Canadia 2005

Well we went to Vernon and found a lovely motel to stay in, it was a Tiki village theme with a Japanese restaurant attached.  We checked in and went exploring.  Firstly we went to Planet Bee, which is a shop selling hundreds of honey derived products, they also had a glass hive so you could see the bees making honey.  After that we went on a self guided tour of Vernon as they have about thirty murals all over the city, they were very good and represented historical and cultural events.  When we got back to the motel we used the gym, sauna and hot tub facilities.  Unfortunately by the time we had finished the restaurant was closed so we went to the local chinese restaurant.  The next day we checked out and headed for Salmon Arm, making a few stops on the way.  When we arrived we had a look around and then went to Charlie's cousins.  They were very nice and Robert had prepared a delicious Hungarian meal.  The following day we went for a walk with Margaret and Robert picked us up with their freind.  They took us for a drive into the mountains so we could take pictures of the valley.  On the way back we stopped at a little farm shop for eggs and ended up picking plums which were delicious.  That evening we went to the local chinese restaurant which was the best chinese food I have ever tasted.  The following day we went to watch Robert and Margaret play the Bassoon in their band at a local charity event, it was very good.  Once we got home we drove to Revelstoke, on the way we stopped at a section of railway line where they had put 'the last spike' when they finally finished building the railway that connected the west and east coasts of Canada for the first time. We then stopped at an old ghost town, which had lots of old buildings and stuff collected by one family.  It was very interesting.  By the time we got to Revelstoke everything was closed so we headed back.  On the way back we stopped at this canyon which has a suspension bridge across it and a beautiful waterfall.  The following day we went back to Revelstoke and visited a hydro dam and a railway museum before heading back to Oliver via the Kootenay mountains.  We then had a couple of days relaxing, and on Thursday we went to th USA, which was a bit boring.  Firstly they charged us $6 each for a visa and then the tourist information centre lady told us that there wasn't much to see and that Canada was better! we went for a drive, had lunch and went home doing some wine tours on the way.  Yesterday we sorted out all the recycling, which payed us about $78 in refunds and today is MY BIRTHDAY, we're going to Penticton, and will hopefully go parasailing, we'll then go out with my sister and some of her friends to a variety of night clubs.  I'll tell you all about it in a few days when the hangover wears off! 

Sam

Yesterday we went on the Kettle Valley Railway, on an old steam train which used to carry passengers/freight all across British Columbia from the late 1800s till the 1980s.  It was pretty cool and there was a yipee i oh ay banjo playing man and people in old fashioned conductor costumes and drivers in stripy dungarees and caps, which all added to the general atmosphere and excitement.  It did about an hour and a half round trip down the only section left from the original railway, stopping on a bridge which goes right over a valley looking down onto the Okanagan lake.  It was awesome, and we got some nice pictures, but unfortunately we forgot the digital camera again so they're on the disposable one! I was a little disappointed as i'd been told that the train gets ambushed by train robbers lookin' for us gold, but they never came.

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So we saw Charlie and the chocolate factory, it was good.  The next day we went quad-biking in the mountains, we were looking for more bears but the bike makes too much noise.  We saw a few small bull snakes, one of which was dead but never mind.  We went down some little tracks which took us to Madden and Ripley lake, we had a picnic and enjoyed the views, actually it wasn't the best location, there was huge electricity pilons shadowing the lake, one of the benches had been vandalised and there was cow muck all around the lake - apart from that it was lovely!  The following day we went back to Osoyoos and visted the Indian desert and heritage centre which is on the Osoyoos Indian Reserve.  It was really interesting, unfortunately there's no pictures cos charlie forgot the camera.  We did buy a disposable camera so you can see the pics when we get back.  The next day we decided we would go hiking in the mountains, so we drove to a little town called Keremeos, Charlie informed me that the trail started after we passed two gates, looking at the map it appeared that there would be somewhere to park so we started to drive up this small track.  After we passed two gates we realised that there wasn't anywhere to park so we kept driving as there was nowhere to turn.  The track was very narrow and not maintained.  There was steep mountain on the right of us and on the left, a steep drop down the mountain. We began to get scared, we got higher and higher and the road got narrower, the drop below us was frightening.  We eventually got to a barbed wire gate across the track saying 'keep out', when we looked across at the adjacent mountains we could see snow-topped peaks just above.  The view was spectacular, but we didn't know what to do.  We decided to reverse back down the mountain, Charlie did a brilliant job of backing me down.  We eventually found somewhere just wide enough to turn, we then had to pull in to let a farmer past on a quad bike.  We told him we were lost and what we were looking for.  He directed us through even narrower tracks and eventually found a mountain side made of basalt columns, it was worth the trek.  Once we got off the mountain we headed home.  We took the car to the car wash cos it was filthy, then headed to a neighbours bonfire party.  Sharon was fuming and searched the care for dents and scratces.  She told us that she never goes off-roading - oops! We had a lovely evening eating pizza by the fire.  Yesterday we went shopping in Kelowna with Sharon and had "English" fish and chips for supper - We're going to go back and teach them how to do it properly.  Anyway, we're going to go to the Kettle Valley Railway today so I must go. 

Sam

got back from camping yesterday afternoon, had a wicked time, this is what happened...

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Thought I'd update you before we go camping this evening. 

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ok, so this is our third day in Canada and i've only just got round to getting online!

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The photo's of our holiday can now be found at: www.fotothing.com/samandcharlie 

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This site will hopefully show you pictures from our holiday, we will try to update it every couple of days. Sam