Canada Eh?
WE MADE IT...Well we both arrived in Vancouver safe and sound after a long trip from Cairns, stopping with Joanne and Rae in Sydney and then stopping again in Taipei.
Wish the bike made it as safely. With all the care we took to strap in and make it safe and sound, it appears the crate was dropped on its side. This looks like it was fairly early on in the shipping process as some one had attempted re- tie the bike in place but the crate was damaged and (luckily) only surface damage had occurred to the bike.
Marilyn was the most gracious host and looked after us too well! She and Brent took us to the Lynn Valley Suspension Bridge (worth it, even if it took a while to find... as it is very difficult and not well sign posted)
Lynn Valley Suspension Bridge
We headed off on a rainy Vancouver morning and with the weather reports forecasting a great deal more rain in the lower British Colombia and Alberta areas we decided on a more northerly route to Calgary.
However somewhere along the ways we took a slight detour and ended up in the Yukon and eventually Alaska!
Our first days ride cleared up beautifully and we had such a lovely ride following the Fraser River to Lilliooet, where we camped along shore of the river and had a celebratory bottle red wine (Australian of course!) by a lovely camp fire.
View from Fraser River Campground
Onward through to Dawsons Creek and the start of the Alaska Highway, with plenty of rain, cold, moose, deer and even a bear.
Famous Mile 0 - start of the Alaska Highway
We followed the Alaska Highway through the stunning Muncho Lake district, with its high mountain passes and beautiful blue waters,
Muncho Lake
to the Liard River Hot Springs, where we delighted in soaking in the natural hot waters. We lost a few battles against the mosquitoes which were ferocious and numerous beyond our imaginations, even Aussie mozzies were not this bad! Despite this we camped two days hoping the rain would get ahead of us and we would have some fine weather.
Alpha Pool - Liard River Hot Springs
We decided to book the ferry to take us down the Inside Passage to Prince Rupert (British Colombia) from Skagway (Alaska).
The road works from Liard River Hot Springs were 15 kms of difficult and wet lose surface which made for an exciting mornings start, especially as we had to follow an RV/Mobile Home that was all over the road and traveling erratically.
Arriving in Whitehorse, in the Yukon, after a hard ride we stayed again at another hot springs before making the ride past the Emerald Lake
Emerald Lake - near Carcross
and then through the White Pass into Alaska where we were amused by a very confused immigration officer who did not comprehend the fact that we were not Austrian and could not speak German!
Next Alaska!
White Pass - to Alaska