We arrived a lot earlier than Jewel was expecting us, due to the rain having washed out our intentions for the day, but she warmly welcomed us and made us feel right at home. Another surfer from Belgium was also staying for the night so we had a really good time of chatting and getting to know each other via all our travel-stories.

Jewel advised us that the first thing we should do is the Ripple Rock trail, which takes us up to a cliff-side and looks out over the Seymour Narrows of the Pacific which swirls around the Vancouver anther islands. We awoke to a wonderful sunny day and took off as early as possible.

The trail was wet from the previous day's rain, but everything was so fresh and clean and the colours were so much brighter and purer and the forest smells assaulted the nostrils with a crisp intent. It was glorious. The big-leaf maples are ginormous and had shed huge loads of their autumn-coloured foliage which carpeted almost the entire trail with a brightness that we had not encountered on any other walks. About 500m into the walk you cross the first bridge over what was now a full-on rushing creek and there to meet us was a great blue heron standing peacefully under the bridge. He was not particularly perturbed by our intrusion and merely gave us a sideways glance, but took the precautionary measure of moving another cm or so under the bridge. We crossed over only to find another heron on the other side. This one quite calmly and simply walked ahead of us until he could find an escape route to the right and then allowed us to pass. About 5m on from there we encountered a little beaver who had succumbed to the elements and died quite recently there on the trail. Poor little fella must have gotten separated from his family somehow, but there were no signs any predatory attack….must have just been his time to go.

The walk was again really lovely, albeit wet and squelchy and by the time we reached the top of the cliff we were feeling rather invigorated by the fresh and early morning exercise. We settled on the cliff rocks to watch the ocean below, but it was a freeeeeezing, biting breeze that attacked us from there….so we sought shelter behind other rocks and ate our sarmies to refuel. While there I saw a plume rise from the waters below and then another….Yes….we had a humpback whale and I snatched up my camera…only to have the whale decide at that moment to do a deep dive and disappear!!!!! It was too cold to wait the 15 or so minutes that the dive would take, so we started our downward walk again. We were passing by some tall trees when I heard the distinct sound of a woodpecker pounding for lunch. Up went the eyeballs and believe it or not…..our 3rd 3-toed American Woodpecker - female again this time!!!! We're beginning to wonder whether they are indeed as scarce as we were told???? So, photographs and videos were taken again. While Graeme was filming the woodpecker in action, I became aware of a raven making a concerted effort of trying to catch someone's attention. I looked up and there above the treetops was a stunning bald eagle circling in the currents of the wind and the raven circling under him making a racket! Apparently this is typical behaviour of ravens - they like to bug the eagles!!! So, I watched them for a while, but they were out of sight by the time Graeme had finished with the woodpecker.

Soon after that we encountered the most enchanting little garden of forest mushrooms growing in the carpet of moss covering the base of the stem of one of the trees. It was an absolutely stunning picture and of course….I had to capture it in photographs…Graeme left me to it, clicking his tongue quite audibly as he moved forward and onward. We felt most satisfied by the time we reached the car again and then made our way into town to purchase the necessary items to make Bobotie for Jewel. We then went to the Visitor's Info Centre to get more information regarding other walks etc. in the area to plan for the following day. Elk Falls and surrounding walks it would be. From the centre, we popped over to Discovery Pier to eyeball the waterfront and the fishermen's wharf where we watched a fishing boat unloading its haul onto the docks. From there, it was "home" time to get started on our promised South African supper.

Well, the weather decided that we were not to go walking again while seeing out our last days on this magnificent holiday in Canada. We woke to bucket-loads of rain falling from the skies. But, Jewel advised us that now would be a good time to go to see the Elk Falls, so we set out to do so. Was she right indeed!!! Wow….we got to the suspension bridge that crosses over the gorge and the noise and spray and power being exerted by the falls in reaction to the water flowing down from the Campbell River was amazing - only one other fall on this holiday could match what we encountered here, and those were the very first falls we saw - the Takakaw Falls at Whiskey-Jack. By the time we had done with videos and pics, we were sodden right through!!! But, stalwarts that we are, we made our way to the fish hatchery to see how they breed salmon for release into the wild to maintain the ecological systems of the area….really interesting self-guided display. Jewel was hoping that we would see bears there, since this is a popular hang-out for them, but it was not to be.

So, we made our way back to the house where we tossed all our wetness into the tumble-dryer and then started packing our bags in preparation for our flight home. We had lunch with Jewel and her new couch surfer before we departed to settle in at our Hostel in Cumberland - the Riding Fool Hostel. Before leaving town though we popped in to see Miracle Beach, a long stretch of sandy beach rather than pebbly beach - which is the typical beach surface. However, the tide was fully in so we didn't get to see the beach as such.

