Sunday 29th August 2010
The girls at the Swap office finally decided they will send my contacts to me at the hotel we are working in. I am so looking forward to getting rid of my glasses! We finished work today at 4.20 this is a long day scrubbing bathrooms floors and toilets - 8 hours! It is quite annoying that the "House Person" The guy whose job it is to strip all our Check Outs for us pockets all the tips that we have earnt by cleaning their rooms each day. I know this as the boss said that no tips have been handed in for months - When Mike is house person 2 days a week he sees the tips they leave so we know it is him - soooo annoying! We now have 2 days off again. We found 2 mini bottles of champers and a magnus in one of the rooms which is a bonus. We are going out tonight as it is our day off tomorrow and it is Sunday Locals Night. We bought some chicken that was half price (dodge we know) which was marinated in herbs and cooked in on our camping stove with some Uncle Bens rice delicious!

Sunday Night
We finally had a decent night out hurray! We had 2 Jager Bombs, a mini bottle of champers topped up with Moster energy drink, a vodka and diet coke and 1/2 a magnus each in the van, then headed 1st to the Same Sum Backpackers for a cheap "highball" The Canadians call High Balls what we would call ..... actually what do we call it? Basicall a vodka and coke or a gin and tonic etc...$2.75 but they are not "high" they are in tumbler glasses. We spoke to a guy from Chillie and a few other people doing the same sort of thing as us in the travelling world. Then we headed to the ATM then to the Pump & Tap Pub. We met DK in there who si from Quebec and is Leila's friend from work. We also got talking to a guy called ...... cant remember but we will call him Buz from Home Alone (Big Brother). We all played pool and I won so Buz had to buy me a Jager Bomb. Mike also won his game against DK so he also had a Jager Bomb. We then headed to the New Club called the Dancing Sasquatch which was ok...its not the same without your friends around you. Mike was outside having a cig and a really good song came on which I would have stomped around to with all my friends but there was no-one there so was not so good (boo hoo!). During the night we managed to consume 2 x Poutine ( Amazing Chips, Gravy and Cheese Curds which the Canadians love and so do we addictive!!!) and a macdonalds. We then headed for bed and woke up with a monster headache - I'm thinking thats why they call it Monster as all the sugar gives you a monster headache in the morning! We were hungover but not sick - thank goodness!

Monday 31st August
We headed to the neighbouring town Canmore for the day which is the overspill from Banff. I think this is where all the locals live and is equally as beautiful as Banff itself - with the gleaming mountains seeming nearer that Banff. We were giggling all day on a hangover and had a right laugh at nothing in particular just being silly really - I think we were both a little bit still drunk as we seemed to find everything we said to each other hillarious. One of the French girls Jessica had said to me a couple of days ago " My apartment - It smell like garbages" which I repeated to Mike in a french accent all through the day and set us off in hysterics - I think people of Canmore actually thought we were drunk. I was also shouting "Jai Douze Ans" in French to him as i kept saying it when i was drunk to our new French Friend DK. That is the only think we remember from School when we were 12! We ate a gorge Phad Thai and Butter Chicken from a weired takeaway and ate on a plastic bench outside which was delicious ($10 expensive!) We went back to our van for a nap and headed to Lake Slouise so we could be up early in the morning for a walk. DK text us to see if we wanted a drink as it was his day off but we were not in Banff so we couldnt. Clearly me shouting JAI DOUZE ANS after every shot of pool didnt put him off our company! We stayed in the Staff accommodation car park at Lake Louise that night.

Tuesday 31st August 2010
We had 12 glorious hours sleep a usualy for us in the van and woke up feeling fresh as the cold Banff air. We washed and cleaned our teeth in the public toilet - now completely blaze at people staring at us! We headed for the Plain of Six Glaciers whic is a 5.3Km one way hike with a 364m elevation gain and a 4 hour round trip. It was chilly icy cold. The walk reminded us of the 6 hour round trip up Rob Roy Glacier we did with Gus and James in Wanaka in 2008. This walk was equally beautiful i think more so. Starting at the foot of Lake Louise and climbing deep into the valley to the glacier. They had a cute Swiss Tea House near the top where me and Mike shared a hot chocolate (well deserved) We walked a little further to the view point near the glacier where it was getting crispy cold and even slightly snowing! We ate our packed lunch right at the top which no-one else was doing - probabley because it was much warmer a little further back at the rest stop! I had made our packed lunch at dinner the night before and had bought and empty drink carton by accident! Whooops! That is what we were looking forward to drinking at the top as the lady at the Lake Louise Fairmont Chateau had filled our water up with a cloudy substance that we did not dare drink... Mikes backpack then started rolling down the mountain just about to go over the cliff which he cought just in the nick of time - this was rewarded with a few claps from fellow hikers! We did not have the best footware on everyone else in hiking boots and me with my River Island Shoe / Trainers! Lake Louise is GORGEOUS. Blue clear calm water with a dramatic back drop of huge moutains and glaciers - perfect picture opportunites and probabley the most picturesque place we have been blessed to have seen.

