chalkerhive-blog

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28th April - 11th May 2025

A two week update today. The first week not a lot happened. Mike took Jane to Sydney to visit with Ayesha and have an eye doctor's appointment. We had a lovely night with Ayesha cooking us a roast lamb. We went to our favourite Japanese breakfast place for pancakes. Mike had his appointment (very conveniently only 700 metres from Ayesha's apartment) and went back to Canberra to keep an eye on the builders. Jane and Ayesha went into the city and had a wonder around as well as just hanging out at home. We had a nice visit from a Cockatoo which was surprising as she is on the 15th floor in the middle of Chatswood.

Very slow progress on the ensuite, the floor was levelled and the second layer of waterproofing done. The next week the heating and last screed was done and is now ready for tiling.

The new window and door for the garage arrived without warning on Monday morning. We were just told that they were ready and would be delivered later in the week. Mike was working out where to put them until they could be installed.

John and Christine came for lunch on Sunday. With our building and their busy schedule, it had been a few months since we had all got together. We had a lovely afternoon and Jane cooked up her first large crop of carrots as well as using the tomatoes that have been ripening on the bench.

The Garage has been moving along. While Jane was in Sydney, they got it wrapped and last week started preparing for the battens. By the end of the week, we have the first side installed. It is better than we thought and can't wait for it to be finished. Mike had a big cleanup of the site on the weekend, so there are no longer as many hazards.

We were waiting on the brickie to come all last week to brick up the area around the new internal door. Each day we waited and waited but he never turned up. We are looking forward to having the internal access from the garage with winter coming quickly.

Sunday was Mothers Day and Jane had a lovely long video chat with Joey from Canada then Nathan and Tilly made a delicious dinner. It was a lovely day.

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21st - 27th April 2025

A very short week with Easter and Anzac day. Easter Monday Mike pulled the old toilet room apart so the builders could put the back beam in for the roof of the garage. This room will be our entry into the garage and a mudroom.

Lots more framing done.

Mike spent some time pointing up the brick work ready for waterproofing. Chris felt he needed a bit more work this week to feed his family so came on Saturday and helped Mike with the first coat of waterproofing. It is a tight squeeze in a lot of places. They would have had it all done but ran out of product. The forecast was for lots of rain which never turned up.

The ensuite is a slow burn at the moment. The first layer of waterproofing was done and next week the floor with be levelled before the heating and another layer of waterproofing. Slow and steady. We are very much looking forward to the tiling starting.

Jane made Anzac biscuits as per tradition.

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13th April - 20th April

The week started with a trip to Queanbeyan for Auto Italia. The car show is one Mike likes to go to every year. Jane came this year because it had moved to a nice park instead of the dusty and hot site at the Canberra show ground (EPIC). It was a nice morning, and we saw cars we had driven in our super car experience in Canada. We also saw a 100-year-old Alfa, after owning one we decided it would have sent multiple owners broke.

Jane has been working on her garden and picked her first carrots. The multi coloured ones don't grow at the same time. Only the white ones are large. She has also pulled out all the tomatoes and basil as it is getting too cold. Hopefully the tomatoes will ripen on the bench. The banksia is looking better by the day. Nathan and Tilly arrived home on Thursday, and we have had a lot of catching up with holiday news and some early wedding planning.

The tiler arrived on Thursday and did his first prep coat and will be back next week for waterproofing

The sliding doors for the front of the old garage arrived. The look huge and we are looking forward to having these installed in the hopefully near future.

The new garage has been going up visually quickly this week. The frames for the walls were made and put up with an extra pair of hands from Mike, steel beams were delivered and installed, then the front roof beams were put up. We can now really see the shape. Mike was tasked with fitting the bolts for the beams and filling the gap between the house and garage wall with cement over Easter. 24 wheelbarrows later he was finished in more ways than one!!

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2nd April - 12th April

Nearly two weeks of work on site with time to let things dry. The slab had a week to dry and then the brickie came to lay the blocks that will be mainly underground. Two days for him and then on Friday the concreters were back to fill the blocks. Mike has been doing a good job of cleaning up after everyone, washing the fence multiple times and making sure the front yard doesn't look like a war zone. We had deliveries of steel and timber for the frames to start next week. In trying to work out our new garden design we have tapped out areas for paths and garden beds to see how it will work.

