T minus 17 days and counting...

Time is a funny thing, isn't it?
Sometimes it drags along so slowly...other times it feels as though you've entered a time warp. Don't blink! You'll miss it!

The two final nights of fireworks in the Celebration of Lights festival were great. The UK and China presented two awesome shows. We watched the UK spectacle standing the middle of the street. The boys sang their national anthem with great pride and gusto! For China's display, after a chaotic period of trying to locate everyone, we watched from the beach, sitting huddled together in the sand amongst thousands of others. I watched both displays surrounded by my friends from the UK - who were all convinced that the UK would win the competition. I almost got mobbed when I suggested the possibility of China winning. I didn't say they would, but it was a possibility! I don't know if my friends found out or not, but China won. Oops!

I had another follow-up eye appointment with the opthomologist, who wanted me to continue holding off on wearing my contact lenses for another 3-4 weeks. Other than the first couple of weeks here, that means I will have been glasses-bound the whole time I've been in Vancouver. Not so good when you don't have prescription sunglasses! Grumble, grumble, grumble... Oh well - I only get one pair of eyes. I'd rather take care of them than cause any damage.

The heat wave ended on Tuesday and I was off to Vancouver Island on Wednesday with a bus group called the Moose Network (a mode of travel similar to the Stray bus group tours I did in New Zealand, catering to generally young, independent travellers). We crossed the Lions Gate Bridge, drove through West Vancouver, and caught the ferry in Horseshoe Bay. After making a brief stop in Nanaimo for supplies, and a few other touristy stops like Qualicum, we wound our way over to Tofino, a popular coastal town where the sun rarely makes an appearance. The hostel we stayed at was fantastic (Whalers on the Point/HI Tofino) and our first night's dinner was included. Chris, our driver, had picked up tons of supplies and we made tasty chicken fajitas for dinner. We had a full day to explore and enjoy the little town the next day. It was a tough decision to choose between all the activities on offer: hot springs, whale watching, bear watching, kayaking, surfing, hiking... I opted for a bear watching tour in the morning and a paddle in a kayak for later in the afternoon. The bear watching wasn't as exciting as I'd hoped it would be. We sped out in a zodiac across the Clayoquot Sound to a few shorelines where black bears are known to feed and managed to see two in total. Strangely, I was more excited at the huge tiger jellyfish we saw in the water as sped along. The trip back was cold! We were wearing full body outer suits over our clothes and were given a toque and mittens but I was still freezing. I was seriously doubting the afternoon paddle, not keen on being out on the cold water again. Unfortunately, it was too late to get our money back if we cancelled. We scurried back to the hostel to get warm and have some some lunch. I even took a quick nap, bundled up under my blankets. Feeling better when I awoke, I decided to go for it, making an educated guess that I'd be glad I did it once it was over. Heading back down to the activity centre, I made sure they gave me an extra fleece to wear under the raincoat, and some wool mittens, just in case. And it was great! There were three of us on the tour, Shauna from Brisbane, Australia, and a Swiss-German girl, along with our guide, Nick. We kayaked around and through the "quiet-water fjord inlets of Clayoquot Sound." I was completely taken, fascinated, mesmerized by the thousands of young moon jellyfish floating through the water. I loved the plentiful orange and purple starfish clinging to the rocks along the shoreline. A few seal or otter heads surfaced in the distance. A great blue heron stood gracefully in the shallows. Bald eagles, perched high in the trees, kept a close eye on us. Even the bullwhip seaweed was of interest, with its bulbous nitrogen-filled ends floating near the top of the water. We paddled along the shores of Morpheus Island, an island that used to be Tofino's official cemetery, now covered with trees and moss. It would have been interesting to pull ashore and have a wander around, searching for random headstones scattered throughout the dark, forest floor...
We did pull ashore on Meares Island to explore the ancient, old-growth forest via the Big Tree Trail. According to one website, the age of the trees on the island is anywhere between 1000 and 1500 years old, representing some of the oldest and largest living life forms on earth! We walked along a lovely, rustic, cedar-plank boardwalk containing all different sized planks, built a bit haphazardly, yet soundly, above the forest floor, using cedar from the island itself. Nick was quite informative about the cedars and the hemlock, the sitka spruces and the lichens, the banana slugs, and the huge eagles' nest we spied - did you know they can weigh so much that they actually cause the host tree to lean?! The hollowed out cedars were pretty cool too.


Everyone had an early night that night, tired out from all the salt-water activities, and the next day we set off for Victoria. We stopped in Port Alberni and then Cathedral Grove Rainforest where we got out to hike through the massive old-growth trees for some fun photo ops.

Next stop was Coombs where we had lunch and saw the famous "goats on the roof". We drove through Ladysmith, and made another brief stop in Chemainus to admire many murals painted on the sides of the town's buildings, before arriving in Victoria.

Victoria really does exude a huge English influence, from its hanging baskets of flowers and gardens, to the style of its buildings. After checking into the budget Ocean Island Backpackers Inn hostel, we all met up for dinner together at The Reef, a lovely Caribbean restaurant, where I savoured my mahi mahi, and a taste of Shauna's sockeye salmon. We hit a club afterwards for some dancing (and drinking, depending on who you were!) We had until 3pm the next day to check out Victoria. I had planned on getting myself to the famous Butchart Gardens, but the combination of poor weather and an entry fee of $28 kind of put the kibosh on that idea. Instead, I wandered around town with Shauna, browsing in the tourist shops, checking out the eateries for a good lunch spot, and checking out the sights along the inner harbour.
We eventually rejoined the bus group and headed for the ferry that would take us back across to Vancouver. Taking a different route, this ferry travelled from Swartz Bay to Tsawwassen, with everyone keeping an eye out for whales, and we arrived safely back in Vancouver early that evening. It felt good to get back - funny that.

So I'm back to work tomorrow for a few more days of gelato-scooping - Friday is my last day. A bunch of us are heading to Whistler on Saturday for the night. Can't wait to get back there. I hope the weather clears up. Should be a good time.
And time is ever passing...