Two weeks in Canada's west

[Shewie]

Got back last weekend from another trip to Canada, we went for our honeymoon four years ago and have been itching to get back ever since. The rough plan was a few days in Vancouver, catch the ferry across to Vancouver Island, head north up to Tofino for a few days then back to the mainland and up to the Rockies.

Some piccies for those who wanted to see them ...

I've never taken any photos out of a plane window before but I thought these were pretty cool as we passed over Hudsons Bay area

Downtown Vancouver taken from Granville Island

HBC plaque I spotted on one of the buildings, I think it was a department store now

Three days of the worst pain in my life meant I spent $300 on an much needed dentist visit, tooth out no more pain

Fancy brew

On the road to the ferry

We drove from Nanaimo port through the mountains and up to Tofino. On the way we saw two black bears, one strolling up the road side and one who'd raided a salmon farm we think. Our first full day at Tofino was a trip to Meares Island with Gisele Martin from Tla-ook Adventures. The community now was very much geared up for eco-tourism with something for everybody to do, this was going to be the highlight of my holiday.

Joe bringing the cedar boat round, one he'd carved himself, nice huh

Gisele going through some drills for the newbies, or was it the size of the salmon she caught last night?

And off we go into Clayoquot Sound heading for Meares Island

Gisele had labelled everything she could get her hands on to enable her to learn her native language

Landing at Meares Island we unloaded and followed Gisele in to the forest

More in a bit .....

 

[blacktimberwolf]

Fantastic so far, looking foreward to part 2

 

[mikew]

That all looks very familiar. What a place eh?!

 

[rik_uk3]

Love it (apart from the toothache), you lucky dratsab

 

[Twodogs]

Stunning mate

 

[Scout]

Great pics. Looks like a fantastic trip.


Nathan

 

[vizsla]

Stunning mate

Yes stunning lovely name too gisele;-)

 

[vizsla]

Sorry great pics aswell mate

 

[Retired Member southey]

Brilliant matey! What a trip!

 

[Man of Tanith]

all i can do is echo rik you lucky lucky swine

 

[stovie]

A great place...and like you, too many piccies to share...

 

[Gill]

*** Rich i,m on the edge of my chair here i,ve been choking for these pics buddy!

 

[Chainsaw]

Ditto, c'mon rich! Ps her indoors would have howked yer tooth for half that . I'd have done it for nothing Cheers Alan

 

[udamiano]

Nice piccies, really jealous I love Canada it really is the last wild frontier

 

[bb07]

Gorgeous pics Shewie, looks like you had a great time. Looking forward to seeing more!

 

[Shewie]

Into the forest we went and it wasn't long before we reached the first mature cedar, Gisele gave us a talk on how their culture regarded cedar as the tree of life. It provided everything from boats and houses to eating vessels and even clothing, Gisele had made this small bag from cedar bark a few years ago (better pic coming up)

Cedar having been stripped by Gisele a number of years ago, the bark will gradually close round and seal up as it grows

Some great colours in the rain forest

The Hanging Tree

Gisele described many of the trees, plants, lichens and creatures as we walked through the forest, each of them having history and a usefulness for the native families. We saw an amazing banana slug which she went on to tell us a tail of how the slug gave it's eyes to the eagle but I can't remember how it went, you'll just have to believe me
As we broke out of the canopy there were a huge variety of berry trees around, I got to have my first ever taste of Huckleberries. We'd come out onto a beach where we chilled out in the sun listening to more stories from Gisele. One including uncle Ray who apparently couldn't get a fire going a few yards up the beach, the wood was moist from the humidity and Rays bowdrill was starting to sound too much like a distressed animal, cue the cougar :yikes: They soon packed in after that.

A better look at Gisele's handy work

After lunch we walked back through the forest and back to the canoe, we headed back to shore feeling very relaxed and enlightened. We took a chilled out wander around Tofino for the rest of the day, hitting the cafes and watching the sea planes coming and going.

Next morning we were up at 5 a.m and heading out on a bear watching trip with one of the local companies.

Some very poor photos coming up, a combination of an early start, too many rums the night before and a crap point and shoot. You'll have to take my word for what's in some of them

Bald Eagle, honest

Female wolf, seriously

After we passed the lone wolf on the beach we approached a small island, there was a washed up sea lion on the beach which had attracted a whole family of wolves. My camera was a waste of time but luckily I had my 18x50 Canon IS binos with me so got some great close up views. Carol wanted to take home the tiny little black one which looked just like a two month old Alsation.

We went belting up the next inlet in the RIB and came to a large open beach where we spotted the first bear. A three year old sow apparently. She was turning over rocks the size of televisions with just one paw and pulling out crabs. Rubbish pictures but most of these are different bears

More piccies to come ...

 

[shogun]

amazing shewie pics are excellent...thanx for sharing!!

 

[SimonM]

Looks fantastic...more please!

Simon

 

[bilmo-p5]

Very nice, Rich.
A beautiful part of the world indeed.

 

[Welshwizard]

Beautifull scenery there and Canada looks great too