The ensuite has had the big window installed. Now the workmen will unfortunately have to come through the house. The lining has been put on the walls with new insulation and then work has stopped as we wait for the tiler to get to us. Unfortunately, it looks like he won't be here for another 2 weeks. Mike has been patching the ceiling and painting while we wait.

After the slab for the garage was done, Jane went to Tumut for a few days and caught up with friends and did chores around the house. She has also been having new successes in the garden with Celery (found the trick for tender celery is to wrap it in newspaper for 2 weeks before harvesting, we will see what happens) and her Brussel Sprouts are forming. The Banksia (Honey Pots) is flowering beautifully even if it is being a bit squashed by the port-a-loo. After reminding the plumbers multiple times that the only thing Jane really wanted was a tap at the front of the block, she is now able to water the plants without running up and down with the watering can and is very happy.

Sunday the 6th of April we decided to get out of the house and go for a drive. We ended up at Honeysuckle Creek, where there used to be a space tracking station. Only the foundations were still there, and it had been closed for a while due to the last bush fires. It was very interesting and has a campground and BBQ areas. We decided it would be a great place to come back for a picnic and has a couple of bush walks we could do. We then drove to the Orroral Valley tracking station site which is also dismantled. It was very windy there and after a quick walk around and finding a lone Kangaroo we headed home. We were pleasantly surprised at how close these places were to us.

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24th - 31st March 2025

Big family news for the start of this week's blog. Nathan and Tilly got engaged while on their holiday in Paris. A wonderful start to their life together. We can't wait to celebrate with them when they return in a couple of weeks.

Work on the ensuite has been progressing with the new wall for the shower and cabinetry in place and the plumbing being worked on today. Mike has been working on the ceiling and will paint before the floor is waterproofed and new sheets go on the walls. It is really starting to look nice and quirky instead of old and weird.

Jane had inspiration to clean up the garden shed from Christine in Goulburn who now has a new shed. Everything is now easier to get to, but more space will be great when time permits to build the new one. She had to tie the shelves together as the floor is rotting and they are starting to lean.

The garage is moving along really quickly. The week was spent preparing for the slab which was laid today. It was decided that Monday would be the best day to lay concrete as rain was forecast for the weekend. We weren't disappointed and received 25mm on Saturday and a few showers on Sunday. Better to have the bad weather when nobody was here. Mike helped out with his jackhammer squaring up along some of the foundations. An early start Monday morning and we were very excited to have 2 trucks arrive quickly, then an hour wait, until the next one and close to that for the last. While they waited one guy even gave the fence a bit of a clean. Luckily, the weather has cooled down and now the finishing is in progress.

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17th -23rd March

Another big week at the Chalker's. Monday started with Mike noticing that the new electrical board had been put in the wrong location. Our builders and electricians were at a Golf Day, so Mike had a few calls to make. After the inspector had been to ok the work for Tuesday's connection our builder Chris and the electricians were back to move it into the correct position. We are lucky Mike is on the ball as it could have been a costly mistake.

Tuesday Evo energy and the Electrician were hooking up the new feed and making sure everything was working. We were without power for half the day, luckily our neighbours let us run an extension cord so we could still have our fridge. Our windows for the ensuite also arrived.

Wednesday the plumber's got into action (sort of). Because the garage is being dug in, we needed to lower the sewer, storm water and water line. After the plumber spent 3 hours complaining, he got to work and finished the sewer and storm water but had to come back the next day for to finish the water line. We were without these services for the whole day, so Jane thought it was a great day to go out shopping.

Mike thought it was crazy as the plumber kept telling him what a hard and complicated job it was. Mike had to manage services for his job in Mongolia, that was tough as the picture below show.

By the end of the week, we now have the trenches filled in and all services working perfectly, even though it is still a mess.

The ensuite work continued on Tuesday and the two smaller windows were installed. Mike helped save some time by digging out excess dirt and filling with blue metal dust one evening. We finally got the slab poured on Friday afternoon, so it can cure over the weekend and work can continue next week.

