Day 34 ~ Thursday 24th September, 2015

Day 34 ~ Thursday 24^th September, 2015

Once again I slept like a baby and alas Steve did not. The hotel whilst basic was surprisingly comfortable – I mean the mattress. The shower had the smallest head in all the world, but boy did it have some good water pressure and warmth! Made up for the lack of noise insulation.

We packed the suitcases and we got them zipped up – and not a tear was shed! And nor should it – it not like we've bought anything because we didn't have room coming over for any purchases!

We jumped in the car and we headed over to Stanley Park. The weather was threatening, but we thought we'd make the most of our last remaining hours.

We went to the Vancouver Aquarium as I have heard many times that it is one of the worlds best. As I had only been to the worlds biggest in Beijing a few weeks prior, I was keen to compare it. WOW – It is a lovely aquarium. Very well laid out and the tanks are pristine clear. The outside enclosures whilst not enormous, are well equipped for the animals they have.

The fish were gorgeous and I found the sea anemones were spectacular and unlike anything I've seen before. I can see why people go scuba-diving! I thought it was brilliant with just the indoor tanks, but then we went outside and there were SEA OTTERS – OMFG – I think these are my new favouritest animals ever! They are so much bigger than I thought they'd be. The ones we are used to seeing in our zoo's are the river otters, which are darker and much smaller. The Sea Otters would be the size of a small dog or large cat!

I watched them for ages (and yes, took hundreds of photos)! Until the rain started, so we darted under cover and watched some sea-lions …. and then we found the Beluga Whales!! We watched them swimming for a long while and occasionally they would come up to the surface and look directly at you with one eye! Was great!!

We got to see the Beluga Whale “show” - well, it wasn't a show like in China, but they undergo “training” exercises with their trainers, and this is what we got to see. Nothing too circusy, but enough to see them swimming around!

We met “Chester” who is a baby False Killer Whale. He was washed up on the beach of Torfino on Vancouver Island earlier this year and almost died. He is now under going “training” to be on show. He is quite the character and is VERY curious of humans. He came right up to the window and he followed me, watching me. He was like this with children too. Was a beautiful sight.

From there we met Jack and Daisy who are rescued porpoises. Porpoises are smaller than dolphins, and are quite charismatic. Jack kept coming by the window and posing for the camera! Daisy wasn't really interested in the people.

We had a late lunch and took our time as the rain set in for the day. We got talking to a couple who were visiting from Southern Alberta. Its really lovely, the people you meet on your journey. There are so many things to learn and so many stories to hear.

With the rain still coming down we were ready to leave, but I decided I only had a couple of hundred Otter photos and I would really like a few more! Lol So back out to the Otter enclosure we went. They were feeding the otters, so we got to watch them laying on their backs eating. They are so SO cute!

Unfortunately I had to leave – mostly because Steve was dragging me out of the place stating that it was now 5pm and we were hitting peak hour traffic and had to get to the airport! So sad….our last day had come to an end. Not happy!

We got stuck in peak hour traffic – it should have been a 15min trip, but was near on 2 hours! We were witness to a car accident, so that bought us some entertainment, even if it was at someone else's expense.

We dropped off the Hire Car without incident, and checked in to Canada Air on behalf of Qantas. My bag was 25.7kg and should be 23kgs…. Steve was 23.4kg, so luckily we weren't charged. Stupidly, they haven't put us sitting together – WTF! I am sure Steve did it on purpose, not wanting me to chew his ear off for 15+hours – it's bad enough he's spent the last 5 weeks non-stop with me! Lol I will see if I can get him to swap seats once we are on the plane with the stewardess!!! Poor Steve!

So thats it…. our One Of A Kind Canadian Adventure has come to an end. Its been epic, amazing, exhausting, exhilarating, and most of all one of the very best holidays we have ever had!

It will take us 6 months to edit the thousands of epic landscape photos we took, let alone the thousands of animal photos! It will take us 6 months to get over the experience, but we are already planning our next adventure! There are so many countries to visit and explore and photograph. Where to next I wonder?? Possibly Iceland, maybe Patagonia. We might focus on the hardest countries first whilst we are still able bodied (well, kind of able bodied), and work our way down to the easier countries from there!

Thanks for reading our blog and sharing our journey. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

Till next time.

Vicki & Steve :)

Day 33 ~ Wednesday 23rd September, 2015

Day 33 ~ Wednesday 23^rd September, 2015

I slept like a baby – but alas once again Steve did not. Poor boy, he's really looking his age +10yrs. He will need a holiday from this holiday – or a holiday from me – all my excitement is killing him! Lol

We had a lovely breakfast once again. Val made home made chocolate chip muffins!! Steve had to share his with Rusty (he's such a push over with dogs).

