Our first stop today was in Campbell River’s Farmer’s Market. Here we found a few musicians and a number of stands with food and crafts. Lots to see!
The Elk Falls Provincial Park is not far from the town of Campbell River and we found a great campsite nestled in a forest of tall trees.
The Campbell River runs right next to the campground and is an important salmon spawning river. A couple of fishermen were trying their luck but we didn’t see any signs of fish.
The hike along the river is beautiful and takes you up to the hydro station. One group we passed said that another hiker had warned them about a bear in the area and Ruth did in fact see one on the other side of the river. Our singing and noise making probably chased him or her off.
Parksville has an annual sand sculpting competition and festival and we were lucky to be able to enjoy it. At least two dozen artists from all around the world interpreted the theme “Wonders of the World”.
On our way to Coombs we stopped at the BoMé Cheese Shop Cafe where we had a delicious piece of Apple Streusel Cheesecake and bought a number of cheeses. (More cheese to come later!)
The town of Coombs is a pretty funky place and one of the highlights is a farm market with Goats on the Roof. Yes, they are real goats and they are grazing on the roof.
There is square with various sculptures and this odd castle next to the goat place.
We visited a couple of other shops including an antique shop that never seemed to end, a clothing store, and a dutch store where we bought some aged Gouda cheese. We’re well stocked with cheese for the next couple of weeks.
Ruth’s former colleague lives in nearby Bowser and she and her husband invited us for dinner at their fabulous home right on the ocean. We couldn’t help but hike through the forest and along the beach by the ocean.
Today was one of our very few non-driving days. What a bliss! Besides doing laundry, we had some fun things to do. We ate fish and chips at the harbour and topped it with ice-cream after our walk.
The harbour was busy with beautiful yachts and floatplanes. Martin and David were jealous that they couldn’t fly one of them.
Back at the campground we had a bit of a rest followed by a lovely dinner with our friends at their new coach.
Ucluelet has an aquarium showing the vast variety of sea life in the area. It was closed yesterday because of a pump problem and we stayed in Ucluelet for an extra night to be able to visit today. Boy are we glad we did – if you are in the area, make sure to visit. The Ucluelet Aquarium is a collect and release facility which means that all the animals and plants on display are captured at the beginning of the season (Feb/Mar) and then released back into the water at the end of the season (Oct/Nov). Everything is from the local area except for a few specimens that might be from the Tofino area.
The aquarium looks small and we thought we’d be in and out fairly quickly but ended up spending a significant time there learning about the different animals from the young, knowledgable staff. For example, did you know that the blood of an octopus is copper based whereas our blood is iron based? That means octopus blood is blueish instead of red! Other animals also have different blood chemical structures and if you’re interested in learning more you can read this article from the Protein Data Bank in Europe.
The variety of fish and plants was astounding. Many of the species were well camouflaged and some were only visible when they moved because they were able to blend in so well with the rocks, plants, or material at the bottom of the tank.
There are a couple of touch-tanks where you can, after washing your hands, gently stroke some animals with your pinky finger. This was a hit with the kids.
The aquarium aims to educate not only on the natural parts of the ocean but also the problem of human generated plastics. Several displays talked about how plastics end up in the ocean and the devastating effect it has on the wildlife there. Small bits of plastic may be seen as food but aren’t digestible and can clog the animals digestive tracts. Larger pieces, like broken fishing nets, can ensnare animals causing them to die.
After leaving Ucluelet we stopped at Kennedy Lake which had been recommended as a great place to swim by one of the many people we had talked to. It is huge lake surrounded by beautiful mountains and the sunshine was just perfect. We couldn’t resist the urge to go for a long swim in the cool, but not cold water.
Refreshed and hungry we thought we deserved another schnitzel at the Little Bavaria restaurant in Port Alberni that we had been to a couple of days ago.
We just love Ucluelet. The day went by quickly even though the Aquarium was closed today because of a pump failure. We talked to a fisherman on the ship at the dock and now we know where Costco’s Yellowtail fish comes from.
We visited several interesting stores including a second-hand store where Ruth found even more beads. She’s going to be busy when she gets home!
The Rubio Jewelry store had some really neat pieces and Helena, the owner, helped pick a copper nugget ring for Ruth. Pro Tip: if you can’t get your ring off, use Windex just like in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”.
Lunch was at the Barkely Cafe and consisted of smoked salmon on a bagel with cream cheese and arugula.
The Lighthouse trail is a 2.6km hike with many lookouts and lots of information panels that explain the forest and bog life. There are many trees with really extraordinary shapes and forms. One wonders what makes them grow this way.
The views of the ocean are stunning and the water seemed so calm although it can be extremely dangerous as the shipwrecks in the area can attest to. The lighthouse and navigational buoys with bells and horns help guide ships in the area.
We returned to the Ucluelet campground and got an even nicer site for tonight nicely nestled between the trees.
For a tourist town, Tofino seems a bit hostile to its tourists. It was very difficult for us to find a parking spot as RVs are not permitted to park in most areas and most of the town seems to be paid parking only. We finally found a spot on the edge of town, paid our $6.35 for 3 hours of parking and then walked into town.
