Sneak Peek- Canada

On the road to Whistler

Squamish

Stanley Park

Boat Shed in Vancouver

Many clients have been asking when they get to see some of the photos from our trip to Canada and Japan that we took over Christmas. Of course, being a photographer, I am always to busy sorting other peoples photos to get to mine- I took a million, but it will take me a week to sort out which ones I want to work with let allow finish them. In the meantime here are a few just to show that we really did go. Here are notes from the Postcards: Sea to Sky Hwy:- Oh my f***n God. The Sea to Sky Hwy is aptly named as delivers you straight to heaven after you plunge off the side of a cliff, down the side of a steep mountain and into the depths of the icy ocean below. They warn you about driving on the wrong side of the road in the snow andice- but they don't warn you about being a passenger on the wrong side of the road, in the control seat with no controls. I sit in the drivers seat without my pedals, pressing for my absent brake as the car swings me past the abyss yet again while the sun peaks through just enough to highlight the slippery ice on the road. They say its not the ice you can see that you have to worry about but rather the ice you can't see: Black Ice, the stuff of legends, or in this case nightmares. I can not bring myself to look away, I know there is the most spectacular views passing me by but I must concentrate on the road, or should I say edge of the road. I desperately wish I could shut my eyes but I can't bring myself to do that either. I have never been so terrified, no not terrified but petrified, in all my life. I can liken the experience only to childbirth only without the being torn apart bit. Our day trip up to Whistler for lunch turned into 3 days. Partly because the thought of driving back after dark along that unlit highway, through the snow, when the temperature drops and the roads become really icy, seems a tad dangerous and the only thing a responsible adult entrusted with two children can do is to stay the night and go down when its safer, and partly because I need a days rest to recover from the ordeal and regain my strength after my adrenaline rush, and I need to put time between the experience of the drive and the memory. Of course the real reason is because I'm just too scared- perhaps it's just easier if I just stay in Whistler. Like childbirth, I am reward for the ordeal. Whistler is spectacular. The village is large, and there is lots to do apart from ski. Clearly there is a lot for wives of skiers to do to bribe them into allowing their husbands to bring them up when they don't ski- shops and restaurants galore. Fashionable divas walk the streets in their head to foot furs looking like they've never donned a ski suit or have heard of the animal liberation movement for that matter. And of course, more Starbucks. We find an indoor retreat for children with jumping castles, video games, hockey, putt putt, air hockey etc etc. Just set up by the village as an indoor playground- free. We decide to stay another day as we realise NYE has crept up on us and they do a special "First Night" in the village with special things set up for the kids. Over coffee I discover that Canadians call flat whites lattes, so now we can order coffees by asking for a latte with two extra shots and we are served a medium strength flat white. Not sure what you would ask for if you actually wanted a latte, luckily I don't need to know, but it amuses me to think of all the Canadians coming to Australia and asking for a latte and actually receiving a latte when what they should be ordering is a flat white, hold the coffee. This mystery solved brings me to the next one which is of course eggs. I think they come out of a carton... My mini me and I have fun taking photos together when we separate from Lulu and Jay. Both the children got cameras for christmas, so now in our family there is a cacophany of camera shutters clicking and flashes going off which is not nearly as noisy as a family full of saxophone players. Angel and I wander about through the snow taking pictures of this and that, and talking to the locals about the ominous highway (all are sympathetic). All I can say about the trip back is that Jays tactic for the trip was to have me wind my window down and take photos as we drove slowly down the mountain, (although it didn't feel slow to me, I know that there was a caravan of cars behind us who can testify that it was slow as they sped past us every time the road opened up into two lanes). This only worked for a little while, the while that didn't include the plunging cliffs. We also had the added bonus of a sun that sets for the half of the day that its not rising, directly in our eyes blinding us and obscuring all visibility of the road, but not the edge.