Young World Travellers: Day Two

A healthier and more traditional breakfast to start the day - three slices of toast and a banana each. We have Marmite in the UK, over here it's Vegemite - very similar but thicker and more bitter; a welcome taste of home nonetheless. The group met in the foyer for 8am before making our way to the Moose Tour minibus which set off on the first mile of 300, only for us to realise a while later that the food we had bought the previous day was still sitting pretty in the Kelowna hostel fridge - not the best start to the day.

Today was to be our longest in the minibus. We made a couple of stops here and there for toilet breaks and mini food shops but we've just checked into tonight's accomodation at 8.30pm meaning we've been on the go for over twelve hours. The miles actually fly by in all fairness, especially with so much to look at out the window and we entered into the Rockies territory on the later part of our journey. Craggy peaks, snowy mountain tops and pristine lakes were all on show on our winding ascent into the historic town of Banff with tonight's accomodation sitting high up in the Rockies at 5000ft above sea level.

We did get one big break from the highway when we pulled over beside Lake Revelstoke for kayaking. Neither of us have ever done it before so we were assigned a very stable tandem vessel so we were sure to not fall in the Lake. It was a gorgeous setting, surrounded by high peaks and the mile-wide stretch of lake that we were on was as calm as an indoor swimming pool which made conditions perfect if not a little disorienting (due to the reflection of the sun on the water) It was very relaxing but a good upper body exercise at the same time and after making it to the other side we had a pitstop for some delicious homemade flapjack that the event organisers had made for us. We moored our kayaks on a little stretch of 'beach' and set about getting the feeling back to our legs with a short trek through some woodland which revealed a large waterfall - a pleasant surprise. The tour guides took plenty of pictures (below) - we didn't risk taking our phones or camera in with us ourselves.

After making it back accross the lake in one piece it was time for the final three hour leg of the journey in the minibus. This is when we really started to notice that we were climbing and the views became all the more impressive. We mentioned the smoke from the bushfires yesterday and today we actually saw some of the forest alongside the highway burning up. Helicopters were depositing huge baskets of water to try and control the flames and it was really fascinating to see as it's not something you ever really think of in the UK.

Tonight we weren't so lucky with our accommodation and we are in a dormitory with shared washing facilities but it's a roof over our heads and a comfortable enough bed to sleep in ahead of tomorrow which will include a lot more hiking as we head towards Lake Louise. We will be exploring a lot more of the Banff National Park area, visiting Johnston Canyon, Emerald Lake and the massive Takkakaw falls before a Candian campfire somewhere out in the wilderness. We still haven't seen a bear (or a moose) but we are much more off the beaten track tomorrow so we are hoping to see a bit more wildlife throughout the day.

Day Two Highlight - Kayaking on Lake Revelstoke