First night of our road trip was spent catching up with Shaun and Clint for the last time in Abbotsford over a few beers at the local pub. Next morning we picked up Chris and Vincent (the two Quebecers I got to know over the season) and caught the ferry over to Nanaimo on Vancouver island then drove up north to the hip little fishing/surf village of Tofino. Most of the trip was spent talking aussie rot to them while they taught us French slang. After the tight road which wound its way through the greenest of rainforest we found ourselves looking at the ocean just as the sun popped out. We met a few guys at the campground who were leaving fed up with 2 straight weeks of rain; once they left we only saw sunshine and the odd cloud.
We enjoyed playing hacky with Matts 5 dollar soccer ball on the beach with lots of new friends until failing light ceased game play then moved around the fire where Vince and some American guy played improvised blues into the night. The rest of the stay was much of the same… soccer, beach fires, wandering around the town and freezing cold surf at cox bay. The waves were actually pretty good but the 10 degree water and the long absence from the ocean made my wave count pretty dismal.
We said our goodbyes to the frenchys and cruised down to BC’s capital Victoria on the south of the island. Stopping off at some amazing waterfalls and making mad sandwiches in the back of the van whilst driving down the highway made the 6 hour drive fly by.
Victoria is a very slick town, plenty of historic buildings and parks, narrow alleyways, water taxi’s and cool bridges and plenty alt people about rockin the shaved side hairdo getting round on longboards and retro beach cruisers. We went to a few bars over the weekend to see Matt off on his trip to the rockies and to investigate if the girls outnumbering the blokes rumour was true… after 2 nights of investigation we left with the knowledge that there were definitely more cougars there. We said our goodbyes to Matty then missed the ferry to the states so we spent one more night for old times’ sake together in the van.
