Saturday, August 21, 2004
2,503.4 km later......
Hey there,
We are just back from our west-coast road trip, and it was really great. Having a car gave us so much freedom. We picked up the car rental on the 9th of August, a silver Ford Taurus - a nice car to drive. We spent the day doing things we needed to, around Calgary, like getting some food supplies for our trip, cleaning our apartmenty for inspection, and going for a 'start of the holidays' meal at East Side Marios (Hey bada boom bada bing!!)
We left Calgary at 10am on the 10th, to start the first leg of our trip to Salmon Arm in B.C. The trip was really spectacular, with incredible scenery, of mountains, canyons and the rare sight of snow still lingering on some of the Columbia mountain range (not bad for 30 degree celsius weather!) The trip brought us through the Yoho & Glacier National parks and through the numeous rumblings of the avalanche warning zones through Roger's Pass. We weren't quite sure whether the nets hanging over the sheer mountain slopes on the roadsides, in the avalanche warning zones, were something to be happy and safe about, or something to worry about! But with the guide book referring to the area as "Death Strip" it did little to calm the nerves! So we just obeyed all the signscarefully in the area ... even the one telling us to put our watches back one hour! We stopped off for food in Golden along the way, which at first view off the highway appeard to be nothing more than a row of gas /petrol stations and and fast food restaurants (another "Death Strip" of sorts!!) We didn't venture into the town itself though, but instead made tracks for Salmon Arm after the quick break.
We were now entering the Okanagan valley, which we kindly 're-Irish-ised' its pronounciation to sound more like the O' Kannigan valley! (I doubt the BC locals would be too happy!!) At the north end of the valley, on the tip of one of the Shuswap Lake's 'arms' was Salmon Arm. We enjoyed the Shuswap but again, none of the locals seemed to be interested in any "Shoe-swapping" - Strange?!?!?!
Salmon Arm was really picturesque and the sight of the jetskis out on the lake looked really appealing, but we settled for a swim in the lovely luke warm waters of the Canoe Beach lake the following day, and a bit of sunbathing too - much needed in the 35 degree sun.
We drove on then to the RJ Haney Heritage Village Park and Museum - another nice stop along the route before making the 2 hour drive onto Kelowna. We spent about 2 and a half days in Kelowna, another lovely area, and a big agricultural area, with vineyards and orchards to beat the band. We took a drive up Knox mountain and went on a hike in search of Paul's tomb - a bit crazy in 38 degree scorching sun, but well worth the trip. We went on later to do a self-guided tour of the Kelowna Land & Orchard Co.'s orchard and bought some freshly pressed apple juice - delicious! I couldn't resist the urge to go for a swim then in the Okanagan lake, off the beach in the city park.
Day 4, we left Kelowna for Vancouver and the actual highway itself was one of the only sights of human existence in the vast wilderness we drove through - absolutely incredible scenery- definitely not a place you'd want to run out of petrol though!!
Friday the 13th strikes again, as we arrive at the hostel in Vancouver which we had pre-booked for 3 nights. It looked as inviting as the Cecil hotel in Calgary!! The guy in the hostel told us to take everything out of the car, even empty McDonalds wrappers, because that's the only excuse the people around there need to break into the car...Not feeling too comfortable with that thought! As you can imagine our first impressions of Vancouver weren't the best, so we grabbed the guide book to find somewhere else in the city to stay.....anywhere else to stay!
"Those two girls look pretty friendly...actually so do those two guys"...Yes, in our haste in looking for anywhere to stay, we stumbled into a predominantly gay area of town. My only concern was the car because the car park in that place didn't look the safest either, so we finally threw the car into a controlled carpark, and that was that. We went for a stroll around the downtown area then.
We went off early in the morning for a few hours in Stanley Park, in 405 hectares of cedar forest. We spent a couple of hours in Canada's largest aquarium, the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre and were there for the dolphin and beluga whale exhibitions. We changed our plans to stay in Vancouver for 3 nights and instead made our way to theferry for the 1 and a half hour trip to Vancouver Island. We arrived off the ferry into the town of Nanaimo, Vancouver Island's second largest city, after Victoria. We found a really nice hostel just a couple of mins up the road and then went into the town to do a heritage walk along the harbour, a very visitor-oriented waterfront, with totem polls etc.
The following morning we made it just in time for the 11am departure for the 10 minute boat trip to Newcastle Island, just off Nanaimo. It mainly consists of a trail around the island - about 8 km of a round trip - and a campground. The Newcastle roots of this island come from the fact it was once dotted with mineshafts and quarries. Getting back to Nanaimo we were dying for a swi in the scorching heat and made it to Westwood Lake for that.
