TR - Two week land tour of Vancouver Island then Grand Princess to Alaska

[arxcards]

On 5/18/2024 at 7:11 PM, aussielozzie18 said:

First full day in Victoria and we decided to do another harbour walk.  This time heading in the other direction to & across Johnson Bridge and then all  along the beautiful foreshore to Esquimalt.  Beautiful morning for it.  Lots of otters swimming in the clear water.

 

 

 

 

 

On the return walk, we stopped in at Spinnakers Brewpub overlooking the water and had a nice lunch on their terrace.

 

Then I decided I wanted a ride on one of the cute little harbour ferries, so using the QR code on the post on the wharf, I hailed one of their ferries/water taxis that took us back to the inner harbour in front of The Empress.

 

Lovely to see that dogs are permitted on the ferries.  The couple and their dog hopped off and we hopped on for a lovely trip with the friendly & informative ferry Captain.

 

 

 

 

I love the Pickle Boats.

[arxcards]

12 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

After a very enjoyable stay in Victoria, it was time to hit the road.  
 

First stop was Tim Hortons where I made the mistake of ordered a large coffee.  Completely forgot sizing is different overseas to Aus and it was weird not getting cocoa/choc sprinkled on top of the cappuccino froth.

 

Next stop was The Malahat Skywalk.  My family saw the entry prices and wanted to get back in the car…but I wanted to see/experience it.

 

Beautiful driftwood sculptures on display along the elevated pathway to the viewing structure.

 

 

 

Once you reach the structure itself, you slowly climb in circles until you reach the very top.

 

The views from the top were very nice & it was lovely to see the raptors & other birds floating above the treetops way down below.

 

 

 

 

At the top is a meshed square that none of us were brave enough to stand on but it was popular with the Insta crowd. There is also a slide that you can whizz down to save you the return spiral walk.  One of us was very happy to do that.

 

There were seats, a swing and an open fire and a trail walk to return to the car park.

 

The entry was very price but I was glad we stopped here and experienced it.

 

Thanks for all the great photos and words that have brought back many happy memories for me -  the gardens, pickle boats, Barb's, Tim Horton's, harbour seals and some great walks between them.

[aussielozzie18]

10 hours ago, Blackduck59 said:

The ski walk is an interesting attraction. For us even though it is a very short drive from home, we wouldn't go. There is the small issue of heights. I'm looking forward to more of you VI adventure. 

I am not great with heights either but this was ok for me.

[aussielozzie18]

Next stop was The Raptors in Duncan.  Wanted to see the flight show at 2.30pm.  We got there at 2.25pm.  It was exciting for us Aussies to see a Bald Eagle & Barn owl up close & in flight.  Small sanctuary but the flight show was an excellent and worth a visit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next was a stop in Ladysmith for the very popular bakery in their pretty Main Street famous for their cinnamon rolls.  
 

 

Couldn’t believe the size of a single cinnamon roll.  The queue was to the door but it moved fairly quickly.

 

Then we arrived at our destination - Qualicum Beach.  
 

 

[Blackduck59]

We have been interested in the Raptor Center for some time but haven't actually gone. We should do that soon. Did you do the Ocean side route to Qualicum? We have had some lovely picnics there. So far you have planned a great tour of the Island, I suspect you may have gone to more places we haven't been.Isn't it interesting that as locals we live in a place where many people spend thousands of dollars to visit, and it's just every day for us.

[lyndarra]

3 minutes ago, Blackduck59 said:

Isn't it interesting that as locals we live in a place where many people spend thousands of dollars to visit, and it's just every day for us.

Agree. I still haven't visited the Sydney Opera House and I'm only two hours away.

[ilikeanswers]

26 minutes ago, Blackduck59 said:

Isn't it interesting that as locals we live in a place where many people spend thousands of dollars to visit, and it's just every day for us.

 

So true. The one positive that came out of Covid for me was it made me "visit" Sydney for the first time. 

[MMDown Under]

20 minutes ago, lyndarra said:

Agree. I still haven't visited the Sydney Opera House and I'm only two hours away.

I live interstate, but always check what is on at the Sydney Opera House every time I visit Sydney.  I always allow time to enjoy a drink overlooking the harbour and the harbour bridge.  

[MicCanberra]

I check out the opera house every time I cruise into or out of Sydney.

[aussielozzie18]

Unlike our friends and family, we spend a lot of time in the city/around the harbour on our weekends.  We do go to the Opera House regularly but not for Opera.

[aussielozzie18]

@Blackduck59 I don’t know if we did the Oceanside route tbh.  I wasn’t driving and was seated in the back. Towards  the end of that day was just keen to get to our accommodation.

[Blackduck59]

4 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

@Blackduck59 I don’t know if we did the Oceanside route tbh.  I wasn’t driving and was seated in the back. Towards  the end of that day was just keen to get to our accommodation.

If you were on a fast divided highway with 2 lanes in each direction with a wide grass median, it was not the ocean side route. 😉