It was nice to be on a longer ferry trip this time as the map below shows, from Petersburg to Prince Rupert because it gives you time to get into the lazy rhythm of this type of travelling, especially on the older ferries like the MV Taku. Throughout the ship you can hear the slow melodic ka-thump of the motors and after a short while the sound becomes a pleasant part of the experience.
After leaving the ferry we had to clear Canadian Customs for what will be our last time before taking a taxi to our B&B in a part of Prince Rupert called Cow Bay. We had heard mixed reviews of Prince Rupert from fellow wanderers and most of them not overly complimentary and after driving through the main part of town, we could understand.
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| our B&B - Prince Rupert |
Cow Bay however was very pleasant indeed as was the Waterfront B&B we stayed in. We were lucky enough to have a spacious room with views out to the ocean. The property is a little quirky, looking slightly like a lighthouse, in fact you climb up into the tower to have breakfast, everyone sitting around a large table and sharing stories. Mary, the owner, was a delight in terms of not only the large breakfasts but her peaceful and warm interactions with everyone.
All around Cow Bay, the older part of Prince Rupert, were old little coffee shops, a great Japanese restaurant we went to twice and a great pub sitting out over the water. Right next to the B&B is the boat harbour for the fishing fleet, so you could watch all the comings and goings, including watching fish being cleaned that were caught by tourists .
Prince Rupert was where I had planned to go fishing… BUT… discovered it was almost impossible at this time of the year. The reason was pretty simple after visiting Harry’s On The Rocks and learning that each boat is chartered as a whole. I could go fishing but would have to charter the whole boat at over $1,000!! So serious fisherman come here and most other places in Alaska in groups and spread their costs that way. At this time of the year with so many fish on the run into rivers, there were no boats free anyway. Oh well.
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| sleeping humpback next to boat |
We decided instead to go out on yet another whale watching tour, hopefully to see orca (killer whales) or more breaching humpbacks and because the price was right. It was a public holiday so the Tasmanian designed catamaran was full with 100 people on board. We didn’t see any orcas but did see humpbacks, managing to quietly sneak up next to one fast asleep, well asleep until the motors were started again. Must admit, there are only so many humpback tails you can photograph, but did have a lady next to us crying with delight for about 15 minutes because she had finally seen whales up close, one of her lifelong ambitions… good on her.
Prince Rupert seems to us to be a place many people go to to go somewhere else, if you don’t happen to live there. Don’t take this as a negative, Prince Rupert is one way of getting to coastal Alaska because you can drive to it from Canada then take a ferry northwards. We rented a car for a day with the intention of heading towards a town called Terrace but were taken aback when we were told there were no unlimited ‘kms’, not even an initial allowance, we were going to be charged 35c per kilometre from the first one travelled. Guess what, we didn’t get to Terrace.
We focussed instead closer to Prince Rupert and visited a nice lake, some tidal rapids and the old salmon cannery which ended up being very interesting. The workers in the cannery back around the 1920’s had a tough time of it, either going deaf because of the loud equipment, getting arthritis due to having their hands in ice water for long periods, or risking lead poison. Back in the early days, each can was soldered together using lead which meant the workers doing this were at risk as were all the end customers who ate the salmon afterwards.
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| real sunset at Prince Rupert |
We ultimately enjoyed our time especially in and around Cow Bay before having to be at the BC (British Columbia) Ferries terminal at 5:30am to check in for our departure to Port Hardy. It takes 16 hrs down the Canadian inside passage on a ferry which is both very modern and large, making the Alaska Marine Highway ferries look small. We reserved seats at the very front with its large windows and with these reservations came checked larger luggage in the storage areas of the ferry so we didn’t have to look after them the whole time.
From the trip map below, you will see that the ferry truly does travel along an ‘inside passage’ staying well away from the open ocean most of time. Unfortunately on the day we travelled, it was heavily overcast all day with occasional rain squalls blowing through, but despite this, the scenery was lovely.
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| it truly is an 'inside passage' |
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| travelling down the 'inside passage' |
Sitting one side of us was a lady from Ontario travelling with her husband who spent most of his time wandering around the ship whilst she tried to teach us everything she knew about where she lived and other parts of Canada she has been to. On the other side were a Belgium couple on the final stages of their trip throughout Canada, who were also a delight to talk to and learn more about their country, including during dinner together.
