Driving a tank

Monday 2nd September

My last full day in Vancouver... Time really is flying now and I don't want to leave...

Still,  all good things come to an end right? Today was no exception to 'good things'

One trip that I was determined to do was to visit Whistler.   It's about 90km north of Vancouver in the mountains and in the Winter is one of the most popular ski resorts in Canada. In the summer though,  it's just as busy with tourists visiting the mountains and also crazy people who zip down, what would be ski runs in the winter, on mountain bikes.

Organised trips are pricey and I felt like you never really got time to explore.   I mentioned this at the beginning of the week to Barry.  He also wanted to go,  so we decided to hire a car and drive there as a DIY trip.

I prebooked a car in the intermediate category - something like a Ford focus. When  I booked though,  I was teased with the option to upgrade to the next class for only $7.... Ooops... Yes I clicked it.  What we ended up with I can only describe as a tank.  A huge chrysler  300... It was amazing and sooooo nice to drive.  The road rules here though are odd. Firstly they are very strict on speeding. 80km/h just seemed so slow! Also,  at junctions you can still turn right through a red light if it's clear.

Two others joined us for the day,  Gerry,  Barrys housemate also from Ireland, and Kayleigh,  a friend of Gerrys from Liverpool. We had a great day with lots of laughs between us. Most of the jokes wouldn't make sense unless you were there though so trust me when I say we laughed... A lot!

The journey there took about 4 hours,  not because we got lost,  but we decided to stop at every 'point of interest' that we encountered, some of which were just lookout points giving breathtaking views as we drove along the 'sea to sky' highway.

We found Whistler bungee too and convinced Barry to do it.  Unfortunately for us, and quite possibly to Barrys relief, there was no one around despite all the signs saying it was open everyday of the year! The jump was off a bridge down into the canyon... Just walking across the bridge turned our stomachs!

We made it to Whistler Village and had some food before deciding what to do next. We chose to tackle the mountain! There was one very long cable car ride up Whistler mountain.  This was great, and quite tame.  All of us enclosed in a pod. The next bit took us to the 'top of the world' and right to the peak.  This was in a skilift! Feet hanging down,  open to the elements. By far the scariest ride of them all, even more so when it stopped and started swinging around.  The whole of this ride was over jagged rock and glaciers but WOW the view from the top was incredible. I'm not sure how high we were at this point but I could have just stayed there for hours taking in the view.

We then had to come back down the same skilift *gulp*  and then instead of taking the cable car down Whistler mountain, we crossed to Boscombe mountain.... Via the peak to peak cable car.  Yes... A cable car that spans across a ravine and is the world's longest free span between ropeway towers,  the distance being 3.03km (1.88 miles) and is also the highest point above ground for a gondola at 436 metres (1430 ft)

It looked terrifying, but was actually really good... As long as you didn't look down! Once across we then made our way down Boscombe mountain via two skilifts... Legs hanging out etc... in theory this should also have been white knuckle inducing but after the lift to the main peak,  this was quite enjoyable. We became more engrossed trying to spot bears in the woods... We didn't see any though :-(

Exhausted, we made our way back to Vancouver to drop of the car,  we said our goodbyes and it was time for me to pack my bags... Tomorrow I fly to Toronto!