One night Nathan came to us and said the forecast was for large hail. We moved Tilly's car into the garage with Nathan's (a very tight squeeze) and Mike's up under the front entry with some padding. Of cause, we didn't get a drop of rain that night. We get 12mm the next night but no sign of hail.

Saturday started with the arrival of the excavator for the preparation for the garage slab. It is great to know the machine is ready waiting for first thing Monday morning. We might even get a slab poured next week if everything goes well.

Jane's Garden is going well, she has been pruning the Tomatoes and getting a good crop of delicious fruit. Mike has started digging and planning for the retaining wall and larger garden shed at the very back of the block to replace the small one we have now. He has also repaired the wicking beds that leaked, and they are now full of soil and seeds and plants. Jane moved her Brussel Sprouts from a pot as it was getting too big. Hopefully during winter, we will be enjoying roasted sprouts.

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7th - 16th March 2025

We have had a busy week with it feeling more like a month. We headed to Tumut for a weekend to celebrate Mike's Birthday with Nathan and Tilly. We had Thai on Friday night and Saturday headed up to Courabyra Wines for lunch with Anita and Brian. It was a lovely day and as always, the food was delicious. We were all stuffed full for the ride home. Sunday was breakfast at the Riverside Cafe and now we don't need to eat for the next week.

We returned to Canberra and work started in full gear on the ensuite and garage. The ensuite is now ready for the new floor and walls. The new windows are arriving next week so hopefully we don't have to wait to long for it to be finished. Our builder Chris and his apprentice Aiden have been working very hard and are very nice. We ran into Chris in Tumut while having Thai as he was there for a kayak weekend on the river. It is a small world.

The garage slab demolition didn't take long, and trucks took away lots of concrete and soil. The front garden now looks like a bomb hit it. They then dug trenches for the new electrical and uncovered the storm water and water lines which need to be sunk lower. They were doing really well, then a surprise storm hit with 6.5mm in 5 minutes, as they couldn't see they hit the storm water line and flooded the area, then hit the water line. This was all repaired for us so we could go on with daily life. The electricians have put the new meter box in the new location on the far side of the new garage and Evo energy are coming next week to reconnect to the new box which should be in its final place when the walls are built.

Jane had lunch out with Ayesha on Friday enjoying memories of India.

Mike has now moved his Ducati inside out of the way of builders and storage. It fits nicely in the family room for the next few months. Luckily, we are not using that space at the moment.

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1st - 5th March 2025

Jane has been working on the garden for the last few months and been growing lots of produce. The new wicking beds are working well, and we received the last round ones on the weekend. Unfortunately, 2 of the 3 leak and now Michael will find some time to reseal them. We have not had the best luck as 1 of the 3 long beds leaked as well and was replaced. Great crops of basil and tomatoes as well as Zucchini, Beans and greens. Carrots are coming along nicely and we should have a great crop through winter. Cuttings have been taken of the lavender that will go with the new driveway.

The ensuite is getting a total renovation and Mike and Nathan started the demo before the builders arrived to save some time. The builders have started jackhammering the slab and will return next week to continue.

The big news is the new garage work has started. Again, Mike and Nathan started to demolish the old garage. Before that we had to locate the electricity feed to the house, as it needs to be relocated and reconnected on the 18th. Mike used his divining rods, and his first attempt was not successful but after hiring a machine he found the correct cable. After digging he discovered an irrigation pipe under the first hole, so they did work. A bit of gardening work was also required to mark out where the new layout was going to be. We were excited to have the builders here on Tuesday morning bright and early to start. The digger was quick to dig the trenches for the new electricity line and short work was made of taking down the garage.

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January/February 2025

A new year and more work to be done.

Jane and Michael went to Sydney for New Years Eve and watched the fireworks from Ayesha's apartment in Chatswood. After a lovely Dinner and late breakfast at the Japanese pancake shop the next day, it was home to get stuck back into it.

Michael borrowed some scaffolding from John in Goulburn and was able to patch and paint the high windows and walls in the family room with our very high ceilings. We also had the fan and fire alarm changed. The room is looking very nice and new.

