Vancouver Island – Weekend Recap

What a weekend trip!

Some of us got to experience such a nice weekend on Vancouver Island! We went there with Moose Travel Network, with whom we’ve done many trips together in the past!

We were meeting on Friday morning to head towards the ferry terminal at Horseshoe Bay. After enjoying the natural hair dryer on top of the ferry deck from the blowing wind we arrived in Nanaimo and got some groceries for lunch. The spot at Little Qualicum Falls Provincial Park let us take in a beautiful scenery while having lunch.

Afterwards, we got to see some of the biggest trees in Canada at the MacMillan Provincial Park! One tree is 75 metres high and some trees even 800 years old. Guess they survive all of us =). A true highlight was the stop at Wally Creek, where you can see one of Canada’s most beautiful nature places. Rivers and sources who go through rocks and a big valley of trees around it. Such a vibe! After seeing the big trees, we headed towards Long Beach on Vancouver Island, on which parts of the Twilight Saga were filmed, how cool is that? 🙂

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In the evening we arrived at our first destination: Tofino is a nice little harbour city with a quiet, calm, but at the same time overwhelming atmosphere, caused by the surrounding nature of the sea, the mountains, and the forests. We all had a nice meal at a restaurant in the evening and a little gathering at a pub with some live music!

With the tummy full of a great breakfast we went to the beach to go surfing on Saturday morning. The fresh air, the 4 metre tall waves, the cold salty water, and the sun shining through the trees was definitely an experience we will never forget! Some of us chose a calmer option and went kayaking instead. 🙂 Luckily, due to our super tour guide Terence, we get to experience not one, but two events on Saturday! We drove with a boat out on the sea to see some grey whales! It’s a super extraordinary feeling to see such an enormous animal in the depth of the blue ocean! Some of us got to experience bear watching, which I heard was also amazing. To finish up the day we gathered together at a beach with a clear sky for stargazing and a cozy bonfire where we made classic Canadian S’mores, right after we watched the sunset. That was a whole day of events there!

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Early in the morning on Sunday we left Tofino with everlasting memories and drove back to Nanaimo. We stopped at Sproat Lake to see old fossils which could be seen in a stone wall. Slowly bumping up our heartbeat, we headed towards the Nanaimo Wildly Park to go Bungee Jumping! I can tell you, it was one of the best things I’ve ever done in my life. Overcoming your fears gives you so much energy! The bridge over Nanaimo River was 150 ft (45 meters) high and they were doing bungee jumps since 1990! I guess we can be sure the bungee doesn’t tear apart =). With adrenaline still in our veins from the bungee jump, we went to Mount Douglas. This mountain is right before Victoria, our second destination on the trip. From this mountain you can even look over to the United States! Such a breathtaking view! Arriving in Victoria, we ended our evening with a tour from our bus driver Terence and a Pub Night in Victoria.

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Waking up in Victoria gives you many options on what to see. We decided to go to the Royal BC Museum which has an exhibition about Natural History and the animals there. The animals were displayed in their original size. Can you imagine how big a mammoth is? Me neither until I saw it there. One exhibition was also about how the climate change can affect the biodiversity and the vegetation in British Columbia. They even believe that with the year 2080, the degrees climb up by 8! Walking out of the museum you can see the parliament building and next to it the Beacon Hill Park with access to the beach. After seeing the beach and the sea, we went to some souvenir shops and to a restaurant to grab some food. Sad that the trip came to an end, but also grateful for the many experiences, we took the ferry from Sidney to Tsawwassen to go home to Vancouver. On the ferry, we got many chances to spot some sea otters in the water and see the beautiful islands around us.

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To conclude I must say that this experience and the whole trip will last forever in my heart because I got to see so many things and make memories every day. I’m very glad I joined this trip and I’m so excited for the next one.

We hope all of our participants in this trip could enjoy the Island just like I did. Maybe we can talk about it during the next Pub Night? =)

See you there! Have a good one!

Tino =)

Rockies Review – Part 1

Starting the week on a Wednesday sounds pretty cool, right? Well, wait till I tell you about my weekend, because that was even cooler than just having a three working-day week.

