We were finally off on the travelling section of our trip, first west to Vancouver Island then South to San Francisco! We packed up all our camping gear, roll mat on the outside of the rucksack and everything, and jumped on the bus to the ferry. Whilst the bus ride was a nightmare, crowded hot and not kind to people with bags bigger than a small child, the ferry was a gorgeous way to travel. We went from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo on the island, the ferry takes an hour and a half and ploughs through the waves at an impressive speed.
It's pretty stunning especially as you're leaving the mainland, winding your way through coves and islands of rock and trees. As we moved out to open water you could just see the island on the horizon, so we decided to head upstairs on to the deck for fresh air.
It was certainly fresh, the wind whipped all our clothes and hair, and with our rucksacks on almost knocked me off balance, when I went to the rail for some photos my sunglasses almost went flying along the deck.
We did reach Nanaimo with all our belongings however, so no harm done.
Waiting for us in the car park was Rondeau, Jens mum, who we were staying with for a couple of days before heading South. She lives in Chemainus, an hour or so South of Nanaimo right on the coast, when we arrived George and I went for a wander around the woods, which had some pretty tall trees and in to the town for an ice cream.
We ended up in the General store, which is certainly general, apart from food and cleaning products there was furniture, old paperbacks, cassettes and vinyls. You know the standard things you need in a holiday village.
The next day we headed off to their cabin on the island, which is another ferry away and then a five minute drive across the island. It's a beautiful spot surrounded by trees and right on the shoreline with a little ledge and rocky beach leading to the water. It looks out over the sea, across to the other little islands that flank the big one.
The Cabin itself is really well done with the living room looking out through big glass walls to the sea, and the bedrooms round the back and up on a mezzanine. It's mainly wood, and decorated with shells giving it a really warm feeling.
We started wandering along the beach which is a rockpoolers delight as the tide recedes, there are pretty purple shells, clams and massive Oysters - George cracked one open cave man style - they were so big there was no way we could've eaten them without cooking, we didn't find any pearls either... As we strolled around the corner there were even bigger pools with little crabs scuttling around and some baby starfish. We took a little paddle in the water, but out of the still coves it was insanely cold and the waves were churning the water so it was impossible to see where the barnacled covered rocks were. We also found ourselves as dead starfish, not dead as in rotting and seagull torn, but dead as in 'oh cool lets take him home!'. So we have a great souvenir from there.
Even though the sun was out the wind cut through the heat so much that we ate Lunch inside. Afterwards we attempted to head out in the canoe, but after 15 minutes of paddling we'd only succeeded in being blown sideways into the straight. So we battled back across until we reached a point where we could be blown back to shore, which was far more fun. Basically it wasn't the best day to go canoeing.
On the way back to the ferry that evening Rondeau kindly took us for dinner at a little place by the marina. The meal had a very fishy theme crab cakes, popcorn shrimp and clams, super tasty, I was definitely looking forward to spending the next couple of weeks by the coast.
The next day Rondeau dropped us at the depot for the bus to Victoria, which is a couple of hours South and the capital of British Columbia. I always thought that was Vancouver but hey you learn a new thing everyday. When we arrived we weighed ourselves down with bags again and headed off to our hostel, after half an hour of walking past old peoples homes into Suburbia we realised that whilst we'd walked the appropriate distance it was in completely the opposite direction. So instead of 8 blocks we had to walk 24 in total, in the midday heat. Obviously you should never trust us with directions. When we reached our hostel it looked like a cartoon house, bright yellow and green with random attachments and extensions coming off the sides. It turns out the crazy appearance mirrored our land lady's logic, she's a little Chinese lady called Sue.
She showed us up to our room, which when we'd booked the small private didn't realise would be small height wise. We were in the attic so the roof sloped down until it was barely 1cm off the end of the bed not even a mouse could have lain down to sleep. Anyway it was only one night so we dumped our bags and went off to explore Victoria, it's quite a small city with a very European feel to it, at least aesthetically. First we headed to the harbour where all the ferries to and from America dock, which is fronted by their parliament building and the Empress Fairmont Hotel which is apparently very famous for its afternoon tea -you have to book in advance. We didn't even inquire as I doubt our budget has room for tiny sandwiches and petits fours.
Next we headed up through tourist central towards Chinatown which is the oldest in Canada, we meandered through little shops that stretched back very deceptively until you exited on a completely different street.
They were filled with the standard Chinese tat but were also interspersed with some beautiful furniture and genuine (looking) antiques such as musical instruments and bits and bobs from everyday life. We ended up in Fan Tan Alley at one point which has an infamous history for being the centre of all the things the bible doesn't like in Victoria. Now it appears quite tame with a psychic and a skateboard shop.
We went for a couple of drinks before returning to the hostel and as bellinis were on a deal I took advantage, unfortunately for me my idea of a bellini and their idea differed somewhat. I was expecting a glass of fizz with some peach syrup, they gave me this sugar concoction, gummy worm included. It gave me more of a sugar high than an alcohol buzz to be honest.