We have now almost finished the bathroom, just need to toilet connected to the sewer outside and the mirror to arrive from Italy (we think they are hand making the glass from sand it is taking so long). We are enjoying using the new shower and it is amazing the transformation from the old one. The laundry is all finished except for the floor. Jane and Michael with the help of heavy lifting from Nathan, made angled shelves and spots to fit into the laundry. We had some sliding doors installed and now have one square room in the house.

It has not all been work. We have had a few trips to Tumut, with a lovely lunch at Courabyra Wines with Anita and Brian as well as a couple of trips to Wagga Wagga where we have discovered the nicest honey at the Strawberry farm where they also had beautiful sunflowers. With lunch after at our new favourite pub the Palm and Prawn.

We had a lovely trip to Goulburn to catch up with Christine and John and have a walk around their thriving garden. I will make sure to take some photos on our next visit.

Jane has also been catching up with Ayesha and Karla when Ayesha is in town.

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26th December 2024

The end of the year is almost here. What a year it has been with all our renovations and holidays. Pre-Christmas was spent in Tumut with Jane's brother Anthony and his partner Lyane. Nathan and Tilly came as well, and we finally spread Jane's Mum and Dad's ashes at the golf club. Bella was dialled in on WhatsApp from Canada. It was a beautiful morning with an amazing sunrise. They are now looking down the 16th fairway and over the club and town.

After breakfast at the Riverside Cafe, Jane and Michael took Nathan and Tilly to the Blueberry farm at Laurel Hill, which is a little way past Batlow. We ate so many blueberries while we picked, that we were all feeling the winding road on the way home. Each bucket was 2kg so we have a lot of frozen berries for the coming months.

While in Tumut we also went the Tumut River Brewery which has reopened under new management and had dinner with Anita and Brian at our favourite Thai restaurant. The Glen estate also has its houses over decorated for Christmas which was fun to see.

Back home for a quiet Christmas Day. Lots of food and a nice nap in the afternoon.

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2nd October - 6th December 2024

We have had a busy couple of months. Jane headed off to Sri Lanka and India with Ayesha and had a fabulous time. They stayed overnight in Singapore then a week in Sri Lanka and visited Delhi, Amritsar, Jaipur, Agra, Gurgaon and Goa in India. Jane was very popular with the locals and had her picture taken quite a few times.

Meanwhile Mike was back home pulling the house apart and getting it put back together. Jane nearly missed it all but arrived home just before the stone arrived for the kitchen. The kitchen is now complete with Mike putting the silicone around the cooktop today. The kitchen is the same layout as nothing else would work. It has better storage and appliances now.

We are waiting for the tiler to come back to finish the bathroom and laundry now that the cabinets are in. The weird cupboard in the laundry was demolished yesterday and Mike and Jane will rebuild it to fit and be more useful in the new year.

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1st July - 1st October

We have had a busy few months with finishing the windows and getting ready for a new kitchen/bathroom and laundry. It has been ongoing with getting the designs right.

Michael has help get the flashing on the window sills and continued with the painting.

We also celebrated Nathan's birthday with a dinner out and then a magnificent black forest cake cooked by Tilly.

While picking up something from AllBids for a friend Jane saw a garden tree seat that they had been looking out for. Michael made the winning bid and with the new trailer it was a great addition to the garden.

New blinds were ordered for the front bedrooms and we were brave and went for colour. We are very happy with the results. A lot nicer than the 90's curtains.

Mike has been busy pulling the bathroom apart ready for the builders to come in. Jane is off to Sri Lanka and India with her high school bestie Ayesha for a month. While she is away the building work will be done. This was not planned by Jane but she has been busy cooking and freezing food so Michael is taken care of.

Last but not least, it has not been all work. We went for a trip to Nowra to look at a cooktop (decided it was not the one we wanted), had lunch in Berry, which we loved and stayed in Kiama. Jane then spent a few days with Ayesha in Sydney. We have also been to Tumut a few times and went to the lake markets with Nathan and Tilly last weekend.

