It has taken me a little while to get into travel mode but I have finally hit my stride.  On Saturday (21 April) I headed out of the city.  After a rather epic 6 hour journey, which includes time waiting around for the next mode of transport and having the bus driver forget to tell me where to get off, I finally arrived at my destination, Victoria, on Vancouver Island.

I stayed with a lady I met on Hospitality Club.  Her house was about a 20min bus trip from the centre of town and in a lovely suburban part of town.  A short walk from her house was a small Tudor village which didn’t resemble anything Tudor at all.  My host was lovely and helpful and really informative which was everything I needed at that time.

The next day, Sunday, was a beautiful day weather wise and I had a great time wandering around.  My first stop was tourist information.  I asked about the Harbour tour and if there were any walking tours.  The girl gave me a load of self-guided maps and I was an hour early for the first harbour tour.  I brought my ticket and had a little walk around.  The harbour has two grand buildings overlooking it, the legislative or parliament buildings and The Empress hotel.  It is a lovely area and there are flowers everywhere.

The harbour tour was on a little boat and the guide was really informative.  It was a great was to get an overview of the city and its history.  After that I had a cup of tea and read my maps.  I had a little wander around the shops then went a little further afield.  I chose one of the suggested routes and followed it through the suburbs to Emily Carr’s house.

Somehow on my travels I tend to be drawn to literary places, this is my first one.  Emily Carr’s house is her birthplace.  She is a local artist and author who documented the lives of indigenous people first through her art, then through her writing. She lived from 1871-1945.

I kept walking and wandered through a park that looked across to the Washington Mountains and the waterfront.  I walked along the waterfront which is popular with dog walkers, and to my surprise cat walkers.  It was funny to see a cat on a lead being walked through a dog park.  I kept walking til I returned back to the city.  I stopped for lunch then continued to wander around.

Being Sunday, the buses only run every hour so I checked the timetable and had 45 min til the next one so walked to the castle, which is really just a big house, but still looked nice.  I had a general idea as to where I was so just continued to walk til I got back to where I was staying.  The houses in that area were lovely and reminded me of Haight Ashbury, which I guess makes sense.  A lot of miners came up from San Francisco in 1858.

Monday was travelling day.  I had a lot of boring things that I needed to do so I thought I’d go to a boring town, Nanaimo.  I took the first bus and slept the two hour trip.  I made it to the hostel and did my laundry and posted for my course and generally got organised.  I didn’t leave the hostel as there was no need to.

Today (Tuesday) I spent most of the morning working on my assignment, then went for a wander around town.  After 2 hours I returned.  Really, there wasn’t that much to see.  Nanaimo was a coal mining town, it kind of looks like a stopping off point when you are on your way to somewhere else.  There is a small harbour, a park a few old buildings dated from around the 1850’s so not very old at all.  There isn’t a real lot to see or do.  But it’s not a bad place to stop and catch up on things, which I have managed to do.