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Week 3, Day 15
Vancouver
6kms by foot
Our first day in Vancouver and we decided that after sitting in the car for the last 3 days, it was time for a bit of exercise. The receptionist at the hotel assured us that the CBD was a mere 10 minutes away - a nice easy walk. It probably was if you were a teenager! On top of this, we had found that leaving Sue's little 'point and shoot' camera at home was a mistake, so we were in the market for one and the closest place was in the city.
Nothing much seems to open in Vancouver before 10am, so we wandered into the city, purchased a nice Nikon compact camera, then walked back to the Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art. This was on our list of 'must sees' for Vancouver. This public art gallery is named after Bill Reid (1920 – 1998), the acclaimed Haida master goldsmith, carver, sculptor, writer, spokesman and one of Canada’s greatest artists. The Gallery is devoted to understanding and appreciating contemporary Aboriginal art of the Northwest Coast. The displays were superb, and gave us our first glimpse into the First Nation people's art. (Sorry - no photos allowed.)
In the afternoon we decided to explore Stanley Park, a 1000 acre park that abuts the Vancouver CBD and is nearly surrounded by the waters of Vancouver Harbour. Fortunately, it was only 3 blocks from our hotel.
Vancouver Harbour with 2 cruise ships and 2 itinerant visitors
Float plane base in Vancouver Harbour
Much of coastal British Columbia is inaccessible by land, leaving only water or air to get in and out. Consequently there are a lot of float plane operations from the harbour, taking off and landing among all the cruise ships, freighters, ferries, etc. It's a very busy place.
DeHavilland Canada DHC-3T Turbo Otter on floats crossing over Stanley Park prior to landing on the harbour
Totem Poles at Stanley Park
The First Nation totem poles range in origin from 1920 to 2009 and tell stories about the origins of clans and tribes.
Week 3, Day 16
Vancouver - Victoria <map>
70kms (car), 60kms (ferry)
Off early to try and beat the rush hour city traffic. We were boarding the car ferry from Tsawwassen across to Sidney on Vancouver Island for the next stage of our trip.
Cars queuing for the ferry - another 30+ lanes are on the other side of the terminal
By comparison to our Tasmanian trip on the Spirit of Tasmania, this was a really slick operation. While there were numerous ferries departing from this terminal, there were still something like 45 lines of cars all lined up. We were assigned lane 3 at the vehicle check-in, moved forward, then locked the car and walked across to the terminal for a hot chocolate and croissant. All very civilised! When our ferry arrived, it unloaded all its vehicles in about 10 minutes using 2 ramps, then we boarded in about the same amount of time.
Goodbye, Vancouver
The ferries we went on were all double-ended so no need to turn around at either end. The crossing takes just over 90 minutes and there are lounges and eateries to keep one amused during the crossing. Chatting with some other visitors, we were surprised at the lack of reading or research some folks have when planning their holiday. We spoke to 2 couples, one Australian, one British, and both had decided to visit Vancouver Island 'for the day'. They were both seemingly unaware that this island is about 500kms from one end to the other by road.
Approaching Vancouver Island, we were reminded of arriving in Picton in New Zealand - manoeuvring between small forested islands.
All was peaceful until...
'ATTENTION CREW! ATTENTION CREW! MAN OVERBOARD STARBOARD SIDE'
Sirens, reverse thrust on the engines and much consternation among the passengers as we all searched for a body in the water. However the crew didn't actually seem to get very excited about this. It turned out to be a crew drill and they'd actually thrown a bucket overboard, then despatched a life boat to retrieve the 'victim'. I suspect the addition of 'This is a drill' to the announcement might not have gone amiss.
As we were at the front of the line boarding, we were among the first cars off when we reached the island. Our first destination on getting to the island was the Butchart Gardens. We were very interested in visiting here as while we were in Ireland at Powerscourt Gardens last year, the National Geographic's 'Top Ten Gardens of the World' were announced. Butchart came fourth after Versailles, Kew and Powerscourt.
The view over the Sunken Garden
Red Hot Pokers (Orange Hot Pokers?)
The Ross Fountain (modesty forbids, etc)
Right time of year for roses
Sturgeon Fountain
The dock at the bottom of the garden
A part of the Japanese Garden
After a couple of hours wandering through the Gardens, we pushed on to Victoria and our hotel for a few nights. We'd booked a place right across the road from Parliament House (Victoria is the capital of British Columbia) and only a couple of hundred yards from the Inner Harbour. We unpacked and then set out to stroll around looking for a likely eating spot.
The stately Empress Hotel overlooking the Inner Harbour
Victoria's Inner Harbour
After wandering through street performers along the dockside, we found a nice little restaurant for dinner, then strolled back to our hotel passed BC's Parliament House.
Parliament House, Victoria
Week 3, Day 17
Victoria
30kms
A bit of a relaxation day today. We caught up with email, did some shopping and took a bit of a drive around the SE corner of Victoria and Vancouver Island.
