Canada, that's a wrap!

So here it is, the final entry of my Canadian adventure. What can I say, it's been phenomenal. I'm writing this, at home in England now, sat with a cup of tea and a biscuit. Just as it should be. 

On the 14th of August, I headed over to Ontario to explore the area. Travelling with my partner in crime, Shel, I was to be based at her parents house near a town called Orangeville. Turns out it's a lovely suburban area in the sticks, rather similar to areas of Hampshire back home. Rolling hills, nice detached houses with a decent sized lawn, backing onto farmland with a similar climate and vegetation. All very pleasant really. 

So the first order of the trip was to sort out wedding attire for the pair of us, as one of Shel's best friends from high school was to get married on the 17th. Shel conveniently  was able to pick up a rather splendid outfit for circa $6, with shoes and jewellery provided by friends and family. I on the other hand, well I ended up having to splash out on a full outfit, from head to toe, costing close to $400. Typical. Not to mention, considering I was informed it should be colourful number as it was a summer wedding, that I was the only smartly dressed man there, looking like I'd just come from the races, to see most of the guests at the wedding all in casual wear with the wedding party in jeans, short sleeved shirts and baseball caps. Genuinely looked a knobber! 

Now I must say, I'm not slagging off the wedding or saying it wasn't done nicely. On the contrary, it was a gorgeous rural wedding set on the bride's family farm, with all the lovely old tractors polished up and on show. It was just that I was a little overdressed. 

Together we looked fine

On my own however.. somewhat questionable 

The wedding party ceremony. Note the baseball caps. Amazing!

After the wedding was done and dusted and the hangover cleared, Shel and I started planning on what I wanted to get out of the short time I had left in Canada. So I decided I wanted to see what the local area was like, with time spent up at her Grandparents place in the sticks, as well as booking in some trips to see Niagara Falls, Montreal and Toronto, respectfully. 

So below are a few of the wee excursions and adventures around Orangeville, a stunning area. Whilst I was staying at their I had also mentioned to Shel's father, Bruce, that if there were any jobs to do around the house then I'd be more than willing to do them as a form of payment for letting me stay at his house for free. A form of payment if you like. Well, before I knew it there was a chainsaw in my hand and I was tasked with removing a large spruce tree from his front garden and, driving the quad bike, moving the logs and branches to another site down the road. To be fair, I actually love this sort of thing and was really fun being set loose with a chainsaw. My months of landscaping coming in handy. This in combination with having to cut the lawn and water the garden was a pretty fair trade for all the beer I drank and food I ate. 

Taking in the Ontario views 

Front garden of Shel's house

Let loose on the chainsaw - my first job at the house

Whilst being at the house I should also mention the stunning sunsets we had. Well for those that aren't colour blind that is. Picture postcards, where we would go up onto the roof with a beer or two and watch the sun go down. (Note: as a safety professional, cleared to work at heights and following a Dynamic Risk Assessment, naturally, I deemed it safe to scramble up).

Beautiful sunsets

After this, was the first of the big tourist tick boxes to be completed... Niagara Falls!

Amazingly it was actually only a few hours down the road so it had to be done. So I booked a lovely hotel, Sheraton or something, and after politely asking to pinch the mother's car, we headed to Niagara to see what all the commotion is about. Yeah, it's pretty cool. 

On arrival at the hotel, whilst Shel was in the bathroom, I was asked by the receptionist if it was a special occasion. Naturally I said it was. A classic trick where hopefully they might upgrade you. Low and behold he did. An awesome room with a jacuzzi in the bedroom. Very fancy. So we headed  out to dinner and a little explore of the local area. All I can say is it's a little like Las Vegas, all the lights, casinos etc. 

We ended up finding a nice restaurant with local beer and had a lovely pizza followed by a few drinks at various bars ending up at one of the aforementioned casinos. With a max limit of $20, we went big. Now I'm not a gambling man, but I managed to make my money last almost 20 minutes. Shel only doing slightly better. It was fun but ultimately fruitless and quite sad to see people losing so much money all around us. The games had people hooked on them and thousands of dollars linked to special cards. These games where it's just potluck/ a computer algorithm that decides whether your going to get paid out or not. So we left after I cashed in my "winnings", a grand total of $5.50, that I cashed out before I lost everything, and headed for the hotel as the next day we had boat trips and all sorts to get through.

