Dats all folks!!!

The journey back to Vancouver was a bit quiet ….sort of melancholy because we couldn’t really believe that our visit had come to an end ….which all good things are bound to do. Pack up, check apartment, load car and check-out and then brunch in the diner at Creekside……..first pit stop. It was an uneventful (except for the nonsense tire pressure warning in the car) drive down the Sea to Sky Highway with snowy alps slowly disappearing in the rear view mirror, and the landscape giving way to Winter greenery ….. and traffic. 

We couldn’t have asked for more. Whistler came through with a very white Christmas.

Brunch in the diner on the way back to Vancouver. It’s close to where
Erin used to live and I think she may have been a “regular” here.

We were back but not yet done, so the following day, Tuesday, we headed for Fort Langley which is the site of one of the oldest settlements in British Columbia. The original Hudson Bay Company trading post is  a 50 minute drive and what a place to visit, a bit like a cross between Leura and Old Sydney Town.

The museum was a reconstruction of the old fort at Langley.

The exhibits were quite interesting and gave an insight into life in the 19th century.
With no plumbing, heating and limited diet it’s surprising people survived, particularly the bitter Winters.

A bit like Old Sydney Town. The blacksmith was skilled and informative.
Life was hard in the old days….no Bunnings to go to for nails.

We spent a few good hours there lunching, shopping, wandering and scoping out possible shots in the fog.

It was a really good day out and a bit different to the general touristy things around Vancouver as it is harder to reach.

I happened across this shot as I was wandering around the township. Sort of impressionistic to me.

New Years Eve was spent on separate activities, the girls off the Granville Island again (it’s worth it just for the ferry ride) and I set out on public transport (trains and buses) for a little coastal village called Steveston. It’s a little bit touristy these days, but essentially still a working port with large fishing trawlers and working boats in a marina with shops and interesting little museums and antique shops.

It’s still a working port and I was touched by a large plaque placed on the boardwalk
by a young woman for her “skipper” father lost at sea out of this port.
Tough life on the trawlers.

We noticed in the early 1990s that the seagulls in North America are as big as chooks!
These ones are really healthy living off the spoils of the port. The trawlers were
selling their catch directly to the public from the wharf. Sushi is big around here.

The light was really soft in this scene I found in my wanderings around the village. I had to scramble through brambles to get the best spot.

The day before we fly home has been a last look at downtown and a catch up with one of Erin’s colleagues, Scott, from the Opus, who looked after us in 2023. Mike and Wendy may remember him….champagne?

Beautiful Vancouver. Quite a scene in any season.

The view of Vancouver from Broadway, just up from Erin’s place. Those mountains!

Vancouver is a high rise city, lots of apartments and tall buildings but with some creative architecture.
This is the Vancouver City Library, renowned for its curves and central atrium.

As we have discovered over the years, you can’t see it all ……and it’s better to leave wanting more.

This was our third visit to Vancouver/Canada and our impressions regarding Canadians have remained pretty much the same ….friendly….. foody …..doggy…….outdoorsy. 

And of Vancouver, well I guess you’d get used to the weather, but apart from that it is a very liveable place. No wonder there is a constant stream of young Australians and Canadians crossing paths across the Pacific as they  experience each others’ countries.

We fly out later today….sad to leave….again….but happy that we are not in “cattle class”!

Boxcars and Bridges ….. and farewell to Whistler

So here we are, at the end of our Whistler week and we are chuffed that our plans and schemes for a White Christmas have come to fruition …..in spades! 

We couldn’t have asked for a more magical and Wintery experience …..and what a time we have had.  

The planned, organised tours have been done so the last couple of days were free to explore the local area as we pleased. On the Saturday Erin took us to her old haunts and some interesting  locations……again deep in a very snowy landscape.

Having the car meant we could get around where ever we wanted to go, so off we went to “Function Junction” for some fine coffee ….. and then for another hike in the woods to see a graffitied train wreck that has become a bit of an attraction. It was the site of a train accident in 1956 where an overloaded train carting logs and speeding, left the tracks and careened into the forest. Over the years it has been “artistically enhanced” making it quite a unique attraction.

Another trail through the forest on our way to the “Wreck Site”. It was sunny to start and the scenery looks different in bright light.

The suspension bridge across the Cheakamus River over to the site.

I did wonder if could take the weight ….of snow that is😂

Erin seems to be better at selfies than me…..and somewhat more photogenic!

It was quite a prang!

And now it’s an “art” spot that lots of people hike to. Maybe not so many in Winter.

It was really a very interesting site. A disaster turned into an attraction.

We spent a while there, exploring the box cars and getting shots.

It gets dark quite quickly here (4.13pm) so after checking out her old share house on Alpha Lake we grabbed some craft pizza at Creekside Village. They are artisan, wood fired pizzas so take a while to make which gave us a chance to sit at the bar in the warmth and have a few drinks. Creekside is another skiing area where we are told that celebrities spend their Christmases …….in chalets. 

There are lots of fancy cars and expensive homes in this part of the world!

This is the lake behind Erin’s old share house where they swum and canoed in the summer when it’s light ‘til 9pm. Apparently this is a beach ….but I’m not convinced🥴

Alpha Lake in the Winter.

The girls and I went exploring a bit more of the village on our last day. Somehow I ended up here😂

The first hole. Pretty tough ask!

And so tomorrow we head back to Erin’s cosy little apartment in Vancouver for the last stage of our holiday. It’s been great ….and we have more on the agenda over the next few days. Bring it on!

