Canada & the Rockies

ca-title.gif (7459 Byte)

[ Home ] [ Canada ] [ Australia ] [ André's Gallery ] [ Links ]

Canada
The tour
Day 1: Seattle to Kelowna via Vancouver
Day 2: Kelowna to Banff
Day 3: Banff
Day 4: Banff to Calgary
Day 5: Calgary
Day 6: Calgary to Jasper
Day 7: Jasper
Day 8: Jasper to Kamloops
Day 9: Kamloops to Vancouver
Day 10: Vancouver

Day 7 - 11

Day 7 was another fantastic day. We rent some mountain bikes and put them into the coach. Then we started off to Maligne Canyon and Maligne Lake. At Maligne Lake you have the choice of canoing, hiking, joining a cruise to Spirit Island or just relaxing. Some of us needed this rest as they were still recovering from the night before.

After lunch most of us got their mountain bikes out off the coach and started their tour back to Jasper. The coach started about 1 hour later, collecting those who gave up. The tour from Maligne Lake to Jasper is about 48 km and takes you to a beautiful mountain scenery. Most of the time you go downhill so the 48 km were not as bad as it may sounds now.

The following day we started off towards Kamploops. On this day we passed Mt. Robson - the highest point in the Canadian Rockies. We were very fortunate to see the top of the mountain which is normally covered with clouds. Before arriving in Kamploops we had option to do a white water rafting trip on the Thompson River. However, after doing this trip, I cannot recommend it. The river and the boat were too large. The water was terrible cold. I heard from several people who did rafting before that this trip was not the best one. So save your money for the other options which were really great.

Kamloops is not a very interesting place; there are no attractions to visit. However, you have the choice to play some golf if you like. Most of us played or at least tried to play baseball and American football. I guess the Americans in our group were shocked by us Europeans. I think I hit the ball once when we played baseball.

On the ninth day of our tour we returned to Vancouver. We stayed at the hotel Sandman Inn which is situated near the city centre. In the evening we went to the club "Roxy" (or "The Rockie" or something like that). There was a very good music band playing and we had great fun as you can see.

Party at the Roxy's

The club was so good, we returned the following evening.

The next day was free to check out the city. You can rent a bike and cycle through Stanley Park. This evening was the last night on the tour where everyone was together. We did a dinner cruise and celebrated our last night together.

Julie singing karaoke Good old Chris and the girls ;-)

The eleventh day was the day to say good-bye to those who continued to go to Seattle. As I mentioned before it is your choice where to start and end the tour - Seattle or Vancouver. After having so much fun it was a hard good-bye. The following days without the others were completely different and after spoken to others after returning home I found out that everyone felt like this.

I hope I have arouse your interest in visiting Canada and the Rockies - and of course, your interest in travelling not on your own but with people from all over the world. The people on this tour came from countries like Australia, Germany, Switzerland, England, Holland, New Zealand and the USA. We had a lot of fun and I am still in close contact with some of them.

group.jpg (8901 Byte)

If you like to know more about Contiki you may just follow this link to their homepage. They also offer tours through Europe, USA, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

It would be great if you give me your comments.

[ Top ] [ Back ]