A more civilised trip across the Coquihalla

At the end of the season everyone packed their bags and made their way off the hill. The final engagement was a fun round of golf at local course in Kelowna for all Big White staff. It was a great morning walking about on grass in shorts for the first time in months. I played my nine holes and said my goodbyes and Amy and I caught a cab into the heart of Kelowna to pick up a hire car.

I had sold my half of the trusty Ford Windstar to my neighbours who together with Pup (the other owner) were heading down the west coast of America in the car before flying home. I was sad to say goodbye to the old girl but thankful that she had treated me well over a gruelling winter of driving. I recovered all but $25 from the sale of the car and was happy with that. Those guys have recently finished their trip and flown out of the US...the fate of the Windstar remains a mystery. I`ll ask them where her final resting place was...

Back in Kelowna, Amy and I stuffed two large ski bags and our backpacks into our rented Hyundai Sonata and headed west to Whistler. That afternoon we made it as far as Hope a quaint town about 2-3 hours east of Vancouver. It`s claim to fame...they shot the movie Rambo there.

We had dinner at a great pub in town and made camp about 8km east of Hope next to the raging Coquihalla River. Between the noise of the river, the constant drone of passing trucks on the nearby highway, the feral cats that lived in the bush next to our tent, the mosquitoes, the frogs, the other campers and occasional trucks that passed less than 25 metres from the end of our tent we enjoyed a tranquil night in the serene BC wilderness. But we saved a lot of money and made a fire and had a few beers - it was super fun.

In the morning I woke and tried to pull a trout from a man made lake in the campground. Despite there being over 80 decent sized trout in a puddle a few times larger than mum`s pool we were forced to drive into town for breakfast.

We made our way through Vancouver that afternoon and on to Whistler where we were staying with some friends in their nice apartment right near the base of Blackcomb. I filled and returned the hire car and we settled into Whistler life. We spent the next 10 days living with Brad and Christie - we skied every day testing out 2010 skis to see what we might like to buy for next year's season. In the evenings we played pool, hot tubbed, swam and cooked awesome meals. Brad is a qualified chef and he took some time every evening to help me prepare the meal - I learnt some cool new tricks in the kitchen.

We repeated this lifestyle for 10 days before it was time to board my first ever Greyhound bus and head to Vancouver...to face reality, to find a job, to find a place to live and to settle down for the next 12-18 months. More on that to come...for now some pictures of the trip across the Coquihalla, Whistler life and the Peak 2 Peak.

Driving the Coquihalla in Spring

Dinner at the Gold Rush Pub

We didn't have a torch so we bought this wind up torch...it made finding things in the dark a lot easier

I built a fire

Home Sweet Home

Lunch at MOUNTAIN WoMAN (this is actually how it appears on the sign and it coined a whole new term for women who does man's things)

View of Seventh Heaven on Blackcomb Mountain from the Peak 2 Peak Gondola

Somewhere on Whistler

A Peak 2 Peak Carriage

Driving the Peak 2 Peak

Lost Lake - Whistler

View from lunch on Blackcomb

Somewhere on Whistler

Apres' at the bottom of Blackcomb

Apres' Apres'