What a weekend trip!
Some of us got to experience such a nice weekend on Vancouver Island! We went there with Moose Travel Network, with whom we’ve done many trips together in the past!
We were meeting on Friday morning to head towards the ferry terminal at Horseshoe Bay. After enjoying the natural hair dryer on top of the ferry deck from the blowing wind we arrived in Nanaimo and got some groceries for lunch. The spot at Little Qualicum Falls Provincial Park let us take in a beautiful scenery while having lunch.
Afterwards, we got to see some of the biggest trees in Canada at the MacMillan Provincial Park! One tree is 75 metres high and some trees even 800 years old. Guess they survive all of us =). A true highlight was the stop at Wally Creek, where you can see one of Canada’s most beautiful nature places. Rivers and sources who go through rocks and a big valley of trees around it. Such a vibe! After seeing the big trees, we headed towards Long Beach on Vancouver Island, on which parts of the Twilight Saga were filmed, how cool is that? 🙂
In the evening we arrived at our first destination: Tofino is a nice little harbour city with a quiet, calm, but at the same time overwhelming atmosphere, caused by the surrounding nature of the sea, the mountains, and the forests. We all had a nice meal at a restaurant in the evening and a little gathering at a pub with some live music!
With the tummy full of a great breakfast we went to the beach to go surfing on Saturday morning. The fresh air, the 4 metre tall waves, the cold salty water, and the sun shining through the trees was definitely an experience we will never forget! Some of us chose a calmer option and went kayaking instead. 🙂 Luckily, due to our super tour guide Terence, we get to experience not one, but two events on Saturday! We drove with a boat out on the sea to see some grey whales! It’s a super extraordinary feeling to see such an enormous animal in the depth of the blue ocean! Some of us got to experience bear watching, which I heard was also amazing. To finish up the day we gathered together at a beach with a clear sky for stargazing and a cozy bonfire where we made classic Canadian S’mores, right after we watched the sunset. That was a whole day of events there!
Early in the morning on Sunday we left Tofino with everlasting memories and drove back to Nanaimo. We stopped at Sproat Lake to see old fossils which could be seen in a stone wall. Slowly bumping up our heartbeat, we headed towards the Nanaimo Wildly Park to go Bungee Jumping! I can tell you, it was one of the best things I’ve ever done in my life. Overcoming your fears gives you so much energy! The bridge over Nanaimo River was 150 ft (45 meters) high and they were doing bungee jumps since 1990! I guess we can be sure the bungee doesn’t tear apart =). With adrenaline still in our veins from the bungee jump, we went to Mount Douglas. This mountain is right before Victoria, our second destination on the trip. From this mountain you can even look over to the United States! Such a breathtaking view! Arriving in Victoria, we ended our evening with a tour from our bus driver Terence and a Pub Night in Victoria.
Waking up in Victoria gives you many options on what to see. We decided to go to the Royal BC Museum which has an exhibition about Natural History and the animals there. The animals were displayed in their original size. Can you imagine how big a mammoth is? Me neither until I saw it there. One exhibition was also about how the climate change can affect the biodiversity and the vegetation in British Columbia. They even believe that with the year 2080, the degrees climb up by 8! Walking out of the museum you can see the parliament building and next to it the Beacon Hill Park with access to the beach. After seeing the beach and the sea, we went to some souvenir shops and to a restaurant to grab some food. Sad that the trip came to an end, but also grateful for the many experiences, we took the ferry from Sidney to Tsawwassen to go home to Vancouver. On the ferry, we got many chances to spot some sea otters in the water and see the beautiful islands around us.
To conclude I must say that this experience and the whole trip will last forever in my heart because I got to see so many things and make memories every day. I’m very glad I joined this trip and I’m so excited for the next one.
We hope all of our participants in this trip could enjoy the Island just like I did. Maybe we can talk about it during the next Pub Night? =)
See you there! Have a good one!
Tino =)
This weekend we went on our monthly trip to Whistler! We met up at Tim Horton’s at 7:45 AM, which was super early so luckily we could get our breakfast and coffee there. Since we are a big group Tess could check us all in at the same time and we didn’t have to stand in line, so we could all sit next to each other which is always way more fun than being divided. The Sea to Sky Highway was truly a beautiful view and our tour guide Gabrielle told us a lot of things about our surroundings which was a great addition. We had a stop at Shannon Falls, a beautiful waterfall in Squamish where some Twilight scenes were filmed.
After the stop we continued our journey to Whistler and we arrived there around 10:45 AM. We got a walking tour around the village and our tour guide told us where we needed to be for each activity. After that everybody went their own way. Zack, Iris, Tess, Kristina, Larissa and I went for a little walk around a frozen river, where we had some adventures in the snow. We ended up losing Tess, Kristina and Larissa, so we were having a little photoshoot with the three of us. After that we decided to have lunch at The Furniture Warehouse, one of those amazing $5 dollar for a meal places, and apparently we all had the same thought, because everyone had lunch there apart from each other.
After lunch we went to The Brewhouse, where we had a hot drink in front of the fireplace. Then Zack went off to have fun at the tube park and Iris and I went to go bungee jumping. It’s was so scary but also the most exciting thing we’ve ever done. Sarah, Merle, Sol, Pablo and Niclas went for ziplining and they had a great time too. They even got to rent a GoPro and took some amazing shots. Tess, Kristina and Larissa decided to go to the Ice Bar for a vodka tasting where they were put in $1.500 jackets to survive the cold. They weren’t allowed to lick the walls because their tongues would get stuck on there, which disappointed them a little. But luckily you can actually taste the real flavour of vodka in -32˚, so they got a whole new experience as well.
INTERNeX Canada 