| After the gardens we
camped at Living Forest campground, near Nanaimo. The view across the bay is
still of Vancouver Island but you may be able to see the mainland in
the distance. |  |
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From there we headed west across the centre of the island. Most of the
population lives in the south east corner and it is almost 100 miles of
twisty roads at 40kph with no towns or gas stations in between. Several sets
of bridge replacements though. |
| Crystal Cove on the west
coast is a very pleasant spot with a beautiful (but expensive) campsite. |  |
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We nearly trod on this caterpillar walking across the sand. It was less than
an inch long. It is a spotted tussock moth caterpillar, sometimes known as
the woolly bear caterpillar. The white hairs are poisonous. The Isabella
moth which it becomes is quite drab. Variants are found in the UK. |
| The last 40 miles of road
to Tofino are bounded by beautiful sandy beaches famous for surfing. However
this one is a little too sheltered. It is Chesterman Beach just by the
campground. |  |
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The sea is very cold here but we did find some well dressed surfers and
after about 20 attempts I did get this shot. He probably had as many
attempts! |
| Another surfer. The waves
were not particularly spectacular. The best beaches are about 12 miles
further south. |  |
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Shots like this are notoriously difficult and the angle of the sun did not
help. |
| There are some
interesting buildings along the beachfront. Note the quite exotic chimneys. |  |
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The whole island is mainly a retirement zone with numerous artists. Jan
always likes glass but what do you do with plates like this except fix them
to a wall? |
| The dreamcatcher is a
common native theme. This house plaque is unusual. |  |
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The entrance to the campsite. There seemed to be quite a number of non-
caucasian employees and several languages. They clearly loved their
gardening |
| The spaces are spacious
and protected although they can be a bit dark in the shortening days. |  |
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Many of the buildings out here are in the log cabin style although the
office is a cut above the norm. |
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