On Saturday morning, I met 27 of you guys for our four-day trip to the Rocky Mountains. 6.45am seems pretty early, but the time that was lying ahead of us was worth the hustle of getting up so early. The bus took off at 7.30am and our adventure started. We got to know our West Trek tour-guide Hayley and bus-driver Lucien, who made this entire trip so much fun! Thank you to the two of you.

Our first stop was Hope, where we had some fun times at the playground and could just walk around the picturesque village. Aboard the coach again, we played some games, listened to music and started to get to know each other better. We had lunch in Kamloops and made a short stop at the Spahats Falls. And so, after a 9-hour drive in the bus, we finally arrived at our first night’s stay in Valemount. The evening activity there: Hockey in the Rockies. Teamed up and ready to win, both the “Pride Dragons” and “Tigers” chased the ball to score some goals.

While some of you were still playing, I settled down at the bonfire and enjoyed the last hours of our first day. We had some easy conversations, listened to Hayley playing the Ukulele, sang along to ‘Riptide’ and ‘Country Roads’ and just enjoyed the view of the mountains. At around 1am I decided to get some sleep, because I knew that we had a tight and busy schedule the upcoming days.

On Sunday morning at 7.45am, it was time for us to depart from Valemount. It was a stressful morning and I was quite relieved that I did not have to sing when I boarded the coach (the West Trek rule is that the person coming late has to sing a song for the entire bus). We had our first scenic Rocky Mountains stop at Mt. Robson. It is the highest mountain in the Canadian Rockies and it gave us the opportunity to have a breakfast with a view. Afterwards, we all had the chance to take beautiful pictures with this giant mountain in the background. We boarded the bus again and drove to our next stop: The Athabasca Falls. Even though we had to leave quite soon after we arrived, everyone had the chance to take a stunning picture of and/or with the falls.

But the next stop promised some more breathtaking views: Athabasca Glacier. Already on our way to the icy phenomenon, Hayley taught us about the formation of glaciers and the relation to icefields. From the distance, we could see the Columbia Icefield, which is one of the biggest accumulations of ice south of the arctic. Some of us went up the glacier in a special bus called snowcoach. Personally, I did not join. Some of you just spent the time at the foot of the Glacier with me, having lunch and hiking through the moraine.

After the “Snowcoach-Group” returned, we boarded the bus again and continued the trip to Peyto Lake. Wow, what a beautiful place! The water was turquoise blue and the view was just breathtaking. Another perfect location to take stunning pictures your friends will envy you for. 😉 After this stop, we just had one more task to fulfil: The Polar Bear Swim in Bow Lake! The bravest among us got ready to be cooler than they’ve ever been before. Of course, you’ve always been cool, guys – but I think you know what I mean. So, to visualize it: 20 crazy INTERNeX-people running into ice-cold water, screaming at the top of their lungs and cheering with the kicking-in of adrenalin. FUN! Great job to those who did it! I really enjoyed it and can only recommend doing it.

Back in the bus, we were all looking forward to making it to our accommodation for the night in Banff: a cute, beautiful little village. We spent the evening having dinner, shopping souvenirs and getting ready for our night out. And besides celebrating the great group and the new friendships we made, we also had a special anniversary that night: Henrike turned 19! Happy birthday, again. I hope you had an unforgettable night. I walked back to the hotel at around 1am, I did not want to be too tired the next day.

To not overwhelm you with everything, I will tell you about the last two days tomorrow. Make sure you don’t miss out on the blog post!

I hope to see you tonight for PuB NiGHT at the Beaver Bar.

– Elisabeth

INTERNeX International Exchange
International Village,
Suite 2077, 2079 – 88 West Pender Street
Vancouver, Canada -V6B 6N9-
Web: http://www.internexcanada.com
Email: pr@internexcanada.com

24 Hours of Winter – Experience IT Review

Saturday we went up at Grouse Mountain to experience a winter wonderland, where they celebrated their annual 24 hours of winter. In this weekend Grouse Mountain opened the slopes for 24 hours straight, so if you were up for it, you could go downhill the entire night. Besides skiing and snowboarding for as long as you wanted to, Grouse Mountain also organized other great activities and events. So if you were not a great skier, you could also rent snowshoes and hike on some beautiful trails they offer. Or if you are not a big fan of the snow, you were also able to hit the ice skating rink and show your moves on the ice while a DJ took care of playing some great hits. Besides these fun activities, you were also able to go snow sledding, doing a light walk, go ziplining, do a yoga session, and watch a junior hockey game and many other things!

