Farewell Canada

Sunday 23 September 2012

 

Well it is now time to say farewell to Canada as we head for home via China.  We have had a wonderful and "challenging" time in this beautiful country and met some great people.  George will be leaving a bit later than us by a slower mode of transport.

 

The AC'12 convoy was so well organised and run and we are so glad that we were able to be part of it.  Some of our convoy members are on such a high after the trek that they are ready to go again!! 

 

Once we get home, have patted the cat and recover from the jet lag we shall post some pictures on our blog.

Vancouver Island - Butchart Gardens

Friday 21 September 2012

 

This morning we caught a couple of buses to go to the Butchart Gardens. Transport costs are really cheap here and it only cost $1.65 each one way (seniors' rates).

The gardens were absolutely beautiful and well worth the visit. The original owners, Mr and Mrs Butchart, built a residence on the Tod Inlet in 1904 and the gardens evolved over many years of hard backbreaking work. The gardens cover 55 acres of the 140 acre estate. Paths lead you through the sunken gardens (built in a disused limestone and clay quarry), to the Rose (6,600 bushes), Japanese, Italian (once the old tennis court) and the Mediterranean gardens. There is an outdoor stage and lawn area for concerts held during the summer months, a Rose Carousel and children's pavilion and event room for children's parties and many fountains and statues scattered throughout the grounds. There is lots and lots of colour everywhere - just beautiful. You can even take a ride on an eco-friendly electric boat exploring the history and wildlife of Tod Inlet and the local waters of Brentwood Bay.

We had our lunch in a lovely restaurant and after visiting the gift shop caught the bus back to our hotel. It was a typical scene outside the gift shop, men sitting "patiently" on benches while the women were spending up big on the credit card. Fortunately Jim was prepared and had a book to read! He was very lucky that he went with me to see the gardens and not with his 2 sisters otherwise he would still be there - they are avid gardeners!!

I can now cross the Butchart Gardens off my "bucket list".

Tomorrow we will be packing and on the move again. We will be catching the bus and ferry back to the mainland to spend our last night in Canada in a hotel close to the airport.

The weather has been kind to us again and we have enjoyed our stay on this lovely island and were glad that we could spend at least 2 days here.

　

　

　

　

Travelling on

After spending the last week in Aldergrove cleaning, washing and repacking George he is now at the depot ready for shipping back to Australia.  The grey dust set like cement on and under the truck and was so hard to wash off.  He served us well during our holiday and big trek up to Alaska and back.  The roads and mountains were a big test for him and he has earned a good rest.  We will be happy to welcome him back into Australia.

 

It was great to have the use of the cottage at Aldergrove while we prepared for our trip back home.  We enjoyed the company of Ian, Doreen, Laddie and their crew and are most appreciative of their friendship, help and support during our stay with them. Tom spent last Sunday driving us all around the beautiful city of Vancouver which has lots of waterways, mountains and gardens.  It took us no time at all to drive up the mountains in a modern vehicle  - a completely different story in a vehicle built in 1943.  We were very thankful to be passengers and to sit back and relax all day.

 

We are now "homeless" and completely reliant on public transport. It is quite nice being driven around in a quiet and airconditioned vehicle - far less stressful especially in a big city.  Fortunately we have managed to get around on buses and trains with our backpacks and wheeled duffle bag without any problems.  The people are very friendly and point you in the right direction if you need help.  Today we caught the ferry over to Vancouver Island where we will be spending 2 nights.  From what we have seen so far it is a pretty Island with a very "English" feel about it.  The city is bigger than what we expected but still has a big country town atmosphere.  Tomorrow we are going to the Butchart Gardens (it has been on my bucket list for ages) and fortunately more sunshine is forecast.   We have been very spoilt with the weather and the days have been lovely.

 

Although George provided a good home for us during the trip it is nice to have the space of a hotel room and to be sleeping on a big bed AND not having to get up at 5.00am.  It is the first time we have watched TV since first arriving in Canada and nothing much seems to have changed.  We didn't miss TV at all and have enjoyed the time after the trip to enjoy reading our books.

 

Just a matter of days until we fly home but in the meantime we plan to enjoy everything Canada has to offer.

Friday 7 September 2012 - Chase to Hope

We stopped at a town called Merritt along the way as we needed to refuel both the vehicle and ourselves. While we were stopped at the service station we got talking to one of the locals and asked what the main industry was in that area. He said timber, gold and copper and there were lots of people in the town with lots of money to spend. People were being enticed with a $10,000 upfront payment to move into the town and work for the mines. Just like in West Aust it makes it hard to find workers who are willing to work in the other areas at a lower pay.

