The Malahat, Nanaimo, and Newcastle Island


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Published: July 19th 2008
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Today was somewhat sad: I had to leave Ocean Island. It's such a funky place, and when I come to the island again, I'll stay here.

I bought a VIARail ticket to Nanaimo, one way for $17.50. As I made my way to the station at 7:00am, another girl who was on the shuttle bus yesterday was headed to the train, also going to Nanaimo! So we chatted for a bit, and she suggested we could split a budget car rental or something. I'll think about it, but my ticket to Tofino is pretty cheap.

My first time being in a train was pretty nice! It's like being on the Greyhound, except with a lot more leg room, larger seats, and larger isles. The Malahat ride was pretty scenic. It goes through the smaller areas of BC, and I couldn't believe how some places were considered stations, just small shelters with the VIARail sign (if even) and the name of the town.

The ride takes the passengers through the island's temperate rainforest; sometimes the branches touched the train windows, and I saw a baby deer wagging its tail in a meadow (the mother couldn't be seen). We went over the trestle bridge in Goldstream Provincial Park.

2.5 hours later I arrived in Nanaimo. I had to ask a guy for directions to Nicol Street.

I must admit the Nanaimo International Hostel had me wondering if it was the International Hostel, and I didn't know it at first because the sign has a camel on it. It's essentially a house with dorm rooms. The woman/owner/manager was wonderfully friendly; she showed me around, gave me a card with the door code, gave me a list of places that would give me a discount since I was staying there, and at only $20.00 a night, it's great on my wallet. Plus, I get free internet! And a towel! There's also an outdoor shower, and everything here is recycled except for food.

The only thing I'm not happy with is that I can't store my gargantuan backpack anywhere with a lock and key.

After I got somewhat settled, I walked to the Co-op for a free coffee (because the manager told me they were giving it out), and went to A & W because I was hungry and it was lunch time. I asked the cashier in there what islands she would recommend- Gabriola, Newcastle, or Protection- and she said Newcastle (she'd never been to Protection). After that, I went into the mall and asked a girl from a store selling organic food, and she also recommended Newcastle.

I made my way downtown, and memories of my last trip to Vancouver Island took me back. I recognized a couple of the stores, and the harbour was still the same- more boats than I can count, and beautiful sunshine. I had to walk along the dock to get to the ferry, and I saw sea stars attached to the dock posts, on the rocks, and man, were they purple! Not a tinge, or a hue, but VIBRANT PURPLE!

The woman at the Newcastle ferry told me Protection is a residential area. So I'm glad I didn't go there. It took a while for the ferry to arrive, but it's a cheap ($8.00 return) and quick (10 min. ride) to the island.

The perimeter of Newcastle Island Provincial Park is 7.5km, but with the shortcut trails going through, the total number of km is longer. To me, it was worth it to see the holly growing wild in the forest. And also for Kanaka Bay.

I took the trail to see the old sandstone quarry, used for Christ Church Cathedral in Victoria, the San Francisco Mint, and some other places. I then went along the trail to Mallard Lake, which had a partial layer of fallen leaves. They were mostly green, but had hints of rent and yellow too. It was like looking at a Monet painting.

Kanaka Bay was gorgeous. The bleached driftwood, gorgeous white sand, nice view...awesome. Some parts of the sand are so hard it's like linolium floor. Other times my feet sunk. It's hard avoid stepping on barnacles and shells on that beach (God knows I tried), and here and there I saw little dead crabs.

I started headed for what I believed to be the Shoreline Trail, but it wasn't, and I was just going along the rocks. I noticed some sea stars attached along the rocks, and I was taking photos of them, but I almost stepped into a tide pool and killed a crab. I still feel bad, I wasn't meaning to damage the wildlife! Also in the tide pool were some sea anemones (or some sort of polyp), and I started taking photos of them. The rock I was sitting on as I took these photos turned out to have a cluster of five sea stars seemingly attached to one another, and there was one lone orange one in the group of purple ones.

I headed back (now knowing this probably wasn't the trail I wanted), and found what I was looking for. I took a small detour to see the air shaft that was listed as a point of interest on the map I have, but it's just a giant cylinder. I made my way back to the ferry, and got on the next one.

I looked around the harbour for someplace to eat, and as I was looking at my discount card, I saw one of the places listed- Trotter's Fish & Chips.

Not the healthiest fare. But what the hell, I'm on holiday.

I ordered what i thought would be the cheapest, and heartiest (and seemingly healthiest) thing on the menu: a cod burger with fries. I wasn't expecting the cod to be deep-fried. I wasn't expecting both sides of the bun (which I ordered whole-wheat) to have their own layer of mayonaise.

It was heaven.

I never realized burgers could be this awesome. The fries were delectable too, but that burger....

It was awesome, eating that delectable meal, watching the Canadian Geese float between the boats, and read about West Coast wolves.

I headed into the mall, and found a nearly 100%!o(MISSING)rganic grocery place, and bought some stuff for tomorrow. Should I have gone here for dinner instead?

....nah, that was awesome food.

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