Exploring Vancouver Island then its goodbye to Canada

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I arrived in to Victoria after an enjoyable ferry trip. I visited the BC Museum, where there was a very interesting exhibit on the gold rush. I got to walk through the different settings from getting my equipment and food, setting out on my expedition and even got to try my hand at panning for gold, before continuing on into an exhibit with gold artifacts. After a lovey lunch at The Old Spaghetti Factory, I visited the Parliament building and got to see the members’ room. The following day I walked along the waterside to the Fisherman’s Warf, which was very funky. The brightly coloured houses floating on the water, the fat harbour seals being fed fish and the hippy buskers playing cheerful music. On the walk back I went into the Robert Bateman gallery to see some beautiful paintings of nature and animals. The Miniature World museum was cool, I especially enjoyed the fairy tale and fantasy worlds. The Butchant Gardens, were a lovely day out, full of colour and lush greens. I walked around Beacon Hill park to mile marker zero of the Trans-Canada Highway. My last day in Victoria I visited Craigdarroch castle. It’s a Scottish style mansion that was home to Dunsmuir family. The mansion underwent a lot of changes from a beautiful home to a school administration. It is slowly being returned to its former beauty, although the house will always have its history scars like the names carved into the wood by the former students. Then it was on to Nanaimo, I had caught a cold, felt miserable and the weather didn’t help being wet and grey. Tried to enjoy the few days I had in Nanaimo but in truth I was miserable. I did walk along the harbour saw some people crab fishing and watched a heron look for food but after spending a day in the hostel watching movies on my laptop, I left the next day. It was not all Nanaimo’s fault but I was happy to leave on the third day.

The next stop was Port Alberni, I arrived just before the start of the Salmon Festival. From the back deck of the hostel I had a lovely view over the harbour. I enjoyed this strange town more than I thought from my first impression. I got to see my first Black Bear across the river bank from me, I watched it catch and eat 6 salmon. I got to ride on a restored steam train to the lumber mill. The mill wasn’t working that day so I got to go inside the mill and the guide walked us through the process of getting the tree and cutting it in to usable lumber. As there was nothing working I got to see up close the levers and cables that allow the operators to determine the size of the finished lumber. Another day a friendly local that one of the other girls in my dorm had befriended gave us a lift to the Stamp falls to see the fish ladder for the salmon. Loads were using the ladder but others were more hard core old fashioned and went up the falls. Leaping high into the air and jumping up the water fall, then taking a break in the calm waters by the rocks before jumping up the next part. It was this lady that also brought us to find the bear. That evening we went to the Salmon Festival, and I had a the nicest freshest barbequed salmon I have ever tasted. I got to see the biggest fish they had caught during the completion so far it was over 30lbs. I watched fish being gutted and one of the fishermen let us watch him and told us what the different parts of the fish were, it was gross, bloody but interesting. At the harbour quay I tasted doughnuts from the best old fashioned “cake” doughnuts, according to the sign, I had to agree they were lovely. It was then time to leave again, this time on a boat alongside the Broken Islands. I saw more bears on the sandy beaches as we sailed by.

In Ucluelet, it was rainy and grey. I met a girl I had met in Kelowna and we did the lighthouse trail walk. As it was damp and misty it gave the ocean a mystical magical feel. It felt like anything could be hiding in the fog just off shore. The next day was really wet so everyone stayed in the hostel hanging out and playing cards. I got talking to a lovely Swiss lady who offered me a lift to Tofino the following day as long as I didn’t mind accompanying her on some of the West Pacific Trail. That was not a hardship so the following morning after breakfast we went to the Artist Loop and the Browns Beach section of the trail. It was grey and foggy as we started but about half way along the sun came out. The coast was transformed from something mystical to a beautiful rocky shoreline with the oceans blues and greens and the white crested waves crashing off the rocks. On the drive to Tofino we stopped along the way at Long Beach in the Pacific Rim National Park. We had lunch sitting on a big rock watching the surfers, before continuing on into Tofino.

It was great to get the lift all the way to the hostel and as it turned out we were put into the same room. We booked a kayaking trip for the next morning, to Meares Island. There was only 4 of us on the tour so we got to explore the smaller islands before heading to Meares Island to see the huge red cedar trees. Some of the trees were so old and huge, it was amazing. As we were paddling a sea otter came to play around under our boats. I really liked Tofino, it was a lovely place to relax and I was as lucky with the weather, it was bright and sunny every day. I got to watch the sun set over the water from a little quite beach, I went bear watching as got to see lots of bears and one up very close to the boat, I went whale watching as well but that was disappointing as we only saw one grey whale from a distance and it never breached the water, just surfaced enough to see the water spray out before slinking back under the water. All too soon my time in Tofino and Canada was over. I got the bus early in the morning to Nanaimo, then a ferry back to the main land followed by the bus to Seattle. Like that the second part of my trip was over and the third and final chapter of this adventure was just beginning.

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