Vancouver Island

The next morning, we headed back to Trolls at Horseshoe Bay for breakfast, as we were booked on the ferry to Vancouver Island. We travelled from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo which took about 90 minutes. It was quite an overcast day, so the views weren’t too clear, but the crossing was good.

Along the road from Nanaimo to Campbell River, we called at Goats on The Roof at Coombs. This is a farm shop, market and restaurant with grass on the roof where goats roam – basically what it says in the title. We went into the restaurant for some food and then spent some time looking around the shop and then back to the car.

Campbell River

Nearing our next accommodation, we became a bit concerned that we might have made a mistake, as we seemed to be driving through an industrial estate, when we expected to be driving towards apartments overlooking Campbell River. But as we pulled into the car park of the gated building, we were shown to the apartment, which was literally sitting on the banks of the river. It was a gorgeous open plan kitchen area, with a huge set of French doors leading out onto a patio. The owner, Sonny showed us round and gave us some great information about local places and where to call on our drive back to the ferry. Once he had left, the first thing we did, in true Yorkshire style, was to put the kettle on and sit out on the patio, hoping to see the until now elusive bears.

Within a few minutes, we were treated to seals swimming up and down the river, chasing and eating the salmon which were now struggling as they had spawned and were ready to die. Then, to our surprise and absolute joy, a brown bear came out of the forest and began scratching his back against one of the trees. We were all so excited as he then walked down the riverbank. We watched with cameras and binoculars for a while, but as he disappeared under a bridge further down the river, we quickly got our shoes on and walked to the next bridge to get a better view. For the next couple of hours, we were treated to a family of bears, strolling down the river, swimming and catching fish. What an amazing experience to see such magnificent creatures enjoying the evening in their natural habitat. It had taken over two weeks to find them, but it was worth the wait.

Homalco Tour

After seeing the bears during the evening, we were very excited for the trip with Homalco Tours, to see grizzly bears in the wild. We chose this company as the tours are dedicated to preserving the environment, protecting the wildlife and teaching the history, culture and language of the First Nations people. We knew that if for any reason we did not see any bears, we would learn a lot about the natural world and the history of the people who cared for the land for thousands of years before being moved and relocated by missionaries.

The tour was called Great Bears of Bute, and it lived up to its name. We set off in a small boat and travelled up the river for a couple of hours. The pilot of the boat and the tour guide were exceptional in looking after the guests and providing information. On our way up the river, we saw seals and whales. Although not intentionally looking for whales, every so often they would be seen in the distance. Arriving at our destination, we were taken for a briefing about the bears and the area we would be visiting. Two of the most important instructions were to be as quiet as possible to ensure the bears weren’t scared away, and absolutely no food as the bears can smell it for miles. I am not sure how the guides held their cool throughout, as people within our group were constantly chatting, not even in a whisper and one lady decided to start eating a banana! Why fully grown adults cannot seem to follow very simple rules for their own safety and everyone’s enjoyment is beyond me.

However, putting that to one side, the next few hours were an amazing experience. We travelled in a small bus to various locations, where we could watch the grizzly bears in the wild. Sometimes we were stood at the side of the river and sometimes we were in secure wooden towers, able to watch from a distance without disturbing the bears. Here, once again the salmon were dying after spawning, which meant that there were thousands and thousands of dead salmon floating in the river. It gave the whole area a distinctive aroma of a fish market, but it was worth getting used to this to see the splendour of the grizzly bears in their own habitat.

It is hard to describe everything we saw and learned on the tour as it was such a full day. It was an amazing experience and one that I will probably never get the opportunity to do again.

River Campbell to Victoria

Our next drive was to Victoria, where we were to stay overnight before catching the ferry back to Vancouver. Sonny had advised us to call at Chemainus if we had time as he said it was a beautiful spot, around halfway, which would break up the journey for us.

It was a great piece of advice as this was a superb spot on what turned out to be a gloriously sunny day. Chemainus is a picturesque village between the mountains and the ocean on the Cowichan Coat. The central area houses a visitors’ centre and Waterwheel Park. It is quite hilly, but the streets are clean, tidy and well paved. Throughout the town the buildings are adorned with murals, which tell stories depicting local events, history and famous people. They were all stunning and it made the walk around the village extra special.

We continued our drive to Victoria, where we stayed at Oak Bay Beach Hotel. This was impressive, in a gorgeous location with mineral pools and hot tubs overlooking the sea. This was just what we needed after a busy holiday and lots of travelling. We were ready for a relaxing and enjoying the sunshine as we were now nearing the end of our road trip. We spent a lovely afternoon in the pools and hot tubs, then spent the evening sitting around the fire pit with our food and drinks. As the rooms were beautiful suites, we were able to buy food from the supermarket without getting ready to go back out to eat. This meant that we had a lovely, relaxing evening, sitting and chatting and talking about the highlights of our holiday.