Train Toronto to Vancouver/Victoria

Annie had been selected to sleep on the top bunk!!! This was accessed via a very small, almost vertical ladder - with one handrail, anchored to the bunk, and the floor, and with about 15" of space between you and the dunny door!!

Had to go off down the passage for a shower - that was fun!

Breakfast was a free-for-all and I thought it was far too hard for me to attend - I was in a rather bad frame of mind! Arch did the right thing and brought me a piece of toast.

The scenery on the first day was very boring, the odd glimpse of lakes and rivers, but mostly we just went through millions of acres of Spruce Trees - many of them dead - which are not very attractive. We were delighted to note the many little dams the Beavers had constructed in little streams - we were lucky enough to actually see one at work last time we were in Canada, so were very proud of their (sometimes) mighty efforts. Were glad we'd brought reading material and Arch had an endless supply of Sudoku to do! Spent all day in the Observation Car just in case there was anything to see. Dinner was the late shift - 9pm, so had a few glasses of wine to help me sleep! It worked!!

Awoke at Winnipeg. Had a few hours stopover, so Arch and I walked for about two hours, all over the city. Rather a lifeless place, lots of closed shops, and considering it was mid Saturday morning - very dreary. Notable event - saw my first Dual Flush Toilet in North America - a Caroma too!!! Strangely enough, Winnipeg seemed to be a dual "Nationality" town too - on one side of the river street signs are in French (the ugliest side of town), and on the other, everything is in English. Bizarre. However, nobody expected us to speak French.

Re-boarded the train just before lunch and headed off across the Prairies. This was actually wonderful. Reminded us of the Mallee/Wimmera in full harvest time. Very late over here this year, but they're hard at it now. Huge paddocks of enormous bales of hay waiting for collection, and rather short stumpy wheat crops being headed. Many small towns along the railway line - again just like the Mallee I guess. For the first time we saw actual farm animals - some nice fat cattle - mostly beef I think, although we did see one dairy farm. No other wildlife of course.....
This train stops and starts a lot too - we have to give way to freight trains, and they are plentiful and long - I reckon up to 1.5 kms long.... Single track most of the way, with passing sidings occasionally.

Sunday - arrived in Jasper. Pretty much as remembered, some new shops. Jasper is in the beginnings of the Rockies, and we knew from that point the scenery was going to get brilliant. Raced everybody back onto the train after our Jasper stop - we were determined to get a seat in the Observation Carriage. What a lovely afternoon-evening. The mountains are magnificent, and the lakes and rivers plentiful. We saw Mount Robson, covered in snow, but also with a little cloud right on top. What a nice day.... Didn't leave our post until dinner, by which time it was nearly dark anyway.

It was a standing joke amongst those passengers who knew us, that we haven't seen any wildlife in Canada. There was a shout over the intercom that there was a mother bear with her cub on one side of the train - Arthur saw them, but I missed out of course!! Waiting for Knight Inlet..

Arrived in Vancouver without incident, and of course whilst waiting for our bus tickets onto Victoria, Arthur had an altercation in the queue with one chappie who pushed in!!! He turned out to be on our bus too, and they smiled sweetly at each other!!