Film Tech

I'm fascinated by how films date by their on screen technology. I'm sitting here half watching 'you've got mail' Tom Hanks etc. 1998? Is it really only seven years?? Here it's the tiny PC that needs booting up, the diddly didldy didly dial up tone, the sheer novelty of email. I remember watching Bullet recently - a lengthy scene involving a 'fax machine' wow!. I love the giant clunky cell phones you spot sometimes. Just brings it alive how new it all is, how fast things are changing. We got our first PC in 1992 (?) We paid extra to have top of the range, a whole 250 meg hard disk and 8 meg memory....

4 generations having a great time at Parksville 

A rather diffferent kind of sea creature- one of the exhibits at the sand castle competition at Parksville where we finished our holiday. A full scale reunion- 32 members of the Miller + clan.

Exploring Botanical Beach. Great round boulders coming loose from sedimentary shales leave potholes in flat rocks, providing rock pool habitats for an amazing array of creatures and plants, beautiful marine gardens sheltered from the wild Pacific 

Definitely the highlight of our entire trip - out on a boat amongst a family of orcas  

well not quite - it just felt like it getting all togged up to go whale watching 

Back on the ferry again to Vancouver Island where we enrolled on a NASA space program 

going to the toilet was another adventure - but a great view while you're there!

We finished our first week by going island hopping. First in the water taxi to Kathy and Gary's cottage on Gambier Island. A wonderful 24 hours swimming, kayaking and exploring (and eating!) and then it was back in the Dodge to catch the ferry to Galiano. We drove in the gathering dusk down the length of Galiano to where Tom was waiting in his boat to take us to Valdes. Valdes is a wilderness island, no ferry, no amenities, no jetty - so getting ashore from the boat onto the rocks was quite fun especially in the near dark! We felt like real explorers following our guide through the forest to the cabin.

Oh no, not the Green River again... hope the horses can swim.  

Our adventure week continues with a ride in the chair lift up Whistler mountain. Mile high magic - deep blue sky, lines of snow capped mountains, we rode up twice just for the fun of it.  

Whole salmon, jacket potatoes and corncobs - all done over the camp fire. Well, it sounded a good idea at the time.  

I think I'll sit in the back from now on 

river guide attempting to strangle innocent British tourist 

Up bright and early next morning to go rafting on the Green River. It happens to be my birthday - so I decide to celebrate by going for a swim. 

Monday morning found us in WalMart stocking up on camping equipment and then up the spectacular Sea to Sky Highway into the mountains towards Whistler. Canadian campsites are brill: individual forest sites with picnic tables and fire pits as standard. Add a nearby lake to swim and play in - perfect. 

First stop is Brendan heaven (otherwise known as Kathy and Gary's place) : sunshine, pool, steaks on the bbq, lots of beautiful girl cousins to meet... 

They left us a sign! Here we are at Vancouver airport still reasonably bight eyed, off to fetch our Dodge 7 seater and begin the adventure.