It's a sunny Sunday for our drive from Victoria to Tofino. William pulls the car out of the parking lot of our hotel at 10 AM. Google Maps says it's a four and one-half hour drive and locals have told us it's five hours if you drive straight through. We're estimating six hours or so with stops.
We drive north and stop 35-40 kilometers later at Split Rock Lookout and the Malahat Summit to view the landscape for a few minutes. Pretty!
On our drive to Victoria we saw the signs for the wine trail, but didn't want to stop. Today we make a point at stopping at Unsworth Winery. I do a tasting while William strolls around the property. Unfortunately they have sold out of their noted Pinot Noir and I am not able to get a taste. Their other wines are okay, but not exceptional.
Past Nanaimo we drive through the small town of Coombs, whose claim to fame is goats on the roof. Somehow the owners of the Old Country Market came up with the idea of putting turf on the roof and keeping a small herd of goats up there. It seems to have worked as a tourist attraction - the Market and surrounding businesses are reasonably busy on this early Sunday afternoon. In the prime of summer it's probably impossible to park anywhere nearby.
Past Nanaimo we drive through the small town of Coombs, whose claim to fame is goats on the roof. Somehow the owners of the Old Country Market came up with the idea of putting turf on the roof and keeping a small herd of goats up there. It seems to have worked as a tourist attraction - the Market and surrounding businesses are reasonably busy on this early Sunday afternoon. In the prime of summer it's probably impossible to park anywhere nearby.
180 kilometers from Victoria we make a stop at Cathedral Grove, an ancient fir ecosystem. The Douglass Firs are towering. We take a trail that leads to an 800 year old tree and enjoy walking through the mossy forest. We see some of the trees which have toppled over and better understand the warning to avoid the forest in stiff winds - the root structures are not very deep.
Past Port Alberni the Pacific Rim Highway takes us west near the shores of Sproat Lake and it's tributary river, then turns southwest to go around Adder, the Cats Ears and Triple Peak Mountains. On the other side are Pogo Mountain and Hidden Peak. We once again come near water, this time Kennedy Lake. As we drive we see beautiful nature all around, incredible forests, pristine lakes and rivers and snow-capped mountains. We laugh that it is similar, yet different from several of our New Zealand drives.
Finally the highway makes a right close to the southern shore and takes us through parkland and into Tofino, finishing our 320km drive. We arrive at 4:30 PM and retrieve the keys to our rental condo for the next three nights. It's a nice studio with a small deck and good views of the water. To the left in front of us is a pier housing the Oyster Bar Restaurant and a water taxi service, which should provide some entertainment as we watch people coming and going.
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