Fisherman's Wharf
Right in the Inner Harbour is Fisherman's Wharf, complete with floating houses and (supposedly) Sea Lions looking for handouts. The Save-A-Sea-Lion mission must have beaten us down here as nary a Sea Lion was seen. We did however, see...
... another Turbo Otter
As you can imagine, it gets a bit crowded on the water around here! We continued driving around the island and next arrived at the cruise ship terminal. As expected, cruise ships with 3500+ passengers on board are of a size that isn't going to fit in the Inner Harbour. We came across the Grand Princess, a modest little cruise liner with room for 2600 passengers, 1150 crew and has a displacement of 107,000 tons.
The Grand Princess
We had actually come to this part of the port to walk out along the 1km long jetty/breakwater at Ogden Point that sticks out into the Juan de Fuca Strait. From here you can get great views across to the snow-capped mountains of Olympic Nat Pk in Washington state in the USA. We wandered out onto the breakwater but were a bit annoyed that the peace and quiet was being disturbed by what sounded like an over-excited commentator at a grid iron football match.
It turned out that the passengers who had decided not to partake of a shore excursion while the Grand Princess was in harbour, could instead sit on the upper deck, and watch a football game while the ship's Public Address system broadcast at full volume to anyone within about a kilometre of the liner.
Anyone for football? I suspect the boxes either side of the screen are the speakers.
I'd hate to be living anywhere near here if this is the normal way cruise liners act in port. We continued around the coast and our next stopping place was 'Mile Zero'.
Mile 0 of the Trans-Canada Highway
This rather modest marker is the start of what, along with the Trans-Siberian Highway and Australia's Highway 1, are the longest highways in the world. Canada's Highway 1 travels from here on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, through all 10 provinces and finishes on Canada's Atlantic Ocean coast at both St John's, Newfoundland, and in Labrador. While Canada changed to metric distances in 1977, this monument remains firmly in Imperial measurement. We hope to follow a small part of it though British Columbia and Alberta on our return trip to Calgary.
Just behind the 'Mile 0' marker is another monument. This time to a person, Terry Fox, who was a campaigner for cancer research and originator of the annual Terry Fox Run - the world's largest one-day fund raiser for cancer research. He's considered a Canadian hero.
Terry Fox Monument
Week 3, Day 18
Victoria
0kms
Catching up on washing and going to the Royal BC Museum. This is a brilliant museum, but we only took in one floor of it. This floor was dedicated to the First Nations and described their history, culture, art and languages. Fascinating stuff. Here are a few photos - click to enlarge.
Haida Argillite (a black shale) carving (about 8"/20cm tall)
A forest of totems from 6 different communities in front of ...
... a chief's ceremonial house
Wooden ceremonial masks
Bark and cloth hanging
When we got back to our hotel, we found a new take on the old idea of how to get a quart into a pint pot (or how to get 1.1365 lts into a 568.26 ml pot for the metrically minded).
North American definition of a 'small car'
Week 3, Day 19
Victoria - Uclulet <map>
315 kms
Today was the start of the trip roughly north-westward up Vancouver Island. First stop was the historic Kinsol Trestle. This is a restored timber railway bridge that was built in 1920 and was in continuous use by logging trains until the last train ran in 1979. It is a curved structure 44m (144') high and 188m (617') long making it one of the tallest free-standing wooden railway trestles in the world. It was one of 8 trestles used by the logging railway. Restoration began in 2010 after some local opposition, and it was opened in 2011 to bike and foot traffic. It is now part of the Trans-Canada Trail.
The name comes as a contraction of the nearby 'King Solomon Mines', but the rail line was never used for ore.
Kinsol Trestle
The back of a 'convenience' shows how the trestle looked when in use
After lunch at Port Alberni, we continued on towards the rugged west coast of Vancouver Island at Uclulet.
We were following a small bus along a rather narrow and winding road, and wondered why it just stopped.
Our first bear sighting!!
Not a great shot, but we were so excited! This was a black bear (not a grizzly), but impressive, nevertheless. It just wandered off the road and into the trees.
Arriving at Uclulet, we checked into the motel and found this delightful view out the window.
Uclulet is a less touristy village compared to its rival, Tofino, 30kms to the north-west, but it was full of character. We found some of the character had evaporated though, as a lot of outlets, restaurants, etc seem to close down after Labor Day. This included a fish and chip shop that had been highly recommended but had shut, so we ended up at the floating restaurant with the blue roof in the photo above. At least we could have a drink with dinner and not worry about driving home.
You'd have to think the seafood was fresh, wouldn't you?
Outdoor dining at its finest - temperature was about 8° and the waiter gave us blankets to put over our legs!
Week 3, Day 20
Uclulet - Campbell River <map>
270 kms
After a couple of people had recommended the Bog Trail, we drove into the Kwisitis Visitors' Centre in the Pacific Rim National Park to check it out.
