When planning our time in Canada, we were constrained by the dates of “The Canadian” train which runs twice a week from Toronto to Vancouver (departs Sunday or Thursday). This meant that the first thing that was booked for our trip were the train tickets.

We had previously sussed out where to go for luggage etc, so when we turned up on Sunday morning, we quickly disposed of our book-through luggage, received our meal times for lunch & dinner and our sleeping car allocation.

Once we boarded the train, it wasn’t long before the train departed and started the long trip to the west coast – 5 days/4 nights. We had high hopes of seeing lots of wildlife from the train and also having time to explore some of the towns where the train was scheduled to have a 2 or 3 hour stop for refueling and replenishing of food, etc.

Like so many other long distance trains, the smooth ride is at the mercy of freight trains, ie the freight train has priority on the line, so we spent many hours on a siding, waiting for the freight train to go past. And these are long trains – I counted 140 cars of double-decker containers plus 2 or 3 engines to push and/or pull the freight.

Wildlife seen consisted of 1 coyote, 1 herd of bison (farmed) and an occasional deer. We saw lots of beaver dams but no beaver, and also no otters. This was a huge disappointment for both of us, but we tried to be philosophical about it. But then you add in the fact that the major towns where we had hoped to disembark for some exploration, didn’t happen due to late arrival at the intended stations! And to add insult to injury – we had hoped to see some of the amazing Rocky Mountain scenery after leaving Kamloops, but first we had to get through the Canadian desert (who knew they had one?) but it was pitch black by the time we got to the good bits for scenery and then the train was trying to make up for lost time so it hurtled through the night to arrive in Vancouver 3 hours early!!

But we weren’t rushing off the train for no man or woman!. We got up, had a leisurely breakfast and detrained around 8am.

But the scenery was glorious! The lakes in Ontario were beautiful and then in Manitoba, we started to see the landscape change to flat farmland, which extended for many hours! And then in Alberta, we started to see white stuff on the mountain tops in the distance, and the air started to cool markedly!

Now, it was time to head down to Horseshoe Bay and catch the ferry to Nanaimo and see our friend Sonja. We first met Sonja in 2004 at the Vierdaagse (Four Day March) in Nijmegen. Sonja was with the Canadian Military team and Nick was walking as an Individual, but under the banner of the RAAF. And with Sonja, we got the experience a few days of Camping – Canadian-style which included learning a couple of new games – “Pass the Ace” and “Whack-F#ck” which is a game involving a Pitching Wedge and a Putter and a lot of swearing! But Sonja was a wonderful hostess and took us around Vancouver Island.

We hadn’t realised how BIG Vancouver Island is and we really didn’t do it justice but it wasn’t due to a lack of effort. We went down to the south, towards Victoria and spent a day at the Burchart Gardens. These Gardens cover about 50 acres and were started in the early 1900s by Jennie Burchart who had the dream of transforming an abandoned limestone quarry into a sunken garden, and then it grew from there.

Probably the worst thing about walking around the Gardens and seeing all those wonderful plants, I feel inspired (??) to improve my garden but I also fell further in love with Peonies, which apparently don’t do well in our climate and soil. There were hundreds of different roses, some lovely fountains, plenty of massed plantings of dahlias, begonias and tuberous begonias (will they grow around Stanthorpe?), they even make massed plantings of impatiens look good! There was a Formal Garden, a Japanese Garden, a Mediterranean Garden… it was amazing and I could have stayed for days, but weather wasn’t too generous – it bucketed down whilst we were walking around so we had to take shelter in the Gelataria! Such a chore!!

Our next day saw us doing some exploring around Nanaimo – we went to Cathedral Grove and climbed up to the Abyss.  Cathedral Grove is a park, west of Nanaimo and is an accessible stand of Giant Douglas Fir trees, the oldest of which is over 800 years old! There is also a large grove of old Western Red Cedars. Apparently, after a severe storm in 1997, there was a lot of damage to the trees and they are still doing rehabilitation and restoration, but the fallen trees meant that there was sunlight and space for new growth which will ensure the continuation of this amazing place.

We walked around the trees – overawed by the moss on the trees but also I fell in love with the amazing bark growths on these beautiful trees.

After the majesty of the trees, it was time to climb up to see a hole in the ground! The Abyss is a big crack in the rock that runs for about 40 metres and is about 16” wide, but the two sides are at different levels. What caused the Abyss? Everyone seems to agree that it is due to seismic activity but whether it is over several million years, or due to recent activity which caused the collapse of an old coal mine.  But there was a 10km hike up to the Abyss – don’t worry, we didn’t hike 10kms – we did the short hike (2.7kms) and we used a disused track which made it even shorter! But it is a beautiful area with some amazing views and we can now say that we have hiked on the Trans-Canadian Trail! We almost sound adventurous, don’t we!!

And the final adventure for today was the taste test of a world-famous (??) Nanaimo Bar! For my Aussie friends, I have the recipe and will try making them at home – because they are yummy!!

Our next day was packing up day because camping was over and we were heading to Sonja’s place. We were looking forward to seeing all the work that she had been doing on her place – MJ had been following the renovations on Facebook, and it gave us the chance to explore another part of VI, the Comox Valley.

We walked down to the foreshore, so MJ could do some Geocaching and then walked along the shoreline before heading back up the hill to Sonja’s place. I haven’t mentioned Fern yet – Fern is a Micro-Yorkshire Terrier that belongs to Sonja and she has come on all of our walks! So when MJ’s Fitbit says that she did 10,000 steps, poor Fern has probably done around 100,000 steps!! But she loves the walks and keeps up valiantly!

Our last full day on the Island involved lots of driving – Sonja took us up to Port Hardy which is at the top of Vancouver Island and is where Sonja grew up. We were told that there would be lots of chances to see Deer, Elk and Bears on the drive… well, we did see a couple of deer having a sleep by the side of the road (like kangaroos do in Australia) but no Elk or Bears! We saw plenty of signs saying “Elk, next 46kms”, but we don’t believe them!

We had the scenic tour of Port Hardy, looking for Sonja’s mum who joined us for Lunch. Apparently Port Hardy’s big claim to fame is that they used to catch Salmon and can it for John West there! There is also an Air Force base there and a lot of logging still happens there. According to Sonja, it is also the best place for cold water scuba diving – damn! We forgot to pack our scuba gear!!

Our last day was spent repacking our bags, again and then driving back down to Nanaimo so we could catch the ferry back to the mainland, and then juggle the bus and metro out to the Airport because it’s time to take our adventures to a new country. We loved Vancouver Island and would dearly love to come back. And if we come back then we will have to explore BC a lot more! Now I understand why Sonja calls it “The Best Coast”!