Lots of wonderful conversation with Bill & Val made our morning disappear very quickly. We went outside into the gardens so I could photograph the Manor again, and Steve took photos of Rusty. I ran around saying good-bye to all the animals – the miniature horses and all of the chickens, and Gypsy the cat.

Quite sad to say good-bye, but Bill and I are going to be friends on Facebook! :)

We found ourselves at the Ferry Terminal hoping to catch the 1pm ferry, but alas it was full, so we are waiting in a queue for the 2pm ferry. Steve has booked us a night at “The Met” in New Westminster Vancouver, which is only a few blocks from our new friends Elisa & Brad who we are having dinner with tonight!

The ferry crossing was just lovely from Victoria. Lots of little islands and the scenery was just spectacular. No whales to be seen, but I spied 2 dolphins. They looked so tiny compared to yesterday's Orca's and Steve saw a Sea-Lion & took a sensational photo of a seagull. We spent a bit of time talking to a lovely lady from Lancashire in the UK – her son works for Getty Images – I should have gotten his phone number! Lol

The waterways are so calm – all due to the many islands that shelter the water. You get patches of water that is like mirror its so calm. We know why people are out on their canoe's all the time – and Stand Up Paddle Boards – you'd be crazy if you didn't get out amongst it.

The weather is looking very bad now – very dark and the rain is closing in. Tomorrow is going to be very wet, so I am not sure we'll be seeing any squirrels in Stanley Park if its raining.

Can't believe we are leaving tomorrow. 5 weeks has FLOWN by. I like this “holidaying” thing – we will definitely be doing more of it (bugger the new kitchen)! Where to next is the question – Chile (Patagonia), Iceland, Norway, New Zealand – so many beautiful countries to visit – so little annual leave allowed! LOL

We got to our hotel “The Met” - we re-packed our suitcases. No tears, although some frustration as to why things wont go back in to the suitcase like they did on the way over. There will be tears in the morning I am sure when we have no choice but to do those zippers up!

We caught up with Brad and Elise for dinner who we spent the OOAK trip with! Was so great to see them again and reminisce about the good ole days of 8 days ago! Lol Such wonderful people and such a shame we live so far away – thank goodness for Facebook. I am sure we'll see each other again as we will be back to Canada!

Good night Vancouver – its been grand…. As the train blows his horn as he is driving by (Steve is somewhat unimpressed by that noise at 11pm at night….and 1am...and 5am….etc!) LOL

Day 32 ~ Tuesday 22nd September, 2015

Day 32 ~ Tuesday 22^nd September, 2015

I slept like a baby – alas Steve did not. We had our breakfast at 8am with Val and Bill, and Rusty. Breakfast was served in the large dining room, and I was sure there were other guests staying as there was so much food, but no, just Steve and myself. I started with fruit and yoghurt and then had home made scones (just out of the oven!) YUMMY!!, home made Cherry & plum jams straight from their own fruit tree's, juice, tea & coffee, breads, bagels & muffins. WOW – what a spread!

We had a lovely chat with Val and Bill, where I might have once again been a tad over excited with things – poor Val and Bill, I am sure they thought I was on drugs! Was hilarious – or Steve thought so!

Steve and I jumped in the car and made our way to Victoria “Down Town”. We parked the car (the furthest place we possibly could park) and started walking along the waterfront. Its just glorious and especially since the sun was out in all its glory! We stopped to book an Orca Whale Watching trip for later that afternoon with Orca Spirit! $109 CAD each ++

We walked inside “The Empress” which is the Fairmont Hotel. Just lovely inside, as all Fairmont's are.  Along the harbour in front of the Fairmont were the little water taxi's which are called "pickle boats" - SO CUTE!!

 From there we walked up the hill a way to Beacon Hill Park. Well, this is now my favourite park as 2mins in we spied a large grey squirrel crossing the road ahead of us. We called to him and he immediately came right to us! A few photos later, we were on a mission to find MORE squirrels! I might have been guilty of getting out a muesli bar to feed the squirrel with! There was also a children's petting zoo, so guess who had to go there too! Mostly farm-yard animals – goats (lots of goats) chickens, Turkeys, Alpaca's & sheep, ducks & pigs.

We stopped to photograph a black squirrel, when a homeless man came and had a chat to us – he was so lovely, he even gave us some of his peanuts so that we could feed the squirrels too!

At this point we were running late for the Orca Whale Watching cruise we had booked earlier, so we had to walk very fast to the Fishermans Wharf area. Past the Legislature Building which looks like a much larger version our Melbourne Exhibition Building, and around the waterfront. The walk was beautiful, if not a little bit rushed.

We made it with just enough time to spare, and then we were on the boat and heading out of the harbour. The sun was shining, and there was a little breeze, but the waters were very calm. Steve and I had prime position on top of the boat, along with 12 other Spanish tourists who didn't speak any english, (well, we think they were Spanish, Steve said they could have been Portuguese) so we had the resident marine biologists Val & Sophia all to ourselves, so we were well looked after.

