Vancouver Island, BC

Vancouver Island was the prettiest place that we have visited in our travels to date. Jill and I agreed that we could happily live here. The pace, the size and the environment all made it a truly attractive proposition.

A pretty little wood nymph.

We landed at Nanaimo in the middle of the island and stayed a night at the Ramada - another fantastic hotel. As we arrived early-ish, there was time for a drive around the city to look things over. During our drive along the coast, we happened across deer feeding in the gardens of houses. As we swung around a street to see a couple of them up close we discovered a herd of 13 or more spread across two gardens. You have to wonder how much damage such a large group would do to garden.

Part of a horde of deer feeding in people's gardens at Nanaimo.

 After Nanaimo we drove to Victoria. Along the way we dropped into Goldstream Provincial Park for a visit.


Gold stream? in Goldstream Provincial Park.



That was a BIG tree.

Waterfall at Goldstream P.P.

 For our first day in Victoria we visited Craigdarroch Castle in the suburbs of the city. An amazing place with an interesting history. Afterwards, we tootled along and happened across Government House, which we went for a walk through the gardens of.


Craigdarroch castle, Victoria.



The breakfast room of the castle.



Walk in front of Government House.

Victoria was the nicest city that we have stayed in anywhere in North America. Again the pace, the prettiness and the size of it appealed. At night it became even more attractive.

House of legislature, Victoria.

Victoria inner harbour by night.

The Empress - very old, very famous, bl--dy huge!



Effect of changing zoom on the lens during a long exposure.

 On the second day, we simply walked along the inner harbour to the Maritime Museum.

Our ferry - it was a bit of a squeeze with the car and five of us.



Commerce canoe - Bastion Place, Victoria

Tilikum boat in maritime museum.

Old diving outfit.

 

Full steam ahead.



BC Maritime museum.



View from Bastion Place, Victoria.

 After the museum, we went to the Bug Zoo just along the road. Ash loved this, although the girls struggled to remain interested as long.

Megan at Bug Zoo.

Ash loved the bugs.

 Once we had finished our visit to the Bug Zoo, we walked across to the BC Museum for an Imax film about horses. It turned out to be an Australian made film.

Totem poles near BC Museum.



One of the sculptures on in the inner harbour of Victoria.

 On our last day in Victoria, Jill arranged to meet a friend (Alex) who she hadn't seen in years and the kids and I went tootling through shops to pass the time of day. We made the ferry just in time and headed for the USA - saying farewell to Canada for the last time.

Alex and Jill.



On the ferry leaving Canada.

Canada was wonderful - and now a new part to our adventure begins! 

Vancouver, BC

Ah Vancouver, wet Vancouver. We arrived in the rain and left in the rain with one day in four that didn't rain too much. Even so it was an interesting city to visit and there certainly was no shortage of places to visit. In many ways it resembles a Canadian New York. You need plenty of money to live comfortably there, and everything is fine while you have money to spend, but as soon as you have no money there is very little you can do. 

Yep! It's Vancouver alright.

We arrived on Sunday afternoon and spent all of the extra time that we had hoped for exploring, on getting our car partly dismantled and almost completely unpacked to make it less attractive to thieves.

The underground car park was too low for our van and top box, so at first we decided to leave it at the back of the hotel in a reserved parking area. But after dubious looks from the concierge, dire warnings from another guest and at least 4 "casual" passersby (who were obviously of no fixed address) eyeballing our car with the air of experienced pawnbrokers - we decided it was more prudent to spend the hour or two getting the van behind locked gates. It was not "just in case it is burgled" it was because it WOULD BE burgled if we left it out. A sombre reminder that we were in a big city.

The first day (Monday) we hopped aboard the hop-on hop-off trolley bus that circles a large part of Vancouver city. Unfortunately it was raining on and off (more on than off) and so we didn't get off much.


The view from our trolley bus tour on day 1.

