Capilano Suspension Bridge

On of the other Australian teachers here in Vancouver had friends coming to visit. They were coming from Melbourne to visit a sick uncle in Toronto and calling in to Vancouver on their way home. As it happened, they visited with him and stayed a couple of weeks. They helped put his affairs in order and said their goodbyes. When they arrived in Vancouver they were told that he had passed away. They then arranged for him to be cremated and were going to take his ashes back to Australia. He had lived in Canada for about 50 years, but had no relations here.
We made arrangements to meet them at the Capilano Suspension Bridge. As well as our free VIP passes, we had some free passes, and could also get discounts for any extra "guests". This was another one of the places that the kids remembered from 2001. There had been some additions since then. The Treetop Walk and the Cliffhanger Walk were both new.
After that we went back to our place for a drink, before Paula and Kerrie took them up Grouse Mountain to get a view of the city by night. When they got back we had a nice salmon dinner and a few drinks before they headed back to Port Coquitlam.
A couple of days later Paula went in the Sea Bus to meet them in town and spend the day sightseeing before they left to go back to Australia.

Easter and daffodils

We got a 4 day weekend for Easter. In the US they don't get any extra days, but in Canada schools got Good Friday and Easter Monday. We decided to go and catch up with friends in Washington State, and to visit the school that we were at in 2001. We rang on Thursday afternoon to check that it would be OK to visit on Friday afternoon. Laurie, the school secretary, checked the calendar and decided that it would be fine.
We slept in a little and left mid-morning. I was allowing 1 -2 hours for the border crossing. We headed for the border and got to the crossing at Aldergrove to find that the cars were backed up to 14th Street, so we turned around and headed for the Huntingdon crossing near Abbotsford. As we took the exit of the freeway I could see the line of cars. We sat in the line-up for 4.5 hours.
When we finally got to the booth at the border the guard commented that, "The Canadians haven't done us any favours here." We wondered what he was on about. He said that when they had stapled the Immigration paperwork into the passports, they had stapled through the machine readable part of the US visa. This was like cancelling a cheque. Luckily after removing the staples and flattening the page it was able to be fed through the machine.
It was close to 5 hours since we had first arrived at the border. We knew that we were not going to make it to Allen, so we headed for Chuckanut Drive, and the shellfish farm where we bought 5 dozen oysters and some smoked salmon. We stayed with friends for the weekend.
On Saturday we got organised for a traditional Easter Egg hunt. We must have had about 100 plastic eggs that we filled with candy and money. It was then up to the adults to hide these eggs outside. They have a pretty big yard and Paula, Patty, Roger and I tried to hide the eggs in not too obvious, or difficult spots. It was then the kids turn. They came out, each armed with a bag of some description to carry their spoils. They quickly spread out and proceeded to find eggs all over the yard. They each ended up with about the same number of eggs. Daniel managed to, as well as choclolate and candy, get about $10 in coins. Bridget got about $4.
After the hunt we went for a drive to check out the daffodils. Everything is late this year because of the colder than usual, and later winter. The Tulip Festival is supposed to be on during April, but they were quite a few weeks away.
We decided to catch up with Linda, who was the principal of the school that I taught at in 2001. Sh elives out on Samish Island. She has a nice view out across the bay to Chuckanut Drive, and on a clear night can see the lights of Vancouver's three North Shore ski mountains. We stayed for a couple of hours chatting and got contact details for a couple of other people that we want to see.
This was parked in a carpark near a main intersection in town. It had lights flashing and stickers covering almost every square cm of it's body. The guys in the van were selling the stickers. Good advertising and a great way to see parts of the country.

Grouse Mountain

The three ski areas in North Vancouver - Mt Seymour, Cypress Mountain and Grouse Mountain apparently all agreed weeks ago that they would finish the ski season on April 15th. Since that decision there has been further snow falls, leading to a snow pack on Grouse Mountain of nearly five meters.

When we got back to Vancouver after the Spring Break, Paula and Kerrie went up Grouse, Kerrie decided to take a Snow-limousine tour of the mountain and
talked Paula into going with her.

The kids then did the snow-limo tour the next weekend as an introduction to skis and to the runs on Grouse Mountain. They did a 30 minute tour which cost C$50 each. The guys that took the kids took them on an extra run because they had gone down the runs faster than anyone they had taken in the previous 3 weeks. They said it was great fun.

