17 January 2008 - Next stop...home!

So..Janet and Carol arrived on the 8th Jan. They were a little tired from the flight, arriving at about 5pm our time but midnight on their body clock.

It was great to see them. Lister must have had a personality transplant just before they arrived because he was now a new man-increasing his conversation input 1000 fold. It was great to have some banter at the dinner table instead of the customary silence.

The next day we went to Drumheller Dinosaur Museum. Unfortunately we went during the week, later finding out that Lorraine's Kids/Grandkids had been keen to make it a weekend trip so they could all go. The museum was brilliant, absolutely packed with the Dinosaur bones of most species known to man.

That night we went out for a pub-meal with Russell and his kids.

A few days later we went up to Banff-something we'd been keen to do since we arrived. Banff is right up in the mountains, a beautiful town engulfed by national parks. We made the 2hr journey there enjoying the best view of the Canadian Rockies we'd experienced en route. Janet had been here before and was keen to go to the Banff Springs Hotel where she had stayed on her last visit. It's a beautiful castle of a hotel right up in the mountains with some of the best views you could hope for. They have all sorts of intricate ice sculptures and even have their own hot spring which they've made into a proper swimming pool. We had lunch at the hotel which was incredible. The most amazing buffet either of us ever had.

On the way back home we pulled over when we saw a huge herd of Elk (big deer)-29 in total, peacefully grazing at the bottom of a huge mountain. We were able to get up real close and took some wicked pictures.

That night we went for dinner with stay at Tracey (Lorraine's eldest) and Brent's. Jeff (Lorraine's son) and Becky joined us and we had a corking evening. It was great to really get a chance to get to know those guys who told some fascinating stories to say the least!

A few days later we headed to Calgary Zoo. It was a brilliant zoo with probably every species you can imagine divided up into the various continents they are found, at different areas of the park. Best bit? Well that would be a toss up between the Grizzly Bears, Hippo's and Giraffes.

That night we left Carol and Janet and stayed at Jeff and Becky's place for the night. They made the 2 hour journey from Red Deer to pick us up. It was a quality evening. Jeff made us drink the Canadian favorite-Caesar cocktail. Matt could stomach it a little better than Vick but it was still fairly vile. The main problem being that it consisted of 90% Clamato Juice-a combination of Clam chowder and tomato juice with added nasties of pickled asparagus and Lee & Perrins-the only redeeming feature being the shot of Vodka. We all had a lovely meal and were then joined by Becky's parents who were awesome. We all chatted deep into the night about our travels and our thoughts and feelings on England and the Royal Family. Great banter.

On the last night of our travels we all headed down to the hockey rink to show our support for Brent and Tracey's oldest son Devon who was playing. It was good fun, unfortunately the only hockey game of any kind we'd had the chance to see! Afterwards we all went out for a Chinese. It felt strange to think this was the last night of our travels. A whole year away now at an end. We can't believe how quickly it's gone.

Canada is a beautiful country, we have been overwhelmed by how incredible the terrain and landscapes are. The sky is always the bluest of blues and the air so crisp and fresh.. we shall certianly come back here again.

It's not much of a secret to say that the last month of our travels here in Calgary hasn't been the easiest. Our approach of being helpful and polite at all times didn't seem to serve us as well as it had all of the other various households we'd stayed at over the year.

Well, this experience certainly helped focus the mind on home and as we write this, both only 2 hours from our flight home we can't help but feel a sense of real excitement/relief at heading back to Blighty!

We hope you've all enjoyed keeping up to date with our antics on the rocknrollride. It's been an unforgettable experience, but as they say, all good things must come to an end...for now