Bright lights of Niagara

Come the next day, I was keen to get going and get on one of the ferries that go up to the base of the falls. After a delightful fly past of the RAF Red Arrows display team, we managed to don our red plastic capes and cast off to get up close and personal with the waterfall. Whilst I'm not a big fan of the touristy things, this was absolutely incredible and I'm so pleased we did it.

The falls in all their glory 

Getting up close and personal/ very wet 

In between Niagara and all my other gallivanting, I should mention we spent a lot of time up at Shel's grandparents. A lovely elderly couple Tom and Joan with a beautiful property, with it's own little island/ peninsula of land up between a river and tributary. Here we spent time on Kayaks, floats and swimming in the warm water, catching crayfish. Sometimes we just chilled out with a book and a beer, sat on a camp chair with our feet in the river. Really lovely memories. 

River chills

Montreal

The next destination on my plan was to hit up Montreal. The culture capital by all accounts. Now I must say I was a little hesitant about going here as my previous interactions with French Canadians had been a mixed affair. One of my good friends during the ski season was a Frenchy and had been so chilled and lovely, whilst a guy I had worked with, didn't shut up about how much better French Canadian's, specifically Quebecers, were than everyone else. It was fine, up until he started slagging of the Queen, then I drew the line. So I was interested to see what Montreal had in stall. 

I wasn't disappointed. An absolutely stunning city filled with old buildings and alive with a rich, diverse history and unique culture. 

We took a free guided tour and the guide was brilliant. If you are ever in an unknown city look for one of these tour company's . Highly recommend it. Get to know so much in such a short period of time. Below are a couple of the pics from that day. 

Nelson’s Column - that's right, a solid two fingers up to the French

Me in front of the rather splendid Maisonneuve statue

Montreal's Notre Dame

After the tour I decided dinner just had to be in this stunning square just down from Nelson's Column. So later that evening, with musicians playing in the background, an expressionist painter just across the road and an elderly man walking around trying to flog nearly dead roses for extortionate prices, I thought, perfect. Couldn't get any more french (Canadian) than that. So we stopped for a lovely meal and drank expensive wine that we couldn't really afford. Perfect.

Cute French (Canadian) dinner

The next day we decided to tick off more of the touristy things... inside Notre Dame itself, venture over to the "gay village" that was showing the thousands of hanging balls, no pun intended, then walk to Schwartz's Deli for a Montreal smoked meat sandwich. Quite the walk it would all be, we finally got to do all three in what turned out to be a swelter of a day. So by the time I had looked inside the big old church, pic below, and arrived at Montreal's vibrant Gay Village, I was getting quite the sweat on, so casually I put my sweater over my shoulders, unknowingly fitting in a little too well and get eyed by many a man walking down said street. 

Inside Notre Dame - stunning stained glass windows dedicated to the Big Man

Enjoying the art work in the "Gay Village" of Montreal

After the rather amusing walk down the hanging Balls of Babylon, we headed to Schwartz's. I didn't know what to expect from this place. Always intrigued as to how good something is going to be when it's been hyped up so much, but by God this sandwich was good. Arguably the best "Manwich" I've ever eaten, it's literally a smoked cow in between two wafer thin slices of bread. Bit of mustard and a whole pickle to chomp on next to it. Washed down with Canadian Dry - I felt 100% ill afterwards but also very Canadian. Job done and ready to drive the 7 hours home to Orangeville.

MEAT!

Toronto 

Having finally recovered from the meat feast a few days prior, Shel and I decided to get Toronto ticked off my list before it got too late. 

So what is there to do in a day trip to Toronto, go big or go home, we bought the mega tourist combo ticket, including CN Tower, aquarium, zoo, castle, I mean there is a lot to do but not a lot of time, so for one day, we decided to go up a massive tower, and go under water, kind off.

As a bit of a geek I actually found a lot of enjoyment reading about how they made it, finding out that kids in the local schools were able to right their names in the antennae before it was put up, then to find out that Bruce, Shel's Dad had actually been one of those kids was pretty cool. Anyway, we went up, tried to see Toronto, which had some great views if you could squeeze past the tourists (yes I was one of them) to get a look in. At the top, there is also an area of reinforced glass you can stand on/ lay down on, and generally get vertigo from which was... um nice.

CN Tower ready 

On the glass floor many feet up with a very tight bottom

After this, it was time to head next door and go round the aquarium. It was a little directed at kids but not enough to detract from it being a great experience for adults as well. With a brilliant underwater tunnel that had a conveyor belt on it to give everyone an equally enjoyable experience and stops tourists from stopping for ages and trying to get that perfect shot. After this, there's also a few different stalls where you can actually touch some fish and grabs etc. So naturally we gave them a tickle. All in all a well worth trip.