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6th - 30th June 2024

We have had a busy 3 weeks with our new windows arriving on the 6th and the builders starting the installation the next week. We had to get up early and get ready for a 6.45am start. The sunrise was lovely though. We didn't really pick a great time to do it as one morning when they took the big sliding door out it was below -5. Mike set Jane up in a finished room with her IPad and a book. She was the only one who was warm. We noticed that the house got better at heating up and holding the heat with every new window installed. The main hickup was one of the bedroom windows that we knew had some waterdamage to the frame. It was a bit more extensive than we thought and had a big bull ants nest in the wall. The builder were not faized and after a lot of spray and clean up they rebuild the wall and got the window in the same day. Now that all but the bathrooms have been done, we don't have the heater on nearly as much and the house is a constant temperature. We love the look of them, and the photos don't do them justice. The big pitcher windows look fantastic. Michael helped out with some heavy lifting and was on hand when questions arose. We are getting flashing and sills made for the outside so all should be finished in a few weeks.

To get rid of the old windows Michael advertised them for free on Gumtree. You get a few interesting people responding and one guy wanted to put 4 big windows on the roof of his car. Michael reluctantly let him leave with one and he returned the next day with a trailer which is much more sensible. The other windows were taken by a couple of others to use as greenhouses and extra windows in a warehouse (he will take the next lot when we do the garage and back room.

Michael now has a lot of painting to do. He is being very careful not to get paint on the frames. We have also met with the designer for the new kitchen and bathrooms and will meet again in a week to finalise the plans. We will have to work out what to do next.

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24th - 27th May 2024

Today we leave Jasper and head back to Canmore. Next time we will stay here a week as there is so much we didn't get to do. We got up early and went to CoCo's for breakfast and on the way out to the highway there were some Elk just sitting around. We could see the male's starting to grow their horns for the season. We stopped a short distance on the Ice Field Parkway to hike the Valley of the Five Lakes. It was a great hike and we saw lots of Chipmunks. When we came back to the bridge crossing people were just standing on both sides. A bear was just eating grass on our side of the bridge. Michael talked some other people into walking around wide off the path and getting to the bridge that way. Of course he got them to go first. It was all fine and the bear wasn't bothered by us. This was our first encounter without being in the car, so it was special. Bella got some snaps, and we got back to the car to continue our day.

We had a much better day weather wise for the drive and could see the mountains more clearly. We stopped in at Sunwapta Falls, Stutfield Glacier Viewpoint, Panther Falls (this was a climb down a mountain that Bella said would be worth it), Peyto Lake (Bella's favourite as it is shaped like a dog) where we had to walk on a snow-covered trail to the viewpoint and Bow Lake (again because it was so nice the first time. All stops except Bow Lake we couldn't do the first time because of the weather. We even saw a mountain goat on the side of the highway.

We arrived in Canmore in time for dinner at our favourite pizza place. Then checked in to our hotel.

25th May - our last day in the Rockies. We had a sleep in then went to breakfast and walked around the shops. A stroll to the Engine Bridge again before getting organised to drive back to Calgary and catch the plane to Vancouver.

26th May - It was raining today to we spent the day sleeping in, eating and playing basketball at Bella's complex's indoor stadium. We then had our farewell dinner at the Cactus Club which was delicious.

27th May - we spent our last day helping Bella fix some things on her apartment and just hanging out. We have had the best time, and the best bit was getting to spend so much time with Bella and meet Sami. There were some tears at the airport but we are looking forward to seeing Bella back home for a Christmas visit. We are also looking forward to going back in Autumn (our spring) (2026?) and seeing some Moose.

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23rd May 2024

We were up early again and headed into Jasper to find some breakfast. There were large Elk roaming around our carpark. We found a great little cafe called CoCo's in the main street and filled up for our day out, and took some muffins for lunch. We decided we would come back tomorrow as well. We headed out to Maligne Lake as Jane had read that the road was good for wildlife spotting. She kept an eye out for the elusive bear. On the way we saw a little Black Bear on the side of the road leading down to Medicine Lake. Medicine Lake has an underground system so the lake fills and empties at different times. There had been fires in the area and all the trees on the far side were dead. It was quite earie. The bear was very cute and not bothered by the people stopped to see him. There was also an Eagle nest with an Eagle and a Chick. Luckily Bella has a good zoom on her camera.

We then drove on to Maligne Lake. The lake was still frozen so no cruises yet. It was very beautiful, and we spent a lot of time walking around the edges, playing in the snow and taking photos. We also added a Deer to our animal list. There was no sitting on our red chairs today. It was too wet.

