Vancouver Island Part 2 (Tofino)

Tofino is a small little .. ah .. village about half way up the west coast of Vancouver Island, beautiful little place, with a population of around about 1,000. That is until summer when with the tourists bombarding the town it increases to a population of about 3,000.

Luckily I got to Tofino towards the tail end of the tourist season, and so it wasn't quite as busy as before, though the locals were well and truly over all these tourists coming in. Though it was a really nice place to chill at, kind of place where quite a few people I met had arrived for a short holiday and ended up staying all summer.

Like this guy who had rocked up to Tofino for a weekend back in March and ended up living in this shed (with no electricity or running water).

So there I was finding I liked the fact that the hostel was by the sea (as in about 10 meters) and just feeling like chilling out when I found out there was a group of 3 canadians in my room who bring it upon themselves to adopt me for our shared time in Tofino.


Which included seeing:

Half moon cove: a fantastic little cove south of Tofino where I got to see a bald eagle fly down and pluck a fish out of the water directly in front of me.


Whale watching tour: where I didn't actually see any whales, but had a blast of a time!


The whale watching boat: Lots of fun!

and finally here for everyone's entertainment is me in the life vest/thermal suit that we wore on that whale watching boat! I think I kind of look like the marshmallow man from Ghost Busters!

So that was Tofino, it was a nice relaxing time, met some interesting people got a wee bit wet while speeding through the fog banks, but enjoyed myself nonetheless. After that it was back to Vancouver in preparation for heading to 'ol blighty the land of the perpetual cloud, Britain. And I was looking forward to it, I'd enjoyed Canada, and I have to say my favourite place of all was Nefoundland. One day I might be back, problem is there are so many places out there to see!

Till next posting
B

Vancouver Island Part 1 (Victoria)

Having seen the cost of travelling to Vancouver Island using the standard Greyhound buses (I think it was around $50-) I decided to go the el' cheapo option of pt'ing it (pt for those who don't know refers to the public transport system, usually only slightly more expensive than walking)..

Turned out to be a bit of a journey (3 buses and a ferry ride) but a heck of a lot cheaper to get to Victoria, BC (In all about $15-) as well as a being a bit of an adventure all of it's own, especially when a couple of the buses wouldn't stop for me...

But once I arrived in Vancouver I got to see some fantastic scenery including for some bizarre reason (though slightly more understandable than the pandas in Washington, DC) a whole bunch of randomly painted killer whale statues on street corners... ;-)

But one thing that was very cool about arriving on Victoria aside from the beautiful weather (I actually got sunburnt!) was I had made it! I have actually been to both ends of the Trans-Canada Hwy, all 7,762 (I think that's how long, feel free to correct me though) kms of it!

Though I do feel like a bit of a cheat as I didn't actually travel the full length of the hwy, there was that short flight from Halifax to Calgary (though I had gone overland from Toronto to Halifax)..



Left: Start of Trans-Canada Hwy at St John's,
Newfoundland
Right: Other end of Trans-Canada Hwy at Victoria,
British Columbia

Acupuncture
Most of my time on Vancouver Island seemed to spent lazing around and enjoying the beach (I fell asleep while sunbathing and hence the sunburn), but while I was there I'd developed a chest infection (cough, shallow breathing and all that), so considering I had to soon fly to the UK and knowing this could effect the flight for me I sought medical attention.
I ended up going to a Chinese medical practitioner, and I received my first ever acupuncture!  Some simple info for everyone:

• It doesn't hurt


• I actually felt better after it (though that could of been more from the
  nice relaxing atmosphere and massage)


• I had 7 needles in me while I was lying on my back


• About 8 needles while I was on my front


• 2 of those needles where in my ankles

And that my friends concludes my experiences of Victoria, BC...  Coming
up next is Tofino (a very funky town!)
B

Small update

Hi everyone!!

Sorry for being so slack on putting any posts together, haven't really got one together at the moment (in terms of what I've been up too), but I thought I'd just let everyone know that I am alive and well, and still having a blast..

Been travelling around Scotland for the last week (or so..) and surprisingly the weather has been grand to me! :-D But out in the Hebrides at the moment, which means that most of the hostels don't even have net access...

Anyways, I'll put up a post very soon about my wandering around:

• Vancouver Island
  
• London
  
• Brighton
  
• ... and various places around Scotland
  

I will add that I'm tempted to just work in a hostel up here for a few months, won't save any money, but it's been nice and relaxing! :-)

Cheers,
B