Mission Out East

Two Australians, a Canadian and a Kiwi, 3000km in 11 days, was always going to be a grand time!

Amanda, Soph Rob and I left 11th April. The trip began with a stop off at Subway, still in Revelstoke when I remembered I left food in the oven at home! Good start!! But better to remember here rather than 2hrs short of Calgary! But we got going a touch late to set off on our loop. Revelstoke - Medicine Hat - Yorkton - Saskatoon - Edmonton - Jasper - Revelstoke.

I was pumped, I hadn't been further east than Calgary. Many people that came from east of Calgary told me there was nothing to see, it was going to be flat and somewhat boring. It was flat but until you have seen something how can you not be super curious to see it and experience it for yourself! The trip was miles off being boring!

The purpose was for Amanda to return her trusty winter Ford Explorer to her parents and steal a very cool and economical Ford Tempo for the upcoming summer. Great trade and very generous parents!! Along the way we were to meet friends and family and generally just scope out another piece of Canada and its lifestyle.

First pullup was in Medicine Hat. We met and spent two nights with Amanda's Aunt and Uncle Alexa and Jason and their five kids. Highlights were watching the local hockey team play one night. They were going really well in the league they were in. Not to disappoint there was biff within 35seconds, and huge biff on fulltime! The atmosphere was awesome, the beers were delicious and the Tigers won. Great night! Another highlight was the tallest teepee in the world! Medicine Hat was great. Alexa and Jason made sure of that for us!

Via Moose Jaw and Swift Current where we met up with another Auntie and family of Amanda's, and her Grandparents we eventually made it to Amanda's home town of Yorkton. The 3 foreigners on the trip were made to feel very welcome and at home. Amanda's parents Angie and Chad were amazing and such a pleasure to finally meet as Amanda had told me so much about them. Angie cut straight to the chase about our plans to go to Australia! I was a bit worried about the conversation of me taking their girl away however I think(?) it went well! We met a bunch of Amanda's friends who are a bunch of great people. Food was shared, a few drinks were drunk and a whole lot of catchup took place. We stepped out to check out the nightlife one night which was a tonne of fun, with some interesting moments........there may have been a nude run home.......! Yorkton was great, Amanda's friends and family were all so kind and lovely, and it was great to see the love that surrounds Amanda.

We had a teary goodbye in Yorkton. I'm sure it was the same for Rob and Soph but I left feeling very happy to have met such a great bunch of people. From here we drove to Saskatoon to visit our wirlwind buddy Trista! We arrived late, bbq on, drinks on, all crashed out except Rob and Trista who managed to (and I still don't know how you managed!!) to get to the bar that night. Props!!

We left Trizniz and made tracks to Edmonton. West Edmonton Mall was calling. This was a huge shopping mall which the girls loved, however what made it epic was the attachment of a water park and themepark. The girls went shopping while Rob and I managed to find some black light mini golf, followed by the movies, followed by foodcourt time! Good times! We got amongst the themepark at the end of the day. Was a rad way to finish a days shopping with a couple of rollercoasters amongst other things to get amongst!

From Edmonton we went to Jasper. Jasper is north of us from here in Revelstoke but still in Alberta, it is very close to the province line of Alberta and BC. It was quite the drive heading back into the mountains. Jasper is a beautiful town and actually became a bit of a sanctuary as we were all a bit tired and run down after some abuse via booze and shitty 'on the go' food. Was a cool place to chill for a night and rest up before the most amazingly scenic drive down through the Columbia Ice-fields and the Rockies on our way back to Revelstoke. That day of driving would easily be in the top 3 drives I have ever done, if not the best! Queenstown-Glenorchy drive possibly even got beaten!! It was a great way to finish the trip. The Rockies are so different to the mountains we have in Revelstoke so we were all noses to windows for the drive. I think we were all stoked to be back in the mountains and happy to be nearing the end of the 3000km!

East was very flat, but very cool. Good to see, good to do! Also a great trip to do right before Soph left us! Good times.