Cameron Styles – September to the future!

Okay so today was my double holiday, already being in Canada was awesome enough for me but Christina and her family planned a trip for us through the Rockies, through Jasper, Icefields and then to Banff for the night which was the most breathtaking scenery ive ever seen.

We woke up at around 6am and ended up leaving the house around 7-7.30am to venture forth through Hinton and off to Jasper for the first part of the trip.

Heading towards Hinton the scenery was different already as it was just giant fields of wheat farms with gorgeous churches and typical giant red barns everywhere in them. The further we went the more different the scenery became, in the distance you could see a small dark shadow of peaky mountains in the horizon.

We ended up entering into the Jasper National Park and about 1 minute after paying the toll booth thing we stopped at a bridge which had a gorgeous bright blue creek with small rapids under it, I looked up to see a giant row of mountains surrounding me which is something ive never seen before.

Continuing further on the trip we came to a corner where one of the mountains was right beside us, we noticed a heap of cars parked on the side of the road with all of their cameras out taking photos of what appeared to be the rocks themselves, as we got closer we also pulled over and i immediately grabbed my camera and hopped out of the car (i actually fell out cause the road had been paved badly lol) I looked up at the mountain rocks and saw around 7 Mountain Goats all sitting in the most awkward places ive ever seen, i have absolutely no idea how they got there in the first place but they were just chilling there all happily staring at us. After a few shots and some looking at them we headed on further.

Just a few more km’s down the road we saw a small dear on the side of the road eating at some fresh grass, i quickly got my camera and got a shot of it. There not really like the deer back at home.

Athabasca falls was the next stop for the trip, we stopped the car and followed every other tourist down the path. After easily noticing we were very close to the falls by the sound coming from near us i looked down to see the cutest little squirrel eating away at an acorn, we then continued further to the falls and wow these things are amazing, mist all up in the sky with these amazing waterfalls with water crashing everywhere. I mean yeah ive seen waterfalls at home but nothing like this, these are shaped so differently and go on for ages.

We continued driving for about another hour or 2 and i came to notice that there werent as many trees around and the mountains were changing, i soon found out why when a sign on the side of the road stated “Welcome to the Columbia Icefields” after taking a quick pic and driving on a little further we saw these icefields with all of the huge amounts of tourist quickly hurrying to the specially made icefield 4WD buses.

The scenery again went to absolutely breathtaking, mountains sitting behind crystal blue lakes, reflections creating the most amazing shots with my camera. After stopping a few more times we ended up turning off the big highway and arriving in Banff, we stopped at the city center to go get something to eat. We ended up going to Boston Pizza and having some pizza and a burger (the burger i had was made with a smoky Jack Daniels sauce, omg best!). After this we were going to head off the the hotel but decided to go to a place called “Surprise Corner” the second we turned into the street it was on we saw 2 deer walking down the sidewalk, i grabbed my camera and started getting some pictures, little did i know that Mr. Elder was easing the car closer and i had my window down, next thing im sitting there with my camera right in the face of a deer who was squatting to pee lol! I got freaked out and quickly put my window up.

We arrived at the hotel and booked in, the rooms were really nice, immediately after getting into our rooms we all changed into our swimmers and heading for the pool which was heated and just perfect.

The next morning we booked out after a continental buffet breakfast and started heading towards a scenic route south of Canmore. We headed down off the highway seeing gorgeous scenery to the left and right no matter where we were, we stopped at a few places and saw some Bear droppings lol but didn’t see the owner of them. We ended up going onto a dirt road and as soon as we turned to it 2 deer  were on the road, one went across in front of the car but the other stayed, it hesitated and then eventually ran across to its partner.

This road we were on lead us literally up into a mountain, we were looking left and right for bears or any animal, we found another Mountain goat randomly in the middle of the road digging for food.

After driving this road for nearly 2 hours we ended up at the  top and overlooking Canmore with no railings on the side of the road, the 2 girls started screaming about how dangerous road but Mr. Elder continued on laughing at them. We ended up ‘finally’ arriving at the bottom then heading back home to Edmonton.

