Bruce took us for a wee stroll round to the closest beach to their house just as the sun was lowering in the sky. Their place is near Deep Cove and from the landing Bruce took jus to we looked over the water toward Arbutus Ridge. Once back at base we ate a lovely meal of gabanzo bean stew followed by chocolate flan. Spent the rest of the evening catching up on family news.
As Thursday had dawned fine, Bruce suggested that we take the boat out for a row round the peninsula & lunch at the cafe. We spent about an hour beforehand putting our bikes back together again & checking them over while Bruce readied the boat for our journey. Our bikes came through their jurney across Canada very well - better than when flown across oceans. We're looking forward to taking them out adventuring again.
Anyway, with the boat ready to go we all hopped in the car & took off for the launch ramp at the Tsartlip Nation reserve on Brentwood Bay. Once Bruce had paid the slipway fee & got the boat in the water, we then rowed around to Tod Inlet where Butchart Gardens abuts the water. Heaps of jellyfish swimming in the area! Three of us rowed while Janet sat in the helm providing occasional directions so we didn't bang into bouys or other boats. Also had to keep an eye out for the Mill Bay ferry and float planes landing. On the way back we tied up to the Seahorse Cafe jetty and enjoyed a leisurely lunch there before returning to the boat to row back to the slipway. A lovely afternoon in the sunshine.
Friday's weather was a little dull with rain predicted for the afternoon so we all cycled into Sidney to pick up some items for the nut roasts etc we were to make for Thanksgiving Dinner. On the way to Sidney we called in at Air Canada Cargo to see what the cost of shipping our bikes to Van Airport would cost and whether such were possible. Turns out they can't ship items as large as bike boxes as they don't have an x-ray machine big enough - security! The very personable chap suggested we try West Jet who use Coastline Express to get their cargo to YVR. Bingo! They could ship to YVR if we were able to meet them on the day & put in storage ready for our flight home. That sorted we continued on to Sidney where spent some time in a wonderful organic food store similar to Piko .... so many yummy things to muse over. Next onto the supermarket for spuds, which went into Bruce's bike trailer to be towed slowly home up the hill.
Back in time for a late lunch and just before the predicted afternoon rain. Spent that time booking things & checking with YVR storage. Even managed to complete my GST tax return.
 |
| School down the hill from J&B's |
In the evening Janet & Bruce's friend Kit came to stay for the weekend and, for the evening meal, we were joined by Gregory, a muscian friend of Bruce's. After the meal we enjoyed an evening of music as Bruce had set the lounge up with mike, speakers & numerous musical instruments. Both Bruce & Gregory have played music together for a very long time & seemed to rif off each other well. Some of the songs they hadn't played together before but you'd never know that! I didn't know many of those that they played but those that I did, I sang along to. Bruce had provided a song book for us anyway.
The next morning we got up for a leisurely breakfast, chatted to Kit & Janet before deciding to head out for an afternoon bike ride. We packed up a picnic & set off around 11.45am with our first stop being the local church fair a mere 1 km up the road! With some sweet additions to our picnic lunch we set forth again. We followed pretty much the route we had taken the previous day - passing through two First Nation reserves - Pauquachin and Tseycum (Saanich First Nations) - and the airport before turning off to make our way onto an overpass at McTavish (really complex roundabout system) to the Lochside Trail. This took us through tree lined coastal suburbs on Lockside Drive which parallels the Patricia Bay Highway. At a junction full of Tim Hortons, MacD's etc we stopped to look at the display about the trail & take our photos. We then continued through a relatively new, intensive housing area, finally reaching farmland where we spied fields of pumpkins & a wee pop-up cafe; this was the Michells Farm Market and Harvest Rd-Field to Fork /Farm to Table Grill. Stopped for some freshly made pumpkim pie & icecream with a lovely loal green tea.
Licking our lips clean, we set off through more farmland passing stables and a small pig farm - huge sows wallowing or sleeping - then the trail went off the tarmac onto a gravel pathway through trees. Lovely. Came out at Cordova Bay where we briefly stopped to look at the view & chat to a couple of other cyclists. Another km after that we turned off the trail onto Royal Oak Drive, cycling that until we found the turn off to Elk & Beaver Lakes, where we found a nice rock on which to sit to have our packed lunch. No sign of elk or beavers!! We followed a dirt road that linked us on to the Interurban cycle rail trail (parallels West Saanich Rd), where we saw the deer in a private garden, & followed it until we spyed a bakery/ cafe - Mosi, where we enjoyed Italian hot chocolates. At the turn-off to Butchart Gardens we linked to a on-road cycle lane back along Patricia Bay & finally back to base. A circuit of 57km - a fun day out in the weakening sunshine. We're definitely in Autum weather now. [Saanich centennial trails]
Later that afternoon I made a large nut loaf as our contribution to the Thanksgiving dinner we will attend with 14 other people on Sunday afternoon.
