Whistler - Out comes the safety car

We did the fairly long drive from Sun Peaks to Whistler, about 400km. We set off in pouring rain and alternated between rain and just cloudy. We drove through Kamloops and the cowboy country, we also passed through several Indian (First Nations - they are called here) Reservations. The road got distinctly more exciting as we got closer to Whistler. We began driving on narrow roads over the mountains. Most of the time just below or in the clouds. The roads were also not in the best condition. At one stage they brought out the "Safety Car". No joke, we had to wait at some roadworks for the "Pilot Car", a car with flashing lights on it, which then navigated and led the way for a line of traffic. It was very funny given all the rain.

A little later we were travelling over some particularly hairy roads, when we came to a sign warning of cracks in the pavement. Actually the whole road had buckled, there were massive cracks and big bulges and this was on a very high road with a steep drop down into the canyon below. Surviving all this, we continued to see magnificent scenery while driving on very steep mountain roads, although visibility dropped to just a few metres at times in the clouds. Throughout the journey there were avalanche and landslip warnings. We did not heed these until a pretty big rock just rolled down the mountain and hit the side of our car while were driving.

Got to Whistler in one piece and checked in. Now we have been failing miserably on our budget so far, Whistler was meant to be cheap given that it is a ski resort in off-season. Except rather than booking a cheaper room, Vicky saw how cheap nicer hotels were and nicer rooms and booked those instead! So for the second time we have a suite in a really nice hotel but are at best on budget! Oh well, hopefully we'll balance it all out with the camper van in New Zealand:)