All in all the 2 days were absolutely amazing, i never thought this country had such amazing scenery and wildlife. I definitely want to return and do it again but in the snow.

First of all, sorry about the long wait for this new post, I have been quite busy and away from my ‘Canadian Home’ but here’s what I have been doing for the past few days.

Day  7 -

Today me and Christina woke up early to venture out to a place called Fort Edmonton Park. It’s basically a historic park that explains the various stages Edmonton went through since first being discovered. There were 4 different streets to venture down that represented different times in history. We started at 1920 street, then 1905, then 1885 and finally we visited an actual fort that represented the 1846 time period. There were several ways to get around the park; a classic train, a tram, or a horse-driven carriage. Within each of the eras it showed the various buildings, vehicles, items and households that you’d find in this time. We walked from the first era to the last, starting with 1920 street, and it took about 3 hours. My favorite part would be the last area of the park, which was the 1846 fort. It showed how the settlers first arrived and established trades with the native Indians in Canada. At the bottom you will find various pictures of Fort Edmonton Park.

That night Christina, her parents, her grandpa and her uncle and I went to a place called The Moosehead Factory for dinner. They had an all-you-can-eat buffet which included different types of salads, soups, a wide selection of main meal-type dishes, freshly cooked roast beef and ham, and a large dessert selections all the way from cakes to a chocolate fondue fountain. I haven’t had roast beef much in Australia but I’ve got to say that the roast beef I had here was the most tender and delicious meat I’ve ever had. Also the cheesecakes and chocolate covered strawberries from the chocolate fountain were delectable.

Day 8 -

Me and Christina had a late night and slept in. When we got up we ended up venturing back to West Edmonton Mall in search of some sort of clothes for me and Christina’s luggage. After going through EVERY single clothes store in the mall it came down to me choosing between a leather jacket or a Jordan hoodie. As our lift home arrived we quickly rushed to the store selling the Jordan hoodie, but on the way came across another store which had buy one get the second hoodie for $1 so I ended up going with that and got 2 black hoodies. I saved about $7o going with this decision lol.

Christina ended up dragging me to a store called Cinnzeo which is famous for it’s cinnamon buns. After getting the cinnamon bun I sat down and sitting on my plate was a large twirled up bun with a mixture of brown sugar and cinnamon inside and a cream cheese icing on top. After eating mine quicker than Christina I came to the conclusion that cinnamon buns are fucking awesome!

With less than a week to go we finally came across a good deal for Christina’s luggage. (Typical girl, pink bags)

Day 9 -

We had planned to go to the zoo today, but after staying up very late we decided to sleep in and then head off to another mall in Edmonton called Southgate instead. Within 1-2 minutes of walking into southgate I was trying on a pair of DC shoes, and 30 seconds after that I was purchasing them lol. After getting my shoes we wandered around the place visiting various shops, buying chocolates from a place called Purdy’s, and ate lunch. One of the things we got from Purdy’s were called Hedgehogs which are little hedgehog shaped chocolates with a nutella-like filling. I liked them that much that I decided to not share with Christina (despite her buying them for us to share) and eating them myself.

For lunch we got 2 pita wraps and split them to share. After this we headed around to Safeway, which is where Christina used to work. It’s the Canadian version of Woolworths and we walked through the store a little bit until she came across people that she used to work with and I got to meet some of her work friends. We bought some digusting gum too lol.

((Written up by Christina, dictated by Cameron!))

Well its been another couple of days and they have been a little more laid back but also really cool. Christina and I spent Friday sleeping in (again) followed by a walk to and down Whyte Avenue, its kind of like Cavil Ave in surfers but a bit different, lots of clothing stores, souvenir stores and restaurants/bars (even an Aussie bar). We got some donuts like things from Tim Horton’s in some odd flavors like sour cream glazed and honey glazed which were awesome tasting followed by a Charleston Chew which was also equally as awesome.