We have decided now to only use our earnings from working in Canada. We have spent a scary £5600 so far in 3 months. Christ that is alot. I suppose that is for both of us and we spent about £2K on the van which we will hopefully get some money back next year for.. We also have been to alot of places and Mike has bought a Snowboard Jacket and Pants and we have both bought some thermals for winter.

We received our first pay cheque for 2 weeks of hard slog in housekeeping $1379 which I think equates to about £900. We are going to work another 2 weeks then travel a few places on the way to Whistler. Mike said one day " I just want to be able to stand up in my home" This made me laugh and yes we are soooooooo looking forward to our apartment in Whistler! No more getting changed in a seat!

Friday 5th August.
Joe at work had been given some ticket to the Hoodoo Club in town which Brianna our work friend was also going to. Elise who had the day off the next day also got a ticket so we decided to give it a go. We did our usual routine of makeup and hair in the public toilet - drinks in the van first (jaber bombs, monster and vodka, beer) etc then met Elise in the Pump & Tap. We had a few drinks and games of pool. DK was with us also. He works at the Ardvark which is an all day all night pizza place. It is run by Phillipeono's who have taken a dislike to him and are cruel! They give him a four hour break from 10pm - 2pm! He had nothing do do in this time and is a bit of a nightmare for him bless! We had some poutine at the Old Irish Bar quite expensive at $9 but you did get alot. We then went to the Hoodoo Lounge and Elise felt ill so she went home. The music was great hard hitting Dub Step which Mike loves and so do I! We had a bit of a dance - had a jager shot - bought a triple high ball and split it - then we ran out of money - well we had $6 left so we wanted to save money for food on the way home - well way back to the van!

Saturday 6th August
Mike and I arrived in work early - hungover - still a little drunk and in fits of giggles again! Work was quite alright as we were just having a laugh and being silly. When we finished work I bought a brand new snowboard which Mike has been pushing me to get. Its a twin tip and size 141cm as apposed to my 147cm which is a non twin tip. I spoke to the guy in the shop about it who was saying the same thing as Mike that the twin tip will help me go switch and will help me with jumps and on the park. However it will not help me in powder where my other board will come in handy as it is longer and set back. The board is a Formum Spinster and was $288 CAD. Mike bought some pants to match his coat which $95CAD. Both were 50% off and I cheekily asked if they would throw in a thermal face bandana for free which is agreed to. Very excited to get on the snow now with my new board! Its tiny which is just what I want!

Sunday 7th August
Oh Dear! Went to work and felt fine. Elise had called in sick with a stomach bug and Leila had to leave the breakfast room and come back in the evening as she looked as white as ghost and was about to throw up. Mike and I finished and watched The American at the Lux Cinema. It is $7 as opposed to $10 if you catch the Mattinee. We shared half a mars bar and watched the film. I started to feel a little unwell but nothing much. The film was not that good and we are still fighting to see a film that captured our attention like Inception which I predict will win some kind of award at the end of the year. We went to the park and I threw the mars bar outside of the van - citing that "I knew it was off and double the price of the supermarket bars!" I was sick and sick and sick over and over again - then I went to the toilet and realised that it was not the mars bar... I have not been this ill since Centre Parks when I was about 11. I had cought a nasty virus and all was not good. I was worried as we were living in the Van and the pubic toilets closed at 10.00am! What if I needed the toilet in the night? I had no-where to go? I usually can not understand anyone who can not hold their sick in - until they get to a toilet. However I now sympathise! I was on the toilet whilst spewing at the same time and was sick EVERYWHERE. all over the public toilets. I then had to clean it up as I felt bad on the cleaner! It was awfull. I was being sick until 12.00am in the morning outside the van but finally got some sleep. We woke up at 7.30am still feeling queasy and refused to call in sick at work. Even as a housecleaner I cant call in sick its in my nature!

Monday 8th August
Such a long day feeling like your going to throw up and cleaning bathrooms (Mike makes the beds and I clean the bathrooms) Still I ploughed through it and hopefully have lost a few pounds!