After lunch we headed back along the road and stopped to hike up to Beaver Lake. We were going to hike up to Jacks Lake as on the sign it said there were Moose. The forest was very creepy, and we didn't have a good feeling about it, so we turned back. We found some very big bear scatt so thought it was best to go with our instinct.

Now for a rest back at Pyramid Lake. We grabbed some hot chocolate and sat on the dock enjoying the view. Michael had a quick snooze. Next time we are here we decided we will do some canoeing. We also had a quick sit by the fire pit before heading out to dinner.

After dinner we went on a bear hunt. We headed out to Maligne Road again and the first bear Jane saw was just its big bottom disappearing into the forest. We then came around a corner and startled a bear in the middle of the road. It quickly made a dash for cover and the photo Jane got was like a bigfoot one where it is just a blur in the distance. Bella had better luck. Next was our Black bear again from earlier in the day. It was in the same place and looked to be heading home. Cars had just stopped in the middle of the road to look at it. This is what is called a Bear Jam. With no other sightings we decided to head back. It was 9.30pm and we were tired from our busy day. Almost at the end of the road we saw some cars stopped ahead. It was a bear and her cub. Michael stopped about 30 metres away and the mother bear came and stayed just next to Jane's door for a while. The cub stayed up high so Bella could get some good shots. Just as we were about to leave the cub came down to join its mother and they walked off. It was a perfect end to another amazing day.

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22nd May 2024

Today we left for Jasper via the Icefields Parkway. It is claimed as the most scenic drive in the world and was amazing. We did have sun, rain, snow and low cloud, but we still managed to stop at 10 spots. Before we even got to the Parkway, Jane spotted cars stopped on the side and saw a bear. She was so excited for her first bear in the wild. Luckily it was behind the fencing, so it was safe to get out of the car. It was also nice seeing the animal crossing points that have been built over the highway.

We then stopped at Hector Lake, Crowfoot Glacier Viewpoint, Bow Lake (which was frozen and lovely), Waterfowl Lakes Viewpoint, Bridal Veil Falls, Columbia Ice Field (very busy and terrible weather so didn't stay long), Tangle Creek Falls, Goats & Glacier Lookout, A nice stop with no name at the river, and Athabasca Falls which were great, the falls had taken different routes over time and we could walk through the old channels. Michael also found good use of the brush/scraper stick that was in the back of the hire car.

We made it to Jasper and our accommodation at Pyramid Lodge overlooking Pyramid Lake. We purchased bear spray in case we met any bears a few days ago but Michael has just been carrying it around. We hiked to Pyramid Island (not far) and had a look around. Still no bears. The one on the highway didn't really count as it was behind a fence.

We headed into Jasper for dinner and Bella spotted a beautiful Snow Rainbow.

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21st May 2024

Today we headed back to Banff National Park and Johnston Canyon. We started early to beat the crowds and had the walkways nearly to ourselves. The walk up to the lower and upper falls was lovely and the platforms that have been built gave great views of the river and waterfalls. At the lower falls there is a cave to view the waterfall up close. We were lucky with only a couple of other people there at the time. When we came past on our way home in the afternoon the line was so long. It was not worth an hour wait.

We decided to head up to the Ink Pots. Another 3km up the mountain. Jane had read about them and not a lot of people continue the climb. They are different colours as the water filtering into them from the bottom is at different rates. We had the trail to ourselves and although we were a bit slow, as it was mostly up hill, we had fun. Once we reached them it was well worth it. A few people were there, and we managed to get some good photos and a well-deserved rest. With Jane and Bella in their matching tops from Canmore they were toasty warm. We could have done with taking more to eat. We then had a walk into the meadows, unfortunately for Michael there were no Moose, and it was a much quicker trip down. We were starving after our 12km hike and dove into the restaurant at the start for burgers.

We then stopped in at the town of Banff. We were a little disappointed as it was very touristy, we really liked the small town feel of Canmore and as a town has better mountain views. We then headed back to Canmore to our Pizza place as we were too tired to find anywhere else and a good night's sleep. Jane recorded over 27,000 steps.