Janet again prepared a delicious evening meal, capped off with the pumpkin pecan crumble pie we bought at the second bakery/ cafe we visited. Another evening of chat with Kit, Janet & Bruce.
Sunday: We didn't get up at 6.30 with the others as we weren't keen to go into Victoria for the road races - Janet & Bruce's daughter, Lauren, was running the 8km and they wanted to see her start & finish. We enjoyed the sleep in, pottering round over breakfast then heading out for a neighbourhood walk around 11am. We did a circuit along Deep Cove, Chalet Beach & Moses Point - only two public access routes to the beach as mostly large private homes with rights to the shore to hightide mark. Anyway, we enjoyed poking around the rock pools at Moses Point and looking into the forested margins along Lands End Rd. We took a few public trails through the forest (Douglas Fir) passing numerous farmlets full of horses. There were a number of other trails but they went through private shared forest (owned by Strata council) with clear signs warning trespassers away. Back along Tatlow Rd passed a closed winery then up through Danton Trail back to base through a mix of everygreens and deciduous trees.
When we got home the others had returned so we caught up on how Lauren had done in the race and then it was busy, busy preparing to head out to Nicole & Jesse's for Thanksgiving lunch. I made vege gravy to go with our nut roast loaf.The lunch was huge! A stunning variety of food - the turkey alone weighed 10kg! but also had sweet potato mash, smashed potatoes, stuffing, nut roast, kale/beet salad, roasted carrots, roasted brussel sprouts. beans, cranberry sauce .... ENOUGH ALREADY! BUT wait there's dessert - pumpkin pie and mixed berry crumble with icecream. No special Thanksgiving song but we certainly thanked the planet that provided the food & the cooks who prepared the meal.
C & I mainly talked with Johanna (mother of Nicole's bestie) who has worked much of her career with First Nations people. Her two eldest children are part First Nation whilst her youngest daughter is in a relationship with an Ojibway language teacher. She was also at the dinner with her daughter, Wasayaaban.
Monday: went to Butchart Gardens on our bikes for a great day viewing these globally respected gardens built in an old limestone quarry. Here's my blog of pictures & comments.
Arrived back to Janet & Bruce's place to a lovely warm fire & another great meal. Wonderful hosts.
Tuesday: As the weather report had predicted quite heavy rain we had decided on Monday evening to make this day an indoor activity day. Janet baked her sourdough bread in the morning while we made our bookings for the bus from Squamish to Vancouver & our final day's accomodation there.
It wasn't until after morning tea that we took off for Victoria in order to visit the Royal BC Museum. We had two hours on the meter thinking that would be enough but by the time 1.30pm came around we had only just completed viewing the section on the history of First Nations languages & culture in Vancouver Island and there was a whole lot more of the museum to see!!! Janet put another hour on the meter but in the end the rest of the museum got a once over lightly! I can highly recommend it as a place to visit BUT be prepared to spend a whole day there. Luckily the food trucks out the back and the cafes in the museum provide a great range of food options to keep one's energy up.
The images below are just a small selection of the things we saw. Our favourite bit were the welcomes a visitor receives when entering the First Nations section - a myriad of different BC First Nation languages greeting the visitor when each button is pushed. There was also a very interesting story about how some of the FN Bands are working to recover and revitalize their languages after the damage colonisation & residential schools did to the people. Further into the displays, the intricacies of the masks, totem carvings and bead work had me entranced. It was an excellent introduction to First Nation history and the impact of colonisation.
Outside the museum one can see the totem poles at Thunderbird Park. I remember visiting them with Dad and Bill back in 1989 but Caroline says we also saw them in 2011 but strangely I don't remember that visit. I loved this portion of one as it seemed like the smaller figure was being hugged by the larger - a protective embrace.After a bite of lunch at the food trucks we went on to see the art of Emily Carr at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. I hadn't heard about her before reading a New York Times article last week and then talking about her with Kit I was determined to view her paintings. I really loved the way she captured the vitality of the pine trees and the light in the skies. I found I preferred viewing her paintings from the side rather than direct on - they then kind of invite you in. I've just got two quick shots of two paintings I particularly liked and of the statue of her in downtown Victoria. I bought a couple of postcards of her work and a wee book on her life. She seemed quite an eccentric and very passionate about sharing her skills with young artists. [A couple of sites about her: ecuad & art history archive]
After viewing Carr's work we moved on to the other rooms in the gallery but was most taken with the interactive exhibition on valuing fresh water; a variety of art works from different perspectives i.e. indigenous, community, commercial, scientific. Below are just two photos from that exhibition - the first is a painting by Marianne Nicolson cald the 'Sun is etting on the British Empire' & repositions the sun on the BC flag to be above the Union Jack rather than below as it currently is as the artist stated, "It privileges the colonising power over the First Nations who valued the sun". The second photo shows the salmon run sculptures by Gu Xiong as a response to migration: "Migration flows like the salmon run: a tie between migrants who carry the strength of the river, not of fresh water but of culture and change". The exhibition was called water-work-space.