Mid tunnel conveyor belt experience

Considering we ran out of time in Toronto and had to be somewhere in the evening, we decided to come back the next day for the zoo. By god did it take a full day to go round. Bloody thing is massive. Highlights for me are always the big cats, and a surprisingly chonky Polar bear that was enjoying snoozing in the sun. This thing was massive and ridiculously cute. Part of me just wanted to cuddle it when it was putting its dinner plate sized paws over its head, but then common sense prevailed, including the reinforced glass barrier. 

Toronto Zoo Pics

Toronto Zoo - completed it mate

This lil kitty was rolling around in the grass 

One chonky boy

After the zoo, we had a few days left before I had to disappear across the pond so decided to spend it back up on the Grandparents property. Here I helped finish off the island erosion and flood defence project we had started a week earlier, moving and drilling holes into the cedar logs, as well as putting stones into place in front and behind the wall. In between doing that, Bruce got out his "home defence' for me to have a go on. Remington 870 Tactical pump action shotgun. This thing kicked like a mule but was great fun to shoot. Apparently, if you hear a noise downstairs in the middle of the night, all you need to do is go out onto the landing and cock the shotgun.. there will be a visible trail of where burglar had decided to leave.

Island flood and erosion defence project

Remington pump action

All in all a great few days with Shelby's family, who I have grown very fond of. Hopefully it won't be too long before I go back and see them all again. And it definitely has nothing to do with the amazing bakery down the road from their house.. oh those butter tarts!

After spending my last few days in Canada up at the grandparents house, and on the eve of my departure, Shel and I had a nice wonder down to the river near their home. Taking a few beers, a book and a speaker, we read to each other, drank the beers and had a bit of a boogy on the old bridge as the sun went down. A perfect way to finish off my travels. Hopefully it won't be too long before I see her again. My Canadian experience wouldn't have been what it was without this one. A truly lovely girl, slightly mental at times, but someone that I'm grateful to call my girlfriend. So until either of us has the money to visit the other - it's back to Blighty and back to reality. Canada, that's a wrap!

My last Canadian evening down by the river.

Times flown by - Slush Cup, Hikes, Horses and road trips - Summer Time Madness

In the last blog I left it just before I attended the "Slush Cup", one massive party on the slopes of Sunshine Village Ski Resort to officially close the ski season. I'll get on to that in a bit but I thought I would say I'm not actually in Banff anymore. Yep, and I'm kind of enjoying the change. Also It's more than likely that this update is probably the penultimate blog before I finish my adventures in Canada, sad times I know, well for me that is, maybe not my bank manager. 

So where am I? Well a lot has happened in the last few months and amazingly I find myself in a lovely suburban house near Orangeville, Ontario. Yep, I've gone East, and there are still plenty of adventures to have before I go home to Blighty, more floats, exploring Toronto as well as seeing a very large waterfall (Niagara).  

So what have I been up to? Well if you're bored and want to know (Mum) then grab a cup of tea and settle in for one of my "short" recaps. 

I'll start with the end of my first and probably last ski season.. on Slush Cup Day. The key apparently at this event was to dress up in the most garish clothing you could find and party - slush cup the event sees contestants go down a slope and ski/ snowboard over a swimming pool cut into the hill. The winner being he or she who completed it with the most style. If you were feeling brave, which I was, you did few runs before going to the event/ drinking. See below my clothing choice. Everyone partied and then comically tried to ski down at 5pm before continuing into town. But yes, for me this was quite a sad day as this meant the first part of my Canadian adventure would be over. My early mid-life crisis nearly complete. 

Questionable clothing choices were the name of the game.

Then all of a sudden I found summer had arrived. With my original idea of shipping my mountain bike over and getting a van to be a biker bum for a few months, quite how I originally thought I would afford this I'm not sure, and needless to say I couldn't so I stayed and worked in Banff. As already stated the landscaping job at Guenthers was turning out to be pretty good with bottles of beer and homemade cookies for tips. Those waitresses had nothing on me (accept upwards of $150 a night tips, and I, a headache and a belly).

So with my weekends becoming my only days off I realised I had to make the most of it. I can officially say I have floated. This seems an integral part of the Canadian culture, where one gets an inflatable, goes to a lake or river and literally gets hammered whilst floating down/ around. Really quite fun especially with the views the Rockies have to offer.

My first float!

