I say in hindsight that today was definitely my favourite day of the whole trip.

We got up at 7.30 again (I’ve slept past then once this entire holiday) and I made breakfast for a change. We had eggs and bacon and then we went outside to find it was a beautiful and clear day! We were so grateful.

We stopped by Lake Louise because it’s so close and we haven’t seen it in pure sunlight yet. When we got there it started to get a little cloudy and the sun wasn’t entirely risen but it was still the best we’ve seen it so far. We took tons of photos and when I went to take my Polaroid, I realised I was out of film.

 

 

Ali, lovely as he is, drove me back to the hostel to get more film and then took me back to the lake. I got the Polaroid that I wanted. (if you want to see it, come to my house lol)

Afterwards, we headed back to Emerald Lake because the weather was just so good. I have so many photos but honestly they do not capture the colour of this lake. It was such a clean teal colour that I “woo-hooooo!!”‘d so loud that it echoed through the mountain range, bouncing around us. We laughed so loud that echoed too! Haha #embarrassing

 

We got some nice photos and then went canoeing for an hour. The lake was so placid, like glass. We were so relaxed and just enjoyed the actual real live sun that was above us! Thank you God for providing us with perfect weather for today.

We had some lunch in the boot of the car and then went to have our first Dairy Queen of the trip! It was in a place called Wonder which was this deserted little flat town, sort of like Radiator Springs from the movie ‘Cars’. When we were in Dairy Queen, Ali kept looking about. Where we were sitting, the couple on one side of us prayed before their meal and the couple on the other side were chatting about communion. (lol Christian sandwich)

Then we had to head to our white water rafting sesh for 2pm. I was feeling pretty nervous. Not particularly about the activity itself but about being cold. I hate being cold. It makes me really sad. Ali kept telling me we had wetsuits so we’d be fine but I’d never worn a wetsuit in my life and frankly didn’t really believe in them.
We sat down at picnic tables outside the lodge and waited for it to be 2 o clock. The instructors placed themselves amongst us and actually got to know us. It felt like we were at camp and our leaders needed to learn our names and story. They asked where we were from, why we were here, how were liking it, everything… they memorised our names, our relationship with one another, our ability to swim… it was so decent.

We got into our swimsuits then wetsuits then ‘booties’ then fleeces, jackets, helmets and sunglasses. Totally geared up, the only skin showing was our mouths and hands. I can’t see without my glasses so I had to wear sunglasses with mine – looked the dorkiest person ever!

 

 

We got into the river in groups of 9 and headed down. it was pretty calm, a few crazy rapids, one giant drop and a little bit of screaming here and there. We weren’t cold. Wetsuits do wonders – my apologies for never believing.

Our instructor got to know all of us, Ali told everyone we’d recently gotten engaged, and we chatted. It was a great team building effort. I got to know people in this boat in 10 minutes whereas I’ve been going to uni with the same people for 2 years and barely know a soul.

When we finished, we had the option to upgrade to a maximum power rafting session. I did want to do it but I was terrified of falling out the raft. Ali didn’t pressure me but I could tell how badly he wanted to do it so for him, I went.

And boy, am I glad I did? It was so awesome. 10x more exciting than the last one and super safe. Our leader gave very good instructions of when to paddle, when to get down, when to lean, when to hold on tight. We were soaked, screaming, laughing, enjoying every single second. I don’t think the smile disappeared from my face once. We went 4 kilometres of insane rapids, another 6k of chilled out rapids and then they even gave you the option to swim in the rapids which of course Ali took.

 

 

We were at the front of the boat with this sweet Indian couple who were having the absolute best time of their lives. They were asking to turn the boat around and do it all again, asking if they could come again tomorrow, they were adorable. We exchanged emails and promised we’d email them the go pro videos we took. (gosh, we still need to do that)

The instructor really adored Ali. He kept asking him to lead the way or give him a hand with everything, asking all about his outdoor experience. It was cute.

I was bursting for the toilet and had to sit uncomfortably for about 40 minutes until we reached a bathroom. The guys on the bus made the time fly by with their silly jokes and great chat and recommendations on where to go for dinner.

They really did make the afternoon special. We were almost like a little family by the time we left. They knew our names, wished us all the best for our wedding and careers and said they hoped to see us if we moved out to Canada…

After, we went to Truffle Pig for dinner and after about an hour of waiting for a table we had some of the best food I’ve ever eaten. We were sitting at the bar and the bartender made conversation with us the whole way through our meal and not in an annoying way – in a lovely, caring and fun way.

The people here are so hospitable, friendly and confident and I had such a great day.