Saturday August 5 – Victoria to Whistler

Again, smoky and hazy. Visibility not great. The fires are still burning in the interior.

Bags had to be out by 6.30am and bus to leave at 8am. We went for an early walk and took photos of the Parliament buildings with its lights.

Taken from our room window

Our hotel. Our room is the second and third windows from the left up on the roof in middle. Big room.

We found out that, after seeing security detail outside the hotel entrance, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stayed in the hotel last night. They wouldn’t let him out until our bus had departed. As if a coach of 33 Aussie retirees would hurt him! He is NOT a Trump!

We have a Scenic-branded bus, with Canadian Rocky Mountain scenes on the side. Our driver is female (Kim) and about our age perhaps, and not very tall. She has an Aussie sense of humour – one of the group commented on the sign that said ‘Kim’s Bus’ in the front window (made previously by an adoring group of tourists). He asked if it referred to her. Her reply was ‘no, I’m Pamela’, before laughingly saying her name was Kim. So, on and off, those who heard this called her Pamela, much to her amusement! [She knows how to handle a bus.]

On the way Laurel spoke about the fishing industry. Her family have been fishermen for a number of generations. We drove through the town of Duncan which is home to the largest ice hockey stick and puck. A nearby town (off the road so we didn’t see it) has many murals on the buildings which helped to revitalise the town.

We drove to Nanaimo, after which a dessert bar of biscuit base, cream middle and real chocolate topping is named, and it is very nice. Jackie and Lorne introduced us to the Nanaimo bar. Here we picked up the ferry to go to the mainland. We got our own lunch on the ferry.

In bus, ready to drive off

Drove alongside Howe Sound towards Whistler. The smoke was so bad that we could barely make out the other side. This is usually very picturesque, so we missed it all.

We stopped at Shannon Falls, for a photo shoot. They are quite tall, and pretty.

We passed a rock cliff, named ‘Big Chief’, 700m tall. This is very popular with climbers, and despite the smoke haze it had a number of climbers on various parts of its face.

Next we came to Squamish (pronounced ‘Skawmish’ with a Canadian accent!). This is largely a town of First Nation people, of Squamish and Lil’wat (pronounced Leewat). There is usually a high rainfall here, but not at present British Columbia in general needs lots of rain to soak into the land and put out the numerous forest fires still burning.

Useless info: Canada is officially metric but seems to vacillate between both metric and imperial as it pleases.

We watched a DVD on the Squamish and Lil’wat people. The two peoples used to fight but decided it was better to co-exist and live together harmoniously. Nowadays if they feel like antagonism is building they have sporting and other events instead.

We got to Whistler early afternoon, and had time to ourselves to wander the resort villages while waiting for our rooms to be ready. It was very smoky here and we could barely see the mountains.

Interchangeable sign - from Ski Shop to Bike Shop!

At a restaurant with outdoor eating area.

Whistler is named after a whistling marmot, an animal. Traffic was bumper to bumper going to Whistler. This is a ski resort but because this is a long weekend, and the resort is in relatively close proximity to cities within a couple of hours drive, it is popular. Some of the resort ski runs are turned over to mountain bike trails, and lots of other summer activities. It is a year-round resort. There are two mountains, Whistler and Blackcomb, both with a great many ski lifts and runs. This was also a venue for the 2010 Winter Olympics, which were centred in Vancouver.

In the hotel foyer - stone luggage!

another number plate