Vancouver

We spent 5 nights in Vancouver and met up with more Canadian friends, Howard and Kellie who we knew from our sailing trip.  On the first night we had dinner at their house and parked the motorhome out the front for the night.  The next day we moved to an RV Park and Luke made a friend, a 6 year old boy named Nick.  He was pretty impressed with Nick and so too was Chloe.

We did the ‘touristy’ things in Vancouver, Stanley Park, Granville Island and Grouse Mountain and Kellie was kind enough to be our tour guide and chauffeur. 

Grouse Mountain blew us away, a ski resort within 20 minutes of downtown Vancouver, an 8 minute gondola ride to the top and it was still open for weekend skiing in June!!  The annual lift ticket was $99.  Of course the ‘real’ skiers went to Whistler but still…..

Parksville – Nanaimo – Nth Vancouver

From Parksville we spent a night in Nanaimo near Departure Bay where we caught the ferry the following day to Horseshoe Bay, North Vancouver.  Once again Rich manoeuvred the motorhome on the ferry day, this time we had a lot more room and we were on the front row, which was interesting at the other end.  They opened the doors of the ferry just prior to docking!  We had brilliant blue sky for the crossing which provided spectacular views of snow-capped mountains and the city skyline of Vancouver.

Parksville

We drove 2 hours north of Victoria to Parksville.  We thought the RV Park was in a pretty good location, next to a large playground, right on the beach and in walking distance of the shops, what more could you want.  Then the sun finally came out, the clouds dispersed and WOW!  From the beach you looked left to snow-capped mountains and to the right across the water more snow-capped mountains on the mainland.

After Rich and Luke had their haircut at the Barber Shop I decided to take the plunge, all for the pricey sum of $11.  I then coloured it myself for another $11.  I was quite happy with the cut and for the colour, well, you could say Chloe and I are even more like mother and daughter, I have her strawberry blonde (red) tinge!

Victoria to Parksville, Vancouver Island

On our last day in Victoria we met John and Arianna downtown and took a little tour of the Fairmount Empress Hotel.  

We then walked along the harbour to Fisherman’s Wharf and had fish and chips on a floating dock surrounded by floating houses.  There were two resident seals in the wharf which absolutely fascinated Chloe.  We farewelled John and Arianna and took the ferry taxi back to the RV Park. 

We could have easily stayed a few more days in Victoria but decided to make tracks and headed up the east coast of Vancouver Island to Parksville.  We found a great RV Park, right on the beach, next door to a large park and playground and across the roads from shops and coffee!  Now if it could just stop raining……

Victoria, Vancouver Island

We’ve spent the last few days seeing the sights of Victoria, taking the kids to the park, playing on the beach looking across to the USA (very bizarre concept for us, looking across the water to another country) and even some kid free shopping for me, thanks to Arianna.  John has kindly been chauffeuring us around and Arianna has given me some reprieve from the kitchen, three lunches and two dinners, I’ve been spoilt.

We were blessed with perfect weather when John and Arianna took us out of their boat for the day.  They sold their sailing boat whilst in Australia and now have a leisure trawler, beautifully fitted out and perfect for cruising their waterways.  Their boat is moored 30 minutes north of Victoria, in Sidney and we cruised around the islands in the Strait of Georgia, a very pretty area, reminding us both a little of the Queen Charlotte Sounds in New Zealand.  

The kids enjoyed the boat, especially the dingy ride ashore. Chloe loved wearing her life jacket and only decided to take it off when she realised she couldn’t bend over to pick up pebbles on the beach to throw in the water.

Port Angeles to Victoria, Vancouver Island

Goodbye USA, Hello Canada

We caught the ferry, RV included, from Port Angeles, Washington to Victoria, Vancouver Island Canada.  The ferry venture was relatively stress free, well for me anyway.  Rich had to squeeze the RV between a large Semi and a steel wall with inches to spare.  We even had to pull the side mirrors in, the spot was so tight.

The customs at Canada took less than 5 minutes and as we drove out the ferry terminal, friends who we met whilst sailing the Pacific, John and Arianna ,were there to greet us.  They followed us to the RV Park (well we followed them) and Rich commented how nice it was to see a familiar face.  It was great to catch up and we made some tentative plans for the following few days, including sightseeing and a day on their boat.  I think Rich really enjoyed being amongst ‘boaties’ again.

So excited to be in Canada, snapped photos from the window of the RV just off the ferry,
plus my girlfriend had just stayed here about 2 weeks ago.

Cannon Beach to Elma to Port Angeles

Goodbye Oregon, Hello Washington

We changed our plans due to the broken arm and decided not to venture into Seattle.  Luke was travelling well and we decided he was probably better in his car seat, immobilised.  We were continually reminding him he had a broken arm and couldn’t do certain things.  We whizzed through Washington and felt bad we hadn’t seen more of the state but with a rough plan of our route for the next 4 months, we do not want to be too far north when winter starts.  Spring on the west coast has been quite cool and like Australia I don’t think they are going to have a very warm summer here.