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Canada: from Sydney to Sydney!Canada: from Sydney to Sydney!
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This trip across Canada has been on our minds for a long while. Frankly it was one we thought we might never take. But here we are, March 2024, heading off from Sydney, Australia, to Vancouver. The aim is to reach Sydney, Canada. Let's see if we can. Read more
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  • TravelerCanada: from Sydney to Sydney!
    Day 1

    First Night From Home

    March 21 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Hello everyone - or rather farewell for a little while. Tonight we are quietly ensconced in the Sydney Rydges Airport Hotel, thanks to Chris dropping us off at the door. What luxury. Thanks Chris, you are a legend!
    Tomorrow we fly out to Vancouver, Canada. We have been to Vancouver before when, in 2000, we escaped (or "missed", depending on how you look at it) the Sydney Summer Olympics when Cathy Freeman made us all proud. Back then we stayed at an historic old hotel on English Bay, called the Sylvia, before taking the Rocky Mountaineer across the Great Divide of the Canadian Rockies, flying then from Calgary to Toronto, and afterwards driving via Niagara into the US for what is quaintly called "leaf peaking" in Autumnal New England, US of A. It was a magic trip but we both agreed at the time that Canada needed more time. It's a BIG country. Fast forward 24 years or so and here we are! More to come but for now it's time to prepare for our flight and sleep the sleep of the very excited.

    Some fun facts about Canada:
    * Canada has the longest coastline in the world at approximately 243,042 km.
    * Canada is the second largest country in the world after Russia.
    * Canada has the second longest highway in the world, second to Australia's Highway 1. The Trans-Canada Highway, some of which we will drive on this holiday, is almost 8,000 klms long.
    *Canada's border with the USA is the longest border in the world not patrolled by armed forces (although a Trump victory might just changed that!)
    * Canada has 20% of the world’s freshwater reserves.
    * Canada has a 99% literacy rate - I just love this fun fact!
    I already love Canada!    Read more

  • TravelerCanada: from Sydney to Sydney!
    1
    Day 2

    Arrival

    March 22 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    The 14 hour flight from Sydney to Vancouver was a bit of a marathon. But we remained cheerful although by the time we arrived, the good humour had become a bit warn. We put the “grim” in “pilgrim” you might say by the end of it. Vancouver airport at 7am however cheered us up. We had made it!

    Our Sikh taxi driver was very friendly and gave us some lively commentary for our drive to our hotel, the lovely old Sylvia, established in 1912, and very much a family hotel for Canadians in the know visiting Vancouver. It overlooks beautiful English Bay. It was a favourite hotel for Errol Flynn back in the day.

    The women at the check in desk were so helpful! Although it was only 9am, and check in was usually at 2pm, they arranged to keep our bags for an hour while a room was being made ready for us. Sweet relief! So, much relieved that we wouldn’t be found comatose on some park bench by 2pm, we knew we only had to go for a short walk, have a coffee, and then we would be able to shower and rest fully horizontal for a while to recover from the rigours of economy class international air travel.

    The spring weather this morning was overcast, quite pleasant to walk in, a balmy 12 degrees C. After a stroll along the bay (on which we spotted a seal, some geese, and a few friendly dogs taking their owners for a morning walk) we had a coffee at the Doro Cafe on Denman Street, then headed back to the welcoming charms of the Sylvia. We will eat in at the restaurant overlooking the bay tonight and tomorrow be more adventurous.

    How many famous Canadians can you name? Here are some usual suspects to get you started: Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Michael Buble, Celine Dion, Ryan Gosling, Jim Carey, Michael J. Fox, K. D. Lang, Diana Krall, William Shatner …    Read more

  • TravelerCanada: from Sydney to Sydney!
    Day 2

    English Bay By Night

    March 22 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    After a splendid light dinner (fabulous soup plus entree size plates of crab cakes for me and fish tacos for him, followed by a shared mango cheesecake and coffee) we took a walk along the waterfront. Vancouverians (?) love lighting it seems and everywhere are little light shows for your delight (pun entirely intended). This reminds me of the Danes who light candles throughout Winter to brighten their days.Read more

  • TravelerCanada: from Sydney to Sydney!
    1
    Day 3

    Downtown, Chinatown and Gastown

    March 23 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    After an excellent night’s sleep and a fine breakfast we headed for the bus. Our plan for the day was to go downtown and tour two important city areas known as Chinatown and Gastown. Both areas are steeped in history.

