Canada - Whistler

I was a little disappointed to be leaving the Rockies, but the drive South-West to Kamloops soon cheered me up. Driving a brand new SUV in British Columbia was great fun. Good roads, a courageous co-pilot and magnificent scenery made time on the roads something to look forward to. The only negative aspect was all the road works, which i'm told are in preparation for the 2010 winter olympics. All up we covered 2660km at around 9km/L.

After stopping the night in Kamloops, the rest of the journey to Whistler was particularly scenic, along a spectacular and windy mountain road. The town is very modern, constructed in the past 20 years, and is a lot like a retirement village for young people. All parking is underground which allows the chalets and hotels to be packed tightly together and completely surrounded by pedestrian malls. Although the permanent population is only 10,000, this can increase more than 10 times during ski season. Although summer is the low season, there are still plenty of activities on offer. We started by taking a pleasant 'stroll' along Cheakamus Lake - anything which doesn't involve climbing a mountain through multiple feet of snow no longer qualifies as a hike. We did run into a crazed, chainsaw wielding park ranger though.

Next we joined an All Terrain Vehicle tour of nearby Cougar Mountain. With motorcycle style handlebars and a thumb lever throttle, the ATVs were quite tricky to control - especially through puddles and over rocks. Jo, who had never driven any kind of motorised vehicle before, found it particularly tough. Her first driving experience very nearly ended in disaster as she rolled her whole ATV sideways on a seemingly flat section of path. Luckily she was thrown clear of the falling bike and landed on some comfortable rocks, escaping with a few bruises. Despite her new found driving expertise I decided it probably wasn't a good idea to put her in charge of the SUV just yet...

We ended our time together with one of my favourite dinners ever at the Rim Rock Cafe and Oyster Bar - an absolute must visit if you're anywhere near Whistler. The caribou and halibut were incredible!