The following morning (Mon. 16th) we left for a day trip toVictoria, a one-and-a-half hour drive. Victoria has more British-born residents than anywhere else in canada and it really shows in the buildings and design of the streets and even the old-fashioned red British buses. Our primary interest was for a whale-watching tour. We had originally planned to go to Tofino for that but with the Orca whales resident year-round in Victoria, there was a greater chance of seeing them here. We signed up for the 1 O' Clock trip with the 'Prince of Whales' company. They suited us up in wetsuits, which were more like fireman's uniforms, and although we looked really classy, we didn't end up one bit dry!
The 2-and-a-half hour round trip was incredible, seeing Orca whales so close to our boat. It was really well worth it. They only told us as we were cruising back into the harbour that the Zodiac open-top boat was the 'wettest' of their entire crew, and we had puddles to prove it!! The downtown of Victoria was lovely to walk around after wards and we left to return to Nanaimo at about 7, and chilled back at the hostel with our elderly room-mate and even introduced her to crisp sandwiches (an Irish delicacy!)
We were a bit sad to leave Nanaimo and Vancouver Island because it was so beautiful and relaxing, but also because it marked the fact that we were heading homeward towards Calgary. We got the 10:30 sailing from Nanaimo to Vancouver and had decided to head straight for Kamloops (5.5 hours). That meant we finally left the safety of highway 1 and moved onto the Coquihalla highway and the scenery was magnificent and a nice change from that of highway 1. We stopped along the way just before Hope, at a trucker stop for a gorgeous burger and chips (brought back memories of Lennox's!!!) We just chilled out in Kamloops, as we were pretty wrecked from all the driving (and co-piloting!) over the week. Not a whole lot to do in Kamloops but the views definitely made up for it. As we moved on from Kamloops it started to rain a small bit, for the first btime in our trip...just to show us we were heading towards Calgary!!!
Hoping to get a few more things crammed into the days before we relinquish the car and head for home.....the REAL home, on the 6th of September. Maybe going to Drumheller tomorrow to the Dinosaur Provincial Park. Going caving with Ryan and Erin soon too, and heading to Toronto for our flight home and hoping to sneak a day trip to Niagara falls in there too. It really has been a great trip and overall a great ten months. Looking forward to going home too.
See you all soon
David
We are just back from our west-coast road trip, and it was really great. Having a car gave us so much freedom. We picked up the car rental on the 9th of August, a silver Ford Taurus - a nice car to drive. We spent the day doing things we needed to, around Calgary, like getting some food supplies for our trip, cleaning our apartmenty for inspection, and going for a 'start of the holidays' meal at East Side Marios (Hey bada boom bada bing!!)
We left Calgary at 10am on the 10th, to start the first leg of our trip to Salmon Arm in B.C. The trip was really spectacular, with incredible scenery, of mountains, canyons and the rare sight of snow still lingering on some of the Columbia mountain range (not bad for 30 degree celsius weather!) The trip brought us through the Yoho & Glacier National parks and through the numeous rumblings of the avalanche warning zones through Roger's Pass. We weren't quite sure whether the nets hanging over the sheer mountain slopes on the roadsides, in the avalanche warning zones, were something to be happy and safe about, or something to worry about! But with the guide book referring to the area as "Death Strip" it did little to calm the nerves! So we just obeyed all the signscarefully in the area ... even the one telling us to put our watches back one hour! We stopped off for food in Golden along the way, which at first view off the highway appeard to be nothing more than a row of gas /petrol stations and and fast food restaurants (another "Death Strip" of sorts!!) We didn't venture into the town itself though, but instead made tracks for Salmon Arm after the quick break.
We were now entering the Okanagan valley, which we kindly 're-Irish-ised' its pronounciation to sound more like the O' Kannigan valley! (I doubt the BC locals would be too happy!!) At the north end of the valley, on the tip of one of the Shuswap Lake's 'arms' was Salmon Arm. We enjoyed the Shuswap but again, none of the locals seemed to be interested in any "Shoe-swapping" - Strange?!?!?!
Salmon Arm was really picturesque and the sight of the jetskis out on the lake looked really appealing, but we settled for a swim in the lovely luke warm waters of the Canoe Beach lake the following day, and a bit of sunbathing too - much needed in the 35 degree sun.
