Last days in Canada

For our last couple of days in the Rockies we had to hire another car, as public transport doesn't seem to have been invented yet here. We noticed that the rental company had given us a brand new car with only 400km on the clocks – the fools! Debbie drove us out to a tiny hostel in a cabin next to the Maligne Canyon, a deep gorge filled with waterfalls, which are currently frozen into icefalls. We were the only people staying the night, and the owner had warned us that he had seen a grizzly bear in the area the day before. Luckily we didn't bump into him (although a visit to the outside toilet in the middle of the night was quite a nerve-wracking experience), but the next day while we were trekking in the forest we ran into a spot of bother with the local wildlife when we were chased down the path by an angry grouse. Stop laughing - he was vicious!



The following day we embarked on a two-day train journey out of the Rockies and back to the west coast. The skies were blue and cloudless and we had spectacular views of the mountains for the whole journey, including Mount Robson, the highest peak in Canada. We also saw around 15 more black bears, including a mother with two tiny (and almost unbelievably cute) cubs. We broke our journey in a real hick town called Prince George, where we stayed in a motel straight out of 'My Name Is Earl'. We then continued onto Prince Rupert, just below the border to Alaska.



On arrival in Prince Rupert we discovered that our ferry south had been cancelled and that we would be stuck there for an extra two days. On our first day we went out on a boat trip and saw lots of grizzly bears up close (but still from the safety of the boat!). They were a lot bigger than the black bears and we saw a mother with cubs which was really amazing. After that there was nothing else in town to do and the other local attraction – the Halibut Cannery Museum – didn't really appeal, so instead we passed the time by getting drunk with other travellers in our hostel. The two people we got on best with were another couple, also from Brighton, and it turned out that the guy used to live in the house next door to us! One of the great things about travelling is meeting new and interesting people...then reminiscing with them about the Big Beach Boutique!



The ferry journey south was cold and rough but we did spot a couple of killer whales and a pod of dolphins. We headed straight to Tofino on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Tofino turned out to be one of our favourite places yet but unfortunately due to the ferry problems we only had one day there. It has a gorgeous long sandy beach and low tide creates hundreds of little rockpools filled with starfish and sand dollars. A short boat ride takes you to a rainforest with some hot springs. Eagles fly overhead, and Graeme is sure it must have been one of them, and not a seagull, that scored a direct hit on him – seven years good luck, apparently.

On our return to Vancouver we stayed at a strange, dodgy hostel that looked like a squat, and had porn magazines hidden behind the toilet cistern. Vancouver has a large Japanese population, so we lived off delicious sushi made from fresh fish and Canadian smoked salmon. On our last night, we went to see Jamie Lidell (who incidentally also used to live in Brighton). He played an amazing set in a tiny venue that sold cheap maple beer in real pint glasses.


The next day, we headed off to the airport for our next stop: Las Vegas.