After 45mins we were opposite an island that was actually in Washington State – USA !! and there they were “L Pod” - which is the smallest of the 3 pods in the waters here. There were approx 10 whales swimming up and down a certain area. Much to Steve's disappointment, there were no “stunt” whales today, so all we got were fin photos – but I didn't care – we saw ORCA's!!! YAY!! They are just lovely, and much harder to photograph than Humpbacks etc who move a lot slower. The Orca's swim with great speed and dont come up for long, so you have to judge their speed and direction and when they are going to come up. 

I got some good photos of 2 Orca's together. Val confirmed for me that the male was “Nigel” and the other was a female – they weren't too sure, but could have been “Female L-96”. Nigel's mum died a few years ago and the males stay with their mothers, so this female could be a sister or a new love interest! The last male we got good photos of was “Cruiser”.

We had a good hour chasing the Orca's, then we were on our way back to the Harbour, but not before taking some photos of sea lions basking on rocks in the sunshine. We stopped once because the skipper saw a Minky Whale, but these guys are notorious for coming up and then going back down for 20mins or so. So we missed seeing him.

It was bloody freezing being up on the top deck, - that boat got some very good speed on the calm waters and because the sun was out, Steve and I weren't wearing the thermal layers of the weeks previous, so we stayed on the back of the boat where it was a bit more sheltered.

Having had such a great time out on the water, and not wanting the day to end, I coaxed Steve to going back to Beacon Hill Park to see more squirrels (Thank You Steve!!! - love you) lol. We decided to walk back to the car first, and got to see a bit more of the waterfront, and then we drove to Beacon Hill. The time was 6pm, and the squirrels were out and very active – YAY!!! I grabbed the big bag of peanuts I had bought on our first couple of days of the trip and we were off to see them.

Many, many, MANY photographs were taken of the Grey and Black squirrels. The Grey's are larger and have the most fluffiest of tails, they are also very curious and are happy to come close to you. These would be the biggest squirrels we have seen so far. The blacks are slightly smaller and their tails aren't as spectacular. The blacks are also quite timid and take a bit of coaxing to get close.

As our trip was coming to an end and we had a few squirrels about, we decided to try the thing I wanted to do most – lay down on the ground and cover myself with peanuts & have the squirrels crawl all over me!! Not sure if we used enough peanuts, but I laid down and waited. 2 Squirrels came close and darted back and forth around me, but they wouldn't get too close. The Peacocks however, were quite happy to come right off and eat the peanuts off me! Steve got a video or two It was good for a laugh - at least we tried!

Did I mention the peacocks? They were EVERYWHERE – never seen so many peacocks before. Saw one lot cross the road and I counted 11 of them!

We went back to the waterfront to find somewhere for dinner. After a few stops to look at menu's for the fussy eater, we found a nice restaurant “The Docks”, on Wharf Street. Steve had steak, and I had clam chowder and Fish n Chips – was a great night. Steve had Turtle Pie for desert – which is an ice-cream cake of sorts – Chocolate with Chocolate Chip on the top layer, Caramel on the bottom, all sitting on an Oreo Cookie base – YUMMMMYYYYY (I'll be making this when we get back home)!!

Back to our lovely B&B to chat to Val about our day and what we saw, before going back to our room to transfer 600 odd photos each onto our hard drives.

I gave Steve a Melatonin tablet to see if that would help him sleep better tonight.

Day 31 ~ Monday 21st September, 2015

Day 31 ~ Monday 21^st September, 2015

Our last breakfast with Lorrie & Michele and a new couple from Germany. Today was Omelet, Toast, those lovely hash browns, fruit, yoghurt, tea, coffee & juice! YUM

We took some photos of Lorrie & Michele & the dogs Zac & Sarah. We packed up, said our good-byes and we drove away. Quite sad to leave today, we really loved every minute staying at Money Pennies B&B – if you ever find yourself in Campbell River you MUST stay there!

http://www.moneypenniesbedandbreakfast.com

So the sun is out in all its glory, beaming its happy smile onto the waterways and forests of V.I. I am wearing a T-shirt – feels quite foreign after the past weeks of rain and cold. (apart from Mt Assiniboine of course!)

We made our way to Coombs to see “The Goats on the Roof”. And yep – there they were, actual goats on-top of the roof of a large emporium/supermarket. Makes me want to put grass on our roof and do the same thing…. Steve isn't quite as excited about that idea as I am though!  (had the wrong lens, but you get the idea)!

We then drove through Cathedral Gove, which is the forest with the large 200+yr old Cedars. Such a pretty forest. We would have stopped, but the tourist buses – OH MY – there were a lot of them, and Steve's patience is wearing thin (he's tired and he's over photography and I think he's over the holiday now – he needs a holiday from this holiday).

