Monday: For us it started early. After we got a very tasty breakfast at Bill’s, we left in the direction of Tofino. Tofino, is a small town, which is very famous for surfing and in the summer and not Covid times very populated by tourists. But before we went to Tofino via Ukke (Uculelet), we went hiking near Port Alberni. A short, not strenuous hike, but it took a long time. The “Weiner Falls and Upper Falls”. A waterfall under which we went swimming, the water was so freezing cold, but we still spent a lot of time to get good photos. After that we drove on to Ucuelet and stopped halfway at a lake and went swimming again. You see, we take every lake and sea and river to go swimming. Uclelet is a very, very small cute town where we had grabbed a snack. After that we enjoyed the drive to Tofino. Along long sandy beaches, the rainforest and many surfers. Arrived in the evening…. checked in… got food and talked a bit with our neighbors, who also come from DE.
Tuesday: First of two full days in Tofino. The plan for today was: Of course surf!!! We have booked for 1 o’clock a surf lesson over three hours. I’m really looking forward to it. But first, the most important thing of the day: the phone call with mom and dad. It was my dad’s birthday. All, all the best:) Then it was off at 1 o’clock to one of the many beaches in Tofino. Chetserman Beach is a long sandy beach with very nice and also relatively high waves. Surf season is January and February, but also in April you can still get good waves. After a small briefing on the beach we went on the boards. 3 hours lasted the whole fun and for my first time surfing I did very, very well. I surfed at least 10 waves. Surfed three of those waves to the end and stood on my surfboard for over 30 seconds at times. It was endless fun. It was nice and toasty warm in the wetsuits, the sea was rough and with the surfboard under my arm it worked better every time. A huge thanks to Adam, who as our surf instructor, has taught me the surfing super. More of it!
I look forward to my next ride. In the evening we went to get dinner and then to the room. Completely exhausted and tired I fall now in my bed and look forward to our kayak tour tomorrow. Once again so exhausting.
Wednesday: Another day in beautiful Tofino. Unfortunately the weather wasn´t good at all. I guess it rained the whole day long. Anyway our mood wasn´t bad at all, just because oft he weather. Mario and I decided couple days ago to book a kayak tour on this day. So around 12 we drove to the location where we should meet our instructor and tour guide. We´ve been on the tour together with two locals from Tofino, we were having a nice chat the whole time, learned a lot about the rain forrest, saw some orcas from the land, sea lions swimming directly next to our kayak and last but not least a little dolphin called calves. Pretty unique and awesome. The Tour was quiet funny, but I wouldn´t do it again, even though I don´t regret at all. Tomorrow we´re heading to Courtnay. About a three hours drive.
Thursday: Bye Bye Tofino. Hello Courtnay. We left Tofino and went to all the nice beaches between Uculelet and Tofino. Awesome. We watched the surfers catching all the waves and enjoyed sometimes kilometers without anyone being at the beach. We had lunch in Uculelet and hit the road again for our 3 hours trip to Courtnay, where we will do some wine and beer tastings. Keep u updated😊
Friday: An exhausting day was goign to come. Yesterday evening we arrived at our AirBnB. Quiet funny, because it is a blueberry farm and I already had contact with them via workaway. I asked them if they would need some help for beginning for may as a volunteer, but they declined me xD
Anyways. We got up really early, because today the pool fort he West Coast Trail opened. For all of you who wanna know what this is… a 75km hike, that takes 5 to 7 days. Located in the Pacific Rim National park at the West Coast of Vancouver Island. 7 day of hiking without service, only the stuff u packed for it before, through the wild nature. For details… check it out online. Then we had breakfast and I called the a cab to 10:30am. Why did u order a cab, if u have your own car? Good question. Like I said we were on our way for a wine tasting, so noone could drive. First winery was the „40 Knots Winery“. It is located close to Courtenay in the Comox Valley. A pretty new wine region, that grows from year to year and the wines are getting better every year. We did a wine tour and a tasting and ordered afterwards some salmon, a bottle of wine and enjoyed the vineyard with beautiful weather. We had a nice chat with the woman behind the counter. After this one we kept going to the next winery. „The Beaufort Winery and Estate“ is also located in the Comox Valley, but a bit further away from Courtenay. We did a tasting as well and bought two bottles of wine afterwards. One of them, is for Kennedy, the owner of the lavendar farm, where Mario and I are gonna start working in a few days and one bottle for us, which we btw enjoyed during dinner at home. The Beaufort Vineyard is a really nice and chill place. The woman behind the counter was really generous and nice. We had a nice chat about us, our plans, her life back in Germany and and and… I have to admit that I was happy when I felt asleep in the evening. A really really exhausting day, just don´t k why?! xD
Saturday: We left the Blueberry Farm quiet late. Destination: Campbell River, 45min drive to the north. We planned a hike fort he afternoon. The „Campbell River Lookout Trail“ is a 7.6km hike with an elevation of 680m. Pretty tough, but Mario and I made it, even though it was pretty hard at some parts. The views were spectacular, really breathtaking. It took us 1h 15min up and an hour down. A really great hike, one of my favourits so far. After this one we moved on tot he grocery store, bought dinner and checked in our Motel in.
Sunday: We started the day around noon. Pretty late again. I guess Mario and I are really exhausted from the last two weeks. Getting up early, doing hikes, driving to our next destination, carrying all of our stuff in and out… The last 14 days were really cool, I saw so much that I still don´t realize where I have been when and what I was doing there. Anyways, we went for two hikes today. The first one was a moderat 8km hike, whick was pretty cool. We got some cool views. Then we went tot he Elk Provincial Park and took a look at the really great Waterfalls down there. We still didn´t like it, because we prefer hikes where the nature is untouched. The Elk Falls Provincial Park is so busy and further u got stairs, fences, bridges almost everywhere. We like to go for hikes that are pretty tough and further untouched by humans. Anyway, still pretty cool to see. In the evening we went as the end of our RoadTrip is getting closer, for a nice supper in a restaurant. Sit outside on the patio and had a cool view over the mountains and the sea at the horizon. Cool last day.
Tomorrow we will head to Victoria to bring our Rental Car back, then to the „Damali Lavendar and Vinery“ where we will start working for Room and Board for the next 3 to 4 weeks. Then West Coast Trail (begin: june, 04th) and almost back home at this point.
TBH I have to admit that I am not ready to go back to Germany. I mean of course I love seeing my parents again, friends and all the stuff that I miss, but I feel so great at the moment and I just don´t wanna get out of this unbelievable, amazing country. There is still so much more to see, to do and I love to be independent. Not having daily chores, my strict time schedule for the days and stuff like that. Anyways, looking forward tot he next couple weeks in Canada. I will definiltey enjoy them and will do the best out of it.
Stay safe, healthy and take care,
Tom
Canada Work&Travel 