Deer, Ferrys, Mountains and bears.

Victoria Vancouver Island to Lillooet Canada.

Lifes tough. Sometimes you have to get out of bed early and do your favorite activity for about 12 hours. Today was such as day.

Fully rested we hit the road at 6.30am and took the scenic route to the ferry Terminal. Past fancy and not so fancy houses. Some deer (about 5 or so) did the expected and bounded out in front of our group. We had time to slow down and avoid Bambi. Happy ending.

The ferry ride from Swartz Bay to Tsawwassen was a revelation. 90 minutes approx on a beautiful near new Ferry. Smooth sailing and scenery to die for.

The sky was overcast and 60 degrees. The day warmed, the sky became bluer as it got later, and it was 80 degrees by the time we arrived at our lodging for the night.

We arrived into Vancouver City a short time later for a pose in front of giant totem poles.  Taking 17 bikes through a strange city and trying to keep together is a recipe for disaster  Luckily we did nothing more then annoy a few natives.

Its hard to comment on Vancouver as we passed through with Greater destinations in our sights. It looks big with horrible 70's type sky scrapper apartments everywhere.

After this the adventure ramped up as we headed for the Hills. Mountains actually. Bloody big ones with spectacular scenery everywhere you looked.  The road between Vancouver and Whistler has been done up to a very high standard as a result of the Winter Olympics and its a beaut. Odd speed limits but no one drove other than 20 kmh above the posted signs. WARNING. Photos don't do justice.

We arrived at Whistler with Gerry keen on a gondola ride on the "Peak to Peak" Gondola. Highest in the world says the blurb. $58 million to build and a series of chair lifts and gondolas to even get there.

Having parted with a years salary to get two tickets we ended up in the snow line. A very pleasant way to spend a couple of hours. It was a stroke of genius on Gerry part and others commented they wished they had done it. We saw two bears in the wild while in Whistler.

Look Ma, Im wearing the socks you got me!!!!!

Bear no 2 for the day.

As if we hadnt cramed enough into the day we still had about two hours riding left.  Not to worry though it was champane quality. Think of the road to Glenorchy or Milford Sound and you get the idea. Add in some switch backs and you have it. We all got off buzzing.

This photo gives a hint of scale.
 The camera does lie and everything was larger then appears

We had been riding alone for some time but caught a group of others on our trip. When the road tightened and the surface smoothed out we gave it a good blast for about half and hour or so. No record exists however because the camera didn't video when we thought it was.