Day 11

Spent most of the day on the road travelling to Tofino on the west coast. This is a really rugged coast that is exposed to the wild weather that comes in from the Pacific and it rains more days than not.

We stopped on the way at Cathedral Grove which is an area of old growth forest and has some of the largest trees in Canada. They were certainly big as the photos show. The whole area was very spectacular and was a taste of what the Rockies will be like. It was surprisingly sunny when we arrived so we made the most of it and went for a short 3 km walk through the rainforest on the coast near to where we were staying.

DISTANCE TODAY 0km TOTAL DISTANCE 305 km

Day 12

We didn't bring our bikes up here as there is no mountain biking. Today was a day for checking out the coast where there were about 10 walks to do near the water. There is rainforest right down to the beach in most spots. The interesting thing here is that every small island has trees growing from

it.

First stop was an interpretative centre on the beach so we went for a quick walk towards some rocks. There was a bald eagle sitting about 50m away which was unusual as they usually fly away well before then. After having a look in the centre displays, we headed out of the carpark to go to our first walk. We had not gone 20m from the carpark when we saw 2 black bear cubs in a tree having a great time. We couldn't really see mum too well as she was behind a lot of undergrowth but we were still pretty amazed anyway. After about 5 minutes the cubs climbed down and they all headed off into the bush. Even Kim said she had never seen anything quite as good and she has lived here all her life.

The weather became normal Tofino after that, constant rain and cold so we went to a cafe for lunch. It didn't look like clearing up so we dropped Kim and Katie at the cabin and went on a rainforest walk. It wasn't too bad in the rain forest as the canopy was stopping most of the rain from reaching us.

DISTANCE TODAY 0km TOTAL DISTANCE 305 km

Day 13

It rained most of the night but it was fine and mostly sunny this morning. We headed out to do some more of the walks we hadn't previously done but just in case, we went back to where we had seen the bears to try and see them again. No luck and this highlighted how lucky we were yesterday that we were driving past within that 5 minute window.

It fined up completely and we did all the other walks and saw some more of the wildlife - and otter, a blue jay (bird) and a chipmunk, not things you go out of the way to see but are pretty cool when you do see them. Also saw a heap more bald eagles, they are becoming so common it is no big deal anymore. It was great to see one in its diving position as it swooped down on a fish.

DISTANCE TODAY 0km TOTAL DISTANCE 305 km

Day 14 May 27

We got up early to head back to Victoria as Brad had to work in the afternoon. Arrived back a bit after lunch and by the time I did some washing, packed the bike and got all my stuff together it was dinner time and my last night in Victoria.

DISTANCE TODAY 0km TOTAL DISTANCE 305 km