Fish n Chips Travel the world: Lovely Lake Louise

Tuesday 24th June

This morning we thought it would be great to run the 5.6kms up to Plains of 6 glaciers Tea House for breakfast ha ha ha ha - insert maniacal laughter. Anyone who has been to this Tea House will know why I am laughing so hard!! We ran a lot of the way and the rest we climbed, skiied (on our runners!) and walked (puffing very hard). Hill training for City to Surf (C2S) is going very well!! sooo it took us 1 hour 15 mins to get to the teahouse, plus we got a little off the track at one point and had to double back. The girls working at the tea house were very impressed as they hike in and out themselves each week and it takes them 1 hour 40 mins.

Plains of 6 glaciers Tea House

This place is amazing built in 1927 by two Swiss mountain guides it still stands and is just a beautiful little oasis at 2100m elevation. It has been owned by the same family since 1959. Supplies such as flour and sugar are helicoptered in once at the beginning of Summer. Raw supplies are carried in by horses and the staff in their packs. The staff themselves hike in once every 5 days and live in little cottages next to the teahouse. The toileting facilities are two drop boxes which are built on runners like railway tracks so they can alternate between two 'holes' to allow composting. Very clever. And they are the only toilets up there so used by visitors and staff alike. There is no electricity so they use propane (LPG) to bake all the treats and make the teas. the teahouse itself is very hidden in the trees so minimal impact on the surrounding environment. From the verandah we can hear the cracking and the thunderous noises of the avalanches on the nearby peaks.

So we had planned to have breakfast here and then hike over to Lake Agnes teahouse for lunch. Due to the isolation of this teahouse the menu is limited and quite pricey. We had pie for breakfast apple for Dave and blueberry for me served on paper in little baskets. Hot Chocolate for Dave and licorice chai tea for me served in paper cups. The paper products are then used to fuel the fires for the staff accomodation. This minimises the use of precious water for washing up. And yes the licorice chai was delicious. I could of chosen from a number of flavours but that one intrigued me. Because we had run up we only carried a small amount of money with us and so had none left for lunch!! only enough for another bottle of water if we needed it $4 We got 2 bottles of water and condensed them into one after drinking the other one between us.

We hiked over the mountain towards Lake Agnes and the views from the trail to Lake Louise were absolutely spectacular. It took about an hour and 45 minutes to get to Lake Agnes but I am so glad we went there it was just lovely. The Lake itself still had a lot of ice on it. We went in and had a look at the teahouse and bought a bottle of water as we had finished the other one. I forgot to mention it was an absolutely, amazingly gorgeous day for a walk! By the time we got to Lake Agnes though the clouds had started to form. We walked down to Mirror Lake again a lovely place and then took the horse trail back to Lake Louise. By the time we got back to our hotel (2:30pm) we were so hungry having only had a slice of pie each and a cuppa all day! Just as we walked into the hotel it started to rain. :)

We enquired at the desk about our package and it still hadn't arrived. We went up to the room to fire up the laptop so we could find out where it was, I was just about on the FEDEX website when the phone in the room rang. It was the girls at the front desk to say our package had arrived. Hallelujah!

So Dave went outside to fit the new brake pads while I went downstairs to print out the meal entertainment form from work. Dave came to me in the computer room and says "I've got good news and bad news, the bad news is they are the wrong brake pads but the good news is we don't need them because these have heaps more wear on them." He decided to go to the mechanics to do the oil change and I went upstairs to have a shower and read for a while.

When David got back all my muscles had started to ache and seize up and so had his and the only way to fix that is.... the hot tub. It is outdoors but we go up anyway and it was soooo lovely!

After the hot tub we went to sit by the fire and have a predinner drink and sort out the last few days photos. We had dinner at the hotel again as neither of us was keen on walking down to the Fairmont in the rain. Early to bed tonight!!!