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Published: August 17th 2017
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Peak to Peak start
Lyn, Olympic rings. Need to catch up with things done over the last 10 days. Been meaning to update but just been TOO BUSY.
Been to Whistler. Fascinating place totally geared for the tourist/adventurer in the summer and the ski bunnies in the winter. We got a bus from Vancouver, a 2 hour drive along a spectacular coastal highway and arrived at Whistler Village in stinking heat and crowds of tourists just like us from all parts of the globe. Our hotel was amazingly accommodating - the booking info said check-in was from 4.00pm (far too late in my opinion) but we arrived at 12.00 and they said, "Yep, no problem, we have your room ready". From then on they were great to deal with and soooo accommodating. We heartily recommend the Aava Hotel in Whistler.
At the risk of being boring I repeat, it was hot. Bloody hot. 30+ degrees the whole time we were there. Hard for winter dwellers in NZ to understand but, it can be too hot. However, we walked the alpine trails (tracks), biked the Valley Trail (track) me, walked the Lost Lake Trail (track), went up the mountains, which are spectacular, on the gondola and crossed
Bear watching
No bears, only Sue and Lyn. from Whistler Mountain to Blackcomb Mountain on the Peak to Peak gondola, which has world record engineering pedigree and is pretty damn impressive. From there we walked some of the alpine tracks, saw some wildlife, and came down again upon a chairlift which was just as impressive as the gondola. We also went on a bear hunt. This was a safari in luxury Land Rovers to see black bears in their natural habitat. Lots of dollars later and some time later we had seen one small bear fleetingly for a few seconds. We had seen a bear on the side of the road on our bus trip up for a longer time so we don't recommend the black bear, Land Rover, bear watching, dollar thinning safari.
CrankWorkz was starting in a few days - this is a world series of downhill mountain biking on insane tracks especially made to test the nerve and skill of some very, either brave or very, very stupid young men and women. The man-made jumps were terrifying just to look at, let alone have a go at. The event started a day after we left but we saw some of the guys practising on
Alpine Trails
Rob, Lyn, Sue, Tom. the suicidal track - a young and brainless testosterone thing I think. I say that acknowledging there are a few women who take part as well - not many - they have more sense. NZ has a leg of CrankWorkz in Rotorua.
Back to Vancouver. We have been walking to Deep Cove, exploring the city, walking in Stanley Park, out on Rob's boat setting crab pots and prawn traps, eating well, drinking well, lapping up the sun etc. Wish you were here.
Last weekend and a day we made a a trip to the Sunshine Coast, so-called. It involved a car ride to Horseshoe Bay, a ferry for 40 minutes to Langdale and another car ride to our B'n'B at Sechelt. This is a pretty seaside, mainly retirement, community, still on the mainland but only accessible by ferry, and a good jumpimg off place for sea adventures, walking/hiking, cafes, and other good stuff.
There were six of us: Rob and Gill, our Vancouver hosts, us and Tom and Sue from Melbourne (related to Gill). Our B'n'B was Garden Cottage. It was comfortable and picturesque and well set up for people like us. We used it as a
Sunshine Coast
Garden Cottage B'n'B. base to go on walks - to Smugglers Cove and to the Skookumchuck Narrows - and to visit friends of Rob and Gill's for brunches and dinners - well, one of each. The Skookumchuck Narrows was fascinating. The ocean funnels through a narrow gut into an inlet as the tide changes and sets up rapids, eddys, whirlpools, currents, waves, totally through tidal action. We walked in from the road for an hour to find many others had the same idea, sitting on rocks watching the tide funnel in. Also waiting for the tide were some kayakers wanting to use the rapids for kayaking stuff. Some of them were more successful than others at staying upright.The noise from the tide was like that of rapids in a river. An experience.
Also some golf and then the reverse journey back to North Vancouver where we have put out crab pots successfully. They have to be over 6 inches (15cms) across their carapace to keep and also be male. So the females are thrown back and the slightly smaller ones ditto. You are also only allowed to retain 4 legal ones of your catch. We got seven but one was female, one
Dinner
Brian and Gillian's apartment, Sechelt. was slightly too small and one lucky crustacean got thrown back in on the eenie meenie, miney moe principle. Very exciting for us hunter gatherers. We were so excited by success that we motored out and put down prawn traps. We were 100 metres off the shore in 250 feet of water when we dropped the traps down. The vertical granite cliffs don't shelve - they just disappear into the water. Very deep. We pull up the traps tomorrow.
What else? Up Grouse Mountain - grizzly bears, raptors, paragliders, vertigo, bad food, panoramic scenery from 5,500 feet up, crowds and crowds of tourists but all something to soak up, and enjoy and appreciate the privilege and experience of being able to travel.
Weather wise we are still experiencing lovely summery days. The heat bomb has gone so the 30+ days are behind us but it's now anywhere from the low to the high 20's. very nice.
Three more days and we head home, arriving on the 21st. Cheers.
(Only photos in the next edition).
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Diane
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Great place isn't it?
Reading your blog brought back lovely memories of Whistler and Vancouver. We loved both places and would go again. It'll be great to catch up with you and compare notes. Yes, we know what you mean about the heat. Horrible isn't it when you're not used to it. However, it's doing nothing but rain here - day after day after day. Not sure which is worse. Love Disey and Linds