Vancouver Part 1 - A wonderful day

After our long day on the Rocky Mountaineer, I finally arrived at my excellent hotel right on the waterfront, tired but very content. It had been a great day with so many unforgettable sights. 

But that was not the end of the delights of the day at all, as it turned out, because there waiting at the hotel for me was a gentleman who had been a classmate of mine when I was a school, and his lovely lady. As soon as I dropped off my luggage and freshened up they swept me off to a beautiful dinner at the Vancouver Club and some great conversation, catching up on so many years. We even had the treat of ice-cream being made at our table using liquid nitrogen. The whole process was both intriguing and dramatic, and the ice-cream was yum! 

The next morning they collected me bright and early and took me over the road to an amazing, never-to-be-forgotten iMax experience known as ‘Fly Over Canada’. With my fear of heights luckily I did not know what I was in for, though I did get worried when everything I had with me was locked below me and I had a safety belt put on and checked by the staff. There were only about twenty of us lined up in a row on our seats. Suddenly all was black and I found myself ‘flying’ over Canada at great speed as though I was being dragged below a helicopter, turning and twisting, swooping down the sides of mountains and across rivers . . .  You have never seen anyone so welded to their seat! I was scared beyond scared! Would it ever end?  . . . You should have seen my hands when they unbuckled me . . . deep red ridges . . .

I came out in a complete state of shock. But when I look back, what a finale to my train trip across the Rockies!! Goodness me!! What a wonderful country Canada is - wow! 

Luckily the rest of the morning allowed my heart rate to slowly settle down. We drove through the lovely Stanley Park, which is right on the waterfront, and saw great views of the city, totem poles created by First Nation peoples, Canadian geese and many lovely tall, stately trees, some of which were just beginning to show signs of autumn. Then we drove to a popular spot known as Granville Island, which has the most incredible, large gourmet market. There my very generous hosts bought Canadian salmon and many other treats from which they created a sumptuous meal at their home for me for that evening, whilst I potted around and did a little laundry and shopping. We had the best of evenings and lots of laughs! 

So, despite the sudden boost to my blood pressure at the start, what a wonderful day that was! And what a beautiful and peaceful city it is! I had the best time.

Along the waterfront close to my hotel.

This was opposite my hotel and is the pier where I boarded my cruise ship to come back home, three days later.

Looking back at the city from the end of the pier. The facility has giant sails on it, and looks very snazzy. 

Taken from the end of the pier. Seaplanes were landing and taking off from the harbour all the time. 

A view of the city from the park.

Canadian geese.

In the park.

Some of the First Nation totem poles.

Another view of the city from the park.

The remaining photos were taken in the popular market on Granville Island. So much fresh, local food!

Day 2 on the Rocky Mountaineer - Part 2

This second day on the Rocky Mountaineer proved to be even more fascinating than the first. We saw two dramatic changes in the second half of this journey. 

One minute we were travelling along the bank of a river that was set in a fairly stark, almost treeless, plateaued landscape, and in the next, around a bend in the river, there were forests and mountains again. At times in this new section we were really high and travelling at the same level as the treetops. When you looked down the gorges below you could barely make out the bottom of the trees, they were so tall and straight and densely packed!  

The river we had been following was milky blue-green, with many spots with fast-moving rapids. Suddenly another river of a brown clay colour joined and flowed into the first. For a while we travelled beside a striped river! Then eventually the blue-green stripe simply disappeared! This phenomenon was just amazing to see. 

During the two days of the journey, I was very lucky to be sitting next to a delightful English woman of about my age who was travelling with her brother and his wife. We had a very similar sense of humour and so had a great time, not only enjoying the whole experience but also, I must confess, people-watching . . . 

It was about 6.30 pm when we finally stopped at the special station for the Rocky Mountaineer in Vancouver. At that moment one poor lady just a few seats behind us kind of collapsed. Within a minute a highly trained staff team were up with her, and the rest of us were very efficiently and quietly removed from the scene by both the passenger exit and the staff exit in the small service area in front of our carriage. Buses then took us to our hotels, as had been arranged.

I cannot speak highly enough of the Rocky Mountaineer company for this most memorable of trips through the Rocky Mountains, its staff, its facilities, and its wonderful and highly organised service. Its attention to detail was brilliant. 

Some challenging rapids.

The bend the after which some major changes occurred in the landscape.

The striped river is shown in this and the next few photos. 

Now we mainly travelled in amongst forests -and there were often short tunnels too.

