I saw whales more later

Had a good nights sleep and can write now. We were exhausted cold and wet when we got back at 10.45pm last night, but it was worth every minute. This holiday is unbelievable with all the things we are doing.

We set off towards Victoria in the morning. It is a 2 hour drive in the traffic. We wanted to visit the Butchart Gardens in the morning and whale watching in the afternoon.

Butchart Gardens was planted 100 years ago and is a famous horticultural wonder ( no I didn’t copy that last sentence from the brochure it came from within me lol ) needless to say it was beautiful and we loved it. We didn’t love the thousands of mainly Japanese visitors in there though but that’s another story! 

   We left to travel on to Victoria and our adventure. Fortunately we had a snack for dinner time and a drink because we had to last without either until we got back to the port which we hadn’t realised. We got to check in for the trip and our faces fell. They had cancelled our trip and not let us know. Anyway they fitted us up with another whale watching firm on the other side of the harbour a couple of miles a way and a hurried taxi drive later we managed to get on just before the boat left. Phew! This trip was a 4 and a half hour one on a much nicer boat and so we were happy.

First we saw a solitary male orcha unusual to be on its own in a small bay they told us. It moved very quickly and kept close to shore. People in Arbutus Bay were sitting on the rocks watching it. We stayed there for a while moving with the whale. It was like watching a huge version of Fungie in Ireland! Then we sped off for our journey North to see a pod of orcha whales. 

 The clouds were very grey by now and it was raining, eventually the whales were spotted. There had been 8 or 9 the day before but they seemed to have split up and there were definitely 4………A huge male a matriarch female with a baby and another large whale. It was absolutely pouring down by now but no one minded we were having an amazing time following the whales. They move very quickly and there were 3 other boats following close by too. When they got to the headland of the Island they started to feed. They probably had a seal which they were playing about with between the 4 of them.  

   They come up to breath every 4 to 7 minutes and their breath with vapourised water was very impressive. They stayed close by the shore again and we had a really good show from them. The baby even pushed its tail high out of the water a couple of times. It was fascinating to watch them for so long in one area. The crew said we were very lucky to witness this feeding and playing for such a long time. 

   Vince and I were absolutely drenched, I had their waterproof coat on and my hat which is water proof acted like an umbrella. Our cameras binoculars and video recorder are just about dried out now!.

We could hear the whales breathing and their clicks and talking as the crew put a microphone into the water for us to hear…. Awesome! 

    The pilot eventually said”well all good things have to come to an end, they are resting now and we should be setting off” and he started the engines. With that the 4 whales followed our boat and the huge male went underneath us and came up along side right near to Vince and I and the others followed him.It was like they were saying goodbye or don’t go yet!  

   As you can tell I am never going to forget this fabulous experience EVER.

We got talking to a Russian girl Marina who was by herself on the boat. She is waiting to finally become a Canadian citizen,after studying here. She is Blandines age and we promised to keep in touch with her and send some photos of the whales. Had a very interesting conversation with her.

We got back to Victoria harbour, miles away from our car and cold wet hungry tired and thirsty and dirty. So we took the harbour ferry across the harbour and bought ourselves fish and chips, which we ate in our car with the heater full on! Then poor Dad had to drive back 2 hours to our hotel.

We had been on the sea for 4 and a half hours. And had the most brilliant time xxxx 

     

Believe it or not we were not the first in the queue for the ferry this morning…..we were 2nd lol! We got to Horse Shoe Bay at 7am for the 8.30 am sailing… Your Dad always allows plenty of time for hold ups.

The crossing was flat as a millpond, sunny and clear visibility. We sat on the top deck for most of the time, admiring the scenery of the coastlines. 

  

 We were first off the ferry and went straight into Nanaimo town (where we docked ) and where we are staying for 5 nights. 

Nanaimo is a small coastal town and seemed like we were in Ireland. There is a Bastion there. It is a fortress built by the Hudson Bay Company to defend the town and protect the inhabitants. It has 2 storeys and on the top storey is a cannon which is still fired every day at noon in commemoration. Very interesting building both inside and outside and quite a feature of the town and harbour. The wooden steps inside were very steep and over 80% of the original wood it was built with, remains. It was built in the early 1800s. 

   There was an old man with very long grey hair and long beard playing beautiful music with a flute begging for money. The road sweeper man also asked us if we would donate money to him for cleaning the street. It’s different here …….. 

 We went to 2 coastal parks in beautiful forested areas. The wildlife we spotted was brilliant. Many many huge turquoise dragonflies, butterflies, and tiny baby deer, many gulls and Canadian geese, a bird we think was a woodpecker and best of all 3 bald headed Eagles…….. and all this in just 3 hours in the afternoon. This island is definitely our kind of holiday destination.  

