So, the ferry arrived on Vancouver island just about half an hour before midnight, leaving us no way of finding a camping ground, motel, or other….so we pulled into the parking lot of the first church we could find, that being the Lutheran Church, and we pulled out our sleeping bags and slept there for the night in the comfort of our car. We left before anyone arrived for the service the following morning and made our way to the first petrol station we could find to ablute then found a stunning picnic spot at Neck Point on Finn Beach in Nanaimo to have our breakfast. After breakfast we took to the trail to Keet Cove which wound its way around the coastline woods with some stunning blue water landscapes for our pleasure. We met a lovely couple along the way, walking their poodles, who gave us some good ideas of places to visit during the day before check in time at our time share resort.

We made our way to Rathtrevor Beach….a very long beach (1km, I think) with varying beach surfaces and a tide line wayyyyyyyy out towards the horizon. This beach also had pretty woods lining it and we strolled through that before picnicking for lunch at the picnic tables. We then tidied the car again and filled the litter bins with our unwanted boxes, etc. After that we made our way to Nanoose Bay to find the Pacific Shores Spa and Resort. So, my little lap of luxury this time turned out to be a little triangle of a unit with bed, couch, chair, bathroom and a kitchenette which consisted of a chest of drawers with a microwave oven, a kettle and a toaster….a couple of plates, bowls, glasses and mugs and cutlery for two….nothing in terms of being able to actually cook a meal….. but, the bath had jacuzzi jets, so there was something good (and I made immediate use of it)….but that was about it. However, we settled in and next morning we were on our way out again to look for the Hamilton Marsh, which we could not find. So, we moved on to Coombes to see the Goats on the Roof market. Quite fascinating really. The market has a grass-covered roof and has a herd of goats that live on the roof and keep it trimmed. A pen has even been built up there for them, so that is where they exist. We bought some goodies there for our pleasure rather than our needs and then went to find the Englishman's River Falls trail. These are very unusual falls that actually fall over their cliff edge sideways into the canyon. The forest walks that take you to the falls and beyond are very pretty and eventually lead you to the river above the falls where we sat relaxing for a while before returning to the "luxury" of our room. We relaxed and got the laundry done before making supper on our little gas stove.

Next day we made a very early start to Victoria to keep our whale watching date with 5 Star Tours. After a long drive, we arrived to very windy conditions which meant that there would be no trip out to look for whales. We postponed till the next day and then went on to see the Butchard Botanical Gardens which were absolutely stunning….colourful and meticulously manicured and visited by the babbling masses….we were hard put to it to find places to take photographs free of the crowds. After the gardens we found our way to our couch surfing accommodation and were warmly welcomed and shown to our bed in the basement amongst the tools, surfing and boating and hunting gear…oh my goodness, what a laugh!!! We escaped for a while to go and see the city at night which we were promised was really something to be seen…yeah right!!!! We found a coffee shop on the outskirts of China Town and sat there for as long as possible before returning to go to bed. We left as early as possible next morning to return to China Town (the first one to be established in Canada) and were left feeling really underwhelmed. By the time we got to the whale watching tour it had started raining, but there was no wind. We boarded the boat with about 20 other folk and we were the only 2 willing to brave the H20 factor on the top deck, but once out at sea, the rain stopped and then the others joined us. We seemed to be sailing to South Africa, but eventually someone spotted a dorsal fin and when we looked again we were surrounded by a pod of about 25 Orca Whales…about 3 or 4 of them came within really close range of the boat so there was much excitement. However, my beloved had hijacked my camera from me to take video of all the action, because the sun kills the LED screen on his video camera….so I caught no photographs worth talking about. He then very magnanimously handed it back to me when we were on our way to see the lighthouse island with sea lions and seals….whoop whoop!!!!! And then the skipper pointed to a plume of mist in the distance….YESSSSS!!!!! Humpbacks had joined the party….4 of them! We got quite close to one and I had the camera running on multiple shots so that I could catch the whole swooping breach and dive action and most especially that flip of the tail…..all went well and as the tail surfaced my beloved hopped up in front of the camera to catch his flipping video action and so instead of a tail, I have a frikking blob of grey hair!!!!!!! He was quite taken aback by my reaction…not understanding why I should be so upset…..

After all that excitement we did the return journey to our time share "luxury" and hit the sack feeling quite exhausted.