Many choices, so decisions had to be made. Because I wanted to check out the slopes on Grouse, I went up a bit earlier to do some snowboarding. But later in the evening it became hard to see anything because of the heavy snowing and I decided to quit. So I parked my snowboard and met the rest of the group on the top of the mountain. After renting some snowshoes with one of us looking like a real pro, we started our journey on the light walk. We were totally amazed by all the lights, music and beautiful trails, we looked like real tourists making pictures of every single thing we saw. Unfortunately the trail came to an end after half an hour.

It was time for some food and drinks, while we were still amazed by all the beautiful things we saw earlier. And because it was still quite early in the evening, we decided to move ourselves to the bonfire besides the ice skating rink. Two of us got so inspired by all the people on the ice; they quickly rented some skates and gave it a try.

After some heating up at the bonfire again, the evening came to an end and we took the gondola downhill, where we got a beautiful view over the city. And that was the perfect way to end the evening with.

I am looking forward to see all of you again tomorrow at PuB NiGHT!

– Tess

INTERNeX International Exchange
International Village,
Suite 2077, 2079 – 88 West Pender Street
Vancouver, Canada -V6B 6N9-
Web: http://www.internexcanada.com
Email: pr@internexcanada.com

Rocky Mountains

Although driving more than 2.000 kilometers in four days, without too much sleep, nothing will ever replace Internex’s amazing trip to the Rockies.  Early Friday morning a group of people from all over the world stepped into a bus, left Vancouver and took out on a journey to The Canadian Rocky Mountains.  Our tour guide was Hayley from West Trek Tours, who made this trip as unforgettable as it was, together with our bus driver Handsome Ian. We drove along the highway until we reached the beautiful town Hope where we had some pit stop and we already were surrounded by mountains. Next stop was in Kelowna were we had a picnic on the beach, enjoyed the hot sun and took a swim in the refreshing Kelowna Lake.  Back on the Canadian Okanakan highway we drove along the Okanakan lake until we made another pit stop at a farmers market to pick up some delicious fruits to enjoy on the way.

 

Finally before sunset we made it to the Mountain View Cabins in Golden.  After a long drive we were all hungry so the cabin hosts made us a BBQ dinner and after the dinner we grilled some marshmallows on a bonfire. Can you imagine sitting around a bonfire up in the mountains in middle of nowhere were you can smell the nature all around you?  Surrounded by forests and wild animals and being told stories of people running away from a bears? The night turned into a bonfire party, were our lovely guide Hayley sang country songs and played her ukulele and we all sang along. What a wonderful night!

 

 

 

 

Early Saturday morning we drove back on the highway until we reached Alberta State and guess what?  We drove back in time. We arrived into Banff National Park where I’m pretty sure the most beautiful nature on this earth exists. First we went to see Emerald Lake and Lake Louise, a stunning beautiful lakes, as blue as the sky, with mountains all around them. Almost like standing in front of a picture. Then it was time to see Lake Louise from above. We drove down to the Lake Louise ski resort and had a lunch buffet before we took the gondola up to a mountain were we got the most amazing view ever. On our way up, we searched for some wild animals in the forest, but I guess they were hiding.  However we got lucky on our way back.  We found them.  Yes guys, up in the wild nature on our way back in the bus we finally saw some bears. Not just one or two, no we saw seven bears.  A black bear mother, feeding her two little cubs and the cutest grizzle bears hiding between the trees. I actually didn’t know that on this earth there existed a place where wild bears could just chill along the road, but now I know 🙂

 