Our first stop was to the Dockside Smoked Fish Store where we bought a 50g piece of smoked salmon to sample for $6. After devouring it, we bought 4 more pieces to take with us. Yummy!
The Pacific Terminus of the Trans-Canada Highway is here as well. We’ve likely reached our western-most point and will now slowly be heading east again.
The harbour businesses offered fishing tours and sightseeing flights.
We continued to walk through the town and visited several stores and galleries before we had lunch at the Rhino Coffee House consisting of Buffalo Chicken Caesar wraps and a free coffee for Ruth which made her day. We talked to the couple at the table next to us for quite some time. They had immigrated from Scotland in 1965.
On our way out of Tofino we stopped at Chocolate Tofino for some super delicious gelato which we enjoyed while sitting comfortably outside.
We debated going for a swim but decided the water probably hadn’t heated up much since yesterday.
Just down the road, there is the Rainforest Hiking Trail. This is a 1.5km boardwalk that takes you through the forest and has lots of information about how forests grow, how trees that die support the next generation, and the rest of the ecosystem. This hike is well worth doing!
Ucluelet is our home for the night and we’re staying at the Ucluelet Campground. The bathrooms must have recently been completely renovated and are super clean. The campground is adjacent to the marina with lots of boats.
We walked through the town of Ucluelet and saw a lot of new construction on our way to the Big Beach. Along the way there were some really neat sculptures.
The beach has surprisingly dark coloured rocks as well as an old ship wreck from the 1800s. It isn’t entirely clear which ship it was as there is only very little left.
Nearby is a section of a 900 year old tree with time markers that show what happened in history during the centuries it was living.
After a Starbucks breakfast and stocking up on food at Walmart (where the security guard asked us how we had liked dinner last night – he had also been at the restaurant), we drove towards Tofino in the pouring rain. The visitor centre can only be described as non-helpful. Furthermore, the idea of having to pay up to $200 a night for a campsite made us ask ourselves if we shouldn’t just head back.
A fellow traveller we had met in the Walmart parking lot had suggested we stay at the Crystal Cove Beach Resort. It was only $95/night for the last site and is right on the ocean. The rain stopped and the sun came out and we walked along the beach in full sunshine, meeting lots of dogs, including an adorable dachshund named “Dash”.
The sandy beach is lovely and the water is suitable for surfers – in wet suits. Our attempt at swimming there ended at the knees because the water was very cold although a few hardier souls did take the plunge.
After a great breakfast with our friends we started the next leg of our journey northward on Vancouver Island. Our first stop was at the Malahat Skywalk. This attraction features a walk through the forest partly on an elevated walkway with a number of art installations including several sculptures of native wild animals.
The walkway ends at a large circular structure that one can ascend for magnificent views of the surrounding area including a sweeping panorama of Mt. Baker, Finlayson Arm, the Saanich Peninsula, and islands in two countries.
The middle of the tower has a spiralling slide that takes you down on a mat in 8-10 seconds. Alternatively, you can walk down. Martin took the slide and Ruth did the walk. Although the slide was only a few seconds it did produce some dizziness.
A non-dairy ice cream help regain stability. We prefer the real dairy stuff though.
We walked around the harbour a bit and thought sailing would be a nice thing to do sometime on our trip.
Chemainus was our next stop and here we found a wonderful bead store that was closing with 40% discounts. Ruth was in her element. Pearl earrings, fresh water pearls, semi-precious stone beads and some clasps came with us. Lots of material for future projects.
Hwy 4 to Tofino currently has construction work going on and is closed for many hours each day so we wanted to get closer to be able to get through in the morning before work started. Our idea was to stay at Little Qualicum Falls Provincial Park but their last site had just been taken and we thought if we have to stay in a parking lot it might as well be a free one.
Port Alberni, on the other side of the construction has both a Walmart and the fabulous Little Bavaria Restaurant with authentic food. Well worth the visit!
After publishing our blog entry from yesterday we spent a wonderful evening driving down to Victoria along the coast seeing many magnificent and expensive houses along the way. A quick check online showed that some of them were in the $14.5 million dollar range. Their views of the ocean are beautiful and we enjoyed the evening sunshine.
In Victoria we specialized on the floating houses at the harbour. They are very colourful and often had amusing signs and details.
Of course there had to be an ice cream for all four of us.
The next day we walked into Sidney again, this time on our own. We stopped at one of the piers where we watched the seagulls and crab fishing. We enjoyed the area as much as we did on the first day.
While strolling through town we stopped in a couple of shops where Ruth found a very colourful sweater at a fair trade store. After all the shopping we needed some food and found the Taco Shell restaurant. The person serving us was super nice and multilingual having come from Egypt and speaking some German and French. The burritos were excellent!
Today was a day exploring the area with our friends. After a wonderful breakfast we walked to Sidney along a path right next to the water. Lots of interesting houses and beach area to see.
We had a nice lunch at Seahorse Cafe in Rentwood Bay, right by the water.
