Working and living in Canada was great but we felt that we needed to make sure we also explored this amazing country. Because of this we planned and went on an incredible 3 week trip through the Canadian Rocky Mountains.
We started out by hiring a car and driving to Squamish and Whistler. Lets talk about driving on the "wrong side" of the road. This is an experience in it self. Both of us have driven for more then 8 years and have a wealth of driving experience but driving in Canada is a whole different kettle of fish, let alone the driving on the other side of the road.
We picked up the car and set off to Squamish, but the trickiest part of this was navigating Vancouver city to get out to the main highway. Thankfully, though we didn't think so at the time, the annual Vancouver Sun Run was on the day we collected the car. This meant that half of the streets in Vancouver were blocked off and the rest were choc-a-block filled with cars. In turn this meant we didn't need to make any quick decisions which was vital since we have to turn the opposite direction across traffic and that was incredibly nerve racking.
Once we made it out of Vancouver the drive to Squamish was breath taking. We drove the Sea to Sky Highway and coming from a very flat Perth City for most of our lives, seeing the ocean on one side and the soaring mountains on the other side, really took our breath away. The drive was reasonably short, about 2 hours, and we were blessed with bright sunshine and not much traffic. This put us in a great mood to begin our trip.
When we arrived at Squamish we checked into our hotel and were upgraded on arrival which was great! Then we went out and sourced some dinner and went to bed. Then next day we went to the very popular Sea To Sky Gondola. But before we got to the gondola we found a little waterfall walk which was very short but cooling as it was set in a rainforest. It was only a few 100 meters from the Sea To Sky Gondola but totally worth visiting.
This is a really excellent attraction and we recommend you visit. We parked the car, bought our tickets and then away we went, up into the sky. The Gondola takes you up the side of a mountain which has a lake below and it goes at a slow paces so you can soak up the view. To say its spectacular would almost be an understatement, you literally feel like you are on the top of the world.
At the top there is a great coffee/food place with a HUGE deck to sit on and to enjoy and immerse yourself in the view. There is also a suspension bridge to walk over and a small hike. The suspension bridge was a little scary but worth walking over so you can get to the hike. The hike is probably less then a kilometre to walk in total and includes some amazing views. The most interesting part and the thing that really set this apart as something everyone should do was the little signs everywhere explaining how the Canadian First Nation people used this area for centuries and what different parts of the landscape (which you can see from the hike) were important. It was a really well set up hike and super informative as well. Once we had finished our trip to the Sea To Sky Gondola we headed up to Whistler, the home of Australians in Canada.
The drive from Squamish to Whistler is just as breath taking as the drive from Vancouver to Squamish. So we drove to Whistler and checked in to our hotel and were again upgraded!! This is because we were traveling during off peak season and it made us feel very special. The room we were upgraded to was a studio apartment style with a spa right next to our bed! This set the scene for a excellent stay.
We had great weather throughout our trip and this meant we were able to explore a local walk and spa system which were recommended to us by the hotel concierge. The walk/hike was about a kilometre from our hotel and we set out with the sun shining down on us. when we got closer to the lake walk we met an older couple who had attempted it and turned back due to snow and ice. Being young, brave and probably a little silly we ignored their advice and powered on. Very soon we hit the ice section and wearing sneakers we had some very slippery sections to overcome. Since it was such a sunny day we decided to just keep going. The view on the lake we got to was worth it. Sparkling blue water and sunshine were just wat the doctor ordered after 6 months in rainy Vancouver. We both got a little sunburnt but enjoyed it so much.
The next day we explored the downtown area and visited Peaked Pies and Purebread which we had spent a lot of time visiting their sister stores in Vancouver as well as walking around town and marvelling at all the different monuments left from the 2010 Winter Olympics. A nice relaxing day and to complete the Zen feeling we booked and visited the Nordic Style outdoor spa. We spent about 4 hours at this silent retreat reading our books, immersing ourselves in the hot spas, saunas, steam rooms and hammocks.
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