I finally managed to capture a photo of some of the birds we saw - mainly eagles.

We went over an historic narrow bridge. That was quite scary if you looked down.

Coming into Vancouver at last.

At the station, taken from the bus that was organised to take me to my hotel.

Day 2 on the Rocky Mountaineer - Part 1

As we departed from the station at Kamloops the next morning, we saw a distant chimney stack pouring out smoke and assumed that it was associated with one of the mines. Perhaps it was part of a plant for extracting a metal from its ore close by the mine so that all the waste rock could be placed back around the mine site, and not transported elsewhere. It was not often that in the parts of Canada that smoke or steam was seen pouring into the atmosphere. However, I have been told by numerous sources that the particulates and other pollutants that poured into the atmosphere from the extensive wildfires that lasted for so long in British Columbia made many people ill. Some regions had to be evacuated because of it.

In one area of the township, a little distant from its centre, there was an area where people of the First Nation lived. It was beautifully kept by them, with lovely lawns, great play equipment for children in both private yards and playgrounds, and a big youth centre. We were told the relationship between the First Nation people and the other residents in Kamloops is really good. A great model for what can be achieved. 

Once we passed out of the town and its outlying areas the landscape was utterly different to anything we had seen before. It was almost surreal - instead of mountains there were fascinating geological formations made from all kinds of rocks, including what looked like mud rock that looked like it had been sculptured. Trees were quite rare. I was not surprised to learn that some spots along here had been used for sci-fi movie scenes, the formations were so strange. 

Apart from the absence of our Australian native eucalypts, some of it even reminded me of parts of remote Australia with little ‘pom-poms’ of bushes that looked like spinifex and salt bush scattered across dry land, except here the land was grey while ours is brilliant red and so has more stark colour contrasts. (When I have completed this journey I will continue my blog and show you that country.) 

All the while we followed a long, usually quite narrow gorge through which a river flowed quite rapidly. Every now and then we saw spots where a small number of men were at work, and quite often, on the opposite bank, we saw one freight train after another - possibly 2-3 kilometres long.

At one point we were excited to see a small group of mountain sheep with their curled horns standing up on an embankment! Of course we passed them so quickly we did not have a chance to photograph them. 

After some hours, we came to a spot where the landscape changed completely over just a few hundred metres. Suddenly there were trees where there had barely been any. It was quite dramatic and unbelievable. I will show photos of that section in my next post.

Opposite our hotel in Kamloops.

Boarding at the station at Kamloops. Notice the welcome wave and red carpet.

A rare shot showing what it was like at the front of our carriage, looking at the parts of the train ahead of us. You can just see the chimney stack I spoke of in the distance.

Crossing over the river at Kamloops. The chimney stack is now in the centre of the photo. 

A bit like Australia, but much less colourful. I think the little disc was a reflection from inside our cabin. 

Some of this area was used for farming, though we only saw a few cattle. The farmer here had a reputation for shooting at the train for a while, because he reckoned its whistle was affecting the quality of the milk his cows produced. 

Some of the mud stone.

At one point only the rocks were deep red, indicating the presence of iron. Notice the freight train at the foot of the hills. 

A zoom into one of the freight trains.

How is this for an unusual landscape? 

Zooming into part of that landscape.

Day 1 on the Rocky Mountaineer - From Banff to Kamloops

Over our first day on the train we saw many different landscapes - all majestic and awe-inspiring. We went through the Spiral Tunnels that I spoke of earlier, spending time looping in and out of the dark, rode over the Kicking Horse Canyon, and crossed the Continental Divide, surrounded by incredibly tall, rocky peaks. Sometimes we were perched precariously high, travelling on narrow bridges over deep canyons, and sometimes we travelled at the level of the rivers that flow in the mountains. We stopped at Lake Louise to collect some passengers along the way and saw a couple of other townships as well. 

Not long after sunset we arrived in Kamloops, which is a very long town that follows the railway line and spreads into the hills behind it. The driver who took us to our hotel was proudly telling us that many national and even international competitions in all kinds of sports take place here, which is why it even has an international airport. It may be tucked away in the Rockies, but it is a very bustling town boasting many successful enterprises, including mining and forestry. Even movies have been filmed here.  

We had been fed so well on the train, I did not need any dinner. All I did once I got into my room was make a cup of tea, check my emails and flop into bed. We had to ‘rise and shine' very early in the morning for our next day on the train . . . I was looking forward to it.