On Saturday we woke up and decided to go for a picnic down at the park and being a weekend it was packed full of people, the area kind of reminds me of the spit at home cause all the done up cars etc would lap around there which was cool. We started up a campfire and started cooking out hot dogs (well after Mr.Elder borrowed some wood ) the hot dogs had an amazing flavour from being cooked over and open fire. After that we had roasted marshmallows which were deliciously sticky. I also saw a squirrel or 2 running around on the road and up some trees, they are so fast its crazy.

That night Christina and I spent the evening walking down to the park, getting some stuff at the corner store then watching a movie together.

(Pics are below in random order, click them to see them larger.)

On day 3 we had a bit of a lazy day, slept in late until the late afternoon and mainly stayed around the household with Christina. Christina made me homemade pancakes which were perfect and then as i started to eat them Mrs. Elder gave me some Canadian back bacon to go with it.

Later in the afternoon we had a visit from Christina’s Godmother and her little cousin Andrew (5 years old) who was interested about Australia, he drew me a picture of some of Canada’s animals which is the coolest and cutest thing ever.

After dinner we went out for a drive to see the cities sites, we visited areas showing off the Downtown view, these pyramids that have plants within them called the ” Muttart Conservatory”, the very large and awesome looking parliament building which i also got a picture of and the famous Whyte Avenue (Similiar to Cavil ave). I also got driven past the University and College that Christina will be attending next year and they look very modern and wow they are large compared to the midget Bond University lol. Edmonton really shocked me after spending 2 days without going near these areas, i kind of thought it was just a little quiet town type place until going into these huge CBD like areas.

(Click images to make them larger then back to return.)

We then spent the night playing board games just the 4 of us which went on until the early hours of the morning. I also tried my first ever Peanut butter and Jam sandwich, Rock Candy, Wonderbar, Crispy Crunch and a chocolate here named Turtles.

I was woken up on Day 4 by Christina and her mum banging on my window and ringing the doorbell as i slept in an extra 2 hours over the time we planned to wake up (lol), I answered the door to them asking if i was dead or hurt.

2 hours after this we were heading out to Rexall Place home of the Edmonton Oilers for the Pre-Season game vs Tampa Bay Lightning which was THE BEST THING EVER! We got Boston Pizza slices (which are huge compared to back home) and went and sat in the stadium overlooking the Ice rink (hoody was needed as it was very cold). The game started with both the American anthem and the Canadian anthem followed by the 2 teams coming out with every person in the crowd on their feet cheering for the oilers in “Oil Country!” The game ended with the Oilers winning 5-2 which made it such an awesome game, me and Christina were out of our seats constantly. I was in there expecting to maybe see a fight or 2, lol 16 seconds in was the first fight and at the end there had been a total of 6, Aussie sports have nothing on this stuff! OMG OILERS HAT AND PUCK FOR ME!!!!

Movies Below:

We then returned home after eating McDonalds (which is exactly the same) and also going on a drive to find an awesome vantage point of Downtown at night which i got pictures of. I then spent the rest of the night with Christina.

Okay so its now coming to the end of Day 2 in Canada and ive gotta say that im having an absolute ball here with Christina and her awesome family.

I walked into the front door to a huge welcome, balloons all over the walls, a giant poster saying “Welcome to Canada Cameron!” but the most amazing thing was that Christina made me a type of ‘Treasure Hunt’ which involved me scouring through an unknown house for 25 clues. After going through there kitchen, basement, washroom, bedrooms and everywhere else i ended up finding a huge Canadian bag filled with lots and lots of little presents for me

(CLICK EACH IMAGE TO SEE THEM BIGGER! FOLLOWED BY THE BACK BUTTON TO RETURN!)

Above is the welcome i got from Christina and the wonderful Elder family on Day 1!

This was the other gift that Christina gave me, she made 2 types of brownies from scratch. left is a regular choc fudge brownie and the right is a Caramel, chocolate chip, pecan and nutella brownie. AWESOME BAKER!

Day 2 -

I woke up after sleeping in a house ive never been in before for 11 hours and walked across to the Elder residence to have breakfast, i walked into the kitchen to find the table set with about 6 different cereals.