We finally bid farewell to our new short term friends of 16 hours after arriving into Port Hardy, at 11.30pm. Port Hardy is located at the very north of Vancouver Island. They disappeared into the stomach of the ferry to collect cars, whilst we walked off and waited for our bags along with numerous others. With all bags back with us, we boarded the old bright yellow school bus waiting to transport us to one of two hotels in town and a clean room, a good bed and a great nights sleep.
We were collected out the front of the hotel by our local bus next morning, well not really a bus, more like a shuttle van, for our trip southwards down the island, first to Campbell River where we transferred to another shuttle bus for the rest of the journey to Nanaimo located about half way down the island on the East coast.
We planned to stay on Vancouver Island for 8 days and was a destination we had been looking forward to visiting for many years, after visiting one town at the southern end many years ago and having numerous people tell us how beautiful it is and beautiful it certainly is. At the northern end of the island are very large snow capped mountains, dense forests of pine trees and delightful little towns we passed through like Telegraph Cove.
In Nanaimo we stayed in the Beach Estates Inn B&B run by Fran and Neil and what an interesting couple they are. Fran bounded out to meet us, full of energy and enthusiasm to settle us in. We met Neil next morning over breakfast after a great sleep in a really nice room.
Neil is probably mid to late 60’s, has long hair below his shoulders and doesn’t shake hands, you greet by touching clenched fists together. He also has a very inquiring mind, loves to make things and has strong opinions about most things. They have been running their B&B for about 20 years, cook a great breakfast and for 6 months of the year live in their other home in Phoenix We had some very lively and good conversation over breakfast before departing to collect our rental car for the next week.
Most people live on the east coast or at the bottom of the island, but there is a place we had heard a LOT about over on the west coast and that’s where we headed, then checked into the Tofino Travellers Guest House. It was here some of the ‘Geripacker’ experiences kicked in as the term ‘guest house’ is really a slightly up market backpackers hostel. We were in one of two private rooms and the rest of the rooms contain multiple bunks. This place was full of young backpackers from all over the world and ‘mum & dad’… us.
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| breakfast table at the guest house - Tofino |
Tofino, after a lazy walk around it in the sunshine, reminded us a little of Byron Bay in that there are numerous restaurants, coffee shops, arts & craft shops and surf shops, lots of surf shops. During our stay in Tofino, we enjoyed the breakfast waffles each morning around one big table and chatting to all the young travellers who by now were quite relaxed with us. We also explored the beaches, went for a walk amongst very large and old cedar trees on Meares Island and went for yet another bear watching trip, this time from a boat.
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| Rob and old growth cedar tree |
The boat was an old ‘chugger’ which carries only 12 passengers with Mike as our skipper, a born and bred Tofino resident of 60+ years. The black bears like to walk along the shoreline looking for crabs and it wasn’t long before we found them. They had no fear of us at all and allowed us to come within 10 mtrs of them, so for us it was a very different experience. We were no longer looking down on the bears from viewing positions, we were almost at eye level with them.
The shores here are covered by bright green growth on the abundant rocks and it was the rocks the bears turned over with significant ease, no matter how large they were. After watching them we certainly gained a significant appreciation and respect for the strength of bears.
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| looking for crabs |
On our trip to and back from the bears, we spent most of our time talking to a young couple from Amsterdam who had been travelling throughout Canada with their two young kids and who have travelled extensively throughout the world already. At one point whilst the husband and I were sitting chatting out on the front of the boat alone, I asked him, “what sort of job do you have that lets you travel so much?”. He smiled and simply replied, “I’m in the marijuana business!”. They employ 60 people and have warehouse distribution locations both in Holland and the USA.
It took us about 5 hours to drive from Tofino down to Victoria at the southern end of the island. Victoria also happens to be the capital of British Columbia, not Vancouver as most people believe and we have visited here before. It is a lovely city with that typical casual style of British Columbia. Two things were on our agenda in Victoria, a visit to the Butchart Gardens and also our last chance to see orca.
