On the way to Banff

Finally - on our way to the Rockies! We set out on the tour early enough so we could check out some exciting views on the way to the mountains. First stop was... a water fall! Bridal Veil Falls (which is apparently a popular name for waterfalls here so it isn't the last one we'll see) actually looked quite like a bride's veil surprisingly.

Alexandra's Bridge

Moving on we had lunch in Hope, which is apparently where Rambo was filmed (as if I care...) and then saw Alexandra's bridge, which was one of the first bridges of the area between the mountains. It was quite a long driving day, which wasn't made easier by the record heatwave temperatures, sporadic air conditioning and faulty CD player...

Bridal Veil Falls on the way to Banff

By the time we reached our night stop, Shuswap Lake, we were ready for a drink and something to eat. We ate in the pub attached to our hostel which turned out to be quite a dinky-die Canadian pub. We helped 'over-the-hill Cheryl' celebrate her 40th birthday and danced away to the pub band with the mixed crowd of mullets, saggy cleavages and dolled up young things hoping for a great night out in a small town. The highlight was when we were playing a drinking game which involved dares, and we were all up on our chairs doing the chicken dance. Instead of throwing us out like most bouncers would, these ones just walked over to us and calmly told us to 'Be Careful'!

Emerald Lake

The following day we continued our drive into Banff. At one point on the drive, Chris the busdriver suddenly said: 'Who wants to go go-carting?' so we all piled off the bus and had a few goes around the circuit! Lots of fun! We continued on and finally caught our first glimpse of the rockies. We arrived at our first glacier lake, Emerald Lake later that day and most of the boys decided to jump into the freezing cold water. Crazy... The view of the awesome green coloured lake was beautiful and paddling was quite enough for me! We finally arrived in Banff and decided to check out what this party time reputation was all about. After dinner and a few drinks at the hostel, we headed to the Pump and Tap, which is apparently a well known Moose Tour hangout. Quite a fun night, although I didn't really like the other club we went to - Insanely loud RnB with 18-year-old girls dressed in very little girating on podiums with boys trying to look up their skirts.

Go Carting!

Jumping into the freezing glacier Emerald Lake

Lunch at the Rogers Pass Centre

The pub in Shuswap Lake