After some drama with work trying to get our shifts covered and some more drama trying to rent a car (can be difficult for overseas under 25 driver!) me and Kirkum finally got to go on our much anticipated roadie!!! We picked up the car and I thought I may wet myself with excitement (the car company would have charged us loads so I managed to hold it in) and packed up our stuff and off we went!!! Originally we were working but thankfully it rained so they did not need us!! That gave us more time and we drove all the way from Vancouver to Jasper on one day (well Katy drove the whole 12 hours herself bless her as I am an arrogant Londoner that never saw the need to learn to drive). The drive itself was spectacular, due to the rainy weather we got to experience what its like to actually drive THROUGH a cloud as we were driving so high above sea level. We arrived in Jasper and the first thing we saw was 2 moose in the middle of the road! We also discovered Alberta is an hour ahead which meant we missed the check in for the hostel; however they were full anyway so we ended up sleeping in the car in the hostel car park, quite the experience as it was in the middle of nowhere! We woke up in the morning and discovered that being out on the mountains meant we had some company in the night and a mouse had nibbled on the twix we had in the glove box!! Katy was more upset about the twix than the actual mice situation! After sneaking into the hostel to use their facilities we headed into Jasper and did a bit of exploring. Its very much a tourist town with very few people actually living there, its all built around the ski industry, as we discovered about a lot of the rocky towns. After some cereal in the car (we lived in that car!) we decided to actually head down the long stretch that is the Rockies. Our first stop was Thabasca Falls which blew us away! It was stunning and we were brave (perhaps stupid) enough to climb over the balcony walkway and go to the edge of the waterfall - scary! Next we headed up to Kitchener Mountain to experience the tourist experience that is the Icefields!! It's a glacier that's over 800 years old and even in the summer it never melts (do you like my facts?), my ears were popping like mad (something I had got used to) as we headed up to the icy mountain (in summer!) I was really excited as I have never been on a snowy mountain when its hot but Katy whos been on many sking holidays thought I was a knob. We got some great pics and I drank the glacier water (refreshing!). After the Icefields we drove through Banff National Park (huge) I have never seen some many xmas trees in my life! There was about a million! (if only there were presents for me under each one), these trees are over 700 years old (I had my Canada lonely guide with me which I quoted from the whole trip driving katy mad, geeks are supposed to be sexy these days anyway). Next was Peyto Lake Lookout which was the most stunning thing I saw on the trip (thanks to a tip from the lonely guide!) we did the short trek up (only about 15 mins, long enough for me) and the view from up there was spectacular! It was like being in a real life postcard. The colour of the water is like a milky green due to the falls from the icefeild and the rocks which after years eventually turn to a powder texture - beautiful! After a big day we decided to just drive until we got to Lake Louise and on the way we passed tons for lakes and mountains, all very beautiful. We got to Lake Louise around 6pm just as the sun was going down, again it was beautiful very postcard!! It almost looked artificial as you just don't expect it to be that naturally beautiful if that makes sense! Banff was our final stop of the day and after our rough night in the car we appreciated a big meal at the Banff Old Spaghetti Factory (despite us wanting a break from work we do like the good cheap food you get at a spag!!) and a cosy bed in a hostel in Banff. The next day we decided we were going to be brave and spend an extra night in Banff and go White Water rafting there so we booked that for the following day after Katy convinced me we would not die. So Monday we had a chilled day, did some postcard shopping and headed to Banff Hot Spings. The water is supposed to be very good for you and is naturally boiling hot! I could not spend long in it as I kept getting flustered but it was just so wicked sunbathing up on a mountain top knowing the day before I was treading snow!! After the hot springs we headed up to the Kicking Horse river which is where we were to raft the next day. It was literally in the middle of no where so we carried on to the next town 'Golden' meeting some characters along the way! Some dude told us he had a shot gun in his car as he was out hunting for elk! - we quickly lost him. We had decided the car was not so bad and to save some money we slept in the car again - however this was a nightmare as I was really scared of all them hairy creatures! The morning came for rafting! I was really scared and partly praying it would rain and thunder so we could not go but we got there and I saw all the old people doing it and told myself to grow up! We did the whole 'talk' about what to do if you bleedin fall out! Had a yummy BBQ lunch then it was off we went. I must say I looked fowl in the wet suit!! This good living is catching up with me!! I liked the helmet though made me feel safe! So off we went down the Kicking horse, it was beautiful, being in the Rockies rafting away on a lovely sunny day! Was great fun and I only nearly died twice!! Katy just kept laughing, she was not scared at all. We had some characters on our raft - two Germans I named the tweenies and Lina who we used to work at the Spag with, two Japanese girls who just kept giggling and an aussie girl who was well sporty I hated trying to keep up with her paddling when she was at the front!! After an exhausting 2 hours rafting we started to head to Calgary but gave up and stopped at Canmore which I am so glad we did as we got to stay in this $18 a night hostel up in the mountains which was lovely!! It was so cabin like and the view from our room was something else. Our last day was dedicated to driving all the way back to Vancouver - again it was very beautiful and we stopped off in some hilarious towns with Deer just wondering around the streets and old men sitting outside gas stations just drinking beer and watching the world go by. We did have a sticky moment when we were following the map on highway 93 and it just stopped!!! We just turned a corner and there was a huge lake so we thought we were lost and eventually figured out that we had to get a ferry OVER this highway 93!! Lucky we had Justine Timberlake's new album (sexy never left!!) and Corrine Bailey Rae to keep us occupied while we waited an hour for this ferry. After a long long long drive (in which Katy went a bit mental at the end, seeing things and singing opera) we finally arrived home (best shower and sleep ever). Now were just working our arses off doing 12 hour shifts at work trying to save all we can in the final 3 weeks we have left here in Canada before we head off to Mexico! Gonna be gutted to leave! Feel quite at home here and made some great friends but the Rockies made me realise how much we have ahead of us to see - can't wait!!