Postcard from Canada - 28th October - 9th November 2014

I had a very good and relaxed flight from Heathrow to Toronto on Tuesday 28^th October, and was checked into the Hyatt Hotel an hour and a half after touch down. 

The next day, Wednesday, was sunny but cold so I set off to see some of the glorious Fall trees all over the parks.  Walked for over two hours and got some beautiful photos.  I spent the afternoon visiting some local shops and relaxing in my room. The temperature dropped a lot on Thursday but I wrapped up well to venture forth and meet up with two of my Canadian cousins for a fun lunch.  In the evening I went to see Wicked with my cousin, Pauline – not the best show I have been to but good to spend time with Pauline.

On Friday 31st I packed up in the morning and left a wet cold Toronto.  I travelled to a very cold if dry Winnipeg and settled into my room at the Hilton Suites.  The next morning I took a taxi ride down town to look The Fork and the Esplanade Riel but after walking around for 30 minutes in a cold and bitter wind I gave up and searched for a taxi back to my hotel.  My afternoon flight to Churchill was delayed by 3 hours with a ‘system failure’ but we eventually made it the Lazy Bear Lodge by 9pm.  After settling in and a quick supper I retired to my cot to prepare for polar bear hunting the next day.

Sunday morning was bleak and very cold but we set off in a small bus [about 25 of us] to find our “Crawler” which was waiting for us out near Hudson Bay. It is a bit like a caravan but has very sturdy wheels and a viewing platform at the back.   It was a very comfortable vehicle – comfy seats, heating, coffee or hot chocolate served frequently and soup and sandwiches at lunchtime – no booze of course – and there was a loo on board so we were all equipped for a day of tracking polars.  After a very short search we spotted a polar bear and her pup and after a lot of turning around [not easy in the “Crawler”] we managed to get quite close.  Then unbelievably the polar and her pup came to look at us and we had them both very close up indeed, right up at the “Crawler”.  An extraordinary sight!  We then moved on as they moved on, and we came across another polar bear and her pup – a much older pup, but nonetheless fun to watch as they were playing with one another.  So it was a spectacular day in the wilds of Churchill.  The evening was a quiet one in the Lodge!

The next morning we set out for a cultural and heritage tour of Churchill – all fascinating, but very cold indeed today, many degrees below zero.  We finished up at the polar bear ‘jail’ for those bears who have turned up in town and need to quieten down before they are let loose again.  Just as we arrived they were airlifting a polar bear who had done his 30 days in jail and was being taken to a place on the Churchill River quite a few miles away in the hope that he would not return to Town!  In the afternoon I walked around the small town but you keep yourself in sight of the main street and don’t wander far off for fear of the bears!  In the evening I went out dog sledding – quite an experience!  We didn’t stay out long with the dogs as there were bears in the area!

On Tuesday morning we set off again in our “Crawler” to track polar bears again.  It wasn’t long before we found a mother and her pup – completely different to the bears we saw before, and thanks to the smart work of our two guides we got close up to them once again.  Our two guides were quite incredible – driving this huge “Crawler” around and seeking out the polars that we simply did not see!  We spent an hour or so with these two and then moved on to Churchill Wildlife Management Area where we found another polar bear, but he simply would not move.  We watched him [we think it was a ‘him’] over our lunch break in the Crawler and indeed returned later in the afternoon, but he had not moved.  I did however have a really great time in Churchill, and managed to catch a rather delayed flight back from snowy Churchill to Winnipeg later that evening.

The next morning I left Winnipeg for Calgary, where my cousin Dinny met me.  We went to some friends of hers for a birthday-tea party before driving to her home in Cochrane for relaxation [over a jigsaw] and dinner! On Thursday Dinny took me to visit her daughter, Jen, and her young family, and then we drove on to Canmore and Banff in the Rockies – it was fun to visit but sadly the weather was not very kind to us.  The next day Dinny I went into Calgary to do a bit of very successful shopping and then we had lunch on top of the Calgary Tower, which was excellent.  On Saturday, my last day, we had a quiet day in and around Cochrane before going to the airport for my night flight home.

A really wonderful visit to Canada!