We leave the Moose house at 8am briefly stopping to buy a coffee to go as we’d had no breakfast. It was a bright sunny morning after a night of heavy rain.
Our morning walk would be Long Beach. This was a huge expanse of sand with waves in the distance gentle breaking as the tide was out. I took the opportunity of rolling up my jeans and walking out to the cool Pacific Ocean glistening in the morning sunlight. The Moose bus dropped us off at one end and picked us up at the other, which was a good half hour walk… probably a bit longer as we took our time, it was so beautiful here.
We had a snack break at Port Alberni, followed by another walk, this time in a forest with a huge cedar tree that was already 300 years old when Christopher Columbus sailed in in 1492! There was a heavy rain shower while we were here making it a rain forest in every sense of the word. Here is a robin… as big as a pigeon!
Jon had returned to the shop where we had bought our snacks earlier to get Jeanne’s iPhone which she had left there… panic over, someone had kindly handed it in.
We Stopped at Coombs for lunch. Quaint little touristy place with a holiday feel to it. I decided on some scrummy clam chowder in the café part of a big market store. 
There were goats grazing on the roof!
We passed through Ladysmith’s town where Canada’s greatest actress, Pamela Anderson, comes from.
We stopped at Chemainus where we looked at the world famous murals depicting local industry. Much warmer on this side of the island. At last I found an ATM.
We then visited Averill Creek vineyard where we tasted some very nice wines. The view from there was tremendous. I bought a bottle of Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir to take to Cindy later.
We finally arrive at Victoria – wow what a beautiful city and so English with it’s golf courses, tennis and sailing clubs. Some of the suburbs we pass through look affluent with large well designed houses set apart in the trees and all different. John offered to drop me off at Cindy’s but I was unsure of her address and we’d already arranged to meet at the Ocean Island hostel later.
In the meantime John had more surprises for us during his tiki tour round Victoria. He took us right to the very highest point where the panoramic view of the whole city and its surrounds with the sea and the mountains beyond was just phenomenal!
We then descended to the marina where we delighted in the antics of not only two seals but two river otters in the harbour beside the boats. They were clearly used to people and would leap out of the water for pieces of fish which could be bought for them at the Marina.
At last we arrived at the hostel and I said my goodbyes to my traveling companions as Cindy arrived to pick me up. I hadn’t seen her in about 15 years but recognized her straight away… big hugs.