Banff and the Castle

We arrived in Banff, Tim and I were so unsure as to the weather. The train pulled to a halt in front of this grand mountain with an amazing amount of snow on it and the sun shining, so we weren't sure which was going to win out temperature wise, snow or sun, but sun it was, jumpers off. It was actually quite hot. I was so excited as this was the part of our trip I was most looking forward to...the castle.

Now unfortunately Banff is a small town and they do not have accessible coaches or taxi's but they do have accessible buses. So we did not have a transfer from the train to the hotel due to accessibility or the lack there of, so we had to walk to the bus stop and take the bus to the hotel. Now normally this bus stop is only up the street from the train station, yet they had a bike ride on so some of the streets were blocked off (we thought of you Ray) so we had to walk further and consequently we missed the bus and the next one wasn't for an hour. So we decided to walk the whole way as it wasn't that far and it gave me a chance to stretch my legs after spending the whole day in the train. It also gave us a chance to check out Banff.

I was in awe at first glance, so much so, I was not watching where I was pushing Tim as I was busy looking around that I nearly pushed him into someones garden. The town looked like a little Swiss village with big cedar trees and apex style homes.

As we walked toward the Fairmont Springs we rounded a corner and there it was, standing very tall at the foot of the white capped mountain. There was no doubt that it was pretty outstanding. We past the golf course where I had to wipe the drool slipping out of Tim's mouth. Roxy spotted a little common friend of Banff, a marmot. Roxy tried to run off to play with this little creature but I fear the Marmot was not a fan of Roxy.

We entered the castle and the Lobby was exactly like the picture, very antique and Robin of Locksley like. We went to check in and I started getting a bad feeling, perhaps it was the fact that she could not find our reservation, then she went out the back and came back to tell us they were not sure which room we had as there had been two on hold and they had been trying to contact Tim to discuss access options. This was an obvious lie as most people who know Tim know his phone is not far from his ear most of the time, never the less a good excuse by hotel staff to cover up their mistake. We finally got a room which had no view. This was not the room we paid for but we were told that none of the accessible rooms had views. Now some of you might ask, what so important about a view, well this is no ordinary view and you pay extremely well for it. I was furious that one, we did not get what we paid for, two, that they did not discuss this with us, just gave us a room expecting us to be happy, but most of all that they had no disabled rooms with a view...talk about lack of equality. So I went on my big rant about how people who live with disabilities are disadvantaged enough why do hotels like these feel they need to disadvantage them further. Unfortunately we still didn't get a room with a view but we did get 50% of our room rate back and complimentary drinks, bottle of wine and chocolate coloured strawberries. It was well worth the rant.

So we got to our room and it was lovely just filled with a lot of antique things that it was quite hard to maneuver the wheelchair in and around the room. The bed also was so high that it came up to Tim's shoulders nearly, it was going to be interesting to try and get Tim into bed without a hoist. Hope his carer that was coming was strong! I laid down on the bed and it was so comfy, I just sank into the bed and never wanted to get out.

The carer came and wouldn't you know her name was Dee (the same name as the nurse that cared for Tim after his accident in Perth) but this Dee was 68 years old English and cheeky. She was fighting fit for a pensioner and had a lot of spirit but I was a tad worried about the hike into the bed. So as I feared, Dee as fit as she was, needed a little hand getting Tim into bed. I should never have doubted Dee as it turned out it was I that pulled a muscle in my back attempting to get Tim into the Mount Everest of a bed.

The next day even though I was walking like the hunch back of Notre Dame due my pulled muscle I was determined to go and explore Banff as we were only there for two days. As we were heading into town, we heard someone call out Tim. This a strange concept when you are way across the world. It was Murry and his wife, Murry does all the sailability down the Geelong waterfront and he recently helped us get Tim into the boat when we went fishing with my Uncle George. We ended up catching up with them for a drink later that evening.

So headed into the town and this was a place that was used to dogs, so Rox did not receive the attention she has been used to and sooked about this for some time.

Found the chocolate shop that Claire told me about and bought up big. The chocolate over here is pretty bad, I am having withdrawals from my Cadbury Fry's Turkish Delight. They do have Cadbury's over here but it tastes nothing like Australia's. They also had the biggest wall of pezz which Tim stared at for ages thinking back to Noni's addiction of Pezz. Tried to get a photo for you None's but couldn't fit the whole wall into one photo.

Most of the shops in Banff are tourist souvenier shops and most of the workers in these shops were Australian waiting for the ski season to start again as they all work in the resorts. As beautiful as Banff was it was very inaccessible so it limited us somewhat. Most of the restaurants, and good shops are in heritage buildings with 8 or more steps. We later found out that Tim would have been the highest level of disability that Banff could possibly have ever had or has had for some time.



