Week 3

Another week has gone by and once again, it has been excellent. I left off still in Banff and residing in a cracking little cabin with some excellent people. Fresh from the hot tub, and in the presence of some pretty magnificent footwear from one of my fellow passengers...

... I moved onwards via plane to Vancouver where I met up with my mate Dave. After sampling some fine pub food on Tuesday evening, We made an early start on Wednesday morning on the bus and ferry to  Vancouver Island. Our destination was a place called Tofino on the west coast and as such it required a long drive through some pretty spectacular mountain scenery. It was remote in places but it was OK as I'm pretty sure the bus was being driven by Liam Neeson.

It was a miserable day when we left so it was a nice surprise to find lovely clear skies when we arrived. What a nice place Tofino is by the way. Small enough that pretty much everyone knows everyone and the hostel we stayed in seemed to be a focal point. There were certainly some characters staying there. One chap was a typical surfer dude called Troy (also a dab hand at karaoke by the way) who was kind enough to take us out surfing on one of the numerous and spectacular beaches. As it is freezing cold, we donned full wetsuits complete with boots, gloves and hats. I should mention Dave had difficulty in differentiating between the leg and arm holes of the wetsuit with inevitably hilarious consequences. Having said that, we all looked ridiculous. Nevertheless, it was a great day surfing and one capped off with beers, pool and BBQs. The next day, we ventured onto a small boat bound for some remote hot springs an hour up the coast. The journey was punctuated with sightings of Sea Lions (which were massive) and a Gray Whale (obviously also massive).

On arrival at the spot in question - only reachable by boat- we hiked through some stunning rainforest led by a mysterious dog which appeared from nowhere, until we reached the hot springs. It was completely natural and connected by a small inlet to the sea which maintained pretty much a perfect temperature. This allowed us to relax and drink some beer. It was frankly, an absolutely brilliant day.

Back at the hostel, I learned of an impressive talent held by one of the other guests. Tremendous guy called Alex he was, and he had cycled all the way from San Diego to Vancouver Island. His claim to fame however is being the world record holder for juggling the most balls at once...11. He showed us a video and everything and here's a link if you don't believe me.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWX4QSmnw6g

We met many most excellent people and it was a pleasure to exchange stories and shoot some pool with all of them. Alas, as nice as Tofino was, we couldn't stay for ever and so we journeyed back to Vancouver for a night of more barbequed meat and beer at our friend Ed's house. Think beer pong, impromptu guitar singalongs, dancing in the living room to Michael Jackson and generally having a good time. Once again, thanks for having us along Ed.

So that pretty much brings us up to date. I am currently writing this in Seattle where I've bussed it down to today and I now have a free night to get things together before the next leg. I've said bye to Dave, so once again cheers for being a generally all round good guy my friend, and I move to picking up the rental car tomorrow for my road trip. Stand by for some insane road trip action.
W