Keiryn and Yolande are two dear friends we met during our time in Banff. They had moved to Victoria, British Columbia over the spring, and were heading to Nova Scotia to visit Yo's family at the end of September. We wanted to catch them in Victoria before they left, so we decided to B line it from Jasper straight to Vancouver Island, but not without a short visit to the much anticipated Okanagan Valley.

The drive across British Columbia was beautiful with winding freeways that cut straight through the mountains, huge red cedar forests and fresh fruit stands everywhere. We hadn't heard much about Canadian wine before (not that we know much about wine) but apparently they do it well, and the best is from the Okanagan Valley. It's also a very beautiful part of Canada and almost directly on our route so we stayed a few nights and got wine-ducated.

As a little engagement present to ourselves we decided not to hold back and visited several of the vineyards around the Westside Wine Trail outside Kelowna. We toured some of the better known wineries, and sought out some small scale organic vineyards as well. We even treated ourselves to a beautiful lunch at Quails Gate Winery overlooking the vines where the very wine we were sipping was grown and picked.

This was the first time either of us had visited a winery and we had no idea what we were really doing. Luckily, the bartender at our first stop was a passionate wine connoisseur who loved sharing his knowledge. He took us under his wing and taught us the proper techniques and etiquette to really appreciate wine, while continuously giving us scrumptious samples. Thanks to his guidance, we spent the rest of our day feeling a little more confident at the other wineries and left with a whole new appreciation for the art of good wine.

We also sampled a particular style that we had never before justified spending the money on - the famous Canadian ice wine! Picked after three consecutive days of sitting on the vines frozen, this is obviously not a style one would see often in Australia. This process however, produces the most curious, sweet and smooth dessert wine imaginable!

After our self-guided wine tour, we spent a great night catching up with Haley, a friend of ours from Wollongong who had been working in Kelowna for the last year. It was a good excuse to further sample some of the wines we had just bought, and compliment them with an array of delicious cheeses and crackers!

The next morning we dragged ourselves away from this beautiful part of the country and continued our B line to Vancouver Island. We boarded the ferry across to the Island just as the sun set, which was amazing to watch over the beautiful island-studded water passage.

Driving off the ferry it hardly felt like we were on an island. At 450km long and 100km wide, this 'island' could have been a separate country! Despite its size, each quaint little town we visited held a sort of off-the-mainland pride and in the end a definite island vibe.

It was great catching up with Keiryn and Yo. Between their busy shift work we explored the city of Victoria, admiring the British-influenced parliament buildings, the harbours, parks, an interesting wharf lined with floating houses and the quirky chinatown. We did a few day trips out to lush, driftwood covered, rainforest coasts and checked out some nice bars and cafes. We even managed to get tickets to a gig at the Lucky, where we watched a cool Vancouver instrumental band called Miami Device.

The evening before our friends flew to Nova Scotia, we relived Banff traditions with a huge home cooked meal and a few rounds of 'Notes', a guaranteed hilarious game that we learnt from a Tasmanian couple in Laos. It was a great week of catch-ups and was sad to say goodbye to them once again.

We spent our second week here exploring the greater Vancouver Island. Our first stop was Chemainus, an old logging town which has done a great job revamping its charm with art. The entire town was painted with beautiful creative murals depicting the town history, culture and legacy.

From there we continued north towards Tofino, taking the time to stop at beautiful coastal towns along the way. We ate nanaimo bars outside of Nanaimo and bought picnic supplies from the exotic 'Goats on the Roof' market in Coombs, which actually has a family of goats on its roof! We did a great short hike on the Wild Pacific Trail in Ucuelet surrounded by stunning mossy coastal gardens and funky twisted trees. When we finally arrived in Tofino, Aidan hired a surf board and a 5mm wetsuit and tried his luck against the crowds at the popular Cox Bay. It wasn't great, but good to get wet after almost a year in the mountains.

The camping around here was well worth the cold and rain. The campgrounds were tucked into private tangles of lush mossy natural beauty and curious blue Stellars Jays. We barely noticed how wet we became whilst cooking our dinner one night, just caught in the beauty of the place. By the last mouthful we were soaked, and spent the entire next day drying everything out!

Determined to see some whales, we committed our first real splurge and booked ourselves on a cruise from Tofino. It was a great day for animal spotting as we saw at least four grey whales, two black bears, two bald eagles and a surprising amount of seals, porpoise and a thriving re-established population of sea otters.

Our boat took us out through the wild Clayoquot Sounds to a little island, where we hiked along a forested boardwalk for a few kilometers before popping out at the source of an amazing hot spring. The spring trickles out to form a waterfall over a cliff, flowing straight into some tidal rockpools and the ocean. We sat in this natural phenomenon in awe, finding a balance between the icy ocean waves and the near boiling water flowing in from the waterfall behind!

We made our way back down to Victoria along the western side of the Island. We were very tempted to hike the famous 47 km Juan de Fuca trail that follows this coastline, but the cold snap and continuous rain we had been experiencing eventually deterred us. Instead we just stopped at a few car accessible points along the adjacent road, admiring the scenic beauty without soggy boots and a heavy backpack weighing us down.

While we kept ourselves entertained on Vancouver Island, the Australian Embassy had been busy creating a new passport for Jess, as the last one was completely full! So, back on the mainland, we picked up her brand new empty passport and used it as an excuse to explore Vancouver city by bike. We picnicked at the Granville Island markets, and toured the huge, beautiful (and hilly) Stanley Park. The bikes proved to be a fantastic way to scope out a city in a day and we were impressed by how much we were able to cram in.

We are now in a prime spot for a quick and early dash into the United States tomorrow morning. Portland, here we come! Canada, see you on the east side in a few months!