We went up to the mountain on a Gondola, we weren't sure how Roxy was going to go on it but she was busy looking at all the things down below as if she was just another tourist. We had a great view of our hotel from the Gondola. We got to the mountain and it was absolutely stunning. I hope the pictures do it justice. Met a lovely older couple who were English celebrating their 42nd wedding anniversary. The older gentlemen picked I was dutch just by looking at me, he reckons I have a typical dutch looking face. Not sure whether he was complimenting or insulting me. We were so close to the mountains up here that it was quite cold. Poor Timmy couldn't stand to be up there too long!



We headed back down where Tim saw his next car/truck he wants to modify, he made me take a picture of it...I hope it comes with a driver!


We went back to the hotel and checked out the place as it is so big. there were a few conferences and weddings. We were told that on a weekend they would have at least 7 weddings a day there. We went to the little bowling alley it was so cute, 3 lanes each with 5 pins. Harder to bowl when there is only 5 pins instead of 10. Then we checked out the spa...super expensive, and the pool which I was devastated to not give it a good work out due to my back. Instead we window shopped. Now this is the part where Tim and I pretend we are wealthy youngsters who can afford the $7ooo mink fur coat in the window. Tim re-enacts the Pretty Woman scene where Richard Gere tells the shop assistants to look after his girl while Julia Roberts tries on the expensive clothes and parades around in them. The only difference being Tim did not hand over any credit cards.

The next day we packed up and decided to have brekky before we go. We went down to the buffet and were blown away by the spread. There were 7 buffets to choose from, everything from my beloved fruit loops to the usual cooked stuff to mushroom soup to make your own smoothies. It was amazing and naturally we ate as much as we could. The bacon here isn't that good and the eggs here taste quite powdery but they make amazing waffles or pancakes and the maple syrup is the best!

As we were heading out we ran into a Mountie so Tim wanted to get a photo. The Mountie was happy to oblige but very concerned that Roxy's hospitality might end up all over his pants (meaning her hair).

Our overall experience of Banff was disappointing only because of the inaccessibility of the town when it was so beautiful. The Castle although was stunning, the service was terrible and put a damper on the experience as a whole. Yet we have done it now and happy we did!

The Rockies

As much as we loved our first destination, Vancouver, the thought of travelling through the Rockies on the Rocky Mountaineer was like one of those experiences that would be a once in a lifetime. Like how I rate our dive on the Great Barrier Reef on our honeymoon. I was getting so excited the couple of days before hand because I could see these gigantic ice-capped mountains in the distance and it was like they were calling us “come on, come & explore”.

The day arrived with another early morning wake-up. My carer to this date had been great with flexibility of times both morning & night as we would fit it around each other’s plans, but maybe the 4am call this morning was pushing the friendship. She was only a tad late, but I had been awake for a couple of hours already, smile on the face like a Cheshire cat again ready to go and discover new things. 4:03am was late ok.

We arrived at the train terminal and were immediately greeted by porters and crew. There were so many people around taking this trip, the station was full like peak hour at Southern Cross, but from the moment we pulled up the staff made us feel like we were the only ones travelling. It was already at this point Nan, that we were saying “Nan would love this”. There are many times we thought of you Nan during this trip. We will do it one day.

We had a moment to look around the giant terminal building, get a coffee & found a small souvenir stand were Mel bought Roxy a Canadian Mounted Police Moose teddy. We’ve affectionately named him ‘Mountie’ and Roxy hasn’t taken it out of her mouth ever since.

It was time for us to board so we were whisked off through the turnstiles, given our own Gold Maple Leaf lapel badge & there before us was the great Rocky Mountaineer train ready & waiting.

It was huge. The biggest train I’d ever seen. Just like they’d said, double storey with a glass roof. I couldn’t wait to get on but had no idea how they were going to do it. I looked left & saw a dozen Mountaineer staff standing at the end of a rolled out red carpet with Canadian flags at attention either side. They parted as we went closer to reveal a clever contraption that was to lift me up to the vestibule of the lower dinning carriage, then they proceeded to tell me there was an elevator inside to take me upstairs to the viewing area. It was so organised & professional. This activity could have easily have been the toughest access wise. But they had everything covered.

These photos will show the journey from platform to lounge chair they transferred me into upstairs.

In our carriage were 65 people and everyone had a chair upstairs. We were right up the very front and Roxy had her own row. There was a dining room downstairs that sat 35 people so at breakfast & lunch the front 30 odd went down first for their sitting then we’d go back up while the back section went down for theirs. There was a menu at each sitting & every meal sounded amazing. All local produce. They were scrumptious. There was a chef & cook on each carriage in a tiny kitchen. Don’t know how they could present each dish they way they did with the train swaying from side to side. I’d belike the Swedish Chef from the Muppets. Bork Bork Bork. Even while we were upstairs in between meal time they fed us non-stop. Drinks whenever we wanted. The service was incredible.

