my travels in pixels

We took the ferry across from Tswwassen to Swartz Bay on Vancouver Island and then the bus down to Victoria. We got to the ferry 25 minutes early and the tickets for our boat ran out 5 minutes later! The ferry takes 90 minutes, then 30 minutes waiting for the bus and over an hour to get to Victoria. We didn’t realise it would take that long and nearly missed the whale watching trip we had booked for 12:15. We just had enough time to grab an ice-cream on the wharf for lunch before joining the queue to board the jet boat. I don’t know what we quite expected from this trip but it wasn’t very exciting and we wouldn’t do it again. None of the whales breached, so it’s a bit like watching grass grow, although the boat ride was very enjoyable. The weather was just perfect for eating outdoors, so we found a nice restaurant with seating outside and had a lovely meal and a few drinks before embarking on the long-winded trip back home. whoever sits at the top of the rocks is the "boss...

Blind Bay, BC, Canada Running around, getting up early and photographing animals gets a bit tiring. Guy was going to his cabin with Ann (Karl's wife) and the kids, at Blind Bay in BC and invited us along; it turns out that some R&R with friends was just what we needed. They have a little fisherman’s cottage right on the lake, one of a small group so you really need to get on well with your neighbours, which fortunately they do! Everyone turns up for a chat and a drink or you catch up with them. There was a lot of relaxing to be had and only a little bit of sightseeing. We of course brought our own house along, so we didn't need to squeeze in. Rick, the only one who lives there full time has a float plane in the front of his house (as you do!). He took Lindsay up on a 3-hour trip around the area. What a fantastic opportunity! Rick got my email before they left so that I could track where they were on my iPad, it makes you wonder how they manage to lose a large air...

Calgary, Cochrane & Kananaskas Provincial Park, Alberta We were planning to go to Calgary to meet up with Frank who was at Lake Clark AK, last year and now that Cathy and Jim whom we met in Yellowstone this year had introduced us to Kyle and his family in Waterton, we had another reason. Kyle suggested we go to Kananaskas, which is ‘next door’ to the Canadian Rockies (Banff etc) and where the locals go. After looking at the map, I was thoroughly confused as it had many different areas, so we decided to go to Calgary first. Kyle had asked his father if we could stay in his driveway as he lives on acreage outside town, to which he agreed. I think it helped that we were Australian as he loves Australia, having been there twice and calls Australia ‘Canada with palm trees’. Calgary is similar to an Australian small city. The weather is perfect, around the mid 20’s C each day and the food in the supermarkets is similar to ours as well. His father has a number of Kyle’s photographs on...

Waterton Lakes Part 2 Waterton has a lot of walking trails of which we did: part of Cameron Lakeshore because it became impassable due to flooding, Akamina Lake, Crandell Lake off the Akamina Parkway, Forum Falls and campsite which is on The Wall trail, and Blakiston Falls. The day before we left we were going to Bertha falls but a thunderstorm squashed that idea. They give you a great map showing all the walking trails, with a description, elevation, estimated time and length. So we would start our day early looking for the sow and cubs and then go off and do a walk, go back to our campsite during the day, have dinner at lunchtime and come back before dusk to look for the bears again.  Canada Day fell in the middle of our stay which brought warm sunny days and lots of people, I think it’s the start of their holiday season.   Lindsay went back to the hotel to find out why he didn’t get a reply from his complaint and we were asked to come back ‘on the hou...