unfit I am but the view was most definitely worth it.

The rest of the pics taken were on my camera but it was amazing!

Happy and ready for rest

I woke up this morning with a headache so apart from travelling back to Banff not much really happened. 

After checking out of the cute little B&B I was staying at I wandered a few streets over to the Greyhound bus station, got my luggage tags and sat down to wait for the bus. I had a few hours by it cost $5 for a locker to put my suitcase in and I didn't really feel up to doing much. So instead I say and read one of the many books stocked on my kindle. 12 years a slave is a great book, or at least has been so far. It's very intriguing and thought provoking.

Apart from having to turn around 10minuites into our journey as a transmission warning light went on in the bus, the trip back to Banff was unecentf and the scenery was stunning.

I made the trek up to the hostel which was nice after sitting on the bus for a while but not that great as I made the stupid choice to lug my case up stairs. When I went to check in I had the pleasant suprise that I had been upgraded to a private room :-) 

At the moment it looks as if I'll be staying in Banff longer than I planned. I hoped to go to Jasper tomorrow but can't seem to get a bus going until Wednesday or Thursday. Still I most definitely didn't exhaust my options of things to do here. I'll have to go past the information centre abd get some good information of the hikes around here :-)

xxx Camille

Comfortable in Calgary

In It's a funny sort of nervousness when you  are expecting to be picked up for something by a person that you have never met before. That was me this morning waiting to be picked up for church. 

Yesterday I took the bus from Banff to Calgary, a 1 1/2 hour ride and tomorrow I'll be doing the same ride in reverse. I did this so that I could spend Sunday at church and with others in a 'Sunday like' manner. I was picked up this morning by a family from the Calgary church and spent the day with them and some of their friends. Earlier, I had contacted someone from the canrc of Calgary via their website and they had organised a ride for me, so I really didn't know what to expect. Fortunately I had a wonderful day.

In Calgary the sun is beginning to shine again after their long cold winter and there is a lot of snow beginning to turn into mush. Still it's a nice city and I'm staying in a cute little B&B called 11th St Lodging, near the main downtown strip. 

It's weird but nice having your own room and everything being cleaned up while you're out for the day.... Much different than the hostels I've been staying in :-) 

Tomorrow the plan is to clean up and catch the bus back to Banff. I stay there one more night before heading higher up in the mountains to Jasper. It should be good.

xxx Camille

My first snowshoe experience

Today I joined a tour group run by Discover Banff. I was picked up from the hostel this morning and we spent the day out at the beautiful location of Lake Louise.

Our tour guide, Anik took us out via the scenic route and gave a nice history of the region and helped us spot out some of the local wildlife (unfortunately those pics are all on my camera and not on my phone).

We made a few stops before we made it to the Chateau Lake Louise. It is a super fancy hotel but we managed to find a deli which served food at a bit more reasonable price before donning snowshoes (the first time to do that for me) and going for a bit of a walk up to a lookout which looked down over the frozen lake and hotel. It was a bit of a hike up the mountain but definitely worth it.

I still can't get over how much snow there was around. The only other time I have really seen snow was skiing in grade 12 and there we didn't even have close to a 1/6th of the amount of snow piled up around here.

It snowed quite a bit waking up to the lookout, in the above pic you can still see the snow falling on the mountain behind the hotel.

  From there I wandered around the lake a bit, soaked up the scenery and admired the (melted) ice castle they have had here since December.

It was a great day :-) snow is so beautiful.

xx Camille

Safely in the Rockies

This morning I was welcomed to the beautiful location of the Rockies with the sight of snow drifting down. Waking up to that sight, even if it is out of a bus window and you haven't had all that much sleep, is wonderful. 

I had the opportunity to explore Banff town a bit dragging my suitcase behibd me, particularly because I was so disoriented that I went the absolute wrong direction and walked around in a complete circle before heading in the right direction up the hill to the hostel. Once I got rid of my belongings I ventured on a more thorough exploration of the town. 

It really is beautiful here. The sun came out later in the morning and everything warmed up a bit. I (hopefully) managed to take some great pics on my camera which are a bit note of an accurate representation of the splendour of Gods creation in this place.

Banana Chips and Buses

As I write this I am on the overnight bus headed toward Banff and eating banana chips. I don't have any internet connection right now but something I do have is time, so the plan is to post this once I do have a connection. Possibly at one of the bus stops along the way.

The last few days in Vancouver have been beautiful and sunny (unlike my weekend when I first arrived). I have seen a bit of this magnificent city and today I even managed to visit the art gallery here. Because what is it for me to travel without seeing some sort of art.

