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The ferry from Earls cove to Saltery Bay took about 45 min, unfortunately the clouds were down so we didn’t get to see much of the scenery but with a bit of imagination it was obvious it would have been a pretty spectacular passage in the sunshine! From Saltery Bay we headed up the coast to Powell River for lunch, then on to the picturesque town of Lund (2), where the sun finally came out and we went for a short potter along the front and checked out the local gallery. Then it was back to the queue in Powell River for our ferry to Comox, Vancouver Island (roughly 1.5 h). The views from this crossing were pretty specky – snow capped mountains on the island (3) we were heading to and on the mainland we were leaving! (And having the sun finally shining definitely raised our spirits!). Once on Van Is we headed south to our ‘base camp’ at the Pacific Grove Resort just south of Parksville.
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We had a pretty leisurely day on Tuesday after all the travelling of the day before! We headed to Parksville and Qualicum Beach stopping at Milner House and its gardens. Apparently the Queen had stayed here when she visited Van Is, the gardens were very pretty and had good paths which made it easy for Nanna to get around. The afternoon was filled up by a seminar with the resort we had signed up with to get a good deal on the rooms and some relaxing in the resort swimming pool, sauna and hot tubs!
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On Wednesday we ventured to the other side of the Island, along one of the few roads which headed East-West! Most of the population of Van Is is on the East coast, along the ‘Inside Passage’. We were off to the Pacific Rim National Park, which being pretty much the first thing weather off the pacific hits after Russia is one of the wettest places in the world! It is also renowned for rough surf (so surfers love it) and impressive storms. The park is run with the help of the local First Nation people, Nuu-chah-nul, and there are a number of small areas within the park which are designated as First Nation reserves. We headed to the Wickaninnish Centre, which houses a restaurant with impressive views of the coastline (and serves excellent lunch), and has some short wheelchair accessible walking tracks leading from it to other beaches (a pre-requisite when travelling with an 88 year old grandmother!). So on arrival we headed off on the track to ‘Short Beach’ as we paused to take a photograph of a Bear, Orca (Killer whale) and Raven Totem pole (4) we were advised that a Black bear had been sited on the beach ahead a short while ago! A little further on we found more evidence of bear activity (5), a bear foot print on the boardwalk! Then rounding the corner we same them! A mother Black Bear with her two cubs (6)! It was very exciting! The mother knew that people were around but seemed reasonably unconcerned and kept on feeding on the beach while the cubs capered around playing on the rocks and grassy slope above the beach, within eyesight of mum! We all felt that our trip to Canada was complete at that point! From the Wickaninnish Centre we headed north up the coast towards Tofino.
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I couldn’t help but noticing a large number of signs indicating the way to go if a tsunami was approaching (7), according to Dad the West Coast of Canada is due for another big earthquake, the last big Tsunami in the area was in 1964, which devastated the town of Port Alberni which is a long way inland but up a narrow sound. As we drove to Tofino we stopped at Radar Hill for views over the region, however by this point the weather was starting to come in so by the time we got to the next beach (whose name has escaped me) the sea was looking decidedly uninviting (8)!
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After such a long day on the road with many stops we took it easy again on Thursday. Dad and I went kayaking in Craig Bay with the Resorts free Kayaks in the morning before we all headed inland again, this time to Coombs where we went to a Coffee roaster for lunch, which had excellent coffee (a change from the usual Canadian fare), then went to Butterfly world in the afternoon, which had a large array of beautiful butterflies, but to was pretty tricking getting them to stay still long enough to take a picture (9)! The heavens also opened again that day so being inside a nice warm butterfly house was definitely a good decision.
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Friday marked the last day in Canada for Mum, Dad and Nanna, so we headed off early for Butchart Gardens, a place Nanna had been expressing an interest to see ever since the trip to Canada was on the cards, so therefore a must-see! The gardens cover 50 acres and were commence in 1904 by Mr. and Mrs. R.P. Butchart, who began with an effort to beautify a worked-out quarry site on the 130-acre which became the Sunken Garden (10). The gardens also have an impressive Rose Garden, and Italian and Japanese style gardens. Well worth a visit if you are prepared to brave the crowds of tourists! On the ferry back to Vancouver we were lucky enough to see a pod of Ocra (killer whales) as we passed through a narrow passage between islands. They seemed to be playing close to the shore - an exciting added bonis to our ferry trip!
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Once M, D & N were safely checked in at Vancouver airport I headed back to Vancouver for a couple more nights and a day of shopping and sightseeing in between! After a morning shopping downtown on Robson St, MC took me to the Moutain Equipment Co-op – a must for all outdoors enthusiasts, I had to keep my stay in the shop to a minimum otherwise I would have not been able to close my suitcase! – then we headed to Kitsilano and the funky shops there. Thanks to Malcolm and Kaila we had a delicious dinner at Hapa Izakaya, a Japanese Tapas restaurant, which are apparently all the rage in Vancouver at the moment. The next morning I was extremely grateful to MC and Andrew who got up at 4 am to drive me to the airport despite the fact that I was happy to get a taxi! It was really lovely to recieve such hospitality and I hope I can return the favour (though perhaps at a more reasonable hour) later in the year!
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