Life in the Canadian Rockies

THURSDAY 4th August

Right well today i went for my first hike (apart from the one with the cougar) i took two chicks with me, you might recognize them from the photo...yes it was them, the one closest to the camera was 58 and the other one was 53. The were sisters and coincudently we climbed up a mountain called the middle sister, anyway its 2769m tall way bigger than that Mt Kosciousko rubbish, what kind of name is that for australias biggest mountain. It should be called Mt Droppuntakangarooon thebarbiewhiledrinkinVB mountain...anyway the point is, the mountain i climbed up was rather big.

It took us 5hrs to get to the top, about 1km from the top the 58 year old takes off and smokes both me and her younger sister, we were about 500m behind when she got to the top. Far out. Shes over 58, thats older than my mum...not quite as pretty though...hi mum!! I was quite humbled when i found out her age!

Once at the top the view was soooo goood. Awesome, photos dont do it justice...well not mine anyway! But serious how can you deny a creator when you see a view like that. mmmmmarvellous.

Anyway at the top we stopped for lunch and the younger sister started scraping a rock with another rock to engrave something and her older sister told her to "stop it, thats graffiti" i laughed so so hard on the inside, and her sister said to her 'thats like saying we shouldn't step on the rocks'...i thought someone was going to get pushed off the cliff!!!

So i am down and safe now. No cougars or bears and i am going to bed im tired.

FRIDAY 5th August

Sooked about blisters, had a good Reflecting, Reclining and Relaxing day. Really good.

SATURDAY 6th August

My first hitchike...

After one hour of walking with both my packs, one free beer offer from some guys carrying a slab on the overpass and 106 attempts i was in a car. A nice russian girl and her mother picked me up, they stopped a good 300m past me, although i wasnt going to complain was I? So yeah i officially hitchicked as opposed to scabbing a lift or saying really loudly "oh im going to have to walk all the way to the train station" and hoping someone hears. And i only hitchhiked coz its good for the environment not coz im cheap. Hahaha yeah right!!!

So after the beautiful views i got out at banff and walked to the hostel. The hostel is rubbish, its so big so impersonal and yes so expensive!! Maybe i'll sleep in a gutter, dont worry mum it'll be a nice one!

SUNDAY 7th August

On my second night in the banff hostel i made a Japanese friend and he happened to be going to Jasper which is 3.5 hours away (.5 is a half for those non maths students)...anyway thats how long the trip should have taken but it took us 8. We seriously stopped every 15 minutes to look at something. There were soooooooooo many beautiful stop offs. Definately the prettiest stretch of road i have ever been on in my life. Mountains, waterfalls, glaciers and lakes that worked like mirrors, but i guess those lakes are most beuatiful for me hehehehe. You better all have got that!

So we made it to Jasper and found out the the hostel was full, so i went and bought a tent, on sale of course $250 reduced to $150...oh yeah!!

Anyway, both of us didnt have sleeping bags so that was interesting, he joked that we could snuggle. Then accidently in the night i grabbed onto his shins for a good 3 seconds thinking it was something else. Hehehehe, anyway he left the next morning and now i am all alone in the caravan park.

MONDAY 8th August

Another rest reflection, God time etc day

TUESDAY 9th August

I got into the hostel tonight so i packed up my tent and guess what...this will be so exciting to you camping people...my tent actually fit back into the bag i bought it in. Yeah. Now thats something you dont see every day. I was so excited i told people at the hostel about it, the girl thought i was crazy but the guy understood perfectly. Wicked, well that was my highlight for that day

Actually no i did something else. These old people picked me up from Jasper and drove me up and back to miette hot springs. 40+ degree springs. I can honestly say i didnt warm up the springs...if you know what i mean.

Once i got back to the hostel i made two friends, one of them an aussie. We had a good chat about life that night.

WEDNESDAY 10th August

In the morning me and those two people i met (John and Lori) which is funny coz Lorry or (Lori) as some dunces spell it, is my nickname and John is my middle name. Anyway thought you should know that we had breakfast together yummmmy.

After breakfast we went for a walk and were deep in conversation about horror movies and this bike rider rode up ride behind John from behind, he nearly had 3 heart attacks and me and Lori nearly wet ourselves. No coincidence, i sweat God planned that, he is sittin up there goin hehehehehe serves you right for watching horror movies.

After that i caught the train to Lake Louise and set up in the hostel there.

THURSDAY 11th August

I walked to Lake Louise and checked it out. Wicked. Then i kept walking to mirror lake, i have never seen so many squirrels in my life. Then i kept walking to Agnes Falls...not bad, free water anyway, then i walked all the way up the big beehive, a mountain. I didnt plan on doing any of that extra walking but anyway it was so worth it, i had a great time on top of the mountain. I met someone on the way down and got a lift back to the hostel...wwwicked

FRIDAY 12th August

I have lost a day somewhere so lets just pretend i did something today

SATURDAY 13th August

Today i went whitewater rafting, it was pretty good, (class 3 rapids for you PE people) it was also good to go and hang with people my age. They were lots of fun. I nearly fell out and i ended up going for a swim...it was sooooo cold, mind you it is a glacier fed lake (a glacier is a massive block of ice way bigger than the MCG for those who dont know). Anyway i made a friend on the bus and we walked to the hostel in banff together and then went for a hike. It was good again. And while ontop of the mountain i achieved one of my goals. To see a train with over 100 carriages. Yeah great goal i know, but how many of you have done it???yeah thought so. Anyway it had 119.

