Austrian couple travelling across Canada honoured with white hat ceremony

Heidi and Hannes Rammler receive white hats at the TELUS Spark Science Centre.

An Austrian couple that is making their second trek across Canada this summer made a stop at the Telus Spark Science Centre this week where they received a token of Calgarian hospitality.

Heidi and Hannes Rammler first travelled across Canada last summer after being inspired by Terry Fox’s Marathon of Hope. Hannes rode west to east on a bicycle with Heidi driving a support van most of the way, carrying their food and camping gear.

This time around, the couple focused on taking the most direct route rather than seeing all the sites along the way.

“I had not enough time to see what we wanted to see there,” Heidi said. “We left so many things behind, and we couldn’t see them, so it was necessary for us to come again.”

“I (came) back the second time because I want to see places that I missed with (riding) a bike,” Haanes said.

“Last year, I did the whole distance from Vancouver to St. John’s, Newfoundland, with a bike and when you are on the bike, you miss some places because it’s too far to go see.”

They say there wasn’t a lot of planning put into this trip, which started at the end of May. The couple shipped their custom-made van from Germany to Halifax, and their sole priority was to see Newfoundland and some icebergs.

Sharing driving responsibilities, they headed west, meeting people and stopping at attractions along the way. Heidi says it’s easy to drive in Canada.

“The people here in Canada are much more patient than in Europe, than in Austria,” she said. “We like that very much.”

The couple made the stop at Telus Spark Science Centre after hearing about its new dinosaur exhibit, Sue: The T-Rex Experience.

Guy Labine, the science centre’s president and CEO, says the exhibit has been open for four weeks with more than 6,000 visitors in the first weekend it opened.

“Telus Spark in the summertime becomes an important tourism asset, not only for Calgary, but for Alberta,” he said, adding that around 40 per cent of the museum’s visitors in July and August come from outside Alberta.

The Rammlers weren’t expecting to be honored with a white hat ceremony, but were all smiles at the presentation.

“We fell in love with Canada and it’s friendly people,” Hannes said, “and that’s why we come again and we also come again next year (in 2027) to continue our journey and to meet friendly people again.”