Gibson's Landing to North Van

We stayed at "Camp Too", at Soame's Point with Betty, Bruce and Patty. Betty lives right on the beach with a view across the water to the Sea to Sky Highway and Cypress Mountain. Looking to the left about a kilometer away was the Langdale ferry terminal. It is a beautiful place to live. A couple of kilometers away is Gibson's Landing, the setting of the TV series - "The Beachcombers".
It was drizzling rain on and off, so we headed into Gibson's to have a look around. We all took off in different directions to explore the town. Some headed to the shops, while I headed for the the harbour area. I can imagine that this would be a hive of activity in the summer. There are harbourside restaurants and oyster bars that are pretty quiet at the moment, and a great little sheltered harbour.
After lunch we decided to brave the weather and take a hike to the top of Soame's Hill. Bruce, Patty, Bridget, Daniel and I got into our wet weather gear and headed for the hill. The start of the track was in rainforest with spruce, birch, fir and cedar trees. As we climbed the ferns became fewer, and the top was more exposed and rocky. On the way up the breeze picked up and we were hit by a hail storm. Bruce suggested that a hail storm usually comes at the end of a storm and is followed by clear weather. As we got to the top the blue sky was appearing and we got some reasonable views down the coast and across to Vancouver Island.
Paula and Kerrie had a great time chatting with Betty, who is 84, and was brought up in Churchill, Manitoba. That is on the shores of Hudson Bay and in polar bear country. Her father had been a fur trapper. She had some great stories to tell, and photos and relics to show. She also invited us to come back and stay, and suggested that the kids could even go there by themselves if they wished. All they would have to do is catch a bus to Horseshoe Bay, jump on a ferry, and then walk from the ferry terminal along the beach to her house. Maybe they will take her up on the offer in the summer. We needed to head off so we caught a late afternoon ferry back to Horseshoe Bay to complete an interesting, albeit quick circular trip around Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast. At least we know some places that we would like to get back to again when we have more time.

Campbell River to Gibson's Landing

We left the house on Quadra at about 10 am to catch the ferry to Campbell River which is on the 50th parallel. We stopped near the port to have a look around and also to get some lunch. When I was walking around the wharf I spotted a large troller that had been mentioned in an article that I had read in the local paper. Apparently about a week earlier the captain of a tug boat had been lost overboard while they were on their way back into port. The story of his rescue by the Pacific Faith is here. I also saw something like a mink running along the wharf.

We had a couple of hours until the next ferry from Comox to Powell River so we took it easy and drove down the coast road. On the way we went through Ocean Grove and also saw the Lorne Hotel. The names remind me of home. After a quick drive through Comox we headed towards the ferry departure area. We had a wait of about an hour, and then a crossing of around 1.5 hours to the mainland to Powell River. The crossing was a little bumpy, but not too bad.

We arrived at Powell River a bit later than expected and had to rush down the coast to make the next ferry connection from Saltery Bay to Earl's Cove. This part of the BC coast is only accessible via the ferries. There is no access across the mountains. We had arranged to have dinner with Bruce and Patty, at Bruce's mum's house in Gibson's Landing, and if we missed the next ferry we wouldn't be there till very late. We ended up making the connection with about 10 minutes to spare, but didn't see much of Powell River.

Victoria to Quadra

We decided to drive around the harbour to have breakfast at a marina I remembered from last time we were here. I remembered a sheltered harbour with houseboats, and a house that was covered in all sorts of marine paraphernalia. By following my nose, which must have been how we found it last time, we finally turned a corner and the harbour opened up in front of us. Taking another turn towards the water we saw the "Shell House", and it brought back memories for the kids. We stopped and wandered around the house taking photos, and then headed across to the restaurant on the harbour for breakfast. Inside there was all sorts of maritime photos and real stuffed fish, trophies of past expeditions. It was a nice breakfast as we looked out over the houseboats and the harbour wondering whether it was going to rain again, or snow. Luckily it cleared for us to walk around the marina, but it was still quite cold.