       Our hotel is lovely and we are going whale watching tomorrow afternoon. I do hope we see a whale, keep your fingers crossed xxxxxx

Love to you all and missing you all xxxx

This morning we went to see the high waterfall nearby, Shannon Falls. It is quite close to the car park fortunately and so we didn’t have to walk miles. We walked up the steps and path by the side of it and although I was puffed out, I was pleased I’d made the effort. There were huge old fir trees growing all around, the pine smelt wonderful 

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We then set off up the route 99 towards Whistler. Whistler was the furthest we travelled to 17 years ago and we wanted to revisit. What a disappointment. The 2010 Paralympics had taken place there and the whole town was transformed into a huge ski resort, totally unrecognisable from the picturesque place we’d visited! It was a huge commercial shopping town with restaurants bars and gift shops.

We were on a mission then, we wanted to find the genuine old  Canadian outpost town. So we travelled another 20 miles to Pemberton. This was lovely , it had a small station and local artisan stores. It was in a wide fertile valley stretching towards the mountains away from route 99. Of course we had to explore this road. There were farms with cattle, horses, crops, vegetables and even a farm growing hops. A beautiful river Ryan River flowed along through the valley. We could both live the rest of our lives here we said. We should have emigrated to Canada when Matthew and Alex were toddlers…. It’s a beautiful country. 

   On the way back we stopped at view points and learnt about the First Nations beliefs about the area of Squamish.

Tomorrow we get on the ferry to Victoria Island it’s a 2 hour crossing and we plan to get there early.

We are treating ourselves to dinner tonight. Were being careful with our money as we are retired now hee hee

We have brought the sunny weather with us it is unusually hot this week and 31c today. Xxxx

We set out today to sort out our ferry journey to Victoria Island and our whale watching tour( how exciting ) managed to do both with help from the tourist information guy and the ferry officer. We have those to look forward to this week. This is horse shoe bay where we will sail from.

 Then we had the whole day to spend in Vancouver. Oh My Goodness we love the waterfront and Stanley Park which is a circular drive lasting 6 miles and takes you to the sights following the coast line. 

     Highlight for me were the Totem Poles. I’ll let the photos do the talking. We kept saying “I’m in Vancouver!” Vince said he never thought he would be able to actually see the totem poles in real life. My grandad Bateman saw them when he stayed with his sister 50 years ago! 

     here I am standing inside a famous ancient hollow tree in the park 

 On the return journey we stopped off at Horse Shoe Bay to look at the harbour and have a fish tea. I sat outside in the sunshine talking for ages to an American red Indian lady. She is a teacher and just about to retire in 2 weeks time. We had a really good chat as she sat sewing sock monkeys for the children in her class. Vince was busy taking photographs of reflections in the water. 

   The weather is warm 26c and it doesn’t get dark until after 10pm.

We have done so much today but very enjoyable.

Love to all of you,kisses to the children xxxxx

not long to go now Anona and you will have finished exams and school too xxx

Today we had a lazy breakfast and drove into Squamish to the gondolas. We were whisked up to the top viewing platform 3000 feet above the town. This is the view we saw. 

 you can see the wires for the gondola on the right of photo.

We met many interesting people up there from all over the world and talked to Indians, Polish, Americans, Australians,English and Canadians. 

 

There was a rope bridge to cross which was a bit scary. 

  we walked along a couple of the trails up there and this was a scary viewing platform we both stood on 

 later in the afternoon we drove south following the coast line to get to a beach. It isn’t that easy as the train track is the water side of the road but we found a way and it was a privately owned housing complex but they allowed people to walk along the path by the water. It was idyllic and we  both would have loved to live there with these views. 

  

I have already got my first 2 of many mosquito bites to come, very red and itchy.

Grandad is tired and achy from carrying suitcases poor grandad xxxxx

Before we left Las Vegas airport we had a diet coke each and couldn’t believe the two bottles we’d picked up by chance  

  we’re a bit tired but all is good. It is cooler and fresher here and there is greenery and tall trees! Joking apart the landscape is soooo different. We are in a ski resort ( no snow) and by the coast. We arrived here at 7.30 pm. It’s 9.10 pm now and still bright day light. We had a good journey and as it was a cloudless sky I could watch the land below all the way.

We’ve just been to the hotel restaurant and had fresh vegetables and home cooked food, so different from USA.

Going to bed early but glad to be here.xxxx

There is no wind today and so it feels unbearably hot. We travelled along the north Shore Road by Lake Mead towards Las Vegas. You hardly see the water at all as there are steep hills either side of the road. The views continue to be breath taking. We saw across valleys towards mountains with no road access. America is so vast and not populated in huge expanses of land. This is desert and sandy/rocky mountainous environment.  

