Canada Tour. Hinton to Banff (Approx 370klm)

Up early and on the road by 0715, left Hinton behind and travelled back into Jasper National Park, for our drive to Banff, through the Banff National Park. We hadn't been on the road long, when we came across our first of many Caribou. We had a walk at the very pretty Athabasca falls, stopped for coffee at Sunwapta Falls.
Rivers running below or beside us, while mountain ranges and valley views were all around us, Ice Glaciers, kicking horse River, Mt Kerkesin 2956m, Samson Pk 3081m, Mt Fryatt 3361m, Mt Brazeau 3470m, Mt Alberta 3619m, Sunwapta Pk 3315m, Anthabasca Glacier (Columbia Icefield), Mt Columbia 3747m, Saskatchewan River Crossing.

We saw our first Black Bear, just before Athabasca Glacier, we pulled over at a look out and there he was eating berries on the side, at times he would disappear and we could hardly see him, yet he kept returning. He was large and pretty scary.

Caribou

This Caribou? had a baby behind the bushes.

Our first Black Bear.

Peaks.

Lots of trees & Peaks.

Bow River.

Athabasca Falls.

Athabasca Falls.

Steve.

Athabasca Falls.

A rainbow at the falls.

Steve at the upper falls.

Steve at a wigwam/Teepee.

More ranges.

Icing on the cake.

Nice.

Pretty.

Athabasca Glacier.

Look at the people walking on the Glacier.

Steve at the Columbian Icefield.

Me at the Columbian Icefield.

Hopefully everybody does what the sign says??

The river looks so small below.

Lake Louise.

Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise.

Lake Louise.

Steve with our hire car, heading down Kicking Horse Pass.

Canada Tour, Sun Peaks - Hinton. (Approx 530 klm drive)

Up and on the road by 0700. Saw Red squirrels, Cattle, Horses, Eagles, Mule Deer, mountain Goat and Elk.
A very scenic drive along the Thompson River, Fraser River, Cariboo Mountains. Stopped at Blue River for coffee & breakfast. Did our first fuel up, which was very interesting.  Snow tipped mountains all around us. Cariboo Mt, Mona Mt, Mt Terry Fox & Mt Robson. We did wonder how we would know which mountain was Mt Robson, as all the mountains and ranges were huge, however we knew when we saw it!
Fires are burning all around us, roads closed- just like living in Australia.
Mousse Lake is absolutely stunning and sooooooooo blue.
So many Christmas trees,in fact to many, they often block our view and none of them have fairy lights on them.
Logging trucks travelling every way. These truck are quite small compared to Oz trucks.

Jasper was very disappointing, it would certainly look better under a coating of snow. We drove on to our hotel at Hinton. The weird thing for us is, sunset isn't until 1138pm- so light.

Mt Robson- The highest point in the Canadian Rockies (3954m) 

Small fires burning.

Pretty.

The Thompson River.

Steve with his mates.

A small bridge.

Mt Robson.

The Grand Mt. Robson.

Me trying to part the bears

The Fraser River.

Nice.

Me with a friend in Jasper.

Steve in Jasper.

The Fraser River

A Peak (one of many).

More peaks

A blue/green lake- very pretty.

Next we had a full day to rest, relax and do some retail shopping, as good foot wear and clothing are so much cheaper here.

Canada Tour - Vancouver - Sun Peaks.(Approx 415 klm drive).

We departed Adelaide for a 4.5hour flight to Auckland with Air New Zealand. Auckland airport was very hectic.  We had a connection to Vancouver, which was a 13 hour flight. The flight was delayed by 45 minutes, due to an electrical problem. This flight would have be one of the roughest we have done. Very little sleep. Still we arrived safe, picked up our hire car. No signs to say which side of the road to drive on! lol and I kept trying to get in the driver's seat.
We made our way to the Empire Landmark in downtown Vancouver. Excellent location, very seventies hotel! We took a walk down to the harbour front and stopped for a beer and dinner.

Views across the harbour.

Fire Truck

A view from the Balcony.

A view across the city to mountains.

City Views.

The old house boats.

Up early for our trip to Sun Peaks, approximately 430 klm drive.  At this stage we had no map and got a little lost heading out of the city, eventually we were on the right road and pulled over at Chilliwack for breakfast and to buy a map book. We also crossed a toll bridge, which was lovely, unfortunately there was no where to pay, still we have 7 days to pay, Mmmmmmm if only we knew the name of the bridge?

Drove on to Kamloops, after looking at the scenery, the utes and the trailers. Arrived at Sun Peaks about 1400, to find our hotel Coast Sundance Lodge, which is fantastic along with this ski resort. Took a walk around town and enjoyed the sun shine along with our beers.  We saw whitetail deer, preary dogs, Eagles & Mule Deers.

The Toll Bridge.

Some Hills.

Our first glimpse of snow.

Very Pretty.

Nice.

Me in Sun Peaks.

Me.

Coast Sundance lodge.

The Ski slopes.

Steve & Dee! lol

Enjoying the sun & a beer.

The bridge to the golf course.

Steve amongst the flowers.

Anyone for golf?

White tail Deer.

White tail deer.

The chairs are big round here.

Totally loved this place!