Ucluelet - Victoria (day 16)

A long ride with the car awaited us today from Ucluelet to Victoria (almost 400 kilometers driving), that's why we had to get up early. Although I was already awake, seen that I was awake half the night. Because of this I did however hear the seals make some noise early in the morning from the harbor!

After breakfast we started driving and just after Port Alberni we stopped at Cathedral Grove. Here you could find a 900 meters board walk which we did walked, through ancient rain forest. Next we drove to Oyster Bay, between Cassidy and Ladysmith, where we had lunch at a picknick table next to a creek. After lunch we drove on to Duncan. Here we stopped at a visitor centre where we heared that Duncan has the biggest collection of totem poles in the world. These are spread out through the city, walking distance apart of eachother. After this short walk we continued on driving until we finally reached Victoria. Victoria has a very British character and according to the inhabitants they are even more British than the British themselves are. After checking in at the hotel and leaving the luggage behind we took the car again and drove to the city center. After finding a parking place we continued on foot. First a little through Beacon Hill Park, this is a nicely laid out citypark, that will remind you of Vondelpark in Amsterdam or Central Park in New York. After that we walked to the parliaments building of British Columbia, this is a beautiful and big building with a dome in the middle. Originally it was build as a church, until the province of British Columbia was established and it had gotten a municipality. Here we did a quick walkthrough to continue on to the harbor, which looks picturesque to me. In the harbor I also suddenly saw the head of a seal popping up out of the water, twice! After that we walked back to the car to drive to Chinatown where we had dinner. After dinner we walked around the block in Chinatown to arrive back at the car and then go to Craichdarroch Castle. This is actually a typical American mansion, built in Victorian era-style. There where we parked the car, at a park entrance there were some deer walking around and later on in the evening there were even more deer, about six of them. It's noticeable that you can approach the deer until just several meters, that's how tame they are! In the meantime it had gotten darker (and started to rain), so we got back to the car and drove back to the hotel. Tomorrow awaits us the last stage of our trip already, unfortunately, by ferry back to the mainland. Back to Vancouver, where we will stay for the last few days. ☹️

Day 15

Day 17