We check out at 10am our cab is coming at 10.30am it's been arranged by Happy Holidays the company we are using - it turns out they are not strictly in Vancouver, they are actually on the Sunshine Coast at Gibson's, a popular holiday destination only accessible by ferry. They pay for the cab there, ferry across, ferry back to VC, they don't cover the ferry back to Gibson's but do pay our ferry back to VC when we're done with cab fare included again - hard to beat! So, we're going to take full advantage and stay in the Sunshine Coast for a night.

The crossing is easy and so beautiful we pass lots of islands covered in evergreens, when we disembark Rainer from the company is waiting for us and so is our beautiful camper - she's huge!!! Massive sofa area that can be used as a double bed, a double bed above the cab, another double bed at the back permanently set up with a proper mattress, tonnes of storage, big fridge and freezer - and it is immaculate! These guys are the best company we've come across they think of everything! She's stocked with a corkscrew, cheese grater, camp chairs, garlic crusher, deck of cards, picnic table cover, loads of crockery and pots and pans, an axe for wood chopping, rope for washing - it's fab! All the things we normally have to go out and buy at extra expense are here and Rainer is very thorough.

We stop at his office to pick up a GPS, an optional extra we decide may save on arguments with Jacqs map reading skills or lack of - and we make tracks firstly to the supermarket to stock up on groceries - low and behold there's a Supervalu, Jacq feels like she's back in Strabane, it's exactly the same as well and fairly reasonable.

We make tracks for Sechelt a popular holiday town and stop for lunch looking out at the water - it's really pretty. We head on north and drive along the coast. So many homes are for sale here it's unreal in 6km Jacq counts 25 houses - wonder why so many? We head back towards Sechelt and find a campsite for the night it's $35 and not that great but we need to stop - they charge to shower, unusual as it's normally included in the payment, the pool isn't working either - we abuse the Wi-Fi and plot our route.

Jacqs found a blog by a woman who camped all over Canada and recorded the most stunning stop overs with amazing views and the cheapest rates so we use her blog as a guide - it's fab! She literally has covered the whole country check it out if you ever camp in Canada, this site has places no one but the locals really know about and the settings are so spectacular that they are often used in postcards - they are not all free mostly $12 a night no hook-up but that's nothing when the views are out of this world: Google tourguidecananda and click on free campsites