Exhausted after such intellectual pursuits we returned to base to relax, finding Bruce busy with his music recording. A lovely soup & sourdough bread dinner and before we knew it the day had gone!
Wednesday: we went for a day cycling on Salt Spring Island - this link will take you to that blog page. When we returned Nicole had just come to pick the kids up so we waited to eat our dinner after they had gone. The children, Chloe and Calder, are very sweet and love their grandparents.
Thursday: Went for a walk in Francis/ King Park with Caroline's cousins - Janet & Bruce, Jonathon and Janice. A lovely park full of ancient Douglas Fir trees and Garry oaks. After about 2 hours we decamped to Mosi for lunch - I had a delicious foccacia sandwich washed down by a local Tod Creek cider (too sweet for me) and as were leaving we each bought a gelato. Mine was the most yummy pistachio gelato - lip licking good :-)
Later in the afternoon Nicole & kids popped in to grab some material but stayed for a light supper. When they went home Bruce suggested a trip to DQ [Dairy Queen] so off we went to Sidney for a fast-food cultural treat!!! I couldn't face a Blizzard [wikipedia has more!] or chocolate fudge brownie so settled for a fruit smoothie. Had to rest up after that before heading to bed!!
Friday: The Four of us took a hike in the woods - check out my blog about East Sooke Park here.
After returning to base we enjoyed a relaxing cuppa in front of the fire before heading out for dinner at a Sidney restaurant called Beacon Landing. I had cauliflower 'steak' with smoked tofu, garlic whipped mashed potatoes and vegetables - yummy! An excellent range of vege options alongside meat & seafood options. Very friendly & attentive service. Went for a very brief walk along the waterfront afterwards but the night time temperatures are not conducive to long walks.
Saturday: A bike ride day despite predicted inclement weather. We were keen to reach 5000km total for the whole 6 months of cycling since April and we thought 50km on the Galloping Goose Regional Trail should do it. Check out this blog post for the story of that day.
Sunday: A leisurely day as my ankle was aching after two full days of hiking & biking. After reading the Sunday paper & eating our breakfast Bruce suggested a walk seeing the sun was out. He took us into Sidney for a gentle amble along the waterfront where we watched some sailing boats becalmed and the ferry from the States come in for its daily passage to Sidney. Loved the public art around the sea front and the long wooden wharf from which a number of people were fishing for crabs. Liked the Sidney Seaside Sculpture Walk.
Returned to Deep Cove for a spot of lunch then we chopped up some apples in prep for making apple & blackberry pie for the family dinner to which Lauren, Nicole & Jesse with their children were coming. While the pie cooked Caroline & I did some yard work - raking up Autumn leaves & sweeping the driveway of pine needles. Despite the sunshine the garden was in shadow so was quite damp & mossy; it would be lovely to see it in the Summer.
The family were due at 3.30pm so we came inside to clean up, set the table etc. Checked weather report for next few days to find that Monday is the only day forecast to be fine .... we will see! Booked hostel in Nanaimo & checked out a few other activities to do while we're there. A Facebook message from Audrey in Donegal alerted me to the news that Ireland was to be hit by a hurricane on Monday so lots of reading up about that!
The family arrived and we all sat down to the stunning Mexican meal of enchilada and green rice - the recipes from the Rebar Modern Food Cookbook . The kids were entertaining and the conversation wide ranging.
Monday: A slow day as it was very cold so drove to Victoria where Bruce intended to visit his mother while we walked the waterfront to blow the cobwebs away. Whilst it was cold it wasn't windy at least so we were able to walk out on the breakwater - loved the First Nation art on the sides. Watched a couple of float planes come in & out, then along to Fishermans Wharf where the houseboats tie up. Watched the little yellow sea taxis ferrying people across from the main part of Victoria to the wharf and also the whale watching boats go out .... Brrrrr - not the kind of day I'd want to go out whale spotting but apparently there were plenty of whales about. I guess they don't mind the cold.
We found Janet trying to get the lawn mower going so Caroline offered to take over - she got it going & mowed lawn to within an inch of its life in preparation for Winter dormancy. I went upstairs to repair the suitcase I'm using & try to fit everything we've bought recently into it!! Janet again prepared a delicious meal - broccoli, potato & NZ spinach soup with homemade bread followed by the pie C had bought. Whew! THAT weighed us down!