Cumberland is a very quaint and pretty, welcoming little town - more inland and just under halfway to the port where we will catch the ferry back to Vancouver. We arrived at our hostel to find the most beautiful, old, double-storeyed, wooden-floored building with a very homey ambience to welcome us. A wood stove is in the common room upstairs and produces wonderful warmth. We spent the entire evening in this room and while I got onto my blog, Graeme popped out to the local brewery to purchase a little "keg" of the brew for our consumption. After supper we hit the sack….our second last evening of sleeping in the clean and fresh Canadian air! (It was the best hostel we have ever stayed in, in all our travels, and I would highly recommend it to anyone travelling through that part of Vancouver Island)

The ferry ride was uneventful and the weather was wet!!!! Again!!!!

We drove into Vancouver to seek out the dwelling place of our new Couch surfing hostess - Brigitte (from Quebec). We found it easily enough and parked the car and then walked back to City Square shopping mall to wait for 18h00 when she would be home, but it was really raining and our rain jackets are not very waterproof anymore, so we gotted rather wetted. It was not a very exciting mall and since wifi was not easily accessible we were missing all of Brigitte's advice as to where to hang out while we waited for her. Anyways, we eventually found her home and we were welcomed with a warm and friendly embrace and then we were taken up to her attic apartment which she has fitted out very comfortably as a little home in the city. We threw a supper together between ourselves and chatted well into the night sharing various travelling stories. Graeme took some time off to phone the airlines to find out how we could transport our walking poles as part of our luggage. After a long and very PATIENT conversation with passenger enquiries with an Asian person, we were informed that the poles would have to be packaged in Peep-covers (we eventually surmised that this means "pipe-covers" - as in pool-noodle stuff!)

We said our farewell's the following morning when Brigitte left for work and we left about an hour afterwards to make our way to Stanley Park to, hopefully, get some of the walks done before going to Glanville Island to meet up with an emigrated congregation member from 5 years ago. While I had my shower Graeme took a walk the closest home builders store to purchase the "peep" covers (a 7 minute walk), but he returned as a drowned rat!!! Not a single part of him was dry!!!

Walking was not to be our main activity for the morning….once again the wetness of the heavens played havoc with our plans, so we drove around the perimeter of the park and spied out the views with much appreciation for the beauty of the park in full autumn bloom as well as the harbour views with ships anchored all around the bay. Eventually, after our second round (upon which I insisted because I missed a photo op on the first trip around), the rain abated and we were able to fit about 1,5km of walking in before having to make our way to Glanville Island.

Glanville Island has a very V&A Waterfront-ish vibe about it and it was a wonderful afternoon spent with Kirsten, catching up on 5 years of news. Of course we purchased, as well as tasted the local wares and flavours, and before we knew it, it was time to leave for the airport.

Giving the car back was almost a sad experience…it had been our trusty steed for 7 weeks and the rental fella didn't even give us a chance to say a fond farewell…he simply waited for us to unload and then whipped the vehicle away before we could even say "Trusty Steed".

Check in time came….first hurdle…we would be charged 249 Dollars to check the walking poles in as luggage and under no circumstances would we be allowed to take them on as hand luggage since they could be used as weapons!!! So, the check-in lady inherited the walking poles as a gift to her and her family with our blessing. She asked us whether we had USA visas, but didn't seem fazed when we said no since we were simply travelling in transit through the airports and would not be leaving the international side of the airport. So….we were on our way home!!!

The flight went well, albeit we were given nothing to eat (Kulula type flight) and we were in the centre seats, so Graeme's knees were wrapped around his ears and he had a VERY large lady sitting next to him, so there was no arm rest available for him on that side of the seat. We did not sleep well, but did not worry too much about it since we had another flight to Washington and a long break there where we could catch some zizz-time.

So….off we went to check in for our flight to Washington…and that's where the pumpkin hit the fan!!!! No USA airport has an international side to it, so a USA visa is needed to land anywhere In the USA even if you're not visiting the country!!!!! This is apparently in the fine print of the on-line booking contracts which my "travel-agent" failed to read! So, we were deported from the USA side back to the Canadian side of the Toronto airport.

I was left to guard the luggage while Graeme went to sort out new flights home…and this is where we now are. Graeme is catching some shut-eye while I complete our last blog before we catch our flight to Munich, where we will have a 13 hour stop-over before catching our flight home again….we will arrive home a day after originally intended, but we thank the Lord for the ease with which it has all been sorted, and for lessons learnt for next time.

See you all soon.