Tofino Motel

Es tut mir leid, dass ich mir so viel Zeit gelassen habe, aber jetzt habe ich es endlich mal geschafft Bilder hochzuladen von Tofino (schon knapp eineinhalb Monate her:-P) Es folgen heute und morgen auch noch Bilder von meiner alten und neuen Wohnung, meinem Geburtstag und natürlich unserm super schmackhaften Thanksgiving - Braten=)
Liebe Grüße
Kohle=)

Just a short one tonight because I'm tired and leaving at 8am tomorrow. Yesterday I was up before daylight to go bear watching. The coast is beautiful as the sun comes up and the water was almos as smooth as glass. We went bear watching in a sort of covered zodiac which goes quite fast but can head into fairly shallow water.

I saw two black bears along the shore; they turn over rocks looking for mussels and clams to eat. At this ...

So, Tofino. I loved it! On Sunday morning Andy and I just hung around the guesthouse before getting the 12pm ferry. I saw my first Canadian rain too- first of lots I fear. When we arrived in the picturesque (read American-back-of-beyond-spaced-out-town ) Campbell River again, I set off to buy a new camera... Something about travelling and being away for months on end invariably breaks my camera- this is now my THIRD trip that my camera has broken within the first ...

... before we could get into our room, so went to downtown Tofino and found some lunch at a restaurant called The Schooner, which had a great view of the harbour. Great seafood chowder, salmon salad and fish cakes. Happily satisfied, we made our way to the Middle Beach Lodge. It was like going to a really big cottage. It was right on the coast with a private beach, big common room with big comfy couches, coffee, hot chocolate and ...

... and the hot springs. We were very fortunate to see a massive hump back whale jump. twist and preform acrobats for us first thing in the morning.

The natural hot springs are located near Maquinna National Park and offer several hot baths. The springs themselves are refreshed every night by the rising tide and cool off as you get closer to the ocean.

Vi kørte videre til Campbell River - ca. 260 km nord for Victoria. Vi ankom til bestemmelsesstedet Dolphin ressort om eftermiddagen i kulde og blæst, MEN et fint bjælkehus ventede på os. Der er en fantastisk udsigt over strædet mellem Vancouver Island og en ø kaldet Quadra Island. Der er meget trafik af fiskerbåde, vandflyvere letter og lander ofte, slæbebåd med store pramme og store og megastore krydstogtskibe. Da vi havde fået ild i pejsen og sat l ...

... and after some clambering over some rocks it was time for a nice relaxing slightly eggy sulphuric dip. It was a nice spot with a couple of waterfalls feeding 3 small pools for sitting in. With all the operators it was a good time of year to be there as we got the place to ourselves. Just like Goldilocks I thought the middle pool was the best; not too hot and not too cold, just right. It was the temperature of a nice warm bath that you've just finished topping ...

... The Island was much bigger than I thought it would be, and the scenery was out-of-this-world... I felt like I was in Lord of the Rings half the time [hmmm... if I was in Lord of the Rings, I think I'd be an Elf... I'm totally onboard with that whole longevity of life business they've got going on]. Anyhoo, Vancouver Island is definitely 'unfinished business'. I've got a couple more days in Vancouver now before I head up to Whistler for the seeeeeeaaaaason ... booyakasha *

... this little section of Ucluelet. If one looks long enough at the night sky, a lot of things seem to have some movement to them and it is difficult to tell the real from the mostly imagined or illusionary. We slept well and the next morning we were on a mission. Today we had to reach Victoria with a stop in amazing Chemainus. For further info about Mussel Beach Campground, please read the comments below.

... so we hiked 3 of them over 3 or 4 hours. Every beach we came accross had driftwood abound - hundreds if not thousands of logs and branches cast ashore. The forest was lush and overgrown and almost fairy-tale like at times with it's absurd roots-above-ground trees and colourful toadstools. The 'bog' walk had lots of low growing 'giant broccoli' trees and stagnant water. We didn't get to witness the 'sundew' plant in action (we presume cos it's out of season) which like the venus ...