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Published: April 27th 2006
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Having spent a fair bit of time in Vancouver, myself, Lucy, our new English friend Madaline who I'd met in Toronto who'd rocked up to our hostel in Vancouver; and Jo the Aussie chick, decided it was time for a bit of a girlie trip to Vancouver Island. After a 5 hour journey, including 3 busses and a ferry, we arrived in Victoria. A place that people had been raving about. Personally, I wasn't overly impressed with it but there were some nice places. We decided to stay there for only 1 day, 2 nightas then move on. We hired bikes and cycled through the park to the coast. The breaks on my bike were really sensitive and as a consequence, I ended up almost being crushed by a truck when I hit the brekas too hard and flew over the handlebars into the road! I wasn't sad to leave our hostel actually, there were plenty of weirdos staying there that I was keen to wave goodbye to!
We got a bus the next morning to Tofino...the surf town. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but when we arrived, any expectations I may have had were out the window.
Tofino was absolutely beautiful. A little beach town with a few cafes, a pub, a supermarket, a hostel and a few other small shops, surrounded by rainforest and the ocean. Our hostel had only been built 5 years ago and was more like a hotel. The lounge and dining areas looked out onto the ocean and mountains, you could watch the sea lions swim past as you ate breakfast.
Mick came to meet us in Tofino the morning after we got there...he was getting stressed in Vancouver so I suggested he came up to relax which he did. The day after he arrived, we left the hung over girls to lounge around and Mick and I hired some cruiser bikes for the day. We decided to explore some of the white sand beaches around the Island. First off we rode to Chesterman beach which is a peninsula, for those of you who neglected geography at school, a peninsula is a stretch of beach with sea on both sides of the sand!! It was absolutely stunning. In total that day we rode 35k and it almost killed me. That night we got back to the hostel and recruited a few
people to come walk through the rainforest to the beach and watch the sunset.
The next day the girls hired bikes and Mick and I grabbed a lift to chesterman beach again, had a chilled day then again in the evening, a group of us from the hostel went down to the beach for a beach fire at sunset. The next day myself, Mick, Mads and English Dave went sea Kayaking. We told a little porky pie to the lady at the shop, along the lines of the fact that we already have our kayaking certificates so she let us have two 2-man kayaks without a guide for a cheaper price! I was very scared but Mick has done a lot of Kayaking before in Aus so I felt in good hands. We set off into the Ocean with our little map of the islands and set off exploring. The sun was beaming down and the water was so still, the view was breathtaking. The sea lions we'd seen from the window in the hostel, pooped their heads up to say hello to us as we rowed passsed. We pulled up on a secluded beach on an island we
came to, there was nobody around but us. It was awesome, it reminded me of Castaway! The row home was a nightmare but despite the struggle against the current we made it back. I looked like a lobster at the end of the day. I wasn't expecting to get sunburnt in Canada!
The next few days were really chilled out. We went to the beach to enjoy the sun on our last full day. In the forest area behind the beach we found a huge swing rope which you can use to swing through the trees. It was pretty high. Mick took me up the hill to have a go, telling me to make sure I jumped off the hill to the right hand side. I was pretty scared and anxious about jumping off but the rope started pulling me so I went with it. It took me to the left rather than the right and I went smack straight into the tree on the far side and then smack into the trunk I started at! Pretty funny but OUCH!
Wednesday came and we had to check out. I was so sad to leave Tofino behind. Madsd and
I paid $35 for the bus to the ferry port and Mick and Luke decided to hitchike. They made it to the port before we did and the guy even drove them onto the Ferry. Mads and I thought they'd missed it as we were waiting for them at the ticket booth not knowing they were onboard already. Half way through the journey they appeared from nowhere!
We're all back back in Vancouver and I'm heading to LA on Saturday. I'll upload some more pics ASAP.
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Mick
non-member comment
;o)
Oh I miss these good times together sweety. I cant wait to see you in a couple of weeks in Auckland. Missing you loads. Hope your having a blast in Fiji. xoxox