Gabi's Travel's to Canada

Sunday:
So my epic journey to Canada began at about 5.30am Sunday (24 October). It wasn't very much fun getting up at 2.00am on a Sunday morning, and I hadn't had much sleep because I was quite nervous, but once I got on the plane I was fine. The trip from Brisbane to Sydney was quite quick, and the transfer between airports was really easy. My flight was delayed in Sydney so I did a bit of shopping and then watched TV on my computer until it was time to head off. The plane flight itself, not so great. There was a lot of turbulence because of the weather, also the girl in front of me insisted on being the only person on the plane to have her light on, and only turned it off about 30 mins before they turned the other lights back on - GRRR! Oh well, I got some sleep, and I made it to Vancouver in one piece, so I can't complain too much. At Vancouver airport I had to go through Immigration to get my full visa (which I was nervous about), that took about an hour, so by the time I got the baggage carousel, mine was no longer on there. I freaked out for two seconds and then just as I was about to ask someone, I noticed them beside the carousel. Yay, and even my sleeping bag made it! I took the train to downtown Vancouver, and got my bearings before heading to the hostel. It was about 1.30 or 2pm when I got there, and check-in wasn't until 3pm so I dropped my luggage and went to discover a bit about Vancouver. When I got back to the hostel, I had a shower and then decided to nap, because I was soooo tired. I woke up about 3 hours later, as one of my roommates (Bree - Perth WA) had to get ready for work. She was lovely, and she and her friend (Sam - England), invited me downstairs for a drink before they she started work. I ended up spending the rest of the night just chatting with Sam and several other people on the balcony of the hostel. It was a pretty cruisy night all in all.

Monday:
Monday morning I woke up at about 6.30, I think because of the jetlag. I waited around for a while and then decided to get some brekkie. I met some nice people at breakfast and then headed back up to the room. The other 2 girls were still asleep so I decided I would go out so I didn't disturb them. I walked around downtown, it was really rainy and gross, so the first thing I did was go to H&M and get a coat and an umbrella. I walked around for a bit longer, and then decided I'd go see if there was anything fun to do around the area (in the rain that is). I checked to see if anyone was awake (NO) and then asked about the rainy day attractions, to which there was only one answer the art gallery, which is where I headed. There were a couple of interesting exhibits there, but nothing that really appealed to me. After that I did a bit more exploring, and Vancouver is beautiful around this time of year. I took a few photos, which I will hopefully post here also, but you never know your luck. I spent the rest of the afternoon watching some movies in the common room because of the rain, and then I joined Sam and 8 or so other people for dinner that one of them had cooked (Mushroom Risotto & Salmon Fishcakes, cost me $3), it was great but filling. Then we had a few drinks and I met some new people.

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Tuesday:
At breakfast I talked to Abby (England), one of the girls I had met the night before. Then I decided I would go for a walk to Gastown because I wanted to see it, but everyone else was asleep. I had a nice long walk around, took some photos, bought some postcards and a shirt etc. It really is beautiful down there. When I got back I found Abby and Chrissy (Melbourne) looking for me (I was supposed to go walking with them, but after half an hour of waiting got bored and left myself, which was probably a good thing because they had both fallen asleep). So I decided to go out with them again. They were having some problems accessing their money, so were a bit stressed, and Chrissy was also sick, so we decided just to go to a Cafe and get a hot drink. I left them to try and figure out what to do with their money situations and found Sam and Bree, who were planning on going somewhere - but didn't. So I ended up walking to the store with Sam, while Bree got ready for work. We watched Rush Hour while trying to fill in some time before dinner. After dinner I organised my things for the flight the next day, before getting ready to go out for Karoke. We went to a place called Parrots or Carrots (it changed every time someone new said it) for their karoke night, and I had a few too many drinks. Then we decided to go to a club somewhere (the Republic), then went to the Roxy which was just up the street from the hostel. I don't remember much after that, but apparently I was funny!!!

Wednesday:
One of the smartest things I have ever done was set my alarm before I went out on Tuesday night, as the nest thing I knew I was waking up in my bed with my alarm clock in hand. I snoozed for about 10 minutes and then got up to have a shower. This is when I realised how unwell I was. Let me just say I didn't eat until lunchtime Thursday, and could only down 2 bottles of water for the whole day. However I did make it to my flight (to Calgary), through my flight, to the hostel, and even to the shops to buy a phone and some pillows and sheets. I was still feeling super sick when I got back to the hostel, so decided to have a shower and then a nap. When I woke up I felt so much better, which was fortunate, because I met Lauren, another Aussie (QLD even) who will be working at Sunshine with me. We chatted for a while (she was tired also because she had just gotten off her flight from Aus). So we talked about the things we had to do before we started work, and then went to bed.