 However, at Granville Island we decided to take the plunge and get out for a stroll about and a look-see. There was a kids market (games parlour, toy shops, etc.) and a huge public food market where we had lunch.

Vancouver fashion statements.

After a while on the tiny island we decided to try our luck at catching another trolley car. Because it was wet we didn't fancy waiting around for long and there is no way of knowing when the last or next trolley will arrive. Luckily for us one came along after about 3 minutes - the limit of the kids patience at waiting.
There was still plenty to see, albeit through wet windows.

Totem pole in Stanley Park.

Lions Gate Bridge.

At the end of the trip we visited a Tim Hortons for hot chocolates and donuts - a warming treat for a dreary day. It was a treat we could manage thanks to the incredible generosity of staff at my school.

The next day we visited the Vancouver Aquarium, and thankfully the rain had eased off to threatening with occasional rain. The aquarium was wonderful and we all loved it. There were so many things to see.

Clever Beluga whale shaking hands.

 

Sea otter taking it easy.



Sleek dolphin enjoying being a sleek dolphin.

 After the aquarium it was back on to the trolley car and off to the Vancouver Observation tower or deck or..? I can't remember. It was not much when compared to the views from other high places we have visited, but it was still a fun thing to do.

Late afternoon in downtown Vancouver.

 

Rail yards on shore of Vancouver Harbour.

For our last day in Vancouver, we decided to visit the science centre. As always this was such a hit with the kids that after 4 hours we literally had to hustle them out the door. There were a huge range of interactive activities for children and adults alike. Not all were flattering for those of us in our more advanced years.



C'mon Jilly stretch that liiitle bit further.

One highlight of the visit was an IMAX film about the Hubble space telescope with footage from space shuttle astronauts as they worked on it in space. The film stretched all the way over our heads and was particularly immersing, making you feel like you were in space orbiting the earth.


The kids enjoyed it, although it was a little long for Paige seeing as there were no cute doggies!

 The visit ended on a wet note. Rain as we left and even frozen rain with a small patch of snow as we drove to the ferry. It was not looking promising for our stay on Vancouver Island.

Kamloops and the Little Big Science Centre

Arriving in Kamloops was a little disappointing, mainly because the snow was clearly on its way out. We stayed for two nights and over the second night much of the snow on the streets melted away. It was a sad reminder that we were leaving the snow behind.

On the way to Kamloops we travelled through a little town called Blue River that had the most snow that we have seen yet. The build up was huge and made us wonder just how much must fall there each year.

Snow on roof at Blue River.

Snow build up at Blue River.

The snow build up on our car after driving.



The signs are clear...just.

Shortly before we arrived at Kamloops we started to notice hills covered in burnt tree remains - clearly the result of past forest fires.

Aftermath of a forest fire.

 The hills became even more tragic when we arrived in Kamloops. The picture below shows hills with almost no trees at all - an oddity in Canada. Jill later asked about the lack of trees and was told it is natural.


Hills around Kamloops.

 We decided to visit The Big Little Science Centre which is based in a school and run by volunteer teachers - even on weekends! It is three rooms packed with a huge range of hands on science demonstrations. The kids loved it and so did the photographer. 

I had to shrink to fit into the car!



What beautiful big eyes you have Paige.



Like father, like daughter.

 This bubble table kept the kids occupied for over an hour all by itself and no wonder - the size of bubbles that could be made were astonishing.

Bubble blowing.



Ash's bird balancing act.

We had to cut Ash down to fit him into the car.

We were treated to a special private showing of the Van der graff generator which was a hair raising experience for the children.

A hair raising experience.




Paige has a hair raising experience too.

 I decided to try and be artistic or is that mysterious? with my photography. Ah well whatever I was thinking at the time - I had good fun experimenting!


Fun with mirrors.

Kamloops was an enigma as far as Canadian towns are concerned - it showed us the beginning of the end of the snow, treeless hills ( a first in Canada) and the best science interactive centre for kids.