To bed to read - a children's book called 'The Secret Garden' full of morals & reconciliation - quite soothing, put me to sleep quite well.
Tuesday: A very lazy morning - didn't get out of bed until 9am. By that stage Janet had gone across to Vancouver to spend the day with her friend Kit, while Bruce was working on his music. After breakfast Caroline & I spent some time looking over the gear we've got to pack but then gave up & took to our bikes for a last blast into Sidney. On our way past the airport we stopped at the 'Lost Airmen of the Empire' memorial where we looked at the twenty-five, 12' steel Cooper's Hawk feathers on which the names of the airemen are carved (see photo below).
Had a spot of lunch at Serious Coffee. I stayed put while Caroline went nextdoor to Rogers Chocolates to see what she could buy. Haha! Sweet tooth satisfied we tootled down one side of the main street & up the other looking for suitable (light, non-breakable) gifts - done. Had a chat to a couple of seated sculptures then after a bit more of ride around the waterfront we called in at the supermarket to purchase ingredients for the evening meal we offfered to cook - a walnut, spinach fettucine.
Back at base we cleaned & dismantled our bikes then put them in the packing boxes along with panniers and tools, ready for home. They looked quite festive sealed up with bright orange duct tape. Let's hope they get delivered okay to us when we're at Vancouver airport on 30th. That done we cooked dinner & enjoyed another evening with Janet & Bruce.
Wednesday: packing up our bags & weighing them so we can determine how many more gifts/treats we can buy before leaving! Heavy rain all morning so we planned a day of museums - this time won't be like the last when the sun shone instead as this rain is certainly set in.
After a spot of lunch we headed off to Sidney to try out some local gin at Victoria Distillers. It was absolutely hosing down as we drove there & we nearly got blown over getting out of the car so being inside the lovely building with gorgeous smells was just the ticket on such a day. As I was the only one able to taste, I got the whole shebang - quite an alcohol hit so early in the day.
I wasn't keen on the Victoria gin as I'm used to a juniper flavoured style but I quite liked the Oaken & Empress though I think both would be much better with a fine dry tonic. The last two tastings were on the 'rum' called Sidney Spiced and a chocolate liqueur. Really liked them but neither came in a bottle size which would have been easy & safe for us to cart around with us until we flew out. Our host wasn't sure if they could be bought at Duty Free so we shall see!! Anyway, felt quite tipsy at the end of the session despite drinking lots of water in between each & eating some almonds. Thankfully, I wasn't driving so could snooze as we continued on into Victoria.
After finally finding a parking space we dashed through the rain to the Victoria Bug Zoo. Luckily we were in time to listen to the guide, Jen, tell us about the various bugs - we even got to hold some. Caroline was one of the brave adults willing to let a tarantula sit on her hand. I particularly liked the stick insects and the giant grasshoppers but wasn't too keen on the cockroaches - so many of them just sitting there waving their antennae. We spent about an hour there fascinated by all the bugs before checking out a couple of First Nations art & tourist shops. On then to Murchies for a lovely cup of fine tea - mmmmmmmmmm, a delightfully refreshing Darjeeling.
 |
| Horse Lubber Grasshopper |
 |
| cricket |
 |
| Malaysian Jungle Nymph |
 |
| Caroline holding tarantula |
 |
| Leaf cutter ant condo |
An early dinner was booked at Rebar Modern Food with Lauren, Jonathon & Janice. A lovely meal but quite a noisy venue - I kept zoning in on a conversation between two men across the other side of the room as they were quite loud while I missed some bits of chat at our own table! I ate a Superbowl (tofu, chickpeas, vege & rice) followed by coconut cream pie. We had hoped to go for a walk around to the Empress afterwards but the rain was torrential so it was back to the car & home to complete our packing for our journey to Nanaimo the next day.
Pleased to be heading back to a Labour -led government in NZ. Thanks, Winston & NZ First for finally making up your minds!
Thursday: Journey to Nanaimo with Bruce & Janet. We left Deep Cove at 8am to catch the 8.40 ferry across to Mill Bay from Brentwood Bay, a 25 minute ride across calm waters with moody clouds hanging low on the hills.
Fast Facts: about Vancouver Island; Greater Victoria
Population: Chch 367, 800 (2015) Victoria 367, 770 (2016)
Area: Chch 607.73 / 1,426 sq km; Victoria 19.47 sq km urban/ 696.15 metro
Density: Chch 640/km sq; Victoria 4405.8/km sq
Nickname: Chch - 'The Garden City' ; Victoria -'The Garden City'
Indigenous name: Chch - Õtautahi & manawhenua Ngāi Tūāhuriri; Victoria - ? but on the ancestral lands of Coast Salish (Kwsepsum, Lekwungen, Scia'new & T'Sou-ke)
No comments:
Post a Comment