Monday, January 31, 2011

Sightseeing around Cranbrook




Saturday, January 22, 2011

Banff Alberta Canada

In town Banff

In town Banff

In town Banff

In town Banff

Steak House in Banff

Banff Hotel

Deer in Banff

First Nation Trading Post

First Nation Trading Post

Kris and Ken on Discover Banff Tour

Elk on snow

Frozen waterfall and Ponds with running water behind ice  
Snow shoeing

Icewalk with Discover Banff Tour

Icewalk with Discover Banff Tour

Frozen waterfall in Johnston Canyon

Scenes while snow shoeing

Icewalk Johnston Canyon

Ken and Kris on Icewalk

Scenes in Banff National Park

Ken showing the frozen Columbia Lake

Icewalk tour


Frozen Waterfall in Johnston Canyon Banff National Park


We took 3 different tours with Discover Banff Tours
1. Discover Banff
2. Snowshoeing
3. Johnston Canyon Icewalk
We loved every tour but the Icewalk was such breathtaking scenery and so much fun, we had a fantastic guide, he was born in Scotland and had great people skills - He knew how to guide safely and make it so much fun, can recommend him as a guide if you ever get to Banff
PS Ken does not really think the climbers are idiots - just an Australian expression in use!

Cranbrook to Banff in Rocky Mountains Canada - round trip


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Thursday, January 20, 2011

Longview - Our Coffee Break

Cranbrook BC to Banff Alberta via Calgary


This is a short (very short) video driving through Crows Nest Pass in the Rocky Mountains in Alberta Canada.  We travelled through the pass across the Mountains to Calgary and then on to Banff.
This trip took about 6 hours from Cranbrook to Banff with stops for photos and coffee included in that time.  Due to road closers because of avalanche warnings the road from Radium to Banff was closed so on our return to Cranbrook we plan to take that shorter route through Radium and check out the Radium Hot Springs.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Cranbrook BC Canada

We arrived in Cranbrook on 21st of December. A perfect arrival with the snow falling so we were assured of our 'White Xmas' that we had hoped for.
A local resident of Cranbrook met us at the airport and drove us to our accommodation with a quick guide of the town area and a casserole for our dinner. That is what I call local hospitality!
You can use the link below to see information about Cranbrook and the surrounding areas

http://www.kootenayseh.com/cranbrook/index.html

Vancouver BC Canada to Cranbrook BC Canada


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Los Angeles to Vancouver


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Sydney to Los Angeles


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Thursday, January 13, 2011

Sydney Australia to Vancouver Canada

We are having a travelling holiday for six months and will share our experiences with you
The planning of your trip is important and can be the difference between an easy smooth holiday and a comedy of errors. Even when you have planned carefully things can go wrong such as plane cancellations due to bad weather, buses running late and you do not make your connection. It is a good idea to leave plenty of time between connections and if you are anything like me you will have a plan B in mind if anything does not link up as expected.
The first consideration is your destinations, where you want to go and then you can build your plan around that.
Even if you decide to book your trip yourself I would advise that you go and speak to a couple of travel agents because they have information that is not really available online (such as the flexibility and connections to change parts of a trip).
We flew out of Sydney on 19th December with the major idea of 'A White Christmas'. We wanted to experience the opposite to our regular Christmas in Australia so our first section of the holiday is in Canada.
We flew from Sydney to Vancouver with a stop over in Los Angeles. There are flights direct to Vancouver from Sydney but they will cost you a lot more if you are not lucky enough to get onto the few cheaper seats offered on the flight. Having the stop over in LA for 4 hours lengthens the trip so you have to be prepared for a longer travel time if you want to save yourself money. From Australia you need a White Paper (Visa Waver) to be able to enter the US even if you are there for a stop over and do not leave the airport, you can get that Visa Waver online, print it out and present it at Customs with your passport on entering the US. The flight from Los Angeles to Vancouver is about three and a half hours.
Canadian prices have not got tax included so you have to add from 6% or up to 13% (tax varies from state to state) onto all displayed and ticketed prices. It is also a state that you tip for service and the etiquette of tipping in Canada is to add between 10% to 15% for service such as taxi service, porter service and restaurant service etc. 
Vancouver in BC (British Columbia) is a lovely city and we would have liked to have spent more time there but had committed to flights to Cranbrook BC where we planned to base ourselves so we just had 2 nights in Vancouver before flying out. The bus transport in Vancouver is excellent, it runs regularly and costs $2.50 for a ticket so it is a very inexpensive way to get around.


We arrived in Cranbrook BC and will take trips out from there to see the BC and Alberta states of Canada .