Whistler

Another photo diary for you, this time of us exploring Whistler. I knew it was a ski resort, 2010 winter olympic location and pretty fancy pants price wise. All true - and it is also still pumping in the summer time too. Gondola's and some of the chair lifts were going, and tourists everywhere; down hill mountain bikers going hard. Trails and tracks, walking, hiking, biking, lake to explore. The town was also gearing up for the Canada Ironman this weekend, so was extra busy; the Taupo-ites know what that is like.

We drove up from Vancouver (ca. 1.5 hours) - thanks Craig - stopped in Squamish for a coffee. Squamish is an outdoor paradise - the community notice board (always a good way to find out about a place) was covered with rock climbing, yoga, wind surfing, hiking, biking and much more. It was raining so we didnt explore much, just stopped briefly to check out the Shannon Falls (see photo) and the Stawamus Chief - a massive rock face, hike, mountain. Coming back to do this one day.

In Whistler we stayed at Philippa and John's condo (thanks guys!), which will be at least three times as big as our university housing apartment in Montana! Fantastic views of both Whistler and Blackcomb mountains and an easy walking distance into and around the village.

Shannon Falls - Squamish

Fabulous condo - 3 bedrooms, four bathrooms, hot tub...

Heading to Lost Lake - these are cross country skiing trails
in winter and walking/biking trails in summer

Time for a snack

Just hanging out on a hiking trail
next to a log cabin in a forest

The land of water

Luca - kids adventure park at Blackcomb Base
(they make $$$$ of this enterprise!)

Lily - kids adventure park

Kiwi kids - shoes off, sculpting the sand in the playground