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Published: January 3rd 2006
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Icecream Anyone?
Freezing our butts off at Whiskey Creek After a couple of weeks of ultimate relaxation in Bamfield, we loaded up the car and headed towards Vancouver, stopping in Victoria for a couple of days first. The day we chose to leave was during a cold snap when snow had hit the Bamfield road (an uncommon occurrence). As soon as we started climbing the pass on our way out, we realised that the logging road was being snowploughed! The whole side of the road was covered in snow and there were icicles hanging from the rock faces. We made our way through Port Alberni and headed across to the eastern side of Vancouver Island. Along the way we stopped at Whiskey Creek which is famed for its spectacular ice cream. Despite the freezing temperatures, we stood outside in the snow eating ice cream! I also bought a coffee which involved learning how to buy Canadian coffee- millions of choices, not to mention giant servings. A key lesson I have learnt is to always buy the smallest size! A small coffee is like an extra large in Australia and the child's size ice cream was a waffle cone with 2 huge scoops. It only cost $2.00!
We arrived in Victoria
at about 4.30pm after along drive across and down Vancouver Island. After checking into our hostel and freshening up we headed out to Pagliacci’s, an Italian restaurant, for dinner. This place was recommended by the Lonely Planet and turned out to a spectacular choice. It was busy, but not to noisy and had a great atmosphere. The food was delicious but not too expensive. I had pasta which had roasted garlic, artichokes and sun-dried tomatoes in a white wine sauce, washed down with a glass of Yellowtail Shiraz!
Our hostel room was above a busy city street which made sleeping in impossible! So we got up relatively early for us and hit the town. Victoria is a lovely town with a real European feel. It is the capital of British Columbia and the Parliament building is quite beautiful. We walked through town and down to the harbour. We walked along the harbour until we came to the museum. Our visit to the museum took up most of the day, but was well worth it. First we looked at the natural history exhibition which explained the evolution of British Columbia and its animals. There were some great models of various
Harbour Seal
Where's my salmon?? animals and their habitats and I took a photo of the woolly mammoth. I've always loved woolly mammoths! The woolly mammoth display even had real ice!
Next we visited the First Nations Exhibition which was really good. It was about the indigenous groups of British Columbia, most of which are part of the Pacific Northwest Coast complex. These are the groups that carve totem poles and had longhouses. By the time we left the museum it was getting dark and we headed back into the city centre. The city is quite captivating at night as it is decorated for Christmas and lit up with fairy lights. We wandered around looking at shops until we stumbled on an Eddie Bauer store where I bought a beautiful purple goose down jacket. It is so soft and comfortable and keeps me toasty warm! Next I happened upon a Levis store where I managed to find a petite pair of jeans that fit me perfectly, including lengthways!
The next day we woke up early again and got on the move quickly to make the most of our time left in Victoria. We loaded up the car and drove to Fisherman’s Wharf. Pippi and
I visited a fish shop where we bought salmon candy, which is salmon pieces smoked with honey and black pepper. We also had fresh seafood chowder that had just been cooked. As we were eating, there was a harbour seal hanging around the fish shop waiting to be fed fresh salmon! We got lots of photos and even saw it being fed. Apparently this seal had been hanging around for about 15 years and does tricks for its salmon. After lunch we took the scenic route out of Victoria to the ferry. This road followed the coast with beautiful views enhanced by the warm sunny day. I even got to see my first squirrel! We arrived at the ferry terminal and caught the 5.30pm ferry to Vancouver. After a two hour boat ride and a hair-raising drive across Vancouver in dense fog, we finally arrived at New Westminister, the suburb where we are basing ourselves in Vancouver.
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Darwin Chiong
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I wanna go to Canada toooooooooooooooooooo! :)