We woke to pouring rain the day of the 3 hour tour out on the sea searching for orca, but it was meant to decline during the day and our boarding time was 1 pm. Later as we walked to the docks, the rain had eased to a very light drizzle and right on time, we headed out to sea with about 30 others, many of them Aussies doing inside passage cruises to Alaska. The sky was not looking too good and the crew informed us it would take around 40 mins before we were in the area they hoped to see some transient orcas.
Wildlife spotting is always a risk and you don’t always get to see what you’re after as it was this day and alas… no orcas! By the time we had reached where the orcas should have been, the rain had started to fall again and out on the horizon, a wall of fog was slowly heading our way.
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| time for a rest and stretch on its back |
We were however treated to the antics of a sole humpback whale. We knew something was up when the skipper started yelling, “go, go, go” which could be heard above the engines and everyones chatter. Then we saw what he was excited about, this whale, lying on its back slapping both its huge fins onto the water.
The boat stopped and we all headed up onto the roof to watch, despite the now light but steady rainfall. The whale rolled over about 100 mtrs away and we saw that familiar arch in its back then its tail disappearing into the depths. That was it we thought.... gone! The whale had different ideas.
Up it came, arched its back and fell back into the water with a huge splash. A breach! This whale was in a playful mood because it continued to breach or lie on its back slapping its fins for over an hour.
Even better, it decided to come closer, even pulling off a breach about 20 mtrs directly in front of the boat. An impressive sound of 40+ tonnes of whale smashing back down on the water. It was a fantastic thing to photograph and the time soon came to put down the camera and watch the rest of this spectacle as the fog slowly swirled in around us.
There were just so many breaches and this is just one sequence near to our boat - click the link:
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| Fishermans Wharf - Victoria |
The whale disappeared into the mist and we headed back to the dock where disembarked and headed to Fishermans Wharf, a set of floating food stores and homes of all shapes, sizes and colour. We were still on a high after watching the humpback, but must admit to both being disappointed not to see orcas. Maybe next time… somewhere else.
Before leaving Victoria, we headed back out after dinner and when the sun had set to have a look at this lovely city at night and thankfully, the rain was finally gone.
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| Butchart Gardens |
Our drive back to Nanaimo was via Sooke on the west coast, then to the Butchart Gardens, a place Rob had wanted to visit for many years and what a set up it was, with hundreds of visitors going through it by the time we arrived. These gardens were not only busy and beautiful, they are a tourist based money making machine.
Before reaching Nanaimo, returning the car and settling back into Fran & Neil’s B&B, we visited 2-3 small towns along the coastline. Vancouver Island is certainly bigger and more scenically diverse than we thought, but as beautiful as all those people we had met in the past had described.
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| trip map around Vancouver Island |
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| ferry to Vancouver and then to Bill's home |
We relaxed throughout our 90 min BC Ferry trip from Nanaimo on the island to Horseshoe Bay on the mainland where Bill, a Canadian and very good friend of almost 20 years was waiting.
We hadn't seen Bill and his wife Charlyn for almost 8 years so were looking forward to catching up and staying with them for three nights before we flew back to Australia rather than doing a whole lot of touristy things. The three days with them was great, combined with a lot of fun, good catch up conversation, including meeting their family one very entertaining evening during our stay. We also appreciated their hospitality and look forward we hope, to returning it one day.
The time had come however to head back to Australia after 16 weeks of being on the road, sea and air during our meanderings. After our farewells to Bill and Charlyn, we flew out of Vancouver to Los Angeles then boarded our Qantas flight for a nice, "g'day" welcome, our flight back home and a bundy. It has been a very enjoyable albeit a very looong trip.
This is a poem or saying that was written up on the guest house wall in Tofino that resonated with us relative to travelling:
This is it
This is really it
This is all there is
And it’s perfect as it is
There is nowhere to go but Here
There is nothing here but Now
There is nothing now but This
And this is it
This is really it
This is all there is
And it’s perfect as it is
James Broughton
There will be a final summary post for this trip, including a few learning’s but in the meantime, if you want to see some additional photos… you know what to do:
CLICK HERE for more photos - Back into British Columbia 2014
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