So now that we are amped to camp in Canada, we have had to knuckle down and decide exactly where we will be spending our five weeks. Although we would have preferred to take each day as it comes and move where and when we feel like, we are hitting Canada in peak summer season, when tens of thousands of Canadians and Americans all diverge on British Columbia, booking everything up way in advance and forcing us transcontinental gypsies to pre-plan to ensure we get to stay at the best locations.
Here is what we have planned so far:
Our adventure starts with the catch-up of a decade in Vancouver. We are heading straight to Ralph’s brother Mark and his wife Lena’s place to chat, wine and dine, and just enjoy being in such close proximity to each other. Mark has taken leave so we will spend loads of time together. We will be staying with them in their apartment, and we plan to explore the city through their eyes – visiting all their favourite spots.
During the latter part of the week, we hope to go sturgeon fishing in the Fraser River, and perhaps head North of Vancouver to Whistler, Pemberton and Lillooet for some trout fishing.
Off to the Rockies! We will head East through Mount Revelstoke and Glacier National Parks, all the way to the Icefields Parkway – one of the most scenic drives in the world. We head up to Jasper National Park, where we are camping for three nights at Wabasso campground, and plan to enjoy some of the scenic hikes in the area. Then we head back down the Icefields Parkway towards Banff, camping for a couple of nights in Johnston Canyon and then at Two Jack Lakeside. Jasper and Banff have some of the most incredible scenery and are paradise to nature lovers.
We head further East to Paradise Canyon Golf Resort in Alberta, to recharge our batteries (literally and figuratively) and take advantage of the mod-cons of an RCI Gold Crown resort. We swapped a week of South African timeshare in exchange for a condo complete with proper beds, showers, electricity, washing machine and dryer – all the things we will be in dire need of after our week of camping rough. Rather than golfing, the boys will be fishing the waters of the golf course. We plan to explore a bit of the area – including the badlands around Dinosaur Provincial Park (where we will get to see some hoodoos), the carriage museum in Lethbridge (I am an avid horse & carriage driver) and Waterton Lakes National Park (we may even cross the border into Glacier National Park in Montana).
We will work our way back (in clean clothes) West through Kelowna and the Okanagan Valley – known for its picturesque wine estates and sandy lake beaches. Then we jump on the ferry across to Vancouver Island and head up North to Campbell River, the “salmon fishing capital of the world”. We will be camping in Elk Falls Provincial Park and fly fishing the local rivers as well as heading out to sea to catch some salmon, and hopefully spot some orcas. We might head to Gold River for a day aboard the historic working ship, the Uchuck III, as it delivers groceries to all the outlying island resorts.
Mark and Lena will be joining us at Quadra Island, one of the Discovery Islands on the famous Inside Passage waterway to Alaska on Canada’s West Coast. There we end off our Vancouver Island adventure in style at Gowlland Harbour Resort. This is quite a popular Canadian wedding venue, and we are keen to see how things work at the other end of the globe (we run an award-winning South African wedding venue). Then we head back to Vancouver for the weekend. We are really excited that we will get to see the Honda Celebration of Light international fireworks competition, which is billed as one of the greatest firework displays on earth and is bound to be explosively awesome. A last few days with Mark and Lena, and then we head back to Vancouver airport for the epic journey home.
We can’t wait to get on the right side of the road in our Canadian minivan, and to live and capture our epic Canadian adventure and share it with you!
Our Planned Route Map
Although we have planned most of our locations, we hope to discover each place as we arrive, rather than pre-plan all our activities. Do you know of anything along our route that we simply must do? Please share with us in the comments section below, so we can add it to our list.
Yours in travel
Did you miss any of our Canada Diary entries? Make sure to subscribe to our blog to receive email notifications of new diary posts.
Canada Diary Part 1 – Why Canada?
Canada Diary Part 2 – Getting Amped
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