Picked up from our hotel in Jasper at 8am, we were in for a full day of fun and adventure travelling through the Jasper and Banff national parks to Banff, first stop the Athabasca waterfalls.

Despite being summer, a cold snap two days earlier had brought a fall of snow on the mountains and a light scattering in the valleys. The air was fresh and the ground crisp underfoot with a light frost. The waterfalls were roaring and a beautiful sunny day meant a perfect rainbow was hovering in front of the cascading water. We had plenty of time to enjoy the stunning scenery and take photos before heading to the Columbia Icefield. Leaving the bus we climbed aboard a specially designed ice explorer, these massive six wheeled vehicles crawl their way down a very steep unsealed roadway before heading onto the ice and up onto the Athabasca glacier. Leaving the vehicle we were able to walk around the 'parking area', which is surveyed every morning for possible crevasses or sink holes before the public are permitted to venture into the ice. It was a beautiful sunny day, birds were soaring overhead, a Canadian flag was hanging limply in the still air and carved into the crisp snow, from a previous glacial visitor, the letters NZ. Giving us the perfect opportunity for a photo we 'added kiwi' and snapped a couple of shots which attracted a surprising amount of interest from fellow travellers (not New Zealanders) who wanted to borrow our kiwi for a photo, most astonishingly an Australian couple from Sydney.

Returning to the bus we headed to the 'glacier skywalk'. The skywalk starts by walking along a cliff-edge pathway that affords stunning alpine and glacial views. The free audio guide provides informative nature talks about local wildlife, the flora and fauna and a history of the mountains, the valleys and the glaciers. The grand finale of the skywalk is walking on the glass floored observation platform 280 metres above the valley below. By this stage of our holiday I had already conquered many heights so quite confidently walked out onto the glass floor without giving it a second thought. The views from the skywalk of snow-capped peaks, rugged mountains and the deep valley below was truly breathtaking.

After lunch at the Columbia Icefields Discovery Centre we headed to Lake Louise, stopping for photos at glacial lakes along the way as we drove through the Banff National Park. The highlight of the afternoon for me, after watching several cheeky little chipmunks at Lake Peyto, was seeing a cinnamon grizzly bear, foraging for food in the undergrowth near the side of the road. Our bus driver made an unscheduled stop and although we were unable to leave the bus for safety reasons, we were able to watch this magnificent wild animal through the large bus windows for about fifteen minutes.

Lake Louise is as picture perfect as a postcard, the turquoise waters of the lake are framed with spectacular mountains in one direction and the famous Fairmont Hotel in the other. Canoeists were paddling on the lake, people were out walking and groups of people and families were just sitting relaxing in the warm afternoon sun while enjoying awe-inspiring vistas of the lake and the mountains. Saying goodbye to Lake Louise we headed to our final destination for the day, Banff. Arriving early evening we checked into our hotel, the 'Caribou Lodge', once again being given a 'birthday' room upgrade. Our jacuzzi suite was like a small two level house with two bathrooms, a gas log fire in the lounge and amazing views of the surrounding snow capped mountains. After wandering around Banff Village for a couple of hours, perusing the tourist shops and taking twilight photos, we concluded our second day in the Rockies with an amazing dinner at 'The Keg', a Canadian steakhouse restaurant, which had great food and a great atmosphere.