Dad bod on point

On top of this, I've enjoyed chilling out in the various parks around Banff, reading and hanging (literally in a hammock), there's been the tandem bicycle ride (I'll never do that again) as well as going on some serious hikes and climbs.

Afternoon relaxation in the park. Wine, Strawbs and a decent book.

The ill fated tandem ride where Shelbs and I decided to hire a tandem bike and cycle to Canmore and back. Literally thought it was just down the road, turns out to be an absolute mission. It was only on the way back that I found out it was only me pedalling. No wonder I was completely buggered. Still a cracking day and hilarious playing 70s and 80s music from a loud spoeaker whilst cruising along. Much to everyone else's delight.

Tandem.. never again

On the ride back we did stop for a break and incredibly it also happened to be beside a huge beaver dam. Incredible feats of engineering from a little critter.

My first Beaver Dam

As for the notable hikes, this is kind of what I have been planning a lot of my spare time around.  JB, Anthony and I had a lovely leisurely jaunt up Lake Louise, seeing the ski slope devoid of snow actually saddened me slightly considering I had some of my best experiences coming down that hill. However, the walk/ hike and the views were incredible. However, completing the local "must do's".. e.i Cascade and Rundle. My goodness were these on another level to what I'm used to. Mt. Rundle especially. I described it more of a "scramble" than a hike. Where I genuinely used my climbing axe to stop me from sliding over the edge of the precarious ridge to get up. With sheer drop cliffs on either side. Truly breathtaking. This is by far my greatest Banff achievement if not in my life time, climbing wise, and I'm pleased I could have done it with my good friend JB.  

Drinking from this glacial meltwater was delightful

Summiting Mt. Rundle, one of my greatest achievements

My first road trip was fun, hiring a big Ol' V8 pickup and driving to Jasper with the gang. High lights were walking on glaciers and seeing bears. Not to mention hiking up to see Peyto Lake as the sun was just setting. Truly memorable moments. 

This little cutie walked with us along the road then crossed just in front 

Peyto Lake at sunset

I nearly forgot as well, if I wasn't exploring on foot, I did find time on hoof(s). My trusted steed for the day was named AJ, or something like that, well I called him Treacle. My awesome housemate Haana managing to slot me in for a trot and a steak, this literally was the best steak I've ever tasted, and followed by being taught how to lasso. As for Treacle, by god he was a naughty horse but i loved every minute of it. 

Treacle the little bugger

So for the last few weeks I've not been in Banff at all. Said goodbye to Guenther's landscaping, a great job and lovely way to spend the summer whilst enabling me to stay in Banff. But there were plans afoot. 

ROAD TRIP!! And this time, one with wild camping and adventures across BC. 

On the first of August, I picked up the car to which I'd be driving for the next two weeks... yep they upgraded me to a 300BHP Dodge Charger GT. Bloody hell did this go like shit off a shovel. The plan would be to pack for a two week camping trip and to try to not pay for campsites as frustratingly I found out that many had been pre-booked months in advanced. Head west and explore British Columbia. 

The beast at our first stop, where the Trans Canada rail line met in the middle

Our first port of call was Kelowna, with a few pit stops on the way. Here we explored the town/city, did a little wine tasting, chilled in the Japanese garden and walked along the lakefront before trying to find a decent free camp spot out of town. 

On the second day we headed up to Myra canyon and walked along the old railway line. A beautiful walk through vast tunnels and over multiple wooden trestles that enabled the old steam locomotives to circumnavigate the area. 

Japanese Garden!

Big old tunnel for the trains

The newly refurbished wooden trestles following a wildfire a few years back

After this we drove further west in the direction of Vancouver stopping off at a beautiful lake for the evening. For the two weeks we were using a website that shows the free camp spots in Canada. Over the two weeks we ended up driving down quite a lot of logging roads, through fords and some proper off roading, testing my driving skills to the limit in a car that had a ground clearance of about 6 inches. Needless to say though we found some amazing places to stay.

The dirt roads to our second camping site

Camped right on the shore of this lake

So Vancouver. Hilariously we inadvertently arrived on Gay Pride weekend. I had no idea what was going on but I was pleased I'd packed my crotchless chaps. But seriously, a very fun, party atmosphere welcomed us in the city which was cool and watched an air display over the water whilst eating dinner. Even managed to go to my first Drag show later that evening. My god some of these women were convincing. I still find myself wondering from time to time where they fit it all... 