Later that night we went out to some pub. It was cowboy land, they all knew how to dance....like we dont hey pe chumps...did we get our mark back for that dance.

Speaking of PE here is something you might all enjoy there was this cool game i saw people playin...ill try explain it. Four people stand in a rectangle and have sticks in the ground at each corner. Now they hang a cup upside down on those sticks and then as a team of two take in turns at throwing a frisbee at the sticks to knock the cup off. If the cup comes off the other two defenders can catch the cup and then the frisbee throwers dont get a point. if they dont catch it the throwers score one point. They take in turns to throw it and, yeah its just simple and good.

Well those are my tales as of right now as i am typing. Sorry about such long emails, its just that i have decided that no matter how good something is, its useless if there is no one to share it with. Its so annoying coz i keep thinkin 'gee it would be good if so and so were here' but alas none of you are. Its not quite the same writing you all a big impersonal email, i hope it is personal...oh well. I will have someone to share all this good stuff with soon. Kev Jackson...yay. And i will also have someone in NZ...dEREK...HEHEHEH im forcing you into it now ey?

Love you all, hope you are all great...i will have a phone number and a home soon so it will be good.

Cougar!!!

Hey sorry about the sudden rush of emails but i must tell you this. Today i went for my first hike i procrastinated so much coz i was so scared about seeing a bear or a cougar. I read a magazine and waited for about an hour before i worked up the courage to go, i went by myself which i was so so so scared about, anyway i read up on cougars and bears and i was making noise the whole way along the track, bangin rocks together etc, throwing them in the distance to scare away anything, praying and doing everything i could. I got about 40 minutes in a stopped for a breather something kinda said go back now and i thought stuff it...i was halfway up the mountain and my pride was going to stop me, just after that i banged some rocks together and heard a noise about 50 meters up the hill i was headed, i turned and looked and i saw the backside of a cougar walking away...needless to say i was packion myself, i backed away about one or two steps then i bolted, i picked up rocks on the way and threw them everywhere coz someone told me they stalk you from the side, Anyway i took only about 5 minutes to get back. Everyone here was so excited..cougar sightings are like shark sightings in aus, rare as. Anyway i am very pleased i saw one and God looked after me. I wish i had have looked a bit longer and seen its face tho. Dang. But i kept myself safe just like mother dear told me to. I am still out of breath and i must say i will be going hiking in a group from now on...maybe a group that owns guns...

Well hope all you guys are keeping safe, see ya

Camp Canada

Right...10 things to meet and greet in canada.

So far two lovely people have given me a lift without me even asking, which is good, but then again after the dropped me in calgary (canada) i got offered drugs by 2 seperate people in the first 20 minutes of being there. Serious...and i dont even have dreadlocks anymore!!

Anyway i had my first taste of beef jerkey good as
$1.44 for a huge (frozo, slushie, whatever we call it) sweet and cheap
A maple leaf cookie
A popsicle...thats an icy pole
And i have seen a brand and lollies called twizzlers...thats right derek i was calling people lollies for all those years.

Now some more interesting words i have discovered

Gas...doesnt come out of your bum its "petrol" in canada, i wonder if they call petrol gas what do they call gas!!
Pop...this also isnt referring to farts but to soft drinks, any kind.
Fannie =Bottom
Zip Line = Flying Fox
Took = Beanie
Strandwrap = Glad or cling wrap

As you can see i have been learning heaps. I have also learned a bit on this camp i was just on, a christian summer camp. I met some wicked people and got a chance to serve in a different way than i am used to so it was great. Funniest thing tho....Ready for it??

Right well this camp has a lot of activities archery rock climbing swimming pool (which i didn't pee in...i peed in the hot tub instead!!!! Serious) but thats not the funny story, it happened in the ball pit, one of the campers took a dump in it hahahahahhhah, these kids are from yr7 to yr 9 so i rekon its funny as. and the funniest thing was people played in it afterwards and got stuff all over themselves and by stuff i mean poo. Hahahah all the balls had to be taken out and washed heheheehehe and then the guy in charge made the best call after our prayer time. "See look at the crap we go through to see kids get saved" Hahahahaahahaha funny as.

Anyway i am in canmore now, mountains all round me...no not my bicepts mountains with trees and dirt!!! You are all champs and i hope you are doing great and i also hope to send some more personal stuff out. Just you wait. Oh yeah i got there late last night and walked in to the hostel with nobody at reception to give me a room so i just went to sleep in the laundry and it didnt cost me a cent. eheheheh nice

PS: 9 OUT OF 10 Canadian girls are beautiful...TOP work God!!
PPS: 8 out of 10 are in love with my accent
PPPS: 7 OUT OF 10 are in love with me
PPPPS: 6 out of 10 times i am lying.....heheheheh AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE

Love Andrew