Day 6 - Parksville to Tofino

We both woke up with headaches this morning, which I put down to a bit of sunstroke. Despite putting on P20 yesterday, we both caught the sun a little bit out on the water and probably didn't drink enough of our water rations (especially when you consider the effort we were putting into the kayaking).

The view from the room apartment enormous suite was lovely, overlooking the water. The resort has outdoor hot tubs, pools and saunas, but we didn't have time to use them. If we'd left Telegraph Cove as soon as we got back from the kayking we probably could have, but we were enjoying the company too much and so had no regrets about getting to Parksville late.

We were both hungry, so we grabbed our stuff and went down the elevator to the car and then checked out.

We found somewhere for breakfast using the trusty google maps search terms "cafe" and "breakfast" and chose the Little Mountain Cafe based on the reviews of the all day breakfast.

Sometime looks can be deceiving and from the outside the cafe seemed okay (certainly it's the kind of place you would miss if you just drove by) but as soon as we stepped in and were greeted by the waitress we realised it was lovely. We got a table by the wall, Laura eyed up the food on other people's plates and I made the silly mistake of trying to order a latte - this isn't the big city Natalie! So two diet cokes it was, a regular breakfast for me (eggs: scrambled) and a mountain breakfast for Laura (eggs: over easy).

The breakfast was delicious, especially the toast which was made from bread baked fresh that day in the cafe. After breakfast we got on the road and started the 170km drive to Tofino.

Our first stop was Cathedral Grove where some of the oldest trees on Vancouver Island are located. The oldest is a Douglas Fir that's over 800 years old and 9m around. The parking lot was full, but we managed to find our own space and wander the trails amongst the trees. Away from the road, the trails were very quiet (why do some tourists just stay by the side of the road?) and we marvelled at the huge tress, nurse logs and "normal trees" that are bigger than anything I've seen in the UK!

As we wandered one trail we suddenly heard a voice in front of us say "Ah! My beautiful English girls!" as Shjulie from our kayaking trip walked towards us! We stopped and chatted for a few minutes and thought it was a shame that our paths wouldn't cross again.

The smoke was present in the air and got thicker as we approached Alberni and according to the local radio this was due to some controlled burns that had been set that day to prevent wildfires. The local radio presenter was amusing us as she read the weather like "today: smoky, tonight: smoky, tomorrow, smokkkeeey".

At a gas station we filled up on drinks and sweets. I made the mistake of handing the cashier a small bag of pick 'n' mix and expecting him to weigh them, only for him to ask me "how many candies?" er.... oops.

The road followed the Kennedy River through a steep valley and at one particularly picturesque point Laura mentioned that she'd "driven" this bit on google maps. The river was quite wide here with lots of exposed, worn rocks and we stopped the car to have a wander and take some photos.

Down at the river I took my shoes off and paddled in the water - it was so refreshing, especially as the temperature was in the high twenties. Above us, near the car, a tree that had been washed down stream was lodged between rocks. It seemed incredible that the water could ever be high enough to float trees to that level.

At a pool above a waterfall, some kids and their dad were jumping off a big rock into the river. Well, they say that when you reach the end of your life, you regret the things you didn't do, not the things you did... so I joined them.

Leaping from the lower rock was simple. Three... two... one... jump! The water was so refreshing.To climb out I used an old tree stump wedged between two massive rocks.

Jumping from the high rock was a bit scary. I knew the water was plenty deep enough... but what if it wasn't? What if I slipped? Well, I just did it. Awesome fun!

I jumped in off the smaller rock a few more times, had a bit of a swim and then swam up river and got out in a shallow bit. Back in the car I sat on a towel in just my shorts and bra. Hopefully none of the cars coming the other way noticed!

After a short while we arrived at a junction and turned right towards Tofino. We passed through the Pacific Rim National Reserve (where we've got lots of exploring to do) and passed signs warning that this is a Tsunami Evacuation Zone. Hmmm!

After a bit of confusion over exactly where our Airbnb rental was, we eventually discovered it at the end of an unpaved gravel road. Phew! Set right in the middle of some old growth rain forest it's incredible. Casita Tofino has one bedroom, an open plan living / kitchen area and a bathroom. The ceiling must be almost 4m high in the centre. Outside the huge living room window is the rain forest, right there. It's fab. I think Laura's favourite bit is the polished concrete floor. (Laura: I do very much like the polished concrete floor but actually my favourite bit is the excellent wooden ceiling, lovely angles.)

There's a chicken coop behind us and if we want eggs we can help ourselves. There are also surfboards and bikes with surfboard holders, should we want to use them.

Once we'd settled in we got changed and headed five minutes down the main road into Tofino for a wander and some dinner.  It's not a very big place, but it has a really chilled out, laid back vibe. Tofino is at the end of Highway 4, so any traffic is either heading here or leaving.

Nice benches

Nice benches

We checked out the restaurants and made a reservation for tomorrow at The Schooner. We then got a table at SoBo, which started out as a purple food truck. It was a funny restaurant, almost like eating in an art gallery (again, polished concrete floors) and the food was AMAZING. Laura had some salmon thing with veg and I had BBQ beef brisket. Wow. We finished off with some key lime pie and wandered back to the car.

Back at Casita Tofino we planned what we would do tomorrow and went to bed.