Vancouver Island

Blog 5   28^th June to 5th July. Canada: Victoria, Vancouver Island, Vancouver.

We’ve got to Canada! via a 90 minute car ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria…novel in that we exited from the side of the ship instead of the end.

 

 Victoria lives up to its reputation as a delightful city. The bay was really buzzing with pre-Canada Day traffic – H2O buses, water taxis, big ferries, little ferries, sailing boats, canoes and through the middle of it all zoomed the HarbourAir sea planes…no wonder the Harbour seals parked up on the jetty.

OBriens

The central waterfront had markets, food stalls and live music so we let the Brummie O’Brien Quartet know there were Sheffielders present, then  wandered down into Fisherman’s Wharf (another one) to admire the 33 ‘Float Homes’ …just like Jonathan and Helen’s Cube house on Chiswick Pier. 

Further up HWY 1, along the coast road past wonderful views of the Islands, we reached Cumberland.  A very big thank you to Marie Clare, Karl and Coen, for making us so welcome for 2 nights and keeping us well fed and entertained, Coen especially! What a splendid little lad.  We had a grand outing in the speedboat in hot sun - we declined the waterskis and wakeboards, leaving those for Sam. We saw the acres of forests and the glacier across Comox Lake and then tested our ‘man overboard’ skills when Coen’s tee shirt got lost in the slipstream.    

Hiking out from the Mount Washington ski area we took a 9km trail up to Lake Helen Mackenzie, which was perfect in the morning sun with few other hikers around.  After working, Marie-Clare hitched up Coen and we strode off to Cumberland Lake with Shadow chasing sticks for Rick, as we walked the mountain bike trails with one eye over our shoulder for manic bikers.

Karl suggested a better route to Vancouver – it was splendid! 3 roll on ferries and fab scenery along the Sunshine Highway coastal road heading south.

Vancouver is a typical modern city, lively and friendlier than many with a real multicultural mix. Shiny downtown office skyscrapers rub shoulders with balconied residential towers on the way to the busy and extensive waterfronts.  The slightly frazzled (and interesting) older bits like Granville Island have been turned into delightful arts and crafts areas with restaurants, markets, speciality shops, and galleries selling aboriginal art.  Oh and Rosi found a quilting shop.

Rosi was particularly taken by Emily Carr’s (national artist) work so we visited the Vancouver Art Gallery where a ‘Canadian style’ is just about discernable. The featured artist was Douglas Copeland with an eclectic mix of work, all with a sense of humour. We liked the hubcaps quilt.

More art could be found on the streets including these mouthwatering Concrete Trucks with some very strange extra wheels on the drum?

Asparagus Mixer

Strawberry Shake?

The school one is actually a piece of artwork by Douglas Copeland - it tickled us!

 

Is this art?

Rudolph Warning

We were very impressed with Capilano Suspension Bridge Park, Vancouver’s oldest attraction (1890s). Very wibbly-wobbly . Even more impressive, and scary, was the       wthrilling Cliff Walk, which does what it says on the tin. 91m above the vegetation and river below, the walkway literally hangs off the cliff. Rick was impressed by the engineering, Rosi was impressed by the achievement of walking on it!

Spot the shadowy bear!

Then, in the same Park, rather unexpectedly, WE SAW A BEAR! He was a young’un and had got somewhere where he shouldn’t have been, where no bears have been seen for 10 years. He was moving quite swiftly, about 8 feet below us (hence the very poor pic) and was shooed off with air horns into the neighbouring Wilderness Park. Very exciting! Not everyday you find a bear in an urban park.

We’ve chatted to loads of Canadians, who are so friendly, welcoming and helpful and so proud of their country. They’ve given us great tips for what to visit. The scale of the scenery is hard to grasp (and we haven’t reached the Rockies yet) and takes a while to get anywhere! It’s just wonderful to be here – and I know already that we’ll be coming back.

More photos of Vancouver Island and Vancouver at:
https://plus.google.com/photos/112477145672617228065/albums/6035975570799498097
https://plus.google.com/photos/112477145672617228065/albums/6035974167966543553
https://plus.google.com/photos/112477145672617228065/albums/6035971576682669377
https://plus.google.com/photos/112477145672617228065/albums/6032296868956876465
https://plus.google.com/photos/112477145672617228065/albums/6032300950625683345
https://picasaweb.google.com/112477145672617228065/306VictoriaBC02?authkey=Gv1sRgCPzjibWFtraUIg
https://plus.google.com/photos/112477145672617228065/albums/6034251184180370321