Speaking of incredible, I’ve delayed the inevitable long enough. The view. My written descriptions of what we saw over the 2 days could not do justice to the colours, shapes, heights, depths & wonders we witnessed through the Rockies. All of the photos, postcards, calendars, TV documentaries, whatever you have seen of the Rockies, none of them have been enhanced or edited to look good. It is exactly what you expect, but more. Just the sheer size of this mountain range is mind blowing. The scenery is pristine. The train just rolls along through the many different landscapes from mountain side to plains. The photos on the next blog will showcase this.

As you move from town to town, everyone you see out the window is waiving furiously at you which in turn makes you wave back. We were told that all the locals love the Mountaineer, they feel very proud and patriotic about the land they live on and enjoy the fact that the train is full of people appreciative and awe-inspired by the journey. I know people like waving at trains in general, but this was ongoing. 2 days of people coming out houses & shops to wave. I started to think maybe they are all paid (possible with the amount you pay for the trip ... but I digress).

A couple of funny things happened on our journey. We were very excited to see a bear & we had been told that some trips you see more than others, some not at all. But the crew are always hopeful and on the lookout. If a bear was spotted a call would come through the carriage "Wildlife leftside" or "rightside". Everyone would jump out of their seats, grab the camera & start snapping. On day one we hadn't seen any wildlife before lunch. A period of about 3 hours. I must admit I thought the forrests would be rife, bears standing beside the rail tracks waving at us like locals. My nievity was probably the equivelant to foreigners thinkings that Kangaroos live in backyards in Australia.

It had been arranged that the train would come to a stop for Roxy to toilet halfway through the day's trip. It was an area that the driver knew was flat and grassy. As the train started to slow down Mel & Roxy were led downstairs ready to jump off. The train was just about to come to a halt and it happened "Wildlife leftside ... BEAR". There it was. A cute brown bear running back into the trees. It was great, so exciting. And then I remembered Mel & Rox. "Man I hope they haven't jumped off yet" I'm sure bears are not that cute outside the train. The train rolled on a little further as the hype in the carriage lulled & the crew informed me that that's where they were going to pull up but obviously was not a good choice, so we stop 100 metres downtrack. How coincidental! All the crew kept saying that it was amazing we got the chance to slow up for the bear. They announced through the carriage that Roxy was the one to thank for that opportunity.

Another funny situation that occured regularly was the sounds of wine glasses smashing. The train movement from side to side often caught a few people by surprise and without trying to sound too much of an ageist, the majority of the passengers were seniors (Mel and I were the youngest by at least 20-30 years) and some were not so sturdy on their feet even on the platform let alone a moving swaying train. Well this caused many a spill due to a sudden swerve.Unfortunately it kept happening to this one lady who either spilt or knocked her own, or she bumped into a waitress causing her to drop her 20 glasses. Me, I didn't spill one drop!

So sitting on an amazingly comfy armchair style seat all day staring at amazing views with full stomachs all in a temperature controlled caboose did provoke a bit of head nodding. Now Mel will tell you that I slept 50% of each day, but that's a gross exaggeration just to tease me. But I will admit, I don't think I've ever been so content. I'll also admit I'm not the most attractive of sleepers.

Once again I can't describe peoples obsession with Roxy. As the word spread throught the train that there was an Assistance Dog on board we had a visit from every staff member from front to back of the train. And each time we stopped for her to toilet, passengers hung out the windows taking pictures. I felt like getting on the microphone, making it official & yelling "wildlife leftside!"

On the 1st night we stayed at a real cowtown called Kamloops. It was definately a 1 taxi town, just lucky it was a wheelchair accessible cab. It took us to Hotel 540 where we were met by the 1 carer in town & once we were in bed, zedland ... zzzz

The second day was just as magnificent & as we actually headed into the Rockies closer to Banff the mountains & surrounds became more & more majestic & grand.

We had 2 more bear sightings, plenty of birdlife including Giant Offsprey & Bald Eagles, Elk & plenty of Mountain Goats & Bighorn Sheep.

As we were approaching Banff and things were winding up. The crew presented Mel, Roxy & I with a Rocky Mountaineer souviner book personally signed by them all. We felt very special & it will always remind us of our amazing trip. Thankyou to all staff on board for their help & service. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity ... one that you'll have to do Nan.

The Rockies (pictures 2)

The Rockies (pictures)