Day One of our Canadian odyssey passed in a
bit of a blur – an 11-hour flight followed by a stumble around an area not
designed for pedestrians, some lacklustre food court fare and a ridiculously
early night. I think we were all in bed by 5pm.
Predictably, Day Two began excruciatingly
early. We gave up trying to get the kids to stay in bed about 4am and were all
downstairs having breakfast at 6. Catching the 9 o’clock sailing to Vancouver
Island was not difficult. The ferry ride
was fun – a lot like the Interislander but a shorter voyage.
The next day we all went whale watching
from Victoria. Orcas proved tricky to photograph, but we also saw a humpback, a
bald eagle and many seals and sea lions.
On Monday we loaded up the cars and drove
up the island to Lake Cowichan where we spent two nights camping in a pine forest
campsite near the edge of the lake. Quite different from New Zealand camping
grounds, which tend to be in big open paddocks.
There followed two days of fishing (the kids), swimming, kayaking (the ladies of the party) and s'mores (marshmallow, chocolate and Graham crackers combo) around the campfire. Sofia was the only one in our family who could walk the log around the swimming area with style.
Stay tuned for the next installment - our adventures in dinosaur country!