Thursday:
I had booked my bus to Canmore (at 7.00am) in Australia, but didn't consider what time I would have to get up to catch it. So I was up at 5.30 to get everything organised. I had two extra packages because of my sheets and pillows, which were a pain to carry. I caught a cab to the bus station, and then found out that I was much too early for my bus. So I had to wait for an hour before I got on. I was super tired so didn't feel the full awe of driving towards the mountains, but once I got there it was amazing. This place is sooooo beautiful. When I got off the bus I went to the hostel who let me check in straight away (not too bad for 9.20am). Then I headed down the road to arrange my SIN number and Bank account, which was much easier than expected. Because of the ease of this, I had a lot of time left over, and nothing to do with it. So I fiddled around in the common room for a while, before deciding to go exploring and to get some lunch. I managed to find a bag for my pillows on my explorations too, which made it heaps easier to lug them around. When I got back I met one of my room mates (Johanna - Wales) who invited me to see a band at the local bar later that night. She was really nice, and after dinner and some TV we headed out with two other guys from the hostel. The first band was a blues and roots band who were great musicians (but a little bit too country for me). The second was a comedic singer guy, who was funny and got the crowd going, although he did start to wear a bit thin towards the end. I ended up leaving at 1.30. All in all it was a pretty good night.

Friday:
I managed to have a bit of a sleep in before I checked out of the hostel, but as my bus didn't leave until 2pm I had some time to fill in. I walked around town for a bit and got some breakfast. Then after some more walking I went back to the hostel for lunch and to just read for a little while. I caught up with Johanna again while I was there, who said that she was also travelling to Banff later that afternoon, as she had to change her Halloween costume. So we just chatted until it was time to go, and then made our way to the bus stop. It was pretty busy on the bus so I lost Johanna somewhere up the back, but managed to catch up with Lauren who I'd met in Calgary. We ended up walking to the hostel together, and even ended up sharing a room. Once we'd dumped our stuff, we went on a short exploring trip, and then to the grocery store, to buy some dinner items. We ended up making chicken stir-fry, and were so tired after dinner that we thought we'd go to bed. A friend of Laurens invited up to a bonfire at his place, and while we were trying to find it on a map, one of our roommates came in and suggested some places to go for the night. So we ended up downstairs in the Beaver (the bar in the hostel) and started talking to a couple of people. Everyone was really nice, and it was fun people watching, as I wasn't drinking. We went to bed at about 12.30, and we were the first ones to go to bed. So were woken up about 5 times through the night by people coming and going in the room.

Saturday:
Lauren and I got up at about 8.00am, and had some brekkie. The Sulphur Mountain Gondola had been recommended to us the night before, and since it was closing for the season soon, we decided that had better be the first thing we did. So we found out how to get there and back and headed off. The morning was quite cold, and I didn't take my gloves or beanie (which by the way is really stupid if you are taking a trip to the top of a mountain). But what I missed most up there was my sunglasses, because the sun almost killed my eyes. Argh! Anyway it was so beautiful there. I couldn't stop taking photos (by the way mum, with all the wind up there I couldn't even hear it making its sick zoom sound). We walked over the walkway to the weather station, and I stood on my first lot of Canadian snow, in my Chucks (the only shoes I had worn since getting to Canada). However, this experience did make me realise that I had some shopping to do as I don't think the Chucks would be a sufficient snow shoe for the entire winter. So Lauren and i got off the bus in Banff and started searching. I ended up getting a really nice snow suit (I hope it works well too), some snow boots, and some mittens. It cost a bit, but I figured I had prepared for it so... Then, after lunch we headed out to look for a Halloween costume. The dollar store was really busy so we just left, and decided we'd figure it out later on. While we were making dinner that night Laurens friend invited us to a second bonfire at his house, and also to a club for Halloween. So we decided we would go. We stopped at the liquor store and got a 6 pack of beer to split and then began searching for his house. We eventually found it and met Dwayne (Aussie), who was really nice too. We sat around the bonfire telling stories, headed to a pub or two and then made our way back. It was a good night.