9th July 2016 - Vancouver, BC - Kms to date 3152

Kms today 155 plus quite a few ferry miles

We rose at 5am to make 6:20 ferry to Powell River.  There weren't many on the ferry and later we found out why. It was a calm crossing of about an hour to the fairly large community of Powell River.  It was on the mainland but had no road access to the hinterland, the ferry was it. Once we got to the other side  the rain, which had been occasional light showers started in earnest and we had to stop to put on full rain gear. We splashed our way to Saltrey Cove to catch the 9:30 ferry but found when we got there it had been booked out for a large group of mountain bikers taking part in a sort of Giro de BC. There were buses full of riders and trucks full of bikes. We had to wait 2 hours for the next ferry, so we caught up on our blogging and played Gin Rummy. There was one more ferry ride after this to get to Vancouver and we watched the float planes come and go while we waited for it.  The weather was wet the whole way to Burnaby and Steve and Joan Cvitkovich's home where we would stay for a couple of nights.  Joan is our 2nd cousin and her grandfather John of Jumping Pound was our grandfather's brother.
We parked our bikes in their large garage and after a few beers sat down to a delicious spag bol. They had some homemade wine which went down a treat followed by Steve's specially imported pear brandy.  We talked about the family history and Steve's varied jobs as fisherman, builder and at the grain elevators. Joan works part time at Ikea.  Later one of their grandkids Anton arrived with his rough mates and a bevy of girls to party in the garage prior to going clubbing.  Joan expected to find them spread around the sofas the next morning. We chatted happily until bed time. Steve and Joan built the house 51 years ago and just like Australia their kids couldn't afford to buy in that area as prices soared over  $1 million.