This is going to be one of many posts from Banff. Lets start by saying Wow Wow Wow! For two Aussie boys who haven’t really ever seen snow this place is unbelievable. All those movies and TV shows like Northern Exposure (and yes I know that was set in Alaska) but we are really here and its really white and cold and amazing!.
Our Banff experience started in Calgary. We landed in Calgary and it was snowing….. check our quick video below of our first snow fall. We couldn’t wipe the smile off our face. We boarded a bus to Banff and after 30 hours of no sleep we were still wide awake watching all the way along our 2 hour bus ride to Banff’s winter wonderland.
We are staying at the Rimrock Resort on Sulphur Mountain just outside the town of Banff (and don’t worry if you come here it doesn’t smell like Sulphur). Driving though the township of Banff at night I think is made even more spectacular by the Christmas lights in almost every tree.! We just could wait to wake up in the morning and see this in the daylight,
Our first day in Banff and we needed to get our skiing situation sorted. Equipment, passes it all seems a bit confusing for us – the first time skiers. We will post some information for anyone who hasn’t done this before so you know exactly what to do. After visiting the Ski Hub in Banff Ave we are all sorted ready for 5 days of non stop skiing. They managed to talk us into ski lessons, because of course we thought… “we’ve both water skied how hard can it be!” But I think it was a good idea to do some lessons.
There is a bus called the Roamer which travels around Banff. It costs $2 to go anywhere on the route, but if you staying at the Rimrock you can travel for free by showing your room key. The trip into town takes all of 7 minutes and drops off at a few stops along Banff Avenue. While we were in town we headed to Nesta’s supermarket to grab some supplies, stopped in at Starbucks for a hot chocolate and called into the dept store in the middle of town to grab some gloves and beanies. The temperature dropped while we were in town and so we headed back to the resort to thaw out with some wine and cheese! The temperatures set to drop from -7 today to about -20 degrees celsius over the next 24 hours.
Well tomorrows Damon’s birthday so its a day of adventures with a helicopter tour to the peak of a mountain! Its gonna be amazing!