We drove on then to the RJ Haney Heritage Village Park and Museum - another nice stop along the route before making the 2 hour drive onto Kelowna. We spent about 2 and a half days in Kelowna, another lovely area, and a big agricultural area, with vineyards and orchards to beat the band. We took a drive up Knox mountain and went on a hike in search of Paul's tomb - a bit crazy in 38 degree scorching sun, but well worth the trip. We went on later to do a self-guided tour of the Kelowna Land & Orchard Co.'s orchard and bought some freshly pressed apple juice - delicious! I couldn't resist the urge to go for a swim then in the Okanagan lake, off the beach in the city park.
Day 4, we left Kelowna for Vancouver and the actual highway itself was one of the only sights of human existence in the vast wilderness we drove through - absolutely incredible scenery- definitely not a place you'd want to run out of petrol though!!
Friday the 13th strikes again, as we arrive at the hostel in Vancouver which we had pre-booked for 3 nights. It looked as inviting as the Cecil hotel in Calgary!! The guy in the hostel told us to take everything out of the car, even empty McDonalds wrappers, because that's the only excuse the people around there need to break into the car...Not feeling too comfortable with that thought! As you can imagine our first impressions of Vancouver weren't the best, so we grabbed the guide book to find somewhere else in the city to stay.....anywhere else to stay!
"Those two girls look pretty friendly...actually so do those two guys"...Yes, in our haste in looking for anywhere to stay, we stumbled into a predominantly gay area of town. My only concern was the car because the car park in that place didn't look the safest either, so we finally threw the car into a controlled carpark, and that was that. We went for a stroll around the downtown area then.
We went off early in the morning for a few hours in Stanley Park, in 405 hectares of cedar forest. We spent a couple of hours in Canada's largest aquarium, the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre and were there for the dolphin and beluga whale exhibitions. We changed our plans to stay in Vancouver for 3 nights and instead made our way to theferry for the 1 and a half hour trip to Vancouver Island. We arrived off the ferry into the town of Nanaimo, Vancouver Island's second largest city, after Victoria. We found a really nice hostel just a couple of mins up the road and then went into the town to do a heritage walk along the harbour, a very visitor-oriented waterfront, with totem polls etc.
The following morning we made it just in time for the 11am departure for the 10 minute boat trip to Newcastle Island, just off Nanaimo. It mainly consists of a trail around the island - about 8 km of a round trip - and a campground. The Newcastle roots of this island come from the fact it was once dotted with mineshafts and quarries. Getting back to Nanaimo we were dying for a swi in the scorching heat and made it to Westwood Lake for that.
The following morning (Mon. 16th) we left for a day trip toVictoria, a one-and-a-half hour drive. Victoria has more British-born residents than anywhere else in canada and it really shows in the buildings and design of the streets and even the old-fashioned red British buses. Our primary interest was for a whale-watching tour. We had originally planned to go to Tofino for that but with the Orca whales resident year-round in Victoria, there was a greater chance of seeing them here. We signed up for the 1 O' Clock trip with the 'Prince of Whales' company. They suited us up in wetsuits, which were more like fireman's uniforms, and although we looked really classy, we didn't end up one bit dry!
The 2-and-a-half hour round trip was incredible, seeing Orca whales so close to our boat. It was really well worth it. They only told us as we were cruising back into the harbour that the Zodiac open-top boat was the 'wettest' of their entire crew, and we had puddles to prove it!! The downtown of Victoria was lovely to walk around after wards and we left to return to Nanaimo at about 7, and chilled back at the hostel with our elderly room-mate and even introduced her to crisp sandwiches (an Irish delicacy!)
We were a bit sad to leave Nanaimo and Vancouver Island because it was so beautiful and relaxing, but also because it marked the fact that we were heading homeward towards Calgary. We got the 10:30 sailing from Nanaimo to Vancouver and had decided to head straight for Kamloops (5.5 hours). That meant we finally left the safety of highway 1 and moved onto the Coquihalla highway and the scenery was magnificent and a nice change from that of highway 1. We stopped along the way just before Hope, at a trucker stop for a gorgeous burger and chips (brought back memories of Lennox's!!!) We just chilled out in Kamloops, as we were pretty wrecked from all the driving (and co-piloting!) over the week. Not a whole lot to do in Kamloops but the views definitely made up for it. As we moved on from Kamloops it started to rain a small bit, for the first btime in our trip...just to show us we were heading towards Calgary!!!
Hoping to get a few more things crammed into the days before we relinquish the car and head for home.....the REAL home, on the 6th of September. Maybe going to Drumheller tomorrow to the Dinosaur Provincial Park. Going caving with Ryan and Erin soon too, and heading to Toronto for our flight home and hoping to sneak a day trip to Niagara falls in there too. It really has been a great trip and overall a great ten months. Looking forward to going home too.
See you all soon
David
