So its off to the national parks to take in some of canadas natural wonders. We are starting with Banff national park which is a 9 hour drive from vancouver so we decided to spit up the drive by having an overnight stop in a small town called Kamloops. We then had another early start the next morning to get to Banff in time to take in some of the town before it got dark. The drive was long however the scenery was so spectacular you almost forget how long you have been in the car. Around every corner there is another gorgeous view so the journey was painless. We checked into our hotel which was a lovely lodge style hotel with a rooftop hot tub!! Needless to say after the long drive our first stop was the hot tub with the view and it was an awesome view to the rocky mountains and surrounding countryside. We chilled out there for an hour and then with our stomachs telling us they were hungry we headed to Banff town centre to have a look round and hopefully find somewhere nice to eat. The town itself was lovely it sits in a valley surrounded by the mountains and everywhere you look the sunlight catches an amazing scene and you have to take a photo. We have a look in a few shops before realising that the majority sell the same tourist tat you get in every tourist hot spot. We discovered very quickly on arrival in Canada that it is the most expensive place we have ever been with Banff being no exception so finding somewhere reasonable to eat was tricky! Eventually we found a restaurant called The Old Spaghetti Factory where you could get a salad, entree, bread and ice cream for $10 so we were sold and enjoyed a really nice pasta and a glass of wine. After dinner we looked around a few more shops before heading back to the hotel to rest up for the busy day ahead!

Day 2 and our plan for the morning was to drive to the nearby Lake Louise which we had seen photos of but were desperate to visit. Whenever you see photos of lake louise the water is always a really unusual aquamarine colour, not clear or blue like other lakes you see. We later found out the colour comes from the sediment that the melting glaciar water leaks into the lake over the warmer summer months. The white flour like sediment mixes with the water and gives it an almost milky looking appearance which when the sun hits it turn this amazing aqua/green colour. Anyway when we arrive we are not disappointed and the lake is gorgeous you will see in our photos the place is knock you off your feet beautiful. We walk around taking photos for a while before deciding to take a hike to the glaciar which melts and fills lake louise. I dont think either of us realised what we were signing up for with this hike but it was tough. It was 6.1km of constant climbing up some pretty steep hills. Dont get me wrong the views on the way up were amazing and again you will see from our photos how high we climbed at one point we walked past a giant piece of glacier still left over from winter! About 2 hours later we reached the top of the trail and we were at an elevation of 6500ft and we had climbed about 3000ft. Much to my delight there was a tea room at the top of the trail and my tipple of choice was the biggest and best piece of homemade chocolate cake ever. I think maybe the work i had put in to get to the tea room made the cake taste even better! It took every piece of motivation to begin the 6.1km descent however it wasnt as bad as we expected and we got down in just over an hour. With the afternoon we headed back to Banff to take in the cable car ride to the top of sulphur mountain. Having been on some pretty hairy rollercoasters i can honestly say the cable car is the scariest ride ever. You are in a little cabin which swings from a rope and takes you higher and higher above the trees to the summit of the mountain. At the top you get the best unspoiled view of Banff and the surrounding rockies. There is a walkway at the top which takes you around the summit to an old weather station and gives more great photos before we had to board the death cabin to begin our descent to earth! After a long day with lots of walking and sightseeing we knew exactly what we needed.....hot tub! We spent an hour chilling out in spa before getting a pizza for tea. What a day!

Day 3 and somehow mike had convinced me to go white water rafting, yes thats right i did say white water rafting! We booked it the previous day with a company called wet and wild. They collected us at 8.15am and took us to a town called Golden about 90 minutes from Banff. When we arrived at the rafting centre we were given wetsuits, shoes and life jackets before getting back on the bus to go to the start point of our rafting adventure! Up until this point i was feeling ok about the whole plummiting down a swollen river navigating through rocks, fallen trees and massive foaming rapids however when we arrived at the river side and i could see exctly how fast the current was on the river i was sh**ing myself! After a quick safety instruction we had to shoehorn ourselves into our wetsuits, don our fetching helmets and lifejackets and we were ready to go We were in a boat with another couple and family with 3 small girls. The first part of the day is an introduction involving mainly calm waters and a few grade 1 or 2 rapids. It was actually really good fun i soon relaxed into it and was getting the hang of the paddling and hanging on to the rope in the boat. About halfway through the morning session we were passing under a low bridge and the guide asks for any volunteers to stand up on the side of the boat and try to hook their paddle over the bridge. So you know whats coming next mike with the worst balance of anyone i have ever seen decides he will have a go so he trys to stand up and gets one foot on the side of the inflatable before losing his balance and face planting into the freezing cold glacier river!! So while i am contemplating whether our travel insurance covers recklessness mike is trying to swim back to the raft and one of the other men has to try to pull him back in! We then stop for lunch at the river side and we have a delicious barbeque with hotdogs, burgers and chicken. After lunch it was the more difficult part of the trip involving more grade 3 and 4 rapids in other words the really scary ones where you are at risk of falling in or the boat tipping over! Everyone who had been in our raft in the morning wasnt continuing in the afternoon so we were in a different raft with a group of men and one other woman. It doesnt take long for the rapids to get pretty choppy and soon we were being battered by the freezing cold water. Much to my surprise i was really enjoying myself it was really scary when the big waves almost tipped the boat but you just paddle when your told and hold the rope tightly when your told and it was really good fun. We got to the end of the route and we were both desperate to continue however the people who were on the bus with us didnt want to do any more so we unfortunately had to hang up our wetsuits and head back to the hotel. The white water rafting was a great success we both really enjoyed ourselves and will definitely be doing it again when we go to New Zealand.

So thats us finished in Banff and cant wait to go north to Jasper to see what other beautiful sights canada has to offer. It may be one of the most expensive places to visit but it is somehow worth it when every minute of every day you see so many different and amazing views and sights. Roll on Jasper!