  9 Porsches came whizzing by in the opposite direction in different colours. Louis and Otis would have loved to see them.

Today we’ve seen jack rabbits, ground squirrels, road runners, quails and lizards. There were 2 springs along the road. They are surrounded by greenery and tall palm trees. Again we could hear the water absolutely gushing out of them.

We got as far as the outskirts of Vegas and had a coffee in a Starbucks , well I had a cold mocha frapachino Anona just like you love to have.

We slowly came back along the same beautiful road. There are small barriers all along either side of the roads in places about 8 inches high. We asked the park ranger about them. He asked us to guess what they were for and we couldn’t think. Well it’s to protect tortoises from getting squashed on the road. They are an endangered species now. He said we wouldn’t see any as they keep out of the way. Do you remember we saw one walking down a country lane near Houston when we were stuck in traffic and took a side road across farming land?

Lilyana I got a lovely superman and rainbow sherbet ice cream today. It was pastel colours on the top and bright colours underneath. Grandad took a photos of it to show you. His was lemon sorbet flavours and no I didn’t eat 2 ice creams!!! 

        Well we’re all packed up ready for the flight tomorrow. We’ve ditched some clothes and books we don’t need in order to reduce the weight in the suitcases, hope we don’t have to pay excess for the weight in them now.

Will put up my photos soon, as the laptop is packed away with all the connections etc….Canada here we come xxxxx

We visited the local museum today, before it got too hot. It was so interesting all about the ancient people who lived in this area and all the climate changes which have happened. There were lots of arrow heads, remains of pots and even clothing. The museum was called Lost City Museum, because the original site,where they found most of the exhibits,is now under water when they dammed up the river to make lake Mead. There are reconstructions of the Pueblos the people lived in. A very good value for money museum. 

    We then went to the only  tourist gift shop in town and talked to a young man who has an 11 year old daughter who is half Navajo. His great grandfather and grandfather were farmers in this valley, but his father hated farming and is now a judge in Las Vegas. The young man moved away to study and work. He got made redundant and has now come back here to live again. He is a photographer and artist and sells his work in this shop which he part owns. The people here are very friendly.

Next we were on a road along the Muddy River when we spotted a large bird, it was a wild turkey we think. 

 Back in the Valley of Fire State Park we did some rock climbing and exploring until it got too hot,followed by a salad and diet coke at our little cafe in town. I still can’t get used to these temperatures 106f today.

Later in the afternoon we took a drive up the Moaba Valley to Warm Springs where the source of the Muddy River begins. When we got there the sound of the water gushing out was loud. It was all fenced off though but surrounded by huge palm trees. 

 It is only open to the public October to May and is a nature reserve. The wildlife we saw up that road was exciting, vultures road runners birds we’d never seen before that were blackbird size but blue and yellow, Hawks and Eagles, rabbits.

We were in the Indian reserve lands and 2 toddlers with their mum, fully dressed in their colourful tribal clothes were in the stream swimming and squealing with delight. The water I thought would be freezing but vince pointed out it is called Warm Springs. It was a lovely shared moment I caught.

What do you think to your a bit thinner parents/ grandparents?  

   Last full day in USA tomorrow then we fly out sat 1.30 our time

love to you all, missing you xxxx 

Vince had his haircut in a small salon in Overton, it cost £12 so cheaper than Thornbury. We picked up some fruit and crisps and headed out to the Valley of Fire. 
Lovely blue skies and white fluffy clouds today and also VERY hot again. Saw wildlife again. 4 brown vultures swooping over our heads, loads of ground squirrels, a long whitish lizard with a long tail, road runners ( they do look like tiny pterodactyls ) and 8 bighorn sheep. We were very lucky to see these sheep on the rocks and so many altogether. 

   
   We took more photos as the colours looked so different in the sunshine. We did follow a few trails but the heat is exhausting for us.   

 
We headed for Overton to the ice cream diner and ordered 2 lovely salads. You buy a diet coke and can refill it as many times as you want for free. There are many more children around now as the schools broke up for Summer last week.
Now we are back at the hotel and enjoying just resting and keeping cool.
We went out for an ice cream and then to follow the sunset. Blandine I tried peanut butter ice cream today and it was very nice xx 

      Love to you all especially Otis Louis lilyana and anona. Good luck Anona with your exams

Thank goodness for air conditioning in car and hotel. We went to old downtown Scottsdale this morning. It’s where Phoenix the town started. We walked under verandas and in the shade but kept diving into shops to cool down. This heat is going to be here for the next week so I will have to live with it,especially in Death Valley. 112f today        
      We chilled out literally in the hotel all afternoon, had our free drinks in social hour while our washing was in the machines. What a lazy day….
It’s only a 2 hour journey tomorrow to Kingman where we stop overnight And then a longer journey to Beatty where we stay 6 nights to explore the Death Valley.  
      

     Hope you like theses photos Lily anona Louis and Otis xxxx