    Our highlight in Chinatown was the beautiful Dr Sun Yat-sen Garden. I was reminded of my old teacher, Henry Chan, who introduced me to Chinese philosophers Kang Youwei (1858–1927), and Liang Qichao (1873-1929) both important figures in the late Qing era that ended in the 1911 revolution, and the rise of Dr Sun Yat-sen as the first president of the Republic. He is an honoured man in Taiwan and in diaspora communities still.

    To reach Gastown we ventured down Columbia Street. The deeper we went into this sad street, the more unfortunate drug addicts we saw, lying in doorways, hunched in laneways, and shooting up. We have since learned that there are at least four other streets like this. Bloody drug dealers. So much wasted human potential. Meanwhile there are trendy Cannabis shops everywhere and the smell of the weed is thick in some streets and folk openly smoke in the streets.

    Turning toward Gastown it was like another world. Designer clothes, tourist shops, high end shoe stores, classy barbers and beauty shops. And bars and restaurants galore. Trendy capitalism’s underbelly just one street back, a world away.

    But the famous Gastown steam clock did not disappoint and as if to sing away the contradictions we were suffering from, it sang the quarter hour most beautifully. We walked on to the waterfront and had lunch. By that time we were ready for rest. And headed home on the number 5 bus on West Pender Street. Dinner out at an Indian overlooking English Bay finished off a fascinating day.

    Before you go, guess who comes from Vancouver? A strange and compelling group of people including:
    William Pratt aka Boris Karloff
    Sandra Oh
    David Suzuki
    Ryan Reynolds
    Seth Rogen
    William Gibson
    Eckhart Toll
    Margot Kidder and many more …    Read more

  • TravelerCanada: from Sydney to Sydney!
    Day 4

    Sunday in the Park with Graham

    March 24 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C

    Our Sunday started late. We had some coffee, fruit and yogurt for breakfast in our room, then set off for our visit to Stanley Park.
    Stanley Park is a 405-hectare public park in British Columbia, Canada, surrounded by waters of Burrard Inlet and English Bay. There are many thousands of trees of all types, some very old, walking trails, beaches, picnic areas and places to have lunch. We had hot dogs and coffee (Americano of course) at the Third Beach concession. Fabulous.
    Sadly 160,000 trees are being culled because of a deadly infestation. Some people are very unhappy about this. But the experts assure everyone that this is necessary.    Read more

  • TravelerCanada: from Sydney to Sydney!
    1
    Day 5

    On the road again …

    March 25 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 1 °C

    Left the lovely Sylvia Hotel and picked up our car for the great adventure of driving across Canada. 🍁 We upgraded to a small four wheel drive on the good advice from our car rental agent. We are both happy with this decision.

    Graham managed the exit from Vancouver with his usual aplomb for which I am very grateful! We were soon in the mountains, where we experienced the full gamut of weather, from rain, sleet and light snow to brilliant sunshine. We thought we were on our way to a place called Hope (now there’s a title for a play or novel) but ended up further down the track, stopping at a quiet little mining town called Princeton where every second business has “Copper” in its name: for example we are staying at the Copper Mountain suites and we ate a fab meal at the Copper Pit. Say no more.

    According to Wikipedia, Princeton (originally Prince Town) was named for the Prince of Wales. It’s a former mining and railway hub that lies at the confluence of the Tulameen into the Similkameen River, just east of the Cascade Mountains. Today the mining of copper (what else) continues.

    There was hardly a soul on the streets in Princeton but the people inside of places were just lovely: Donna at the visitors centre with her mantra “Princeton is the bronze sculpture capital of Canada”; Paige at our motel; the young women who served us dinner. All beautiful.    Read more

  • TravelerCanada: from Sydney to Sydney!
    111
    Day 6

    To Kelowna

    March 26 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 1 °C

    The lake pictured here in this post is Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan Valley of the Interior Plateau of British Columbia between the Columbia and Cascade Mountains. It is a wondrous fjord lake. When we were travelling along its length, the surface was like glass reflecting the sky and mountains around it. The lake is approximately 110 km long and our destination Kelowna is midway along the lake. Kelowna is a charming little city filled with lots of public art.Read more

