Telegraph Cove

Thursday, 12th August 2010

 

After a lovely Hotel breakfast, we walked around the Nature Reserve and watched the seals splashing to catch fish.

It was a long journey from Courtney to Telegraph Cove, but we split it by visiting Mount Washington, which had great views....... and snow!  We caught the cable car to the top and fed some birds there. 

 Pete and Hels on the cable Car

Barometer on Mount Washington

Carole at Mount Washington feeding the birds

After a lovely fish and chip meal at the Lodge we travelled on to Telegraph Cove, stopping off at the Campbell River for shopping.  A black bear ran across the road in front of us and disappeared into the shrubbery.

At Telegraph Cove, we found the tent site we had booked was awful, so we swapped for a better site, albeit on gravel and put up our tents.

Friday, 13th August to Monday, 16th August 2010
We spent 4 nights camping at Telegraph Cove, a really wild and beautiful site in one of the quietest parts of Vancouver Island.

We had booked  two days viewing wildlife from boats,the first to see the Grizzly bears (with cubs) at Knights Inlet.  Heavy fog marred the outward journey but by the time we arrived at the Inlet at around 10.30, the sun was out.  We saw a total of 3 mother bears with 2, 2, and 3 babies each.  We also saw bald eagles, osprey, goshawks, seals and porposises.
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 Grizzly Bear with Cubs at Knights Inlet
 

The second trip out was a whale watching trip; the weather was perfect, warm and sunny so we were fortunate enought to see Humpback Whales, Sealions, Porpoises (Harbour and Dalls), and best of all, a pod of Orcas which we watched for a good half an hour.  These orcas are not killers but feed on fish as do other dolphins.

 Orcas from the boat

In the afternoon, we drove out to Port McNeil, Port Hardy and Coal Harbour but they didn't have the charm of Telegraph Cove.

On Sunday, we drove down the coast to Port Alice through stunningly beautiful countryside. The habour was reefed by 4 World War II battleships, scuttled after the war.  Pete and Hele fell asleep on the lookout over the harbour in the warm afternoon sun.

We also did some walking and went in search of Black Bears, which are everywhere, even around the camp site. We had to make a hasty retreat back to the car when one got a little curious.  We also saw a black tailed deer.

 Black Bearstocking up on berries

Goodbye to Vancouver - hello Vancouver Island

 Wednesday, 11th August 2010

Today we picked up our hire car and left Vancouver on the ferry for Vancouver island.  The view from the water was quite spectacular especially as it was calm and sunny.

Ferry crossing to Vancouver Island

A few hours drive north up the coast then brought us to our hotel, the Holiday Inn at Courtney. We spotted a lake with a hide from our room window, so took a walk. We were rewarded with views of a bald eagle and a couple of seals fighting or playing over a large salmon.

Bald Eagle on the river at Courtney

Three Seals playing

Tomorrow will be our first day of camping, so we also stocked up at the supermarket - $90 for half a trolley of shopping! But at least now we have water.

Lynn Valley

 Tuesday, 10th August 2010


The high prices and calorific value of the food in Vancouver drove us to have a much appreciated breakfast in our room this morning, with cereal, bananas and pop-tarts.


We then let the complimentary hotel bus take us to the Waterfront Ferry Terminal and caught the ferry to the North Shore, intending to go to the much-touted 'Grouse Mountain'. However, as we were crossing we picked up a leaflet which informed us that the entrance fee would be $39 each (~£23) and that we could enjoy great activities such as skiing and hang-gliding, which we weren't really feeling up to this early in the trip. So, after a visit to the tourist info by the ferry dock, we decided on the Lynn Valley instead. This is a lovely forest park with a suspension bridge and lots of walking trails.

Pete on the Suspension bridge

We were blessed with warm, if slightly overcast weather, great views and very entertaining wildlife on our walk up the river valley.

Canadian Squirrel

We also kept an eye out for bears (all the bins look like they are built like armoured personel carriers) to be bear proof so they must be around), but there was no sign of them.  We did, however, hear a really loud crash as something large fell out of a tree - a real possibility that this was a black bear!

Pete and Helena in the Lynn Valley

We may have overdone it a bit, walking about 15 miles,  because by the time we got back to the hotel we could barely walk. A bottle of Local BC Sawmill Creek Chardonnay helped us relax aching muscles before another well-deserved rest.

 Pete and Hele enjoying a very high calorific dinner

Vancouver, Canada - The First day of our Big Adventure!

Sunday, 9th August 2010


Yesterdays travelling went well, with a brilliant flight and great views over the Rockies.  Met Helena at the hotel, the Downtown Best Western, and then made use of the facilities - sauna and spa.  We managed to limp into town for dinner with the last of our energy (feeling rather jet lagged from the extra long day) and watched Hele eat a pizza while we had beer and an alcoholic Hot Chocolate.

Hele at Vancouver Harbour

For our first proper day in vancouver, we started with breakfast in the hotel bar. It was a bit pricey, but we realised why when they came out - four massive pancakes each!  We tried, but just couldn't finish them. 

 Pete at Breakfast

We then walked down Granville Street, through the city centre, and along the waterfront on our way to Stanley park, getting caught in a rain storm on the way.

Stanley park was beautiful, but our main reason for being there was the aquarium. We didn't go into until about 3pm because of the huge queues outside, but it was well worth it. We spent hours walking round the British Columbia section, particularly loving the 'Grunt Skulpins', but the real highlights were the Beluga Whales and Sea Otters.

 Sea Otter in the Aquarium

After a late dinner we were vey glad to get to bed.