It was from the coastal town of Nanaimo, about 100km north of Victoria, where we decided to hire a car for the first time this year. We were keen to explore parts of the island where public transport doesn't go, which for Canada, is most of it. It was also our first stint staying in a proper North American style motel next to the highway. Whilst cheap and pretty run down, we enjoyed the new surroundings of our motel style accommodation.

Nanaimo is a relatively small town, mostly unremarkable, but the bay can really impress when the weather's good. Our first day with the car was spent driving out to the town of Port Alberni to hike a trail known locally as the Anglers Trail. It's a walk that runs through dense forest that follows a river. We saw perhaps two other people for the entire 12km return walk and it was all so beautiful and serene.

Our second day with the car took us to Mount Washington, a ski resort that gets a tonne of snow in winter time. We decided to hike from the bottom lift to the top of the mountain (as we do) along one of the recommended trails for summer hiking. The alpine flavour of this walk was a great contrast to the previous day and threw up some spectacular scenery.

From Nanaimo we decided to catch a ferry back to mainland Canada. We were only able to scratch the surface of what Vancouver Island has to offer for outdoor activities, it's a spot we may just have to return to one day.