At 8.25am, we were both stood outside our hostel, nice and prompt for the pick up scheduled. We were joined by 4 other ppl, all planning on doing the whistler tour too. An hour later, the bus had only just turned up. Quick trip up to Stanley Park (our 4th time there!) to get off the bus and have everyone introduce outselves. Our tour guide/driver was a guy called Jeremy, which was doing his very first trip. This explains a lot!
We got lost trying to drive out of Stanley Park via the Lions Gate Bridge, and ended up driving round the entire park again, not a quick thing to do! A short stop for some groceries soon after, and then we were on our way. The scenery on the drive is said to rival the Icefields Parkway....erm..no. It was pretty, as you could see the ocean, lots of islands and mountains, but I think it will be a long time before we see something as awesome as the Rockies again
We stopped off briefly at Shannon Falls, the 3rd higest falls in Canada. These were pretty, as the water splashed on rocks on the way down, creating a very misty effect. Luckily, we only waslked 5 mins to the bottom 
We drove past the golf course feature in Happy Gilmore, before promptly breaking down. The bus felt a bit funny, and when one of the girls claimed to have seen something fly off one of the wheels, we pulled over. Jeremy inspecte the bus, then told us we all had to get off, as they were sending a replacement from Vancouver. Turns out the wheels had almost come off its axis or something - was sticking out at a funny angle, and apparently would have fallen off had we driven much further
Sat on a load of stones by the roadside, Jeremy initiated a lame game to keep us entertained, but then we heard that the highweay had been closed by aforementioned golfcourse due to an accident. so they were having to send a bus from whistler instead. Meanwhile, becky was starting to go a delicate pink colour, so had to sit in the sun in a hoodie!
When the rescue bus arrived, over an hour later, we bypassed the lake we were going to go to and went straight to the hostel. Now this was a nice hostel (tho waaay overpriced) and we ended up with a private, ensuite room :d We wandered down to see the lake, before hiking into town. The suposed 15min walk is actually an hr round trip. humpf. however, WE SAW A BEAR!!! We had seen one from a big distance while driving up to whistler, but this one was in the bushes next to the path! Sadly, as we were the last ppl in the group, it had run away so we didnt get a great view, but we did see a big, furry black thing...
Back at the hostel, we chilled out in the sun on the deck outside, before someone started a bbq. Soon after, we headed out with the group to a bar in the town called Moe Joes. Was empty when we got there, so after a couple of drinks a fe wof us went to see what else whistler had to offer. We ended up in another pub for a bit, but headed back to Moe Joes which thankfully was livlier. Some dancing and more beer (lots in becky's case!) ensued. On the way home, becky managed to fall over and sprained her ankle, much to her annoyance!! Was a good night tho, and the music wasnt too bad for once!
In the morning, there wasnt a lot to do really, was the only activities (ziptrek, bungee and mountain biking) all cost money. We sauntered back into town for a bit tho. Whistler is like a more concentrated, more up market banff, which a lot more specialist ski/outdoorsy shops and less cheap souvenier places. It was suprisingly busy tho, and as the ski slope is still open (the last one in Canada to close) there were still ppl walking around in full ski/snowboard gear, despite the heat!!
At the hostel, we had lots of time to kill as the bus we were waiting on from vancouver was late. suprise. Becky relearnt poker and had a suprisingly good game (tho didnt win) which Lynsey was a cat, reading in any warm partch of sun she could find!
When the bus did arrive, we had to wait another 20 mins for the bungee jumpers to finish, before driving home. On the way we stopped at another waterfall, and Canadas biggest copper mine, but only to use the general store. we didnt get back til gone seven, and at this point we were really annoyed at moose as we could have done this trip for free by greyhound and probably had more fun! or at least less waiting around for unreliable buses!!Hence our trip to the office to complain!!
Off to Victoria tomorrow tho, I hope that goes smoother...
