Thank you, Comox Valley

Miss W and I have had a fantastic time on Vancouver Island, especially in the Comox Valley where we based ourselves for two days.

On our way through to Comox from Nanaimo, we pulled over to a rest area and checked out the facilities. To our amazement, the toilets were not the flushing kind but what we back in Australia call ‘long drops‘ or composting toilets. Had to take a picture of the sign on the door as Miss W’s brother works with Parks and Wildlife back in Tasmania.

We then went on some school visits to Jan Smith who runs the Huzzah blog and then to Jaki Braidwood who runs the Ripple Effect blog. Had a great time introducing the students to both my blog and also Miss W showed them the student challenge blog and her class blog back in Tasmania. When we got back that afternoon, I had 47 comments to moderate and leave a reply for. My little paws were very sore, so I had to rest in Jan’s bag at teatime. You should have heard the chatter about schools and teaching when Miss W, Jan, Jaki and Cathy from the Climb High blog got together for tea at Atlas Cafe. I must admit the wild sockeye burger Miss W had looked delicious as did the raspberry chocolate mousse (sorry Sue Waters – Miss W told me to mention it). I was so quiet, Miss W nearly forgot to get me out of the comfortable warm bag I was in.

The students had given us lots of suggestions of where to go today so off we went. First to the Airforce museum, then a long drive – we got lost again – to eventually find the Powell River ferry terminal where we needed a time table to know when to get there tomorrow. Finally back on the road we headed for Mount Washington. We were expecting to see lots of animals on the road but it was drizzly and foggy so they were probably hiding in the forests instead. Miss W had a long talk to the lady at the information office and was given some freebies to bring back to her students. As we drove back down the road, it looked like something drastic had happened to a ski chalet up on the hill. Maybe it was the 6.4 earthquake they had on the island a couple of weeks ago that caused the problem.

Onto the Inland Highway and up to Campbell River for a Subway lunch – these are good food as they have vegetables (lettuce), fruit (tomato), protein (meat) and carbohydrates (flatbread). Miss W’s mum worries that she doesn’t eat enough of the ‘good’ foods when she is away.We did stop further on at a farm fresh produce store and gathered some snacks including fruit and vege bars that are the equivalent of 2 pieces of fruit or vegetables.

Heading out of town, we hit a very unusual sign about the 50th parallel. What is that all about?

On the way back to Comox, we stopped off at Oyster Bay. Here was a beautiful wildlife refuge, mainly for sea birds and certain plants they are looking after. They have even made some bird nests out on poles in the bay.  A little stroll along the foreshore brought us to huge piles of driftwood. Not like the little ones we have in Tasmania that Bob, Miss W’s dad, likes to collect but these were huge, smooth logs. Some though looked like they had been eaten by animals that bore into them.

Through Courtenay and onto Cumberland where we visited a museum about the district which had once been full of coal miners. It is interesting to see that many of the same things happened in coal mines around the world back in the late 1800’s / early 1900’s. Miss W had a giggle when she read the notice about school teachers – we have exactly the same notice in our Pioneer School.

Back to the motel for tea, sleep and another day of travelling tomorrow.

If you want to leave a comment, feel free to mention something that happened to you or your family, similar to those things highlighted in this post.