banff-tastic!

yesterday I jumped on a bus at sparrows' fart (7.15am. i actually got up at 5.31am - can ANY of you believe it?!?) and went to banff for the day. banff is truly beautiful - the most incredible mountain town I have ever been to. it's bang-smack in the rockies, and they are towering. i had never seen so much snow, banff is like a giant merangue. anyway, on arriving in banff i asked for directions into town and strolled down the main street looking for the 'adventure' centre so that i could book a tour. i booked myself into the 'johnston canyon icewalk'. i was originally planning on doing the snow-shoeing survival course one but the girl at the desk said that the icewalk was the MOST popular. the tour started at 1.30pm, and it was only 9.30am, so i went and had a vanilla bean latte (mmm) and a double chocolate muffin (double mmmmmm) for breakfast. then i strolled to the end of town (town's not very big in banff), across the river and headed west. i found this great marsh walk which i didn't finish (i turned around and went back because i was worried about missing my tour bus) but it was soooo beautiful (and quite scary because i kept seeing these tracks which looked kind of like dog footprints but WAY BIGGER than a normal dog, so i immediately assumed they were wolf or bear tracks!!!!).

on the way back into town i saw the CUTEST squirrel!! it was really small and a light brown colour with a little gray tummy. he was quite interested in me and came quite close - sitting on a branch pointing in my direction, chewing on nuts. imagine my amusement!! he moved like no other creature i had ever seen. like he was slowed down stop-motion. something else incredible i saw on the way back into town... i noticed that some of the snowflakes landing on my sleeve were actually like the snowflakes you see photos of - the intricate and beautiful symmetrical star shapes!!! i always thought that you needed a microscope to see that detail, but apparently not! i was gobsmacked.

the afternoon tour was so great, i'm so glad i decided to do it. we hiked for about 2 hours into the mountains. for much of the way we followed a steel walkway that was bolted onto the side of the canyon wall, so we had some great views. the ice falls are incredible - i suppose they are a bit like icicles, but on a much grander scale, and the colour - a glowing pale blue - is stunning. there were 8 people in my group (i was the only kiwi) - some canadians, south Africans, germans and a scottish woman. our guide, fred, was french-canadian, and he was a cool guy - typically funny and friendly as most canadians are - but he never used plurals... it was quite strange. for example, "there are not many bird left here in the canyon". anyway, he knew a lot about the geology of the area, and the wildlife, so it was a very interesting trip and I learnt a lot :).

check out the pics :)
http://wedged.showcard.co.nz/gallery/album21

we have some blue sky today, and the snow is starting to melt. i think a chinook wind is blowing through and we have 4 degrees!! ABOVE zero!!! if we're lucky it might stay like this through the weekend.

be good,
love d xx