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 =)
It started off Friday morning at Horseshoe Bay from where we took the ferry to Vancouver Island. After a short snack (or better schnack) break, we headed to Nanaimo located on the other side of the island. Even though it rained pretty hard when we arrived in Tofino, everyone was ready and excited for the adventure. So, we packed all our gear for the next two days on a small water taxi boat and after a 15-minute ride, we reached our destination: Vargas Island!
of creative ways. Good side effect of this workout was that we didn’t have to worry about firewood for the night anymore. After lunch, it was time to explore the island. We left our home beach, hoping we could find a hiking trail. What seemed like a trail, made us end up at a cabin that looked like a horror movie scene. We continued our way along some animal traps, under fallen trees and over stones and reached some beautiful spots. After all photo shoots were done, we returned to our basecamp. The sun was out, so we played some games at the beach and the bravest ones of us even went swimming! Later on, we could spot some sea lions passing by our coast. Burgers and potatoes were on the menu for dinner, so we enjoyed those and the beautiful view.
ready to introduce us to the world of surfing! During a three-hour lesson, we learned how to get on the board and catch the best waves. At the end, some even managed to stand on the board like they never did anything else before. It was really fun! After this exhausting morning, we enjoyed lunch in Tofino and evaluated the weekend. Everyone’s favorite moment? Difficult to say, because there were so many good ones. Then, it was already time to head back to Nanaimo, where we took the ferry back to Vancouver.
I am Tess Mallens, 20 years old and I am from the Netherlands. I study International Event Management at NHTV Breda. I am in my third year now were we need to complete a 7 month during internship to finish the year.
communication skills and you need to be adaptable. You are working with people from different cultures, so they also communicate different. I think you have to be open-minded about their cultures and also adapt yourself to every person to make everybody comfortable. I know Dutch people, me included, are very direct so I needed to be careful with that. I guess I found my way through it though, and I learned a lot from it.
Because I organise the pub nights and activities myself, I attend most of them. I think they’re throughly great, since they give you the opportunity to meet other interns and young professionals really fast. Those people became my family during my time here. I think it is great Internex created this, since it would be really hard to get a group of friends when you’re just working in a company and only socialize with your colleagues. We get to explore fantastic places and create beautiful memories together.
I visited many places around here. I did many hikes and I am still planning to do a few more. My favourite trips were the Rockies trip, traveling with my parents around BC, experience Canada day in Victoria, snowboarding in Whistler and my trip to Tofino.
Some difficulties I had while living here was the beginning of my stay, when I didn’t feel comfortable yet and I really had to adjust to the culture. Keeping up with my bank account was a difficulty as well, because you really run out of money fast in this city. Besides that I sometimes had to deal with home sickness, but that went quite fine. My friends made an amazing booklet for me where each of them wrote a story about me, accompanied with ridiculous pictures. They always get a smile on my face again with that, even though they are not here in person.
Becky, the Rockies trip and a surf trip to Tofino with my friends. Whistler mountain is amazing, and I felt throughly grateful for being there. It is a dream that came through, and with good company it only makes the experience better. I also surfed two times in Tofino and I really have no words for that feeling. Especially the second time was amazing since the conditions were just great and I experienced a great weekend with friends, beautiful sunsets and breathtaking nature.
INTERNeX Canada 