Kwisitis Visitors' Centre on Long Beach
Trip Advisor said 'Don't miss it!', but failed to tell us that it didn't open until 10am. Anyway, we took in the spectacular view along the beach, then drove the kilometre or so back to the Bog Trail car park. This wetland walk is famous for its sundews (carnivorous plants) so we were trying very hard to see one. One thing I did notice was a warning sign as we started the walk. I refrained from telling Sue about it until we returned to the car.
As it's a National Park, warnings about what can eat you can be had in both English and French
It was a lovely boardwalk through the wetland, but all sundews must have known it was after Labor Day, so were not there.
We did see some colourful fir-type trees with orange bristles, though
It wouldn't be a Ross family (senior) trip without aviation side trips where the opportunity presented itself. Here in the middle of Vancouver Island amid lakes, mountains and dense forests, there are the last reminders of a generation of aircraft that probably will never be seen again - the large flying boats. Sproat Lake is the home of Coulson Flying Tankers, operators of the last two Martin Mars flying boats of the seven originally built between 1942 and 1948. These are the largest flying boats to ever fly operationally (Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose was bigger, but only flew once). To put the aircraft in perspective, the wingspan is just 3m (11') shorter than a Boeing B747.
Coulson used them as water bombers in both Canada and the USA.
Philippine Mars in post-war gloss grey paint scheme on Sproat Lake
Hawaii Mars in normal red/white paint scheme undergoing maintenance (sorry it was as close as I could get)
At the time we visited, the Philippine Mars was being readied to go to the US Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola, but Canadian authorities have stated they might not permit this due to 'cultural property' reasons.
The next stop on today's trip was Cathedral Grove, a section of old-growth forest in MacMillan Provincial Park hosting Douglas Firs up to 800 years old. There are a couple of tracks that show what the original forests would have looked like.
Expect to see either Hobbits or Ewoks here
Part of the park is on Lake Cameron
On to Campbell River for the evening.
We strolled along the foreshore at Campbell River, encountering a few First Nation carvings and totem poles
Another floating cafe for a fish and chip dinner
This one turned out to be owned by the brother of the owner of the floating restaurant we dined in at Uclulet last night!
We ended the day at Campbell River with high hopes for a good day tomorrow - our first grizzly trip!
Week 3, Day 21
Campbell River- Toba Inlet - Campbell River <map>
~160 kms (boat and bus)
Today's vessel
We set off under overcast skies for a two and a half hour boat ride from Campbell River, across the islands of the Strait of Georgia and into the inlets of mainland British Columbia (click on <map> above). It would seem that an 'inlet' in Canada is the same as a 'fiord' in Norway, New Zealand or Chile. We wanted to see Grizzly Bears, and there are usually no Grizzlies on Vancouver Island, hence the need for a boat ride.
Dolphins en-route
Gorgeous scenery
Waterfalls were everywhere
Powell River logging camp
We disembarked at a logging camp at the head of Toba Inlet. While there are a few roads here, they are only used for logging and do not connect to the outside world. The only access is by float-plane or boat. We transferred to a 4WD bus and were joined by two First Nation guides.
Norman and Roy - First Nation elders and our very helpful guides
We drove inland on a logging road for about 8kms to a bridge over the river and waited. Within about 5 minutes we saw...
... our first bear of the day!
This was a juvenile black bear, and according to our guides, its mother should have been somewhere nearby as it was only about 18 months old. Such information keeps one looking over one's shoulder from time to time! Note the dead salmon in the water. These fish would have spawned and in doing so, used up all their energy and died where they had been born up to five years earlier in the same river and just about the same spot. Just like the penguin colonies in Antarctica, the nature documentaries fail to tell you about the smell of thousands of dead salmon.
Another salmon that John West rejected
Our black bear wandered into the bushes by the river bank and then returned a bit further downstream to get another fish dinner.
Bears aren't the only creatures feasting on salmon.
Great Blue Heron
There were a number of these magnificent birds around most of the day. It stands about 1.4m tall and has a wingspan of up to 2m. The 'blue' in its name is very apparent when it flies.
VIDEO: - Salmon and Heron
There were a few bears upstream of our position, but too far away and hidden in overhanging scrub to photograph. Then a mother grizzly arrived downstream of us and started fishing!
VIDEO:- Powell River Bears
Looking back across the bridge, we spotted the juvenile black bear crossing the road.
Zebra Bear Crossing
A few minutes later, this came around the corner.
It might not look it but this is a very large truck
These logs will be unloaded into the inlet, tied together, then floated down to a sawmill.
We moved off downstream to a platform above the river. No bears were around while we had lunch, but there were some decent sized paw prints in the river banks.
Sue's size 10 is no match for a bear's size 120
Spawning Salmon
After lunch we moved back to the bridge, and found the mother grizzly's two 18 month old cubs fishing.
Finally, we boarded the bus, went back to the logging camp and had a very welcome cup of hot coffee, then set off back to Campbell River.
More dolphins on the way home, as well as...
... another black bear foraging for mussels along the shore
VIDEO:- Shellfish hunting Bear
What a day!! We'd been cold, a bit damp, but it didn't matter. We'd seen some magnificent animals in their natural habitat, and that was what we'd come for.
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