North America Travels 2006

Tofino, Vancouver Island | 24 May 2006

Wednesday - Had to leave early to catch the ferry across to Vancouver Island. Had a smooth crossing. Went food shopping, now getting down to real budget meals, could only spend $10 per meal! Came across my first Adventist building, it was a school on
Vancouver Island! It rained most of the drive and should be for the next few days, glad it is at the end of the trip! This will be our last National Park that we will be staying in. We have left the mountains and now at the beach. We are on the west coast of Vancouver Island, camping at a town called Tofino. It is a small community mostly known for whale watching and sea kakaying. Tomorrow we are going whale watching. We arrived at the campsite and there was a break in the weather, just enough time to set our tents and a shelter up before it rained again. The other group are not camped right beside us this time, feels a bit strange after having them so close at every other place.
Thursday - Today I think would have to be highlight for me. I have always wanted to go whale watching and that's what I did today! We had to get decked out in these red overalls, a yellow rain jacket, beanies and gloves. Unfornately I didn't get a photo of our outfits!! We traveled out into the open water in a rubber zodiac that held about 15 people. One the way out we saw a large number of seals playing in the water, the pups were waiting for their mums to return with food. They can be on their own for up to 24 hours until she comes back. We also saw a group of male fur seals all hanging out on a rock. We saw a sea otter floating on its back. Finally we came across some grey whales! They even waved their tails for us a few times! It was really cool. On the way back we also came across a bald eagles nest, which was occupied by the mother, we didn't see the chicks because it was a rather cold day! unfortunately their survival rate is not very high, maybe 1 out of 10 will survive their first winter. I didn't take any photos as the weather wasn't good, it was raining!
Friday - It was a beautiful sunny day today, a rare event in this part of the country. They get between 3-4 metres of rain per year! All the locals said that we were lucky to have such a great day. It was a free day for us to choose to do anything, but everything was too costly. All our group went together to do some walking tracks through out the park. We went on a walk that was part of the rainforest, it had huge cedar trees. One tree was estimated to be 800 years old, hard to believe that there is a tree that is older than what Australia has been settled! Went to an information centre that had a display about the life of the Indian communities that have been part of the history of the area. They used to hunt whales but used all of it for various things eg meat, oiletc. They usedthe cedar timber to build canoes, even weave mats and baskets out of it, amazing how soft it was. Tonight is my second last night in a tent,can't believe that the trip is almost finshed. We have gone from the mountains to the Sea.

Locations Visited: Tofino

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