Horseshoe Bay to Bowen Island

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It's Thursday morning and we are sitting in the lovely sunshine and blue skies just waiting on our breakfast order from the Snug Coffee House. The rest of yesterday went well and we got off the plane and through security pretty fast and we're both relieved to see our cases turn up on the carousel. I've just broken writing this to laugh hysterically at Steph freaking out jumping out of her chair at a wasp, some things don't change.

We got our things and made our way to the Avis car rental office to collect our hire car. Everything was going well the guy said to us we've got a Jeep Grand Cherokee which sounded good. It then turns out he was upgrading us and getting us to pay extra without actually telling us it was an upgrade! Cheeky bint! We only noticed when he started telling us he would give it to us for only $75 a day instead of $100. When we argued and said that our quote only said £360 we found out that wasn't for the Jeep and he told us it was for a Hyundai Tucson instead. I didn't have a clue what size that was so ended up trouping off to check out the cars leaving Steph in the office with the luggage. Turns out a Tucson is basically the same as my car back home so was plenty big enough.

We loaded the car up and set up the sat nav to guide us to Horseshoe Bay 45mins away. It actually took us double that time as we either hit rush hour traffic or got routed through the city centre. We arrived at the horseshoe bay motel about 6pm. The lady on reception was really nice and friendly telling us the ferry times for today to Bowen Island. We checked in our room and unloaded the car for a much desperate chill out then headed out to get something to eat before planning an early night. There are about five or six places to eat in Horseshoe Bay all with great menus for a meat eater. With Steph being a veggie we ended up at the on,y place that really did anything veggie - the fresh slice pizza place. We ordered a pizza each for takeaway and headed to sit by the Howe Sound to eat it. We then forced down a Baskin Robbins ice cream (remind me next time to order a kids size!) then headed back to the motel for a lovely nights sleep. Until about 3.30am with jet lag!

We awoke at 0615hrs and decided to catch the 0800hrs ferry across to Bowen island, giving us to time to shower etc. Unfortunately I did under estimate how long it would take to put everything back in my suitcase meaning we were cutting it fine to catch the ferry and the next one wasn't for another hour. But we made it! Once on board we had a little wander around and went on the top deck (I think we were the only tourists on there as everyone else stayed in their trucks/cars). It was a short crossing only 15mins of so. Meaning we had plenty of time to explore the island a little before having breakfast in the sun! We drove past the island's ambulance station, which only has one ambulance for the whole island! The next nearest would be the mainland which could be up to 1hr relying on ferry crossings! Let's hope I don't need emergency assistance after tomorrow's planned eight hour hike up Mount Gardner!

We parked up on a little car park near the general store, with a unique/honest way of paying. Little envelope which you put a dollar in and write your reg plate on, but not what time you arrive or anything. We stopped at what looks a little like a shack from the outside and thought we would just have coffee, but on going in we discover the had a lovely breakfast menu which all had quirky little changes and a laid back atmosphere. So obviously we had to stay, and we were glad we did, the food was lovely. As we couldn't check in until 3pm we had a little wander up to Artisan Square which was a bit tough as the sun was blaring down and it was all uphill. At the top we stopped at the chocolate cafe for a well deserved ice cream. That's twice in two days now and I'm not even a massive ice cream fan. We then drove to Killarney Lake to do a hike. We didn't really know which one we were going to do but 4km through winding narrow and bumpy wooden trails we had hiked round the whole lake. I don't think my Fitbit understands the concept of me doing more than 10,000 steps a day but 14,000 steps later I'm sitting here smug and hoping I've done enough to cancel out the yummy food I'm going to eat for dinner! The views were stunning. There were big tall trees and the lake was beautiful with the weather even better! We took lots of photos including an area which was totally surreal with dead trees standing bolt upright in the lake.

Steph was worried about getting too tired for tomorrow's planned hike up Mount Gardner. It's looks huge but I keep trying to tell myself it's just like The Wrekin! Hmm tomorrow will tell. We plan to leave no later than 8am stopping in the harbour to get some water and food for lunch when we hopefully reach the top. Apparently the trails aren't marked very well and it takes forever to get up there so I really hope we make it. The views from the top are stunning. We've got instructions and pictures printed out of the way up so we'll give it a good go. I'm currently trying to arrange a lift back to the lodge tomorrow from the local island pub as we plan to celebrate tomorrow from succeeding in the hike. There are no taxis on Bowen Island. The local pub 3km away offers a free lift on the 'grey whale' which is a minibus. There is a bus service which stops at 6.35 although there are various 'thumbing hitchhiker' signs where apparently you just stand and wait and one of the locals gives you a lift. Not sure if we are brave enough to try that. Anyway we're just about to get ready to go to the harbour for some dinner followed by beers back at the lodge before getting a good nights sleep in preparation for tomorrow. Ps the views from the lodge are beautiful looking out over the Howe Sound and we can see the ferries going back and forth to Horseshoe Bay.

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