We then headed into Edmonton to go to the 5th largest shopping centre in the world “West Edmonton Mall” which after walking for 8 hours (legs are sore lol) and ive gotta say Robina Town Center and Pacific Fair eat your heart out, this place shits all over it. This place has an ice rink, giant pirate ship, theme park, water park, giant cinema with a god damn dragon that breathes fire at you!!!

Well me and Christina went through 1 of the 6 food courts this place has and we both had an “Orange Julius” (yes this reminds me of fast and the furious, the dude in the orange supra lol) i had an orange flavoured one and Christina a strawberry, they are the flavor of what a spider would be after being mixed (float for the Canadians ). Really awesome and i advise everyone to try if they ever can.

This is the theme park called Galaxy land, it is about 1/4 of the size of Dreamworld but still for being in a shopping center it is awesome none the less!

This is the ice rink which had kids skating and also has the Edmonton Oilers NHL team practicing but today it had a ZAMBONI! (some cleaning contraption)

This is an image of Bourbon street, its full of nice restaurants and bars like Hooters (nothing like the aussie imitation) and other types of places.

LOL Bentley sell luggage bags.

One of the many different water features in the middle of a intersection in the mall.

Yeah me and Christina went into one of the 5 arcades in this mall to place Air hockey (which for my first time has actual air pushing the puck, stupid Australia) so i had to try out a racing game

We then went for lunch and we ventured to A&W which is kind of like a bar/restaurant cross with hungry jacks, i ordered a whopper like burger with fries and a ROOT BEER which is awesome, its like a 1/2 Dr.Pepper 1/2 Coke. Christina ordered some Onion rings which i swear were Gigantic, i could like wear one as a bracelet or something.

This is some weird meal that Christina had (i didnt like it too much but she loves it) its called Poutine which is fries with gravy and some type of cheese. :\ weird yes i know.

This is the richy ditch area of the mall, all the expensive brands are here with your usual $2000 suits.

This guy here sits above the cinema’s, me and Christina ran up the stairs and started checking him out, next this some bells rang and the lights went out as he began to move and roar, next this he was breathing fire into our faces which scared the absolute shit out of me lol

This section is where they have Dolphin/Seal shows and a submarine ride but just to make it more awesome they have this sick looking replica ship which is huge, this mall has some wicked stuff.

LOL and to finish it this is Canada’s wave pool and the only waves Christina has ever seen, they are like our whitewash back at home, I cant wait to show her our true waves

Anyways its 3am here and im gonna hit the hay, will make another post tomorrow sometime on what happened.

Well after 22 hours in the air and with customs screwing me around i am now sitting in Christina’s room typing this blog (shits scary, i know!). Anyways just thought id give a small update so people know whats going down plus pic below…

(Click to see Bigger Version, Sorry for bad qual was from iPhone)

Well im out, West Edmonton Mall tomorrow with my girl!

Well i spent the day out with some mates and also my brother and his wife, the day was alright but seriously AutoSalon is getting so old and i ain’t going again aye lol.

Anyways off to Canada tomorrow morning i leave at 6am from Gold Coast airport to go to Sydney then its off to Vancouver, CA on a 15 hour flight for my first time in a plane lmao, should be…. awesome… or scary either one. Once i get there expect lots of photos and everything else as my camera will be going clickity click like crazy.

Holy hell, it feels like its been barely any time since i bought my tickets and now I’m sitting here thinking about where I’m going to be in 1 week from now… The answer to that is :\ over top of the pacific ocean on my direct flight to Vancouver.

Well this is my first blog post for the all new and hopefully information full blog of mine. I know that Ive had blogs before that have died 3 posts in but this one has a lot more meaning because in 9 days i will be hoping onto a plane from Sydney’s airport and heading out to Edmonton, Canada for my first ever trip overseas all by my lonesome.

I am super excited for my trip and in the next few days and onwards i hope to share this with anyone that reads this be it family members, friends, randoms or even myself in the future when i look back upon my trip.