Banff, Saskatoon and Emma Lake

It would seem that there is a city missing from every Australian map. Perhaps that would be better phrased as “every map of Australia”. Apparently Banff, Alberta, Canada is also a city in Australia. “What?” you say, well it’s like this; after the magic of Lake Louise and the Banff national park, we left early in the morning for Banff. Upon arriving at our hostel, we were… well, I want to say greeted, but that’s not really the case. We were tolerated by the front desk attendant, who was gracious enough to inform us that check-in was not until 3pm (It was 8:30am). We could put our bags in their storage locker. Sorry, by storage locker I mean trash pile behind a broken fence. I wouldn’t have been so offended if it weren’t for the slack mouthed Australian chick pouting so much about doing her job. Ok, fine. It was fine. I calmed down after a bacon and egg McMuffin. It then became apparent that the people who weren’t speaking Australian (yes, that’s Australian) were the tourists, all the people who were speaking Uztray-yun were in fact the locals. The scenery was pretty and we did manage to meet some people who weren’t from Australia, but overall I have to say that I was disappointed with Banff. Certainly not a patch on Lake Louise. I think the skiing and snow boarding is the big thing there, so seeing as we were there during the cross-over between snow and sun, we were probably a bit unlucky with the weather. Not to worry though, we managed to hike a bit too! Sarah was leading me out of town when we came to what looked like a walking track. “Let's see what's down there" said Sarah "Ok" said Tom. So we wandered down this track. I couldn't help but feel like I was being led down the garden path. I can confirm that bears do indeed sh*t in the woods. We didn't catch Yogi pinching one off or anything, but we did find what appeared to be bear poo. It might not have been, but it was fun to say that it was. We did manage to see a deer, but it was scared of Sarah so it ran away. Fair enough really. hehehehee. Only joking. So after a hike up Tunnel Mountain and a few more snap shots, we headed back to the hostel, checked our email and headed for Saskatoon! Only a 15 hour bus ride, pretty short by our standards really.

Rockin' out with Stu

When people told us that Saskatchewan, which is the province that my mate Stu lives in, was flat, I sorta went "yeah yeah, course it is, whatever". Now I realise why they felt it necessary to mention. I don't think we actually made a turn between when we crossed from Alberta to Saskatchewan until we were about 10kms from the bus depot. Stu arrived at 05:30 to pick us up, sporting an Australian flag and chanting Aussie Aussie Aussie! We were most impressed! So not have seen Stu for a couple of years we had to do all of the mandatory catching up and general banter. I'm sure that Sarah was bored out of her mind, not having been present for most of the stories we were reciting. Excellent to catch up. No sooner had we arrived though and we were on our way again with Stu, Amanada and Andrew, Amanda's son.

You know we need a lot of stuff

We need quite a lot of stuff for four days away, and we made sure that we jammed everything into Stu's VW Jetta. Nice little car that one. So the two hour-ish ride to Emma lake was FLAT. I mean not one hill on the way. Sure, over say 20kms we might have gone up or down a foot or two, but really, it is that flat. Upon arriving at Stu's cabin, Stu entertained all of us by squealing when he went into the cabin to clean out the spiders. We were most impressed with his show of courage and stoic resolve to rid the cabin of cobwebs. You'd think with all the travelling that we'd be pretty well relaxed by now. It turns out we weer able to get even more relaxed by spending a few days at the cabin. The most active thing we did was probably canoeing, but it was with a difference. We were towing a dingy behind us with Andrew and Amanda in it for a bit, then we were towin Stu, then they got to tow me! Sounds pretty fair really.

Don't get any ideas Sarah

One of the higlights for me about Emma lake was the opportunity to buy fireworks! Not a brilliant idea after a few cans of lager, no, but we bought a "Dragon's Egg" and set it off. We were completely sober anyways, so it didn't matter. You can tell we hadn't been drinking because the video of the rocket going up has my not drunk maniacal laugh in the background when the rocket goes off! Sweet!

The dock at Emma Lake

After our four days at the lake it was time ot come home. Stu had to go back to work in Saskatoon. Poor bugger. Hat off to him for not calling in sick though, I know I'd be tempted. Especially if there were a few drinks in it for me. We've basically been sitting around and updating blogs/photos/emails for the past day now. Stu has brilliantly let us hog his internet connection, so we're pretty stoked. Next stop is a place called THUNDER bay. Hoping to see some THUNDER there. Then it's Toronto. WOOWOOO!

Hope all are well.

Tom

written by

haveyouseenmypassport on June 13, 2007 from Prince Albert, Canada

from the travel blog: To infinity!.. and... beyond... uh.....

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"my drunk maniacal laugh"

hahaha.. i think i know the one. similar to what i was hearing when i exposed myself on epsom rd.?

or when i spat beer on your at bree's b'day? No, sorry... i forgot... you cried like a girl then.

More than anything else, i'd just like to leave a comment here to prove that i do love you, care for you, and actually read this from time to time ;-)

Talk soon mate.

written by Benny Fuckin Carland on June 14, 2007

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