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.
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