Homeward Bound

Suddenly it doesn't feel like we have been away very long at all, but we are looking forward to getting home.

There's been a huge range of bed quality, including excellent, but there's nothing quite like your own one.

See you all soon.

Waving our friends off in the rented Comaro, Seattle bound.

One last Vancouver photo.

One last tourist activity.

and here we are, for the final time, departing.

Back to Vancouver

Today we headed back to the ferry and back to Vancouver.

We thought so we had to do was pack our bags, but Tony had arranged a private chef to cook our salmon at his daughter's place for a farewell dinner. Fabulous.

And, I finally saw a bear... Back outside the family home in Vancouver!

There are many people to say thank you relating to our trip, but these ones stand out:

Toby, for looking after our house;

Donald Warrington for the McLeod history directions;

Katie and Nigel for helping with planning and letting us stay with them for so long in London;

Jeff for showing us around Paris;

Tony for organising such a great time in the Vancouver area.

We've had a great time.

V.I. Day 8

Today we moved from Port Hardy to Courtenay.

More excellent gravel road riding.

The boys had their first nail in a tyre. The air pressure stayed up but with visited a tyre repair shop who were super helpful with a fix.

We need to stay in this bay next time.

Apparently the Bears are everywhere, but I'm the only one not to see them yet!

Spot be the nail

Sort of like watching one guy do the BBQ 😂

But their policy was they couldn't touch our bikes.

Team shirts. 

V.I. Day 7

The riders made their way from Gold River to Port Hardy (near the top of the island) and managed to do so almost entirely on unsealed roads. It was great; more fun and very little traffic.

The traffic we did come across though was huge... Logging trucks, that don't give way! (Usually head on).

From here we start heading South and back to Vancouver and then finally home.

Gold River accommodation... Worse than it looks.

GR was yet another logging port.

Float planes are everywhere on the island.

Typical river scene.

Trains are seldom used now.

Typical lake scene.

Typical forestry work scene.

Port Alice.... Another logging port!

V.I. Day 6

The teams split today; boys to Gold River, ladies to Campbell River. We meet up at Port Hardy tomorrow.

A longer day on the bikes - 456km and 8 hours. This was longer than we planned but we came up against closed gates in the forest so we had to double back and do the sealed roads all the way around.

8am start, fuel and go.

You shall not pass.

You shall not pass here either.

You shall wait for your 30 minute time slot to pass here! (Highway repairs)

A lake just out of Gold River (tiny village).

Vancouver Island Day 5

Today was a rest day, staying in Tofino.

Tony booked us all onto a fishing charter and we successfully caught six big salmon (64kg total!)

That's our boat on the right of image.

Life jackets on.

Fish on the hook.

Fish on the boat 👍

Big fish! About 10kg+

Homeward bound. Fishing was 5 miles out.

We left filleting to the experts. Not sure if it can make it to NZ.

Vancouver Island Day 4

From Port Alberni we travelled to Tofino, described as a 'queenstown type location'.

We had a shorter ride (200km), half in the forests (where Phil saw a bear, and Mike nearly hit Bambi) and half on sealed roads into town.

Beautiful river, no salmon running.

Apparently.

Logs moved by river.

Recurrent beautiful scenery.

Map checks. We are definitely not lost. 😄

The only bear I've seen so far.