Next we drove to the cute little mountain town Banff to check in to our hotel and have some relaxing time before dinner. It was Saturday night, so people were in mood for partying. We went to a pub for a drink or two and then we found a nightclub in town. Have you ever visited a nightclub up in the mountains? If not, there is one in Banff 😉

Sunday morning we woke up early and had our breakfast from Tim Horton. We had a long day ahead, the biggest sightseeing day on the trip.  We went to see Lake Minnewanka / Two Jack Lake, Bow lake and Moraine lake, which was even more stunning than Lake Louise. What a nature and what a place. The last lake we saw was Peyto Lake, were we took a polar bear swim were the water is only  5,5 degrees.  That was pretty awesome.  Then we drove in to the Jasper National park were we had the highlight of the day, The Columbia Ice field. The largest ice field in the Rocky Mountains which is about 325 square kilometres (125 sq mi) in area, 100 metres (330 ft) to 365 metres (1,198 ft) in depth and receives up to 7 metres (280 in) of snowfall per year. Our glacier adventure began with an opportunity to ride on the surface in the all-terrain Ice Explorer – a massive vehicle specially designed for glacier travel, and there are only 23 of them in the whole world. When we came up to the glacier, we walked on the ice and filled our water bottle with fresh glacier water. Defiantly the best water we’d ever taste. It was a perfect time to capture the beauty of the Ice field’s breathtaking mountain setting.

Back on the highway on our way to Mount Robson, we made a stop at the Athabasca Falls, the most powerful waterfall in the Rocky Mountains which was pretty amazing. It was cold so we found a Belgium waffle man and had some hot drinks and waffles there. Then we kept driving and were we almost reached Mount Robson, the highest peak of The Rocky Mountains, we unfortunately drove into a thick black fog where our beautiful sunny weather changed into heavy rain. Too bad for a view on Mount Robson. Before dinnertime, we made it to our country hotel in Mt. Robson, were we checked in and had a nice warm shower. A real country night was about to start, yes ladies and gentleman we were now all ready to see some real cowboys. We were picked up of the cowboys and their cowgirls who drove us to their ranch and served us a dinner and drinks. The dinner party soon changes to a wild cowboy party were we all danced line dance late into the night. Monday morning we drove back to Vancouver.

Thank you all for joining us on this unforgettable Rocky Mountains trip. Hope you all enjoyed it as much as the PR team.

 

AAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

PR Team

 

 

Review River Rafting Big Wolf Tour

oh boy, oh boy was this trip AMAZING! Sunday at 1 pm we took off in Lee’s van called Big Mama Wolf. We drove on Canada’s longest highway and listened to a lot of awesome songs. After a quick stop at a supermarket we arrived at the Chilliwack River Rafting campsite. Despite the burning sun, we got our tents up almost without a sweat. Then it was time to enjoy the nice weather, some decided to take a swim and others were enjoying a cool drink at the beautiful river. Later on we played games such as beer pong and beach volley ball. For dinner our tour guide, Lee made us some delicious BBQ burgers and after our stomachs got full we partied until very late. One of the owners of the campsite played songs on his guitar and we all danced and sang along to his tunes. Around the bonfire, we made new friends from Ireland and Australia and had an amazing time.

Early next day, it was time for breakfast. On the menu were sausages, American pancakes and eggs. After breakfast we got on the bus and drove up to the river where our boats were waiting. We split up into groups of 6 people and in the boat our river rafting guides gave us a safety lesson before sailing out on the river. Sailing over the rapids was a true challenge but was still exciting and so much fun.  Our paddling skills were definitely put to the test! Half way trough we sailed to the bottom of a 5 meters tall cliff climbed up and jumped back into the river.
After a while we got back into our boats and sailed towards the next rapids. The final rapid was called The Rollercoaster and was the wildest one of them all! The water splashed into our faces and all over the boat but everyone survived.  After the river rafting we headed back to the campsite for lunch and packed our tents and bags.

The PR team wants to thank everyone on the trip for a fantastic experience and the best time together. We also want thank Lee Henderson from Big Wolf Tours for putting this awesome trip together. If you want to check out Big Wolf Tours follow this link: http://www.bigwolftours.com/