Trail tramping

 Our Christmas celebrations started with a very fancy Christmas Eve dinner at the Rimrock, a fancy restaurant about 10 minutes down the road from Whistler. We all got dressed up (as much as you can whilst travelling) and were treated to one of the best meals we have experienced. It was Erin’s Christmas gift to us and it set a very high bar for my culinary efforts on Christmas Day.

At the Rimrock on Christmas Eve. The kind of establishment and clientele that would frown on food “selfies” ….so we had to be discreet.

Magnificent meal and we ordered the dessert thinking of Mike.😋

A traditional roast pork and trimmings is much more suited to this climate.
Seems there are no Brussel sprouts on my plate🥴

Our next adventure beckoned the following day and it was quite an experience……snow shoeing along The Medicine Trail in the Callaghan Valley. It is a sort of re-creation of how the trappers in the early days worked the mountains, but with a First Nations theme of how the plants of the forest provided medicines and food.

After being shuttled to the valley, about a half hour drive away, together with others going riding on snowmobiles and some dog sledding, the guides fitted us with our snow shoes and we headed off into the wilds of the valley. There had been quite a dump of snow overnight ……and the landscape was blanketed …..white, fluffy and silent. We had a guide and only a small group but even so, as Aussies, we were well out of our comfort zone.

After a little while we got the hang of the snow shoes and were able to concentrate on the magnificent scenery we were tramping through. It really was something special, even the snow dumps that randomly dropped out of a tree with a rush and a whuump resulting in a cloud of snow covering everything …..including us.

The following pictures show the landscape we were in but not really the experience. 

All kitted up and ready to go. The instructions for snow shoes were as follows:
Walk 10 steps and you know how it works.
Walk with a wide stance.
Back up like a 3 point turn.

It didn’t take long to get the hang of it.

So beautiful.

Some of the group were having a sauna experience.Those little barrel things are the saunas

Under the “portal” to the trail.  Just after Mel, the guide, kindly took this shot,
a HUGE dump landed just behind Wendy. It was a shock!

We got a few breathers along the trail when Mel did her guide thing and explained what we were witnessing in this strange and unique environment.
We learned all about the flora, fauna and history of this rare place, the Temperate Rain Forest.
We even saw a woodpecker in a tree (very strange, hollow sound) and discovered
why they don’t give themselves concussion.

So much beautiful scenery.

The rivers and creeks are almost frozen over. A couple more weeks and they will be.

A re-creation of the old trappers huts dotted through the valley.

The silence was only interrupted by the sound of snow shoes sliding …
and a bit of puffing.😮‍💨 

Gorgeous!

At the end of our trek we were able to see where the sled dogs live and learn a little about them. 

The Husky dogs (Alaskan not Siberian) reminded us of Muktuk Kennels when we visited the Yukon in 2012.Feeding time is Chicken broth apparently. Sounds good after such an outing.

It really was an unforgettable experience……one that will live with us for many years to come.

 

Maniacs on the Mountain

Christmas Eve and it had been snowing hard all morning. We were due to go Zip Lining in the middle of the day, just Erin and me this time as Wendy is not fond of heights. I wondered if it may be called off because of the weather but then I recalled our time in Iceland, skidooing where they go out no matter the conditions, white-out or not. And it’s the same here ….weather ….what weather?

We met the group and leaders at the Carleton near the ski lifts where we were fitted with harnesses and helmets. Naomi and Eden (both Poms who love it here) organised us up to the gondola and then up to a station about half way up Whistler Peak and crowded with skiers ….thousands of them. From there it was a trek through the new powder snow following the trail through the forest to the launch platforms. The shoe chains on our boots (like chains for car tires only for shoes) were very helpful keeping us upright which was just as well because our heads were on swivels looking around at the beauty of this forest draped in its winter finery. Not really cold but quiet and beautiful …… until the reality of our purpose hit. 

Heading off to the forest after the gondola ride up the mountain.

The scenery through the forest was so foreign to us Aussies.
The shape, the sound, the smell, the whiteness of it.

We would do the big line first and then four other smaller zip lines working our way down the mountain back to Whistler Village.

It’s difficult to describe the feeling of launching into thin air and trusting that the harness will hold. Only the actual experience can do that so I have attached some photos of our Zip Line adventure to give a hint of what it was like.

The scenery from the launch platforms was Instagrammable, as the youngsters would say.

There was a process on the launch deck …. Safety harness, attach zip pulley, check, open gate,
step down and then step out into the abyss.

I certainly wasn’t graceful like some of the others, hanging upside down
and doing manoeuvres….but I did get there without having to be rescued!

Made it!

Erin showing off …star fishing…….at speed!

Really, upside down as well!!

Getting ready to video my second ride. Note the phone in a special pouch, ‘cos
if you drop it, there’s no getting it back!!

Eden’s comment was “ If you’re enjoying it, my name is Eden. If you’re not it’s Tom”😂

Thumbs up …… for yes we are having a wonderful time!!

At the end of the adventure with Whistler village in the background. That snow did not let up all day!

The video I’ve included below is an attempt to give an idea of what our experience was like. It was taken on the second run and I was rotating wildly …..but you’ll get the picture …….if it works. 

This is the first time I’ve uploaded a video🤞

Since that one worked I’ve uploaded the last run of the day, down to the village. Erin did the videos “cos I only do stills😉