One of the exhibitions on at the moment was ab exhibition of the artwork of Lawren Harris. He was a Canadian artist who played an influential role in the development of the art in this country.

It was very interesting and inspiring to see the progression of the artists work and very interesting to see and learn how he worked at adding a spiritual element into his artwork via the use of colours, light and paintlines.

I was inspired.

Now hopefully I get a decent sleep on this bus :-)

xx Camille

Vancouver City

I had the chance to see a bit of Vancouver City today. It was nice and sunny, AND I didn't even have to wear my jacket. 

Vancouver is a beautiful waterfront city set in front of a magnificent backdrop of  snow tipped mountains. 

I spent most of the day exploring the city via the sky train and my wonderful two feet. Wandering around soaking in the sights and smelling the cherry blossoms. Seriously, those beautiful cherry blossoms are everywhere. 

It was a nice day.

Ps. Sorry about the poor photo quality. There are better ones on my camera. You just have to wait to see them.

Another day of beautiful weather

When the food being cooked in the hostel kitchen has a smell remniscient of the food served in aged care facilities it's slightly disturbing. Fortunately that is not what I'm eating, as another of the guests in the hostel has cooked up that smell. My dinner was a reasonably impressive Thai takeaway dish.

Today was another beautiful day in Vancouver. I spent it doing a lot of waking. 

After wandering around town, finding some coffee and going past the bus station, I took a bus up to Capilano gorge, a beautiful location partway up Grouse Mountain.

I ventured across the suspension bridge, wandered in and out of the trees of the rainforest and trekked along pathways off the edge of the gorge. It was a beautiful place.

Travelling on your own teaches you how to take good selfies (if you didn't know how to already) I must say I am learning lots :-)

Just incase i hadn't done enough walking yet. I got off the bus in Stanley park, a section of parkland similar to kings park back in Perth and wandered along the waters edge for a short while there. It was enjoyable especially because they have a good system of separate pathways so that I didn't get run over by someone cycling or rollerblading.

xxx Camille 

So I was gonna write something over the weekend....

And then I didn't.

 I even started right after I posted my other post while I was in transit, but as you can clearly see that didn't really happen.

After arriving on Friday morning I spent the weekend with the Vane family, tried to sleep off this horrible thing called jetlag, met lots of new people at church and then later on in the evening and even caught up with a few fellow Aussies.

Essentially that was the extent of my adventures for the weekend. It was great to have the opportunity to relax and recuperate before continuing my travels.

xxx Camille

Neither here nor there,

You know the airport'a big when you take a train to get from the check in gates to the departure lounges. Welcome to Beiing airport. Big, spacious and empty when you're there in the middle of the night. 

Our flight from Melbourne to Beijing was first redirected via Changhai for a 60ish min maintenance stop where everyone was required to hop off and go through immigration if we were staying in the county or now. So now, I have the entry and exit visa stamps for China without being in the country for more than a grabs total 16hours.

It all was an experience and an adventure.  Once making it out of customs I found some tea near the check in point, relaxed and was refreshed before taking the adventure to find the international departure gates. By train. As I said, it's a big airport. 

So since then, I've gone back through border security, found some place to sleep for a few bourse, stretched my stuff body, written this and have been for a walk. One thing with a big airport and lots of time is that you can go exploring.

Xx

Ps. I haven't been able to get a reliable internet connection. This  be posted once something is found.

All ready to go?

Here I am, on the doorstep of another adventure. Packed, forms for my new job finalised and a new house to come home to...

Or so I thought, until I saw my pjs still sitting on my bedroom floor and remembered that my kindle charger was being used to charge Cinda's phone.

I think I have everything now (think being the operative word there).

Only a bit more than 4 hours until the wheels of my first flight lift up off the Tarmac. I have been incredibly blessed so far with so many travel opportunities and am thankful for what is ahead of me now.

xxx

Another Adventure

You may or may not already know that I am planning another adventure. This time it will be taking me to the cold, icy country of Canada.

My best friend is getting married at the end of April, so my plan is to fly over to this beautiful country and make my way to where she lives over the course of 2 weeks. Then once I am there I can spend time with her, fulfil a few of my bridesmaidly duties and be there for the wedding. It's all very exciting. I am completely unprepared and my flight leaves Australia in 4 days time…

I am excited, just not excited about the prospect of freezing. The weather here in Australia is so beautiful and warm.

xx