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North America » Canada » British Columbia » Vancouver Island » Victoria February 23rd 2018

7/23 We were up early, packed and down the stairs for our 8:30am BC Ferry Connector Bus pickup at the Georgian Court Hotel to take us to the terminal for the BC Ferry to Victoria. We were the first pickup on the bus so we had to ride around town to other hotels before arriving at the ferry dock which was fine with us. It gave me time to write my journal, Dave to rest and to see more of Vancouver before leaving. Even after all the passenger pickups we still had a 45 minute ride to the ferry terminal. It is not close to downtown Vancouver! We were perched at the front of the bus as the driver drove onto the ferry for the 11am departure from Tsawwassen in Vancouver to arrive in Swartz Bay ... read more
Victoria Harbor
High Tea at the Empress
Buchart Gardens


Saturday: Sylvia and Mark walked the sea wall all around Stanley Park, I met them partway in time for lunch at the Tea House. In mid-afternoon we headed out with a bus day pass downtown to the Skytrain to the Main Street neighborhood to a knitting store for Sylvia. We stopped off at a bistro for appetizers and drinks, a bookstore, then back to the Skytrain to go across the bay to Richmond for the last weekend of the Night Market. The market was fun but turned out to be mostly Asian food and vendor stalls. An experience to be sure. Back at the Sylvia Hotel we finished with a drink and snacks. Sunday: Off to Victoria. The tour bus picked us up near the hotel, drove to the bus station to pick up more passengers, ... read more


June 28th Most of the Coasters have joined us. We will pick a few more up along the way. some have had car troubles. some didn't plan on joining us till later. The opening luncheon was a great chance to have us all together. The afternoon was a car show with several of the locals coming out with their cars. We had great DJ music all day. Lots of prizes for the visitors. I went over to talk to one of the fellows from Victoria that brought his car and when I saw his first name was Keith, I had to ask his last name. I was thrilled to find out that it was my cousin Keith who I hadn't seen in many years. He phoned his brother Rick, who also came over for a visit. ... read more
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Wednesday 28 June We did the big pack-up and move today. A bit like the Salish people and their horse and teepee migrations. Fortunately our migration today is made up of little chunks and stops whenever I need to feed. The first ferry to Quadra Island had lots of warm sunshine and we saw whales playing. Actually we didn't see much of the whales, just misty squirts, so I don't really know what they are. They looked a lot smaller / further away than when we were on the yacht. I needed a stop after the ferry, so we had lunch in a nature reserve - Rebecca Spit. It was windy up top but past the logs on the pebble beach was warm, but only daddy went swimming. I liked the super tall trees and bald ... read more
Chemainus mural
Horse and carriage at Chemainus
Another mural


We have joined many of the Canadian Coasters at the Saanich Fairgrounds, located in Saanich BC on beautiful Vancouver Island. It is great to see old friends and to meet our new travelling companions. There are still many that I have not had a chance to have a visit with and more will be arriving tomorrow. The excitement builds with each new arrival. Some we have not seen for seven years, so we have a lot of catching up to do. Rick Cathro and Bill Cross cooked us a yummy group breakfast this morning, so that got us all together to start the day. There is plenty to do and see so everyone went about their own ways after breakfast. Some cars needed some repair work. Some people went to dip their wheels into the Pacific ... read more
Ab on the ferry to Swarz
Meeting another ferry
Dipping


Bonjour à tous, Je ne peux pas dire que j'ai passé une super nuit, mais le manque de sommeil de la première, a aidé au fait qu'elle soit mauvaise. Hier au soir nous avons passés une superbe soirée, chez Jo, le beau père de Daniel, filleul de Pier, le marié de l'an dernier. Le jeune couple habite ponctuellement, jusqu'au 15 juillet, chez Jo, en attendant la livraison de l'appartement qu'ils viennent d'acheté. Ils nous ont gâtés, avec de la morue noire, préparée en papillote au barbecue. Je ne connaissais pas ce poisson, qui vient d'Alaska. Une finesse de chaire, d'une onctuosité, un régal. Dommage qu'elle n'est pas été plus grosse. Voilà 3 fois que je rencontre Jo, et le trouve particulièrement sympathique. Toute cette famille est très agréable à fréquenter, malgré mes difficultés avec l'anglais. Ce ... read more
Victoria
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Butchart Gardens


Last week, when I had my days off, I decided to go to Victoria. I went hitchhiking all the way. It didn't take very long. I don't think I've waited more than 10 minutes anywhere. First, some cool ozzies with a van picked me up from the centre and drove me to McKenzie Road (not that far, they were camping at Bella Pacifica, but every little bit helps!) Next, a girl who lives in Ucluelet picked me up from there and left me at the junction. There I was picked up by a truck driver, who drove me until Port Alberni. Although it was out of his direction, he even drove me all the way up the hill so it would be easier to get picked up again and so I didn't have to walk all ... read more
Goldstream Trestle
Parlement building
Feeding seals


Surftown Tofino! I came here with the purpose to get more into surfing. Unfortunately I have only been in the water twice. It's cold!! I did get a wetsuit (funny.. it was Sebastiens' before) but I didn't get a board. They are super expensive here, even second hand ones. I keep my eyes open, but in the meantime there are some out there that I can use. I'm just, kind of waiting for the weather to get a little warmer. haha! (or someone who just drags me to the beach) When I just arrived, I couldn't stop saying WAUW everywhere I went. It's really beautiful out here. The trees grow moss on them and when I walk on the trails between them I always feel like I'm in neverland and the lost boys can come out ... read more
View from the dock
Sunset
Neverland

North America » Canada » British Columbia » Vancouver Island » Tofino December 13th 2016

We woke up very early the next morning as planned, just in case the road conditions were as bad as they were when we drove in a few days prior. From the weather reports, we were pretty sure it would be okay but we just couldn't count on it. We left at 5am, our flight out of Sydney was at 1:30pm. It was still dark out when we checked out of the hotel. I didn't think about how short the daylight hours are when I planned this trip, so I didn't think about Chris' migraines and driving on dark, curvy roads. The roads, thankfully, weren't covered in snow, though there was still a ton of snow on the sides. So we were able to drive much faster. I kept thinking we'd be able to stop somewhere ... read more
Another Snowy Drive
Another Snowy Drive
Snowy

North America » Canada » British Columbia » Vancouver Island » Tofino December 12th 2016

This morning started out stunningly beautiful as we were greeted with a colorful sunrise at breakfast. It was probably the most sun we'd seen since our trip started. Ok, it WAS the most sun. It set the theme for the day- calm, mostly dry, skies. Chris and I ate breakfast at The Pointe again. I had some kind of eggs with goat cheese on bread with potato, although way more artful than I described. Chris had a breakfast version of a pulled pork sandwich. We finished up our delicious food and then ran down to the beach just in front of the hotel to take a billion pictures of the sunrise. After that, we went back to our rooms to get dressed for the day's adventure. We didn't originally plan on this because we didn't think ... read more
My Delicious Breakfast
Chris' Breakfast
Chesterman Beach Sunrise




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