Anyway, onwards to Port Alberni, where the “Hole in the Wall” waterfall is. We found it by chance on line and did some research about it. Its not signposted and it is not well known, but a guy did a blog with great directions (thank you to him) and we found a tiny turn-out on the side of the road before town, followed the paths until we found the small river and there it was – BEAUTIFUL! (if only the bloody sun had disappeared) – but eh, we took some photos (some of us took a lot more photos than others) – but he was very patient and let me fuss around (thank you babe!). This was one of the things I had to photograph whilst on Vancouver Island, so I wanted to make sure I got “the” shot right.

 Here's a sneak peak....

45mins later we were back on Highway 4 heading back out towards Coombs and on our way to Victoria.

We are going to be a good hour and half early to be able to check into our B&B Manor House accommodation on 7 acres, so we might nip back into Coombs, where they had a historical motorbike museum and across the road is a Butterfly House and Orchid garden – SOMETHING FOR BOTH OF US!! YAY!! (Steve is skeptical because of our last butterfly experience in Bali – promised so much & delivered nothing)

The butterfly Garden was only tiny, but at least it had butterflies, and a few finches and it even had 3 turtles – Samson & Romeo, and Sheeba who was a tiny red footed turtle, and then there was “red” a bearded dragon from Australia! Samon who was 16yrs old was not happy being in his enclosure today. He was on his back when we found him, so we put him upright. From there he tried to climb out of his enclosure! Hilarious! We let the girl at the front desk know and apparently when the owner of the Butterfly House is there, he lets Samson out to walk around and Samson gets upset when he can't walk around – this was one of those unhappy days for Samson! What a personality!! 

It was VERY humid in there – 24 degree's but what felt like 2,000% humidity! It took a good 20mins for our camera's to get rid of the condensation. They also had an orchid garden (yeah – not that exciting). But eh, we got some lovely butterfly photos!

Butterfly Garden $13.95ea ++ Open 10am-4pm Daily

We went across the road to see the motorcycles, but it wasn't a museum after all, it was just a retail sales shop! I felt sorry for Steve – no bikes for him.

BUT, we did see a young Deer who was separated from its mother by a fence. We thought the land owners were farming deer, so we went to let them know one was out, only for them to say they are wild. Ha ha ha – we had to apologize & say we are from Australia and we don't see them wild very often we thought the baby had gotten out etc. We laughed!

Of course I got some good photos of the deer! :) WINNING! :)

So now on track to get to Victoria for check in after 5pm, traveling on Route 19. The sun is sill shining brightly and there are big white fluffy clouds on the horizon.

Just drove past a large dairy – heaps of shedding and cows being milked. In my haste to get it out to tell Steve to look at it, instead of saying “ooh look a Dairy” - I said “ooh look a milkery”. I can see that coming back to haunt me from Steve forever more! He's already ribbed me about it and its been 10mins! lol

Steve has done an amazing job with driving this whole trip (having just typed that, I had to yell at him for speeding!) lol. I have found it hard to sit on our drivers side of the car with no steering wheel being a passenger and drive on the wrong side of the road. I did alright on our OOAK part of the trip as I was in the back seat for 12 days. I have calmed down a lot now, but the first part of the trip I must have driven Steve mad with my “backseat driving” – I though for sure he was going to drive me off the side of a cliff, or into a barrier! Lol

As we have only one day in Victoria to explore, we've decided that since the weather is actually lovely, we will go do another whale watching cruise. It all comes down to priorities and what we really want to see and do. There is the Butchart Gardens which would be spectacular now with the fall colour coming out, but we have beautiful gardens where we live in Olinda. We don't have Orca Whales, so we will try and see one last time to see them in the wild.

We got to Victoria at 5.30pm, to Ha'Penny Hollow Farm B&B – OMG – you have to see this place to believe it! WOW – I felt like I was in a fairy tale. It is the most beautiful, pretty, quintessentail tudor manor you have ever seen! (if only Carolyn was here to see this!). WOW – we are very lucky to stay here.

We met Valerie and Bill, the quintessential British hosts, and Rusty their gorgeous dog. We were shown to our room and shown around the gardens and how to get to Elk Lake – yes, this magnificent 7 acre property is right on the lake!

I might have been a tad over excited (blame that on the e+shot I had earlier…), and with the promise of many animals, and the lake and with sunset fast approaching, I wanted to get to the lake.

So Rusty our new faithful companion showed us the way to the lake! (he was very happy). We past people riding horses, and many people out on the lake rowing, and boating! The pathway around the lake (10.5km round trip) was heavily tree'd and just beautiful. Honestly, breathtakingly beautiful.

We did a quick walk and took some photos of Rusty, and then we were back to the Manor House to relax We met Gypsy their resident Tortoiseshell Cat. We were so exhausted we decided not to go out for dinner and instead stayed in and had an early night.