Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island is a beautiful place, with beautiful people:

It reminded us both quite a bit of New Zealand, with the forest walks, and the chilled out people.

We took the ferry from an unpronounceable place in Vancouver to Swartz bay, which is about half an hour from the main city Victoria. I for one am thankful that I got to try driving on the right hand side of the road in a smaller place, before panicking at a four way stop sign in the middle of a properly big city. Greater Victoria is about the same population as Christchurch.

Our first night on the island was pretty wild. We decided to try some spontaneous accommodation booking in Victoria, and spent an hour driving round trying to find a cheap place. Once we had booked into a place, we drove to Walmart to get some dinner to cook up, and consequently spent an hour driving round trying to find our motel again. We are definitely partying it up on our OE!

From Victoria, we drove to Nanaimo, and stayed at our first 'AirBNB'. Can recommend (out of the two that I've been to).

Here's a work of art in Nanaimo, standing next to a sculpture of an eagle of some sort.

There were a few nice walks and stuff to do there. Not a hang of a lot though.

We went for a walk around a lake and heard rustling in the undergrowth nearby... but only caught a glimpse of a couple of tails as they slithered away.

This is apparently snake habitat.

Tofino was cool. It had beaches:

We strolled down a stretch of beach toward an island named Frank; the strip connecting it to the mainland is submerged when the tide is in. Consequently, it has neato plants and animals hanging out that you wouldn't normally get to see out of the water!

(Note from Anna: I had "Under the Sea" playing in my head the whole time we were on this beach.)

Starfish just chilling out:

With the beaches, though, come extreme dangers:

Tofino also had a bunch of sea kayaking and whale/bear watching things that you could do - if you weren't cheapos like us. We did try to book a kayaking expedition, but they never got back to us, and the weather turned a bit foul.

In the middle of the island is a forest full of old growth trees, up to 800 years old. A lot of them have fallen down, and since they're cedars, they aren't going anywhere any time soon. Huge trees too:

Lastly, there's this place named "Goats on the Roof", and it definitely lives up to the name.

Next stop:  back in Victoria for a day or two before... Alberta!