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Published: March 28th 2009
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Iain and the giant tree
This tree is huge but not the biggest or the oldest! Cathedral Grove BC Hmm sorry everyone, it seems that the last blog post was some 30 days ago which makes us alot lazier than we thought. Actually this entry was started on the 15th March but we shelved it for reasons we can't remember. Anyway better late than never...
As life in Whistler settled into a routine we decided to take a break and head out to Vancouver Island for a week. We caught the ferry from Horseshoe bay to Departure bay in Nanaimo, the crossing took about 1hr 30min, luckily the weather was perfect, sunny and clear so no sea sickness. As we sat on the ocean side we missed the view of the BC coastal mountains but there was a great image of a distant mountain, I guess in Washington State, which appeared to be floating in the clouds. We did not stop in Naniamo as we had a 3hr drive ahead to get to Tofino on the west coast. I can say that there are
alot of malls in Nanaimo, we drove past at least 7 on one stretch of road out of town.
On our way across the island we stopped at a place called Cathedral Grove in the
Sunrise from the porch
A room with a view indeed MacMillan Provincial Park. This is an area of old growth forest with some of the biggest trees we've ever seen, hence the name. The really massive trees are Douglas Fir, the oldest is 800yrs old and the biggest one has a circumfrence of over 9 metres. See the picture of Iain and a tree for some idea on scale, even with a pretty wide angle lense the top is not in the picture. From here we travelled through some more lovely mountain scenery and finally arrived at the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve which consists of amazing pacific beaches and old growth temperate coastal rainforest. The road ran along the coast surrounded on each side by old growth coastal rainforest. We were slightly alarmed to see tsunami warning signs and designated escape routes dotted along certain sections. Apparently it's unlikely but not out of the question.
Tofino itself is a small town, basically four blocks by two, but in a very beautiful position on a peninsula between the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve and Clayquot Sound, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site.The pace of life could be described as slow at best and locals seemed on the whole very
Costal Rainforest
Pacific Rim National Park Reserve BC laid back. Pretty much everyone seemed to surf. Seeing someone in a wesuit cycling off to the beach, surfboard tucked under their arm, was a daily occurence. We stayed at The Red Crow a B&B with a lovely situation. The house stood in old growth forest at the edge of the Tofino Flats, tidal mudflats with small forested islands, backed by mountains. The rooms were below the main house looking out east so in the mornings we could watch the sun rise over the mountains. It was as close to perfect as you could get, 10 out of 10 to Iain who booked it!
We sent the first day exploring the beaches and forest in the park, there was barely anyone else there when we visited which was great for really appreciating the wild aspects of the place. On entering the forest the cool dampness and quiet really seemed to envelop us and it felt like we were the only people for miles. It was very still and very green and lush. There wasn't much wildlife immediately apparent although the forest trails are used by wolves, cougars, bears (when awake) and I'm sure many other elusive creatures. The beaches were
Old Tree
Pacific Rim National Park Reserve BC fantastic, a kind of dark sand and the most ridiculous amount of driftwood ever. Obviously the surf looked great although we didn't try it ourselves. The second day we booked a tour to some natural hotsprings on one of the islands in Clayquot Sound. We'd requested to sea plane out there and boat back which was offered as an option but seemed to cause some logistical problems for the tour company. We were meant to be flying at 12.30 but got a call at 10.15, the seaplane had been double booked would we mind getting a boat out there and flying back. OK no problem, oh but the next boat is at 11.15 so could you be at the office for 11? Ah...well ok then we'll be there. So we went on the boat, there were 10 people and Ike our skipper. First stop was a bald eagle nesting site in the middle of the bay. The nesting pair had been there for 18 years, apparently bald eagles pair for life, "unlike most of you lot.." Thanks Ike.
On our way out of the bay we were told how to spot grey whales, one way is looking for the puffs
Canopy
Pacific Rim National Park Reserve BC of spray they make. Not easy for us land lubbers but we all eagerly scanned the ocean for puffs of steam, it goes without saying that Ike was first on the case. A group of grey whales, about 6 or 7 in number just making their leisurely way up the coast. The grey whale is a baleen whale and grows up to 50 feet in length and can weigh up to 35 tons, every year they migarate between Northern Mexico and Alaska which is a round trip of roughly 10000 km each way. We kept a respectful distance and watched them for about 15-20 minutes, it was a fantastic experience. On our way to the hot springs we also stopped to view some sea lions basking in the sun with a few curious harbour seals bobbing about the rocks. Much to everyones delight we also happened upon a sea otter just floating on his back watching us with an idle curiosity and diving down for a snack every now and then.
The hotsprings by the way were great, we walked for about half an hour through more old growth forest and then came upon a steaming hot sulphurous stream which
Sunset with Seagull
Chesterman Beach BC flowed over a little waterfall into a series of small pools down to the ocean. We spent about an hour in the pools of varying heat, colder towards the ocean where the waves flowed in through the rocks and absolutely boiling near the waterfall. We did get the sea plane back, Josh our Pilot was very chilled out and we were lucky enough to see the same group of whales again, brilliant view from the air as we circled overhead, Iain took a video which hopefully works on here! The rest of the flight was basically, "thats a great beach......oh yeah that islands really nice...... that beach is great in the summer" etc.
We reluctantly packed up our bags and headed to Victoria, if we win the lottery Tofino is a serious contender for relocation at least for me. There isn't that much to say about Victoria we liked it but not as much as Tofino and it kind of got overshadowed. The Royal British Columbia Museum was really good especially all the First Nations exhibits. We went to the Imax Theatre here too and watched a film on the ocean off Baja California. We enjoyed the Victoria Butterfly Gardens
and also the Butchart Gardens although it really really rained when we visited the latter, but the Japanese and Sunken Gardens were our favorites.
So we've been back in Whistler nearly 2 weeks, and have enjoyed almost 2mt of snow since, it finally came!! The usual routine has been re established. Iain has been riding some death defying terrain with his buddies and I have progressed to intermediate runs but more on that another time.
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