En route to Jasper, Alberta.

Friday morning came too fast. We really enjoyed our day in Vancouver but it went by so quickly it left us wishing for more time there. We woke early to be at the bus station by 5:30am in order to pick up our tickets. Once there we realized we'd possibly been overcharged by the flight centre in Aus for our tickets... so we're looking into that. There was a little coffee stand there where I bought a cup of tea (**Gracey and Loz... I thought of you!**) and some banana bread as well as a banana which was breakfast. Later I bought a sausage Mcmuffin... but regretted it for quite some time. The food at McDonalds is highly processed and not nearly as fresh as maccas Australia.. but, moving on..

The Athabasca River

We boarded the bus where Stu met a nice Canadian guy named Doug, who he immediately struck up conversation with about all things Canada. There was very few people on the bus so I decided to take the back 3 seats next to the loo and stretch out. Unfortunately it was a rainy and overcast day, not unlike the day we had spent in Vancouver, so that was disappointing from a scenery point of view.

Once again, I couldn't keep my eyes open and was very grateful for the seats to stretch out on. Stu sat a few rows in front of me taking photos which he later lamented weren't very good but I've just had a look and there's a few absolutely gorgeous ones which I'll lace through this post.

We stopped a bit here and there for lunch but I slept most of the way and after spending so much cash on our snow gear in Vancouver, we stuck to cheaper options like sandwiches and fruit. As Stu mentioned in the previous post, Canada is really big on bagels, this excites me so very much! It's also strange seeing their different coke bottles and the volumes they come in.. it all seems very odd. For instance instead of 600ml they have 591? weird.

Anyway, I woke up just in time to see us pulling into Jasper, although I'm a little disappointed that I missed the "welcome to jasper" sign :o(

We got off at the train/bus station and were met with the most beautiful mount view ever. Just as Stu was about to call the taxi, a cab pulled up big enough for all our bags, so we jumped in and headed to Chateau Jasper (**which the aussie concierge pronounced "shadow jasper"**) only to find out we actually had another 200m or so to walk til our accommodations. Normally this wouldn't be a problem were it not for the massive and rather heavy bags we were lugging at the time. Oh well, off we went. When we got inside there was no one to meet us so Stu took the keys given to us by the Chateau and began lugging our bags up to the second floor, via the stairs (**no lift**) and when he came back down we took the last few up and walked in to find our accommodations exceeded our expectations. For one, I was told there was no tv, wifi or baths and the accommodations have all of the above as well as being fully self-contained, so we are very thankful to God for blessing us. I spoke to a fellow Aussie (**with a kiwi accent mind you**) named Rhea (**spelling? said like ree-uh**) and she said where the others are staying, which is just across the street isn't very nice and that they would all like to move to the apartment blocks that we are in. So hooray!

After yet another long-anticipated shower I hit the hay and slept like a log, well into Saturday afternoon. Once we got ready we went out to explore the townsite. The thing about Jasper is that you can walk 20 metres down the road and see a whole new set of mountains and peaks that you couldn't see 20 metres back. It's almost never ending panorama, and even though it hasn't begun to snow heavily yet, the mountains are beautiful all the same. You can see on some peaks the beginnings of white patches, and with each passing day the white patches grow, so we are very excited for the snow to begin to fall. I think once it starts falling in the street I'll be rather delirious!

Jasper is a small town, it takes about 35 minutes to walk from one end to the other, and since we are positioned right up one end of town it is proving to be good exercise everyday for me. We checked out the local shops, restaurants etc in search of better pillows than the ones given to us by our employer, only to find there is actually no pillows for sale in Jasper. You can order them through Sears department store's catalogue, which is ordered through Home Hardware's store on the industrial park side of the train tracks. So we will probably be doing that since the pillows we have are lumpy and very thin. Which makes me regret my decision to leave my arch pillow back in Adelaide :o( Oh well.

Stu and I on Geike street, which is the same street we live on. In the pic above of me you can see our apartment block directly behind me.

Would you believe there are more liquor stores in Jasper than there are supermarkets? I've counted 12 liquor stores, not to mention the numerous bars and restaurants that serve a full selection of everything from Canadian beer to spirits, and yet trying to buy groceries is a challenge! There are 2 "supermarkets" which are more accurately "mini-marts" and everything is very expensive up here. I'm still adjusting to a few things, like the milk here, the bread being sweeter and not as soft and the toilet flush, would you believe!? It's a lever on the side that you push down, instead of the button system I'm used to in Aus. The things you notice when you're away from home eh?

Speaking of eh, everybody in Canada says it. They also say "oh" at the beginning of most sentences. So for example, if you ask where the nearest bathroom might be, they'll answer by saying "Ooh, what you wanna doo is goo doown too the drug stoore and there should be one there eh?".. I know it seems like a terrible cliche but I swear it's true.

The locals here are so incredibly friendly. In our search for pillows I stumbled across a cheesy souvenir shop named "Everything But!", which apparently sell everything BUT pillows! But the owner of the store is a lovely elderly woman who took a great deal of time to give me all the local tips, including the church run thrift shop where "you can buy just aboot everything", the $8 steak, fries and salad night at the D'ed dog restaurant, the 65cent wing night at the Marmot Lodge on Wednesday nights and the winter market every November where you can pick up 2nd hand snow gear, boards, skis etc for the incoming snow season. I took Stu back with me today because I wanted to pick her brains some more. She is very nice and I really enjoy talking to her. She was also the first local to say "welcome to Jasper" to me, which felt really nice!

Anyway, I know Stu has more to add to this first few days here in our new home, so I'm sure he will post somethings later. Feel free to comment on here too; we've changed the settings now so you can comment even without a blogger account. Make sure you sign your name too at the end so we know who the comment is from!

I love it here so far. Can't wait for the snow!
lv beth. x