　

From Chase we set off for Hope via Kamloops on a dual lane highway. Even though the traffic was heavy they were always able to pass us and this took some of the pressure off driving. We bypassed the centre of Kamloops but what we saw from the road did not impress us. The mountains were quite bare of trees and the only greenery appeared at the bottom of the valley. It reminded us of our gold mining towns and certainly not the vision I had in my mind.

The road from Kamloops was very mountainous and not terribly interesting and by the time we reached Hope we were ready for our overnight stop at the Coquihalla Campground. This overnight stop actually turned out to be a 3 night stop as we had everything here that we needed, including good wifi from our campsite, shops and a choice of several carwashes. That weekend there was the annual 44th Brigade fair in town so there were quite a few campers in the park who had come specifically to go to the fair. On Sunday afternoon we walked to the fair and joined in with everyone else to watch the demolition derby. It turned out to be a good source of entertainment and quite a bit of fun. On the Saturday we were told that the Othella Tunnels were well worth visiting. These were in the Coquihalla Canyon and what an amazing achievement they were.

　

Following information was taken from the BC Parks website:

"In the early 1900s, the Canadian Pacific Railway decided a route was necessary to link the Kootenay Region with the BC coast by rail. The railway was built over three mountain ranges. In the Coquihalla Gorge - the river cut a 300 foot deep channel of solid granite. A straight line of tunnels were built through it which are known now as the Othello Tunnels. There are spectacular viewing opportunities available on the trail, through the tunnels and on the bridges. This park highlights the Kettle Valley Railway grade that passes through the canyon and 5 tunnels which were built in 1914. It contains a 135 hectare land base. It is a popular tourist attraction for the town of Hope and provides viewing, walking, fishing and picnicking opportunities. The hiking trail links to the historic Hope-Nicola Cattle Trail. The engineer Andrew McCullough was an avid reader of Shakespearean literature, and used characters such as Lear, Jessica, Portia, Iago, Romeo & Juliet to name stations of the Coquihalla "

While we were there a tour bus of 29 South Australians turned up and they noticed straight away the Western Australian number plates on our vehicle so were anxious to chat with us about our trip. They were members of a walking club in Adelaide who go away each year on a 2 week trip. Some extended their trip for a longer period and others just came for the 2 weeks.

The campground caretaker told us that the main industries in Hope were tourism, timber and water. Their underground water is of the highest quality and bottled and shipped all around the World. We did pass a Nestle water plant on the way to the tunnels.

George had 2 pressure spray washes in Hope to remove the bulk of the grey dust which had set like concrete and will need even more washes before he will be acceptable to Aussie import standards.

 

Monday 10 September 2012 - Hope to Chilliwack

This morning we farewelled Hope and are now staying in Chilliwack at a campground on the edge of the Vedders River. A good place for fishing if you like fishing. It is not our favourite sport we only like to eat them - preferably cooked and with chips. At present we are making plans to ship George home so next week we will be busy cleaning, packing etc. I am having a real fun afternoon updating the blog as I am sitting in the freezing cold Ladies' washroom with my computer connected to the power outlet. The charger that we bought in China to charge the computer from the car decided to 'die' (another bad purchase that we made on the way over) so this is our only other option. Jim is relaxing and reading a book under the annexe which we fortunately put up today as it is now raining quite heavily.

　

Wednesday 5 September 2012 - Hinton to Jasper

Our journey to Jasper was memorable in more ways than one. We had hardly driven into the park when we saw our first mountain goats - they were quite large with thick white fur. Now this may not seem exciting but at first I thought they were white bears and was not really convinced that they weren't until I saw a picture of the goats in the Canada Parks pamphlet. The drive through the park was beautiful with lots of lakes and rivers in shades of aqua. The sun was shining and it was just a perfect day. Jasper, although very commercialised, was a quaint little town and obviously dependent on the tourist trade. There was a constant queue of people at the bakery which must be one of the favourite eating spots. They have a system where you buy your items cold and if you want them hot then you heat them yourself in the microwave. It was about the first time that we have come across buildings built of stone rather than timber and there were some beautiful buildings made out of the local stone. We camped in a national park campground about 4km from the town and a short drive to where you can catch the cable car to the top of the mountain.

It was a cold and damp night in the park and we just couldn't get warm. We had a resident little squirrel/chipmunk who kept us entertained by jumping from branch to branch and gathering its food. It didn't seem to worry about the presence of humans at all.

