Trolley Bus Downtown Vancouver
OK Whistler here we come! It’s only about 2 hours to Vancouver from Seattle but by the time everyone gets off the bus, collects their bags, goes through customs and loads up their bags again, it’s more like 4 hours. Pretty straight forward though, I’d already worked out where the Hi was and how to get there, only a short one and a half mile walk from the station and I was there. In 1974 on my way to Oz, I ran into a Canadian girl, Joanne, in Turkey, we ended up doing the overland trip together, all the way to Perth. She used to rave about how good Vancouver was and in particular Vancouver Island where she was from, she also used to rave about this new hamburger joint that had appeared in Canada and how good it was, “you drive in, get the best hamburger and chips, you ever tasted and drive out again” she couldn’t believe I’d never heard of it and said “they will be in England soon”. That was Mac Donald’s, “Ah! It’ll never take over Wimpy though”; I said…how wrong can you be? Anyway I was always gonna go to Vancouver and here I was. Like Seattle I immediately warmed to the vibe, although it was very different to the image I had in my mind, the snow capped mountains were a lot closer now, I could almost touch them. I wasn’t going to hang around, so after a couple of days getting the feel, I was on the Greyhound once more heading for the Hi in Whistler which was about seven miles south of Whistle village and was part of the old Olympic village. Even though it was such a way from the lifts it wasn’t a problem, the bus stopped right outside and it was a short ride to the chair lifts, either in Creek side or the village. I’d gotten used to travelling to the mountain by bus in Tahoe. I got the bus into the village to check out ski hire and a look around and ended up in one of the many pubs there, I was served by an Ozzie and my immediate thought was maybe I can get away with not having to give him a bribe, to get another pint when I finish this one. It’s not always the case but I have been in places, where if the bar tender doesn’t receive his or her bribe, you could wait a long time, or get completely ignored, before you get another. At 8 to 10 dollars an hour though, I guess they do rely, on the generosity of the punter. I did meet the odd Canadian in Whistler but mostly it’s full of young Ozzies, Brits, Europeans, and Japanese, here for the experience, boarding, skiing and generally having a good time. I got back to the Hostel and discovered I had a message from the lovely Ms Tink who I’d messaged earlier so we could catch up. Tori was one of those young Ozzies who had been here for the season and was another of my neighbours and work mates in Falls Creek, she was offering me a bed in her house which she shared with a few other people, one of which, had left to do a road trip in the USA. I thought about it for about a second, before deciding I’d move out of the Hostel and take her up on her generous offer, not only did she supply me with a bed but also organised boots and skis for me for the price of a bottle vodka. I met up with her when she finished work that night, at 11pm for a drink, it was fantastic to run into her again and we were very good, not drinking nearly as much as we did in Falls, where we were prone to overdo things a little. The following morning I turned up with my bags and settled in to my cosy new home.
I am ….THE LONESOME TRAVELLER….travelling east….BE HAPPY!