We’re here! We’re on Vancouver Island, in Ucluelet to be exact. We’ve never been farther west! Before we jump into Day 12, here is some video from Day 10 that we were only able to upload today. Check it out on YouTube and remember to subscribe to our channel! Now back to Day 12…
We left Whistler, continuing south along Highway 99/Sea to Sky Highway with the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal as our target. We were heeding the cautionary notes expressed by fellow travellers about the need to get there early if you don’t have a reservation (yes, we forgot that little detail).
Hwy 99 continued to deliver the goods even as population density increased. We made great time with light traffic and managed to get on the 11:05AM sailing to Departure Bay (great name, right?) in Nanaimo.
Sailing over to the Island was uneventful. It actually provided some time for us to work on the Day 11 Report, which you can see here if you missed it!
As we prepared to disembark (read: sit in our car until told to move), a young woman who was clearly backpacking asked if we were heading to Campbell River. We answered in the negative, and she moved on. Later on the Island, we noticed signs indicating that hitch hiking was illegal and that drivers picking up hitch hikers could be fined. Hope she found a ride while still on the ship.
Once on the island, we started to make our way to Ucluelet, where we would spend the next three nights. On the way there, we stopped at Coombs, which appears to be a fun place. It features Goats on Roof – Old Country Market, which sells almost everything, and has goats grazing on its green roof.
We’re not sure if these goats are being adequately rewarded for their contribution to this business’s success, but we’re checking into. #goatrights
In addition, there’s the amazing donuts at Billy G’s Donuts. Trish, who isn’t usually a donut lover, couldn’t stop raving about her chocolate dip and my Dulce de Yum-Yum over-delivered, a feat given the name.
From there, we stopped at Cathedral Grove and checked out the MASSIVE and very old trees. Amazing to see trees, both standing and fallen.
We’ll likely have some more photos once we get Trish’s Samsung to play nice with the MacBook Pro. Update: We’ve uploaded them!
From there, we continued across the Island and got another dose of some truly fulfilling driving with elevation changes and curves that felt just like the roads of North Carolina and Tennessee, near the Tail of the Dragon. Katja was graceful as ever and with temperatures falling to 18C (10 to 12 degrees less than earlier in the day), she was making oodles of smile-inducing torque.
The fun stopped when some pretty serious roadwork a few KMs from Ucluelet forced the road to a single lane affair, causing a massive line-up of cars/trucks.
Once we got going again, passing wasn’t going to be workable so we cruised into town with the car set to Comfort mode.
Once settled at the AirBNB, we headed off to Frankie’s Resto-Bar for some dinner and then called it a day.
At this point, we’ve been gone 12 days and on the one hand, it feels like we only just left home while on the other, it feels like forever since we’ve been in our own house. Not sure what to make of that, but we’re still having fun.
PS – The Dell has been shipped back and the Macbook Pro is working great.