Some interesting clothing choices

That night we drove out to Mount Seymour the local ski resort to camp for the night. Absolutely stunning area where we once again slept in the car as mid putting the tent up Shelbs thought she heard a bear and we both pegged it back to the car. Turns out it was just a very noisy dear but heyho. We were ready to go the next day to the Campilo Suspension Bridge. This, everyone had mentioned we do this whilst there. 

Turns out the bridge and associated tourist attraction was actually amazing. So yes, it's a bridge but the history, why it was constructed and the tree top walk in the rainforest and cliff walk were both interesting and exciting. Well I loved it. Shelby questioned the structural integrity of the bridge when a stoppage in the flow of tourists led to it being completely full of a group of rather large oriental people. Needless to say we survived but the panic in her face did make me chuckle.

Mid tourist attraction before the stoppage

Living with the Ewoks - tree top houses

After this we headed up to Squamish for the day before going over to Vancouver Island. Stopping at some great sites on the way. Notably the beautiful waterfall we came across, I mean we tried to stop off and see as many local attractions as we could and I think some were by luck some of the best highlights. The giant cedar trees just blew my mind. I genuinely couldn't get over the size and age of these majestic things. Thousands of years old. Incredible!

Mega waterfalls aplenty but everyone still breathtaking

Giant Cedars

Now whilst these are insane, let's be honest, Vancouver Island was what I really wanted to explore. There's such a hype around it. You have to see it.. so that was the plan. After the ridiculously late ferry across we arrived on the island at 0040 and needed to get our heads down so we parked up in yep, a Walmart carpark. Classy! Sleeping in the car was always a back up plan but it turned out we had to do in three times during the two weeks. Not ideal and not comfortable but sometimes there were no places for us to stay/ camp. Anyway, on the first morning on the island we drove straight to Tofino and found our place we would camp for a few nights.. yep, a hippie commune. Just a very weird place but the only location in Tofino that was available for campers. So I've now learned about planting various seeds and beans in gardens by a guy calling himself "Tree" who I'm fairly sure was tripping on acid. All very peculiar. But this was the base to do the three things I wanted to do whilst there. Firstly hike to the crashed bomber, to which they have now sadly closed off the trail due to construction work so it was prohibited by the park rangers. Bit of a bummer. 

So the other things.. surfing, a must, and whale watching. The latter two I was able to do. And by god were they both amazing. 

Surfing - Tofino is Canada's surfing Capital and I'm not going to lie, for a place that markets itself as this, it's not really set up for it but I strapped a hired board onto the roof and off I went. Kawabunga!! That's one for the Aussies. 

Fun times surfing - standing up on my first wave 🌊- not bad

After this, whale watching. Possibly the best hundred bucks I've ever spent. Hump backs splashing around with their flutes on fleek. Grey whales surface eating, sea otters chilling, sea lions snoozing and dolphins to boot. A fantastic day out on the water.

Survival suit and flip flops, whale watch ready!

Humpback whale doing a sploosh

Loved sharing the road trip madness with this one 

Sea otters just look like floating teddy bears 🧸 

After Tofino, we headed north to Whistler for the first day of Crankworx Mountain bike festival which was just awesome. Sadly, and it literally hurts me but I didn't ride the actual MTB track. Whilst my original plan was to basically set myself up here for the summer, I couldn't bring myself on the tight schedule and potential for injury on the road trip as I was the only designated driver. So for the day we watched and got very drunk.. then I had to not drink for many hours after this inadvertent realisation, or at least until we could leave. Still a great day and I'm pleased I got to see it. 

At the base of the uplift

Jealous of the guys riding

Moving east after Whistler we took the back country roads through Lillooet, which were stunning  switch back roads, where we randomly met up with friends from Banff at a campsite going swimming in the lake. Then the next day it was through Kamloops back to Banff, stopping off at Revelstoke overnight (as a must). On the way back we stopped off at the Enchanted Forest, a super creepy 50 yr old forest full of handcrafted concrete figures from children's tales. All the houses, like the three pigs, old lady who lived in a shoes, you name it, if there was a house you could actually go in them if you fit, but it was weird. 

No idea what these ducks were about

Getting involved with the houses that even had little beds in them,

Creepy mermaids

Anyway, I think that was about it, we needed to get back to Banff. Sell the camping stuff and get to Calgary for an early flight, and I think, if you're still reading this, this blog update should have firstly been updated two months back, and secondly split into two. Big shout out to Denise, my friend Chris' partner in Calgary that hosted us that night. Always lovely to see these guys and I'll definitely miss them.

The next update will be what I've been up to on the East side of Canada. 

Cheers,

Ali