And so my long-suffering reader the day has arrived. The day when I
have to put aside my fears, remember that left means the hand with the ring on
it, righty-tighty and lefty-loosie and resist my natural bent to drive more to
the left side of the lane. Yes. Today I drive.
We had breakfast in the Club Lounge on the patio that has a lovely
view of the harbour and downtown. Today is probably the clearest it has been,
although it is still hazy. We had attempted the Lounge before but it is the
smallest I have seen and if you don’t get in early you are relegated to the
patio. This morning this was fine, but the other evening it was very cold in
the wind, so we relented and were lured back to the hotel restaurant (aptly named Lure) for another
over-priced, average meal.
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| Before: The Bride to Downton |
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| After: The Bridge to Downtown |
Bags packed and check-out completed, we walked to the car park to
tackle the white beast. Keys in the ignition. Slam the door – hey, it doesn’t
shut otherwise. Up comes the GPS. Program in the ferry terminal. Slowly
negotiate my way out of the parkade – I assume that is a peculiarly Canadian
expression as I’ve not heard it elsewhere. Look to the GPS. Silence. Speculate on
the direction to go. Incorrect. Damn! Drive for a while and suddenly she sparks
into life. I’d be forever muscling my way into traffic if I relied entirely on
her. The directions are a little late. Out onto the highway - so far so good.
The real challenge for the day is to arrive at the ferry terminal at
the right time. The ticket says to get there between 60 and 30 minutes before
sailing. It also warns if you are late you fill forfeit your booking and the
same applies if you are early. I am early for everything, tardiness is not a
feature of my world. If I am late, it is deliberate.
I drove within the speed limit and we arrived 20 minutes before
11am. Worried, I pulled over to the side of the road. It was that or join one
of the queues. You see, dear reader, the highway terminates at the ferry
terminal. There is nowhere else to go. We sat on the roadside and watched the
queue get longer until we wouldn’t be able to join it. Jayne decided to go and
speak to one of the traffic wardens who then took pity on the stupid
Australians and called us forward into the queue.
Ticket paid for, lane allocated, we drove forward to be the second
in line and subsequently the second on the ferry. And that is where I sat as I began to write this. The view was quite pleasant, however, a car alarm was now going off, destroying the peace. Then the announcement: Would the owner of a white BMW please
return to your car, the motor is running. What the actual? Who leaves their car
running while it is parked for a 90 minute journey?
The journey was uneventful and I dozed as we crossed back to the mainland. Onto land and once again the GPS was in control. It directed us to the heart of Van. Surely there was a quicker way? I later discussed this with Dan and he and Danaka assured us that was the only way to go. It probably added 30 minutes to the trip because we crawled through Downtown Van to get to the other side and Highway 99.
Once on the open road, I began to feel more comfortable with the car. Despite the remnant smoke haze, the view is quite spectacular and the road is carved into the mountain side with views across to numerous small islands scattered along the river and the townships clinging onto the mountain side.
Near Squamish, we passed through a police radar check. I have remained within the speed limit since getting behind the wheel and here is my song reference for this post, Tracy Chapman's Sorry from her self-titled debut album in 1988. Every other car on the road was ignoring the speed limit and I'm sure I inconvenienced a few of them by obeying the sign posted speed. Therefore, I am sorry.
The big news on the local Sea to Sky Corridor radio station was a warning about a dead Bambi, the young one, not the King of the Forest size, on the Northbound lanes between Squamish and Whistler. Crews were on the way to remove the hazard. We had actually commented on the deer when we had driven by - it was off to the side of the road and no problem to get around. It had prompted us to wonder why we have not seen venison on any menus so far. Road kill here is nothing compared to Australia: all we have seen is a couple of birds, one hedgehog and this deer. We have yet to see a bear but reckon they could caused a sizeable dent in the car.
We finally made Whistler after more than 6 hours in the car. Did a quick bag drop and drove over to Dan and Danaka's to see the house and then return to Whistler Village for dinner. We declined the offer to party on and retired to our suite to recover form the day's transit.
Saturday dawned grey and wet. It is the first rain we have seen since we arrived in Canada and it is most welcome. It will certainly help to take some of the smoke from the air even if it is not heavy enough to extinguish the fires. Given the weather, we decided today would be a lay-day - doing the washing and just hanging around the Village.
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| The view from the fery |
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| There are lots of little islands |
The journey was uneventful and I dozed as we crossed back to the mainland. Onto land and once again the GPS was in control. It directed us to the heart of Van. Surely there was a quicker way? I later discussed this with Dan and he and Danaka assured us that was the only way to go. It probably added 30 minutes to the trip because we crawled through Downtown Van to get to the other side and Highway 99.
Once on the open road, I began to feel more comfortable with the car. Despite the remnant smoke haze, the view is quite spectacular and the road is carved into the mountain side with views across to numerous small islands scattered along the river and the townships clinging onto the mountain side.
Near Squamish, we passed through a police radar check. I have remained within the speed limit since getting behind the wheel and here is my song reference for this post, Tracy Chapman's Sorry from her self-titled debut album in 1988. Every other car on the road was ignoring the speed limit and I'm sure I inconvenienced a few of them by obeying the sign posted speed. Therefore, I am sorry.
The big news on the local Sea to Sky Corridor radio station was a warning about a dead Bambi, the young one, not the King of the Forest size, on the Northbound lanes between Squamish and Whistler. Crews were on the way to remove the hazard. We had actually commented on the deer when we had driven by - it was off to the side of the road and no problem to get around. It had prompted us to wonder why we have not seen venison on any menus so far. Road kill here is nothing compared to Australia: all we have seen is a couple of birds, one hedgehog and this deer. We have yet to see a bear but reckon they could caused a sizeable dent in the car.
We finally made Whistler after more than 6 hours in the car. Did a quick bag drop and drove over to Dan and Danaka's to see the house and then return to Whistler Village for dinner. We declined the offer to party on and retired to our suite to recover form the day's transit.
Saturday dawned grey and wet. It is the first rain we have seen since we arrived in Canada and it is most welcome. It will certainly help to take some of the smoke from the air even if it is not heavy enough to extinguish the fires. Given the weather, we decided today would be a lay-day - doing the washing and just hanging around the Village.
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| Not so summery in Whistler today. |
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