Saturday 6th May: Indian Arm Harbour Cruise Day
It seemed we were in for a bit of good fortune today. The forecast had been for continuous rain over the remainder of our time in Vancouver but we woke to fine, albeit cool and cloudy, weather. This meant we were able to get out for an early (7 am) Harbour front walk which was very pleasant. We continue to be amazed by how few people get out in the morning to exercise and enjoy this beautiful city surrounded by water. There are wide walking and cycle paths that circumnavigate almost the whole perimeter of the city making for easy and beautiful outings. In fact, the sea wall is around 28 km in length and is the longest uninterrupted waterfront path in the world! If only such forethought had gone into retaining the waterfront in the planning of Sydney and giving us a similar splendid waterfront walkway. We also remain surprised by the lack of cafe-culture here given the beautiful city; it is hard to find a cafe that opens before 9 am!
Our activity for today was a 4 hr Harbour and lunch cruise (11 am – 3 pm) around Vancouver’s Inner Harbor, Burrard Inlet, and up through the Indian Arm; a dramatic glacial fjord. It was a lovely outing and the scenery along the harbour was rather beautiful. There were a number of large ports along the way at the start but they soon gave way to steep, forested woodland with some amazing holiday cabins that are only accessible by boat. You wouldn’t want to forget the milk! We found out later that the ports take the credit for being the largest employer in Vancouver followed by tourism and then, rather surprisingly, the film industry.
Our boat returned to the dock by about 3 pm and we wandered home up through the CBD where the streets were busy and filled with Saturday shoppers. There was further chaos given preparations for the Vancouver Marathon, being held tomorrow, and it was then that we realized we may have to revise our plans for the day. Mark then discovered all the roads would be closed from 6.30 am and so that ruled out his planned bike ride!
It was about 5.30 pm before we set out again and we headed down to Yaletown Brewery for a drink and a snack dinner. We’d had a fairly substantial lunch on the boat so the outing was more for a drink and some people watching. The Yaletown brewery was very busy as the local football team, The Whitecaps, were playing against Minnesota at nearby nearby BC Place and there were lots of fans and family groups, sporting the blue team colors, out dining before heading across to the game. It was a very festive atmosphere and we enjoyed an hour or so there before heading back to the apartment after our rather full day. We enjoyed the harbour cruise and would recommend this activity if you’re ever in Vancouver. PS: The Whitecaps won 3 to 2!
Sunday 7th May: Vancouver Marathon Day
It was another cool and overcast morning but we were very pleased to see that it wasn’t raining. We set off for a morning walk but couldn’t get very far due to road closures with the Vancouver Marathon. So we just did a loop around a couple of blocks and headed to Analog Cafe as Mark had found that this opened at 8 am. There was not time to dawdle for us though as we had decided the night before that, due to all the closures for Sunday’s Marathon, we would take a day trip with Land Sea Tours to the North Shore on their mountain discovery tour: Capilano Bridge and Grouse Mountain.
This timing proved to be rather fortuitous as we had wanted to visit the sites and had also found out that Grouse Mountain was to be closed for the rest of the week for preparation for Summer so today was the last chance to visit anyway!
Our relatively small bus group tour of 24 departed downtown Vancouver at 11 am and headed out past Stanley Park and over Lions Gate bridge to the north shore. Our first stop was just 10 km up the road at a new salmon hatchery and then it was back a few km down the road to the Capilano Suspension Bridge. Capilano being the local indigenous Squamish nation name meaning ‘beautiful river’. The suspension bridge was a rather impressive modern structure but the original hemp bridge dated back to 1889. Once you cross the bridge, waiting ages for all the other people to take their ‘selfies’, there is then a tree top walk, a raised forest floor walk and, on your return back across the bridge, there is a new 15 minute cliff walk as well.
The bridge and all the walks were rather packed and very touristy though so, note to self, a Sunday is probably not the best day to visit this place. Our final stop was just 5 minutes further up the road at Grouse Mountain where we caught the Gondola from the car park area up the 1100 meters to the Mountain. Our time here was primarily to check out the view and the two Grizzly bears that had just emerged from hibernation. The Mountains is popular all year round with all forms of skiing and snowboarding in the winter and hiking and trail riding in the summer.
It was around 5 pm by the time we descended the mountain via the cable car and then headed back in the bus back to downtown Vancouver. It had been a good day and all three sites were well worth the visit. It’s an expensive outing though as the tour set us back $500 AUD as entry fees to the Suspension Bridge and Grouse Mountain are quite steep.
What we were really pleased with though was the sunshine on our return downtown. This augered rather well for our quiet roof top BBQ dinner after our long day.
