Hello, the wood fairy! Roadtrip to Tofino!

07.02.-10.02.2018 In Nanaimo we made plans for the coming days. We stayed in the best Airbnb (Kennedy House) of all time. It was so modern, tidy and clean - we would have loved to take it with us on our travels. We spent a whole day in Nanaimo doing laundry (I got two bites from a bed bug, hence the fear - that we also brought them along - so quickly wash everything). We also searched various websites on the internet. On the one hand, we compared car rentals, hotel offers in different cities, Airbnbs, and looked for places that are generally interesting on Vancouver Island. The weather gods should be kind to us in the next few days and bless us with lots of sunshine. After several hours of research, we made a decision. We were heading to Tofino!!! Off to the Pacific.

Early in the morning, we were picked up by Enterprise (just kidding, of course it was the car rental) right in front of our Airbnb. Great service. We were allowed to continue driving in the car we were picked up in - so no further transfer of our thousand suitcases & bags. Phew. The rental went smoothly. And off we went on the next little adventure on our trip. Patrick was happy to be driving again, and by the way, we also got a little upgrade to a larger and sportier car (Hyundai Sonata instead of Kia Soul, midsize sedan instead of crossover small car nonsense). Google theoretically calculated a 3-hour drive from Nanaimo to Tofino... well, since we felt the need to stop at every lake, river, tree, mountain, etc., our drive took a bit longer - but we weren't in a hurry anyway. The longest stop on the trip was Cathedral Grove, the park is located in the temperate rainforest and is home to 800-year-old Douglas firs. The trees can have a circumference of 9 meters, the largest tree is about 70 meters. Almost as tall as Patrick's ego. We continued on narrow roads and steep passes towards Tofino. Unfortunately, it started raining in the meantime, which obscured the view of the surrounding nature and didn't stop the Canadians from driving very fast on the roads. Somehow we managed to arrive in Tofino without any accidents and checked into our hotel overlooking the harbor. Unfortunately, the resident whales did not think it necessary to greet us. What an outrage.

After bringing our things to the room and taking a short break, we took a short walk through the 'center' of Tofino and looked for a suitable establishment where we could dine. We found it right across from our hotel: Wolf in the Fog, a restaurant that offered rather ordinary food with a special touch. In short: the best food we have had in Canada so far. Full and satisfied, we returned to the hotel, as most restaurants close around 9:00 p.m., and ended the day.

On the second day, we started with a small breakfast and drove directly to one of the many beaches that line up kilometers southwest of Tofino. Chesterman Beach. Very wide and much longer, with an island located at its interface with another beach: Franks Island - of course privately owned and not accessible to the general public. You have to see and experience this piece of Earth with your own eyes, because no photo or description does it justice. Yes, it's a damn beach with lots of sand and lots of water, but it's somehow different. Maybe we felt that way because everything fit together on this day: the sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It was cool, but not unbearably cold. There were only a few people on site. And the panorama was incredible. In front of us, the expanse of the Pacific. Crystal-clear water. The next piece of land in front of us, thousands of kilometers away and called Hawaii. Behind us, on the one hand, a dense untouched rainforest. On the other hand, high mountains with snow-covered peaks. So, at the end of the world after all. This time perceptible. We stayed here for almost 3 hours. Then we drove to Long Beach and Pacific Rim National Park. Wide and long beaches with maybe a dozen people on them. The solitude was delightful. Since we still had some time left in the day, we drove to Ucluelet, about 40 kilometers southeast of Tofino. Much more of a town than Tofino, but not particularly pretty to look at. We drove all the way south and walked a few meters on the Ucluelet Lighthouse Loop. Forest again. Fantastic views again. This time of rugged rock formations and a wild Pacific. Happy to have made the trip to Tofino and Ucluelet, we drove back before the sun set. Another stop at the first beach (of the day) to watch the sunset and the countless surfers in the water (surfer's paradise of Canada). The perfect end to the day. This place is simply magical. It's understandable why all Canadians rave about it.

The next day took us back towards Port Alberni, Nanaimo, and Duncan. The latter was our last overnight stay on the way to Victoria. The hotel was under construction, so it had little charm. To top it off, a variety of pubescent boys were staying in the neighboring rooms, spending the evening running around the hallway and knocking on strangers' doors. Annoying. I was already considering playing German military marches like the "Preußens Gloria". Fortunately, it suddenly became quiet after 10 p.m. And we could sleep.

On the last day of our trip, we headed towards Victoria. The newest destination of our adventure. On the way there, we stopped at or near the Kinsol Trestle, an old wooden railroad bridge that was probably one of the highest or longest (or both) bridges of its kind for many years. It has been open to the public for several years. Quite nice to look at. After we had seen enough of industrially used wood, we continued towards Victoria. We made a short stop at our future apartment, where we put all our stuff in the corner again. Then we drove towards downtown, where we returned our beloved rental car. After bidding a heartfelt farewell to it, we walked around downtown a bit to familiarize ourselves with our future surroundings....

A detailed description of Victoria with photos will follow in the next post.