When Bridget came over with her school acouple of weeks ago, they went to Parliament, the Royal BC Museum, and Craigdarroch Castle. She had said it would be a good place to have a look at, so we headed for the castle before heading north. It was situsted a few kms away from the city centre on the top of a hill that would have afforded a great view in all directions - towards the city, ocean and mountains. The view is still good, but there are lots of buildings and roofs in view.

Craigdarroch Castle is a beautiful historic Victorian-era mansion, built in the 1890s by wealthy BC coal baron Robert Dunsmuir. Rising 87 stairs up through the 4 1/2 stories, there are 39 rooms, most of which are furnished lavishly in the 1890s–1900s period. With over 20,000 square feet of space, the house and gardens are being restored exactly as they were originally built. It is an amazing building and wood features throughout the castle. The tender to build the castle was won by a Chicago firm. They prefabricated the building and shipped it in 5 railcars across the continent. RObert Dunsmuir never saw the completed castle. He died just months before it was completed, but his wife went on to live there for another 18 years. It was worth the visit.

We then headed north towards Chemainus. It was a town that relied heavily upon the wood and forestry industry. In 1983 the sawmill closed and 700 people out of a population of 400 lost their jobs. They decided to beautify the place and painted murals all around town. It is now world famous for it's murals. Take the mural tour here. It now relies heavily on tourism and has hundreds of thousands of people visiting each year. We spent a couple of hours wandering around before again continuing up the island.

To get to Quadra Island we had to first travel to Campbell River, and then get a ferry. By the time we got to Campbell River it was getting dark and everyone was hungry, so we stopped at a White Spot for a meal. We then got some groceries before taking the 9:30 pm ferry across the passage. This is a 1 1/2 km stretch of water that seperates Quadra from the mainland. It is also a stretch of water that all the cruise ships and liners use to cruise the Discovery and Inside Passage tours. The ferry crossing only took about 15 minutes. We then found our way in the dark to our accomodation. The ESL teacher at Kerrie's school had said that her parents-in-law had a place that had just been built up on Quadra, and made arrangements for us to stay there while they were visiting in Vancouver. We have never met, but may catch up with them later in the year. It was extremely kind of them, and we planned to stay for two nights.

Quadra Island is the largest of the Discovery Islands. We explored the island the next day heading north for a walk out to Bold Point. Travelling south we went to Herriot Bay, and then down to Cape Mudge home to the We Wai Kai band of the Laichwiltach People, part of the Kwakwak'awakw First Nation, and the lighthouse. We headed back to the Herriot Bay Inn for dinner.

Victoria - Capital of BC, on Vancouver Island

We went out looking for somewhere to have breakfast, so we drove into towards the harbour area. We parked the car at the wharf and walked up towards Bastion Square. We found a great little place called The Blue Carrot. We all got a cooked breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast and potato pieces for $7.95 each. Pretty good value.

We then headed towards the Royal BC Museum. We purchased a 12 month family pass, as we hope to get back a few times during the year, and then spent a couple of hours going through the exhibits. The First Nations exhibit is very interesting. As we left the museum we walked through Thunderbird Park where there are about a dozen totem poles.

One of Daniel's memories from 2001 was eating at the Old Spaghetti Factory, so we headed across the road for an early dinner. As we were eating it began to snow. The tourist books say that, "in February, the local Victorians can be found at the sidewalk cafes, and counting the blossoms." Well not this year, and this was mid March. It was nice sitting inside, watching the snowflakes fall on the bowling green next door, and the roofs and trees nearby.

After having an early dinner we were trying to decide what to do with the rest of the evening. We decided to go to the movies and watch Slumdog Millionaire. When we arrived in town this morning we parked down by the wharf. We paid for a ticket through till 6 pm. I headed down to get another ticket for the evening, or move the car, while the others decided to walk to the theatre. When I got to the car park it was about 6:15 and the parking attendant was booking cars that didn't have an evening ticket. Luckily our car was quite a way away from the pay booth, and this was where he had started. I got to the car ..... luckily no ticket, got in and decided I would find parking closer to the theater. Afterall it was after 6 pm. and most of the street parking was free. Kerrie had already seen Slum Dog Millionaire, so she went to something else while we all enjoyed it.

There are some really interesting shops around the city and it is fun just walking up and down the streets window shopping. On the way to the car we passed a few shops that we thought would be good to come back to tomorrow, and then we headed for the motel.