  • TravelerCanada: from Sydney to Sydney!
    Day 9

    Golden Moments

    March 29 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 2 °C

    Our drive to Golden went smoothly and we were glad to be going there to stay 5 nights, a chance to chill out (probably literally) from the rigours of travel so far. We chose Golden as our staging point for our visit to the mountains because the town is surrounded by two different mountain ranges - the Columbia Mountains (made up of two sub-ranges, namely the Selkirk and Purcell ranges) and the Rocky Mountains. It is also at the junction of two heritage rivers – the Columbia River and the Kicking Horse Rivers - and near five National Parks: Yoho, Banff, Jasper, Glacier, and Kootenay. The town itself is nestled in the “Rocky Mountain Trench” which is built from the confluence of the two rivers. A perfect place to tour from. Add to this our apartment is just lovely, next to the Kicking Horse River and with a sunny easterly aspect and views of the mountains. We want for nothing. After a good night’s sleep and a heap of washing, we went for a long walk to the confluence of the rivers. The town is just emerging from the winter white world and there is still snow on the ground in places.Read more

  • TravelerCanada: from Sydney to Sydney!
    Day 10

    To Yoho National Park & Emerald Lake

    March 30 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ -4 °C

    Even though it snowed last night, we awoke late to bright sunshine. This augured well for our foray into Yoho National Park. The timing for our trip into the National Parks has not been excellent because the Parks Canada Visitor Centres are all “temporarily closed” until May. This means we cannot purchase the Discovery Pass we intended to get. You should have a pass (displayed on your dashboard) to visit any of the national parks but they are not available in person just now - and we don’t have a printer to get the online pass in hard copy. Oh well, speaking with a few Canadians, they said: just do it! So we did.
    Our first stop was Natural Bridge. This is an impressive natural rock formation that spans the flow of the Kicking Horse River west of the small cute town of Field. Looking at the extraordinary weathering of the rocks reminds of the powerful shaping force of water. Canada on this side of the continent is simply filled with water in all its guises: ice, liquid, steam, snow, sleet, rain, rivers, falls and lakes. It is so richly endowed that for an Australian it seems extravagant!
    After Natural Bridge we drove onto Emerald Lake. Well in summer it’s emerald but in winter and early spring it is snowy white. We went for a walk, and then Graham bravely walked out onto the lake itself while I remained on terra more firma thank you very much. By this time the sun was beginning to be swallowed up by clouds and we decided to beat the retreat to Golden and a light afternoon tea. Tonight we are treating ourselves to a dinner out. Come on Graham let’s go, all those mountains made me hungry!    Read more

  • TravelerCanada: from Sydney to Sydney!
    Day 12

    Last Day in Golden

    April 1 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ -2 °C

    On our last day we decided to do some shopping and more exploring in Golden. Graham’s boots had started to die and we wanted some freezer bricks for our cooler bag. Tomorrow we would be travelling again and we wanted to take our foodstuffs with us.

    We also decided that we would go to the local museum. These latter in small towns the world over are testimony to the dedication of some rare individuals who value what the past can tell us about a place. We had a lovely chat with one of the archivists who thanked us for our donation.

    A large part of the displays in the Golden Museum concerned the First Nations people whose territory ranged across what we now think of as “Canada” and the “USA”. These people moved seasonally around their country as did the Indigenous peoples of Australia. They had complex spiritual beliefs and beautiful arts and crafts.

    I was fascinated to learn about another group of people called the Métis who are of mixed indigenous and Euro-American ancestry. They are officially recognised in the Canadian Constitution. A Métis man, Baptiste Morigeau, who married two women (one after the other), one Indian and one Métis, and had 14 children, was an important early settler of Golden. Graham also found a little display on Edward “Bulldog” Kelly (1857-1889) - an outlaw - who reminded us of our Ned Kelly (1854-1880) Such coincidences are so intriguing.

    The day was filled with beautiful sunshine. Graham found and bought his favourite boots and we found the freezer bricks we had searched for previously right under our noses at the Dollar Shop. We had a light meal of leftovers and retired happy ready for our adventure driving up the Icefield Parkway, from BC to Jasper in Alberta, one of the great scenic drives in the world. Wow.    Read more

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