This morning started later than usual. We had an itinerary to get to the other side of the island, and we started with breakfast made by our hosts. The nice couple were very kind in the morning and cooked us pancakes, with coffee, and fruit before we left. We had to head directly west from our starting point, and it was time to come across one of our addictions we started for the length of our trip, and that is the infamous Tim Hortons coffee shops in Canada. This was our first time trying them, and we didn’t think anything of it, until we decided to stop in because we wanted more coffee. This proved to be a must have every chance we came across a shop. Nonetheless we grabbed coffee on the way to Butchart Gardens
The Butchart Gardens was one of the most spectacular sites we had seen this trip. Being a wonder of Canada, this was an absolute must do, even though the price tag was expensive ($40 canadian, per person). This is a collection of flowers and gardens, that started as a hobby for a wealthy Canadian’s wife. She would grow small sections of their backyard with flowers and plants, and eventually made a collection of incredible landscapes that became a tourist hotspot, which opened to the public after her death.
This was well worth the money, and the people it attracted (being out int he middle of nowhere), is impressive, with over a million visitors annually. We spent about 2 hours in this park walking through the 7 sections of flowers. These sections are huge,and maintained flawlessly. Absolutely stunning place that must be seen in its entirety!
When we finished up we grabbed coffee, and then headed to the grocery for the rest of the day, as we were hungry for lunch,and about to embark on a long drive through the width of the island. This was a Canadian grocery chain, and when we left as we were walking to the car, we saw some people staring at our car and the Florida license plate. This was especially humorous as we realized exactly how far we were from home, and just how amazing that must seem to someone there to have driven to that point!
As we left, we headed directly west, and had two more stops on our itinerary for the day. One was Cathedral Grove, which is a collection of Redwoods in the national forest we were driving through, and finally Tofino, which is the city to the Clayoquout sound, and the farthest west point of our entire road trip!
The Cathedral Grove, almost in the middle of Vancouver Island, it is however not nearly the size of the redwoods in California. There is a serene beauty to the place because there are not allot of tourists. You must still park on the side of the road due to the 10 car parking lot filling up, but the walk through the forrest you will come across few people. This made for a nice walk through the woods, and we came across a quaint lake, and overlook. When we stopped to enjoy the view we realized there were many black slugs on the ground which we had never seen the likes of. They were amazing looking creature and indigenous to the area. Something to keep a look out for!
As we wrapped up there it was time to head further west to Tofino. We stopped by an ice cream shop on the way in the middle of the country. Very rural area here, and it was evident with the people. It is true however that Canadians are very nice, as there were many times on this stretch that people were more than kind enough to help me when needed.
After a two hour treck (after the Cathedral Grove), we finally reached Tofino. One of the only disappointments of the trip was getting to this area and there being low lying clouds, preventing me from seeing the landscape. I could tell enough however that it was beautiful. We unfortunately could not do anything else with the remainder of time allotted to us by daylight, so we decided to search for campsites.
The Pacific Rim National Preserve is the natural area protected by the Canadian government in this region. We could not free camp here legally (outside of designated areas). Unfortunately all sites were booked at the time of arrival, and we almost had to drop about $200 for a hotel that night. Thank goodness we came across a campsite that allowed us to camp for free in the parking lot if the other designated areas were full. This campsite is about 5 miles south of Tofino on the inlet island, and is one of the few places to camp (outside of the beach), and the sites themselves looked amazing, being tucked in the woods. We decided toned the day cooking and get some rest after a long day of driving winding road through the trees.
EXPENSES
36.64 gas
68.48 butchart gardens
5.09 coffee
43.55 groceries
26.38 gas
3.73 gas
Total – 183.85
MILES DRIVEN – 317 KM’s