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I studied at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg from January to April 2001.
Canada: Vancouver Island (part IX)
FlyingDutchman2006-03-15 18:12:55
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the bridge seemed to low for me to do a bungy jump. In Nanaimo we walked around the harbour and got a couple of beers at the bar underneath the hostel. So yes, we could hear the music perfectly in our room.
On thursday April 26 we drove from Nanaimo to Tofino. We stopped at the waterfalls in Little Qualicum Falls Provincial Park, and looked at native carvings in the rocks at Sproat Lake. In the Pacific Rim National Park we made a 2-hour walk on Long Beach, a beach completely enclosed by forest and rocks, because it is not allowed to build houses in a National Park. It was almost possible to see Asia on the other side of the ocean... NOT. Afterwards we did a short trail through the rainforest, before getting to the information center to watch (or actually falling asleep during) a documentary about seaotters. In the evening we arrived at the hostel in Tofino, probably the best hostel in Canada, but it was newly built 2 years ago, so that might explain why.
On friday April 27 I met Anna from Ireland and Caitlin from Vancouver (both were studying at the University of Victoria) at the hostel. We were all planning to go to the hot springs, but not really sure if they would be hot and if they would actually go there that day. So in the morning Anna, Caitlin and I went to a small beach south of Tofino. It was a short drive and a short walk through the forest, but the beach was really cosy with seastars on the rocks. Luckily Remote Passages did go to the hot springs that day, so we went with 5 people (Anna, Caitlin, an English couple on a RTW-trip, and I) in a Zodiac (one of these Baywatch boats). It took us two hours to get there, but mainly because we stopped to see grey whales, seals, sealions, and seaotters in their natural environment. It definitely was not my natural environment, though, I got pretty seasick. So we arrived at this remote dock in the middle of nowhere, there was only a small native village on the other side of the shore. Then it was a 30-minute boardwalk through the forest to get to the hot springs, where there was only a tiny cabin to change. But the hot springs are amazing. It is basically a natural waterfall of 45 degrees that flows into four pools in the rocks, and descend into the ocean. So from the pools there is a view on the ocean. The place was really magical, completely in the middle of nowhere, and almost completely private as well, there were only six people there in total. Understandably, we arrived a little bit late at the Zodiac. We went returned through the Clayoquot Sound, a preserved rainforest, really beautiful.
On saturday April 28 we headed back from Tofino to Vancouver. Along the way we stopped at Cathedral Grove, were the huge Douglas Fir and Western Cedar trees are, and at Coombs, where it is legal to build anything you want. We had some lunch at Qualicum Beach, before catching the ferry from Nanaimo to Horseshoe Bay, and driving back to Vancouver.
See photographs from:
Canada Gallery
