Rockies for real

Wednesday 4th
It is after dinner and I am settling down for the night, but want to record our day today. BUT as usual I will mention our last day in Calgary first.  We did the Calgary Tower fairly early in the morning, before the haze (or any rain) set in.  Had great views all the way to the Rockies on one side and then out to the endless prairies to the east.  Because of all the high rise buildings, one could not describe the view as "awesome", but it was still worth the visit.

Because we now know the city so well, we wandered down to the water & then back to the Devonian Gardens on the 4th floor off the mall.  We established that the pianist we saw yesterday was just a random player, as the piano is a public asset and anyone can perform anything whenever!  The gardeners were in full activity pruning the shrubs with nail scissors - I jest, but at the speed of what they were doing, this would be a job for life.  After lunch we ventured into the Skyway and by miracles  actually made it back to our hotel on the first attempt.  Packing was the order of the day when we got to our room.

OK, so this morning we boarded our coach for day 1 of our travel package.  There are only 18 of us, 2 other Kiwis, 4 Aussies and the rest UK - No Americans.  We travel west towards Banff and stop about halfway there for our 12 minute helicopter ride.  It was both short and although it gave a good overview of the eastern side of part of the Rockies range, it was not as impressive as the flight we did at Mt Cook 20 odd years ago.  It was interesting how much the snow had melted since we flew in on Saturday and it was possibly the lack of snow which partially detracted from the experience.  We were in a 6 seated helicopter, so all in all we were there for about an hour.  All the surrounding land is owned by First Nations people (think that our driver was one as he was insistent that Indians came from India!).  Anyway, they had a Casino on site as well but he said that they were getting smarter and just owned the Casino and had someone else operating it.

Onwards and around a lovely lake (so many that I have forgotten the name) where apart from the beauty we saw horned sheep & Elks.  Later we saw a couple of deer a well.  In fact we saw 3, the last one was running up the main street of Banff as we were eating dinner.  No, venison was not on the menu.  By middayish we reached Banff and had lunch.  It is a little expensive here. A sandwiching was $7.95.  One good thing was that they were very nice and a simple sandwich  is something we have been missing over the last week.  After lunch it was backwards & forwards through town and out to the Falls and back to town & back out over the same route to the first hotel site and back again.  OK, not a great fan of city tours.  However we eventually got out of town and up to Sulphur Mountain and the Banff Gondola.  We went up 700m and I am pleased I grabbed my jacket when we're got off the bus as we were well above the remaining snowline.  Mighty views of all the surrounding mountains.

We went both up and back (by coincidence) with a couple from Northern Ireland.  After this expedition, it was back to Banff and our hotel, which is more than adequate, but not quite the suite experience of Calgary.  We are about a kilometre from town, so decided to walk in to get some photos, as we hadn't before as we'd assumed that our hotel would be in the centre.  Just shows that you shouldn't assume anything.  Wandering back we found that the town was suddenly crowded with many buses arriving and perhaps thousands of tourists, mainly Asian walking into town.  Certainly much busiest than it had been at lunchtime or when wee walked in.

Dinner was in the hotel and thankfully there is a Keg Steakhouse in house.  This is a chain and we had one just down from our hotel in Calgary, so we knew that price was reasonable & quality good.  Just a little note though, a tourist town adds an extra dollar or two!!!  Vivian had commented as we came into the restaurant that we'd been to the one in Calgary, so they ran around and got us a window table.  Lovely. 

There were an Asian couple sitting adjacent and it wasn't until the end of the meal when I made a comment about the Australian flag flying and no NZ one, when they said that they had lived in Christchurch for 10 years, but had now returned to Singapore.  Just surprising who you meet.  They have just about finished their tour and are on a Princess cruise on Saturday.   Everyone, both on our tour and just generally are very friendly and enjoying the experience.  We look forward to tomorrow & Lake Louise.  We will have a different driver tomorrow, as the whole Rockies thing is so segmented and people do their own mix & mingle.  Today's driver was surprised that we were all doing the same complete tour.  Who knows, tomorrow our little band of travellers may increase.  Oh, forgot to mention that at the top of the Gondola we also saw a very tame/hungry Squirrel.  Vivian is still holding out for bears, although she is certain she saw one just after the Elks.  No photo: It didn't happen I say.  Tomorrow is another adventure.

In the air

Up high

Horny sheep

Elk grazing

Down to Banff

Top of the gondola, by the NZ emblem, showing the way home!