Thursday 6 September 2012 - Jasper to Chase

The next day we were not so lucky with the weather. It was wet and cold and rained most of the way to Lake Louise. Unfortunately some of the beauty spots we could not see clearly because of the rain. We also kept the windows on the van as there was a very cold and strong wind blowing, especially in the valleys. The drive through the Columbian Icefields was amazing and we stopped wherever we could to take pictures. Even met 2 Aussie couples from South Australia at one of our stops who had travelled down from Alaska in a rented vehicle.

We saw quite a large number of cyclists on the road through the national park and they looked wet and miserable - not a good day to be on a bike on mountainous roads and under those conditions. We noted that most of the cyclists do not have lights on their bikes and they are difficult to see at times. Fortunately large trucks are not allowed through this section of the National Park.

We camped once again in a national park campground at Lake Louise and had another night of not being able to warm up even though the showers were piping hot. There were quite a few cyclists in the campground as well as hikers. The campground was surrounded by an electrified fence to keep the wild animals out of the camping area - comforting for us. This area provides essential habitat for female grizzly bears that must raise their young successfully to ensure the future of this threatened species. Hikers must hike in a group of 4 to reduce the likeliness of surprising a bear and being attacked!

The next day was very foggy so we did not go into Banff but instead drove to Revelstoke headed for Kamloops. It was difficult driving in the fog and on unknown mountainous roads with roadworks being carried out. Everywhere we have driven on this trip we seem to come across extensive roadworks. There must be a small window of opportunity in which they can do the roadworks.

The drive was once again a lovely drive through mountains and national parks and it turned out to be quite a warm day - especially in the van. Traffic was very busy and we had quite a build up of vehicles behind us at times. We moved to the side where it was safe to do so to let them pass. The road followed a lake for quite some time around the Salmon Arms area and we decided that we would stop at Chase which was near the end of the lake and on a river. From our campsite we had a million dollar view overlooking the river at campers' prices. The campground caretaker told us that the salmon come up from the Pacific Ocean along the Fraser River to sporn and that they were much sort after in this area.

Tuesday 4 September - Grande Cache to Hinton

 

The following morning we set off for Hinton and the drive out of Grande Cache was very picturesque as it is surroundered by the Rocky Mountains. We drove past quite a few lovely

spots by rivers and forests where people had camped for the long weekend and where they were able to ride their ATV's. They certainly "camp" in style over here - their RV'S are huge and have all the comforts of home.

At Hinton we drove into an "oldies" permanent mobile home park thinking this was an RV park and this caused a bit of a stir - we certainly know how to get the oldies excited. A friendly lady eventually worked out what we were asking and directed us to the local campground where we queued for quite sometime behind a long line of RV's to get into the campground. We noticed that the RV's would slowly move forward and then after sometime appeared to come back out again. Twice I got out to ask some guy if this was the campground and he said "yes" and that there was no quicker way than wait your turn and then self register. After about 3/4 of an hour and at Jim's suggestion, I got out of the van again and walked further down the line to see what the hold up was and was told by a lady that this was the queue for the sani dump for the RV's!!! Fortunately we were able to get out of the queue and drive into the campground where we had a lovely spot amongst the trees. It was close by a busy railway line and we saw many freight trains during our stay. We lit our first campfire that night and were prepared to sit and read in the warmth but it started to rain so our fire was wasted and it was early to bed.

Monday 3 September 2012 - Dawson Creek to Grande Cache

Since leaving the convoy the days seem to be rolling into each other. We travelled from Dawson Creek through farming properties to Grande Prairie and then on to Grande Cache. It was probably the windiest part of our holiday with the winds quite strong around Grande Prairie. Lots of gas fields visible from the road and probably many more further into the bush. It was not a terribly exciting drive once we left Grande Prairie as we have been spoilt with some magnificent scenery during our trip. Quite a few timber mills and roads leading off into the forests where they are logging. We made the mistake of turning into one of these roads to stop for lunch but got caught in the mud so made a hasty retreat back on to the sealed road. Our vehicle is not 4 wheel drive so we were a bit anxious for awhile. Once the soil gets wet here it turns to mud.

We had a very steep mountain climb into Grande Cache where we stayed in a Municipal campground on the top of a hill in amongst the trees. We were only dry camping so unfortunately we were in quite an open area and subjected to the cold strong wind. That night we cooked in the camp kitchen out of the wind and were joined by quite a few people of varying ages having a family get together. They had driven 5 hours just for the long weekend as they said it was a luxury to be able to spend time in a national park. They were sitting around in sleeveless tops and Jim and myself were all rugged up and enjoying the warmth of the fire. Their meal looked far more exciting than ours as each family member had brought a dish and they were cooking fresh corn on the cob on top of the fire. There appeared to be a ball game on in town and there were quite a few campers camped around the ball park. They were very exposed to the elements and camping in a tent would not have been pleasant.