I’d particularly been looking forward to getting to Banff National Park, it’s the ‘stunningly beautiful’ place Australians rave about ad nauseam upon their return home. And for good reason.

We arrived at Lake Louise in the late afternoon and battled ginormous buses groaning with tourists for a parking spot. We dodged errant selfie sticks, flailing in the air, as we jostled for a view of the famous lake beneath an angry grey sky.

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Meanwhile armies of people in bright red canoes cut their way across the lake.

The crowds were kind of overwhelming, but in no way quelled the beauty of the lake. I’m not a smug ‘traveller’ who thinks herself a cut above the much maligned ‘tourist’ and I understand that places are busy because there is something spectacular about them. It probably doesn’t help that there’s a massive hotel, sorry, chateau on the shore. So the crowds I get, but we had a plan.

Love the contrast of the lake water with the red canoes

The next morning I literally jumped out of bed (which is no easy feat on an air mattress) at 6:45am and we were down by the lake by 7:15am with just a handful of other people. Bliss.

The moon was also out enjoying the early morning calm.

That reflection

The pastel water is caused by silt or ‘rock flour’ from the glacier that feeds the lake and becomes suspended in the water. It’s so damn pretty.

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We got in on a bit of selfie stick action with my GoPro

We took a walk around the side of the lake, snapping stupid amounts of photos along the way.

There’s the chateau on the left

We ducked inside the chateau to grab some coffees, it was pretty nice.

These two

We drove over the Moraine Lake, the other nearby glacial lake, whose water was an even more spectacular blue. By this time parking the car was again a nightmare but we got lucky.

How is this real?!

On our way out we noticed they had closed off the road because it was so busy, so we made it there just in time. My advice for anything in Banff National Park? Go early. And yes, it is worth it.