That night it turned out the bed proved more of an issue than anticipated as we couldn't stretch our feet to the end of it, and because of the ceiling if one wanted to roll over you'd either have to break your ankle or extract your feet first, turn and then replace them. Not at all comfortable.
The next morning crazy Sue came around to wake everyone up, no lie ins in her house. Half an hour before check out she insisted on coming into our room to make sure we were packing up to leave. It was like being back at boarding school but as an adult, supposedly responsible for your own life. Then when we went to check out we asked to leave our bags for the day as we explored the city, unlike most hostels she charged us but only after 5 minutes of denying that she had any space. Eventually she opened the door to an empty dorm room and said we could use that, there wasn't even any trace of people sleeping there at all, apparently she just dislikes people storing bags.
We'd seen a diner - John's Place - the day before as we'd walked around and decided to have breakfast there, apparently we succeeded in picking the most popular brunch spot in the city. As we turned up at 11:30 on a Saturday there was quite a sizeable queue, however we stuck it out and 40 minutes later we had a table. That was the first time I'd queued for breakfast like that but it was so worth it.
The diner was loud and busy with friendly wait staff and tonnes of posters and signed photos on the wall. We lucked out and sat next to a signed photo of Tom Hanks! We were told that whenever a celebrity comes anywhere near Victoria they are brought here for breakfast. You could see why, the menu is massive; pancakes, waffles, French toast, full English, burritos, eggs Benedict or any variation thereof was available, and each kind could come in about twenty different ways. I went for eggs Benedict with bacon and asparagus, and it was amazing so tasty, so big and probably ridiculously unhealthy. George had a big omelette filled with all kinds of vegetables and meats, we were both in agreement that it had definitely been worth the wait.
A retired couple sat next to us and as the tables were basically touching we ended up talking, he'd grown up in Yorkshire until he was 16 before moving to Canada and they still had a lot of family over there. So we spent the majority of the meal chatting, until at the end they offered to buy Brunch for us, which was incredibly generous and quite frankly an offer we couldn't refuse as it turned out to be one of the most expensive meals of our entire trip. The only thing they told us to do was that when we were older and (hopefully richer) we should buy dinner for young travellers in our turn.
So horrifically over full we headed off to the BC museum which we'd been assured was worth a visit, and once we'd got over the unexpected cost of entry - I do miss free British ones - we were not disappointed. We spent most of our time in the First Nations section, where they covered everything from the differences in art and culture to various hunting practices by separate tribes. It also explained how they had all evolved different lifestyles based on the environment they lived in, which is something that personally I'd never thought about before, that there were such massive variations and not just one homogenous culture.
The atmosphere was judged perfectly, it was very dark and everyone was very quiet, allowing you to appreciate the beauty of the art and the native music that was playing, without distraction. Also catalogued was the destruction of their lifestyle by the arrival of Europe and the ensuing devastation to their population, language and culture. I didn't realise this was still an ongoing fight as the pockets of native communities struggle to keep their languages alive. It was a very eye opening and worthwhile visit for sure.
We wiled away the rest of the afternoon before our ferry, until 4:30 when we went to board, we then found out our ferry was cancelled due to bad weather, but not to worry there was space on the next one in an hour. So we went to sit in the sun for a bit longer. Now the whole purpose of the ferry ride was to see the beauty of the San Juan Islands as we sailed along, which was why we'd opted for this route and not just a coach to Seattle. So we turned up for the next sailing, went through border control and went to sit and wait to board, and waited, and waited until an hour later than scheduled we board the ferry. It was going to be ok the sun was still up, we'd be able to see it set over the islands, it was going to be gorgeous. So about 15 minutes after boarding we set off, only to stop moments later to refuel. By this time it was about 8/8:15 and we hadn't eaten since Brunch, as we'd expected to be in Seattle already. So I look at what's on offer, and there is cheese in everything, unless I want a bar of chocolate; I opt for least offensive thing which is smoked salmon with crackers and Philadelphia, which would have been fine if the smoked salmon weren't extremely thick and dry and didn't taste more like kippers than anything else. So hungry and watching the sun edge closer towards the horizon as we're refuelling I'm not in the best of moods. Eventually we set off and we leave the harbour start to pick up speed, until suddenly we come to a stop. Just great. We sit there for a while until they come on the speaker to tell us there's a log in the propeller. Now we're sitting out at sea with the ferry bobbing up and down, the sun setting and no food. We don't set off until night has fallen, the rest of the ferry ride is pitch black, no stunning views, no gorgeous scenery only the reflection of the cabin in the window. We arrive in Seattle somewhere around midnight quite disappointed and grab a taxi to our accommodation. It's ok though because if we book travel with them in the next year we get 50% off. Brilliant... I knew this trip had been going too smoothly thus far.
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