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Vancouver Island
The island is 290 Miles long and over 60 miles wide, it's huge. An early explorer seeking a way to the Pacific and having found a route through the Rockies looked down to where Vancouver now stands. He saw the Straits of Georgia with the Island behind and assumed that he was looking at a lake and that the mainland continued as far as the eye could see. Exhausted and dispirited he turned around and headed east again. Had he gone down to the "lake" and tasted the water he would have known that he had reached the Pacific and people, including me, would remember his name to this day.
Donna had just moved to the Island from Vancouver and had only just moved into her new home. It was in a strata near the resort town of Qualicum. Her mother, Thelma, Susan's aunt, lives in assisted living accommodation in nearby Parksville. These are lovely little seaside towns that still have thriving town centres with a great variety of shops and services.
Donna took us on a tour of the area which included Cathedral Grove, an ancient area of giant redwoods in their natural environment. The trees were enormous and the atmosphere in the grove was timeless. There had been a storm a few years ago that had claimed a number of the trees and their trunks lay where they had fallen - some piled one on top of another. From there we went to Port Albirnie to take a look at the pulp mill. We got lost in Port Albirnie and managed to see the pulp mill from three sides before finding the route to Parksville and our appointment with Thelma.
Thelma was in terrific form. Having recently moved out of her apartment to an assisted living community she had found a new lease of life. The facilities were very impressive with great food and at least three events laid on every day. Thelma took us all out for dinner that evening - a marvellous dinner of local seafood.
We had hired a Jeep for the trip and the next day we set off early in torrential rain to drive the 5 hour trip to Telegraph Cove for our whale and bear watching trips. By the time we reached the cove the rain had stopped and the wind had dropped off altogether. It would be flat calm for our whale watching trip. (See previous blog for whales and bears.)
Telegraph Cove is a real outpost on the edge of civilisation. Originally established around a logging operation and a fish processing factory, it takes its name from the telegraph station that was established there in the first world war to report any enemy naval activity. The telegraph was also used to report the progress of the flu epidemic of 1918 which took off a number of the local residents. Today it is a very picturesque village scattered around the cove whose winter population is 11. It is much busier in summer and the original wooden buildings are used to house the visitors. We had a cabin above the factory which now houses a cafe, a bar and a restaurant. Other buildings are scattered around the shore and on stilts above the water. They are painted in bright colours and make a very pretty sight.
Back in Qualicum for our last full day we had a wander round town and visited Thelma to regale her with tales of whales and bears. In the evening we had dinner at "Lefties", a traditional bar and diner, so named because the three owners were all left handed.
Those who have been to Vancouver will have noticed that the sky is full of seaplanes. We chose to fly from Nanaimo to Vancouver Airport as our final adventure of the trip. Donna and Thelma escorted us to the seaplane quay to make sure that we left safely. Our total baggage was weighted and found to be over the allowance by 8lbs.
This resulted in an additional cost of £5. The bags were stowed in the floats and we boarded the little 10 seater. Out of the shelter of the quay the waves looked a bit bigger than I cared for. Undaunted, the pilot pointed the plane into the breeze and we did some ferocious bouncing before the plane finally took to the air. Turning 180 degrees to the south towards the airport we had fabulous views over Vancouver and Vancouver Island. We were able to pick out Stanley Park, the Lions Gate Bridge and even the apartment block where we had stayed in Vancouver. The plane landed on the sea near the airport and a complimentary bus was waiting to take us to the check-in area.
A great end to our trip!
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