Revelstuck ...

So this post follows this one ....

So after Whistler and our excitement of Dog Sledding we got back into Freddie and head further north. From Whistler we drove to Lillooet where we stayed the night. There isn't much to be said about this town to be honest except that it reminded me of the Clyde, Cromwell Area near Alexandra in New Zealand. We stayed in a Motel run by a really nice Asian couple in the "CBD" of the town. When we were looking at the room to see if we would take it I was slightly behind Kim and still on the staircase when she have already gotten to the Reception desk. When I over heard the following statement from Kim "I pay now"  it took all my will power not to piss my pants laughing, yes we did pay now.

The next day we set of for Revelstoke where we would stay the night before attempting to cross the Rocky Mountains. When we got to Revelstoke we were great with snow and the areas that they haven't snow plowed were about a metre deep with about 2 inches on the road.  The room itself was rather interesting as it was on a lean and the bathroom door didn't actually close but it was home for the night.

Freddie covered in snow the next day

The next morning we woke to a foot of snow surrounding Freddie and when we checked out the lady at the Gas Station said the Pass was closed till 10am and introduced us to the term Revelstuck a nickname the town got thanks to snow storms. We decided to go have breakfast in the restaurant that's attached to the Motel and didn't get on the road till noon.  We headed to another gas station as the one attached to our Motel was out of gas. While filling up with gas we had to teach ourselves how to put on snow chains. As no-one could tell us how to do it in a town that on a regular bases get snowed in, did I mentioned that we only have summer tyres on Freddie.

We um'ed and ah'ed if we should or shouldn't cross the pass. In the end we vote yes so of we set in Freddie with no heater with his summer tyres and snow chains on the back wheels. Which meant we could't go above 50km/h so the whole trip across the mountain which was about 137km took 4 hours to do. We finally made it into Banff around 8pm in one piece and minus some paint thanks to one of the chains having a loose bit that scrapped the side of the wheel hub.

Below is a short video of us driving in the Rockies ...

'Lest We Forget'

Just a quick side note its ANZAC Day here in Canada (one day behind you Kiwi Folk) so I thought I will do this post today and continue with the Cross Country Story tomorrow.

So as I said its ANZAC Day here in Canada, they don't actually celebrate it here officially but there was a service being held at the War Museum. We thought we would go and pay our respects, this would also be my first ANZAC Day services that I would attend.

Now I'm pretty useless when it comes to dates Xmas, New Years, My Grandads Birthday and my Birthday are the only dates I remember. So I always remember ANZAC Day on the day and just end up watching it on TV. However this year I have the walking holiday date rememberer with me in the form of a Kim. She has been reminding me of it the whole week even though I'm not sure of what actual day today is I do however know its ANZAC Day, Thanks Kim.

The Service itself was only about an hour long and luckily for me started at 8am and not dawn. It was a joint Service hosted by both the High Commissions of Australia and New Zealand and included a number of Canadian Officials and Ambassadors from Turkey, UK, France, India, Sri Lanka and Greece. The Ambassador from Turkey read a quote by Kemal Atatürk

"Those heroes that shed their blood

And lost their lives.

You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country.

Therefore rest in peace.

There is no difference between the Johnnies

And the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side

Here in this country of ours.

You, the mothers,

Who sent their sons from far away countries

Wipe away your tears,

Your sons are now lying in our bosom

And are in peace

After having lost their lives on this land they have

Become our sons as well."

The Turkish Ambassador also laid a wreath after the High Commissioners of Australia and New Zealand and it made me think of how he must have felt. Even thou we are now friends and allies this day do remember a day where we were enemies and fought and killed each other.

The High Commissioner of Australia's son read a poem called 'In Flanders Field' which I can't remember if we do it in NZ too, however I liked it.

In Flanders fields the poppies grow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

   Loved and were loved, and now we lie,

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

   The torch; be yours to hold it high.

   If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

All in all we really enjoyed it and it was done really tastefully. Both me and Kim  however thought that the Diplomats and Dignitaries should have had been welcomed by a Maori Haka. Oh well maybe next year.

Dog Sledding Booyah ...

Our Team

I might have mentioned this in the last post but I can't really be arsed reading it again to see if I did or not. However I'm not that into skiing the idea doesn't really excite me. I have never done it and probably should one day but yeah it just doesn't get my juices going, Kim on the other hand is all about skiing. She was meant to go skiing while we where in Whistler but decided against it mostly due to the fact that it was to bloody expensive. So we went and did something I have always wanted to go do instead... yup Dog Sledding. Once we had decided to do it, all I had in my mind was this vision (replace Homer with me). We booked ourselves in and the next day we meet in downtown Whistler before being whisked away into the mountains to meet our team of dogs. We arrived in the middle of nowhere at a camp that had hundreds of dogs this is where we met a very handsome young man who was going to be our sled driver. While we where sledding one of the dogs tried to pee while running and the other one tried to take a shadoobie. We ended up stopping so that they could finish there business. Kim was worried the whole time that a shadoobie would go flying of into her face, since she was sitting in the front of the sled. Most of the sledding was up hill and our sled driver (is that even what they are called) had to jump of and push our fat asses up the steeper slopes. We got to our destination where we got to put on some snow shoes and walk around in what turned out to be 2m deep snow. We know this for a fact as we walked pass an info board and all we could see was its roof and we were slightly higher then the roof. We headed towards a frozen water fall, now the whole idea that waterfalls can freeze is somewhat strange to me. I know water can freeze, but that it gets that cold that running water can freeze is something I'm not use to. 

Snowshoeing

Frozen Waterfall

Once we where done playing in the snow it was back on the sled and this time it was down hill and the promise of faster speeds. We were warned that we might tip over on one corner so both me and Kim where thinking very thinning thoughts as we reached it, lucky for us it worked and we didn't tip over. After we got back to base camp we got to go play with the new puppies in the kennel and met some of the other sled dogs. When everyone got back from our separate dog sledding adventures they started loading us into the bus to take us back to Whistler. One puppy however decided to come along for the ride too and took a shinning to Kim and sat next to her for most of the trip back . (Video Below Photo's)

Kim's Floral Helmet

Kim's Floral Helmet

Our Team

Puppy

Our Team getting their soup after pulling our fat asses

Puppy making friends with Kim

Here is a video of our trip ....