Next day we went to the Horne Lake caves to go and do some serious adventuring the wild way. The walk up to the caves was awesome. The rock faces are moss covered cathedrals that host a rain forest so everything is as green as green can be and although not a dense forest it is luscious, and fresh, and beautiful and crispy clean!!! The caves were truly an adventure. How black can black be??? VERY black without a torch to light up your life!!! The caves were a very tight squeeze and called for some quite acrobatic negotiation of the crevices and rock formations and all this needed to be done with a torch in one hand. My photographs were all done with flash light and were pot-shots into the pitch black darkness of each cavern. Graeme decided to try to get through a crack that only a rodent could successfully negotiate and got his hips through and then decided to come back again because it was an eensy-weensy space with claustrophobic promises. It was quite something to watch my 6'4" life partner playing rat-rat! Once we were out in the open again we reached a really pretty scene and Graeme reached for his phone to capture it only to find that his camera simply would not focus. After some time and some prime expressions of frustration, he turned his phone over to find the camera lens absolutely shattered to smithereens!!!! My phone had been in his other pocket, but came away with only a hairline crack on the screen protector!! We had lunch in very wet and overcast conditions on the shores of Horne Lake while watching fishermen floating their way around the dark surface of the lake. On our way back to the resort we dropped in to the Mooberry cheese and winery. We tasted all their wines which were really different and then all the cheeses which were really yummy. All went well until we got to the last wine when my cultured husband announced for all to hear that it tasted like cough mixture….where does one hide one's head??? As we left for the car we were met outside by a border collie and his green fluffy worm (obviously a much loved worm) and he put it down on the ground and dared me to pick it up and throw it for him….we played a while with the pooch and then went on to the Butterfly gardens only to find that they were closed for the day. So, we decided to try the Hamilton marsh again and actually found it. Obviously not popular at this time of the year or for a while anyway, because the trails were overgrown and required a bit of bundu-bashing, but it was really lovely…but without birds. Here the forest floors are covered with ferns and brambles.

We woke to a lovely morning the following day and found our way to one of the "hidden" falls trails - Nile Creek falls. Here is where we entered an enchanted forest…really the most beautiful walk we have done yet. Steam rose from the mosses as the sun dappled its way through the overhead coverage, the path wound its way through trees that simply dripped with mosses and along the banks of a creek that gently gushed over rocks and pebbles. At one stage I looked upwards to see the sun's rays breaking through and tiny bits of dusts, pollens and foliage spiralling downwards and looking just like glitter to add to the sense of enchantment. That was the lower walk. We went back to the car to fetch our lunch and then proceeded to the upper trail. A wild and untouched trail used mostly by local hunters. It was wet and boggy and muddy and required concentrated negotiating to avoid foot and other wear from becoming squelched with black rain forest mud! But it was so much fun and so wonderful to be in a place where so few others go. After about 45 minutes of balancing across logs, jumping over bog-spots, etc. a waterfall makes itself known and thereafter, after every 20-50 metres, another waterfall appears, and each one ups the last. I was only prepared to walk about 5 waterfalls, but Graeme continued to see the last 2 as well before we made our way back and ended the day feeling quite smugly satisfied with a good day of touristing. We then found ourselves at Nanoose Bay beach to watch the sun set over the Pacific Ocean without waves and returned to our room to prepare for a night out at the resort's restaurant for dinner and a pleasant evening of live jazz entertainment.

And so we find ourselves on our last day at our last time share spot. Off we went to the Macmillan Provincial Park to see the Cathedral Grove - a forest of giant Red Cedars in the rain forests of the park. It was a really much larger version of the Giant Cedar Boardwalk of Revelstoke. Awestruck we were!!! So much wonder at our creator and way too much beauty to even be described or absorbed. Just absolutely magnificent!! We stopped at Cameron lake for lunch, but after sitting at the picnic table for five minutes, we decided that it really was too cold to be stupid, so we went back to the car and ate our lunch there. From there, we continued to the Little Qualicum Falls. Here we encountered the prettiest falls on our trip thus far. The trail takes you on a loop walk around the canyon where you follow the path of pristine teal coloured river waters which rush over about 5 gorgeous waterfalls. It was a good day which had us both in very cheerful moods and feeling smug again at a good day of good touristing decisions. En route back to the resort we stopped in at a glass shop called Smoke n Glass which had intrigued me on the way to the Grove. If only I had taken a closer look at the logo….which is a glass cannabis smoking jobbie with a great big cannabis leaf in the centre. However, the owner very magnanimously let us in and informed us that we were the nicest South Africans he had met yet, and proceeded to talk China-Africa politics with us for a while and then invited us to return when we "get our smoke on, man!" An interesting interlude to a wonderful day. We returned to pack and make ready for our journey to the West side of the island - to explore Ucluelet (You-clue-lit) and Tofino.

This is my second to last blog folks….not sure when I will get the last one done….but will let you know when it is posted.