Tuesday 14th December

Oops, sorry have been a bit slack and haven't written in here for a while. Tonight we are in Victoria (the Southern end of Vancouver Island). It is still wet and cold - we get really excited whenever the sun comes out!! Before that, we were staying with friends in Qualicum Beach, which is about a third of the way up the island. They took us out to Denman and Hornby Islands, which are very scenic. We walked around a Provincial Park and saw sea lions and seals playing in the waters. No bears yet. :-)

Prior to staying at Qualicum Beach, we were in Vancouver. While we were there, we walked around Stanley Park (it is a large park sticking out into the harbour) and took a million photos of the beautiful scenery. We also went up to Grouse Mountain Resort and had a play in the snow. For the most part it was just "freezing rain" falling from the sky, but I think we got a few snowflakes as well. :-) We tried out ice-skating and we both looked ridiculous with our metal pusher thingys to keep our balance. :-) We decided to retire to the chalet for food and warm drinkies. :-)

We also checked out Vancouver Museum which wasn't overly big or interesting. We went to the Royal British Columbia Museum yesterday here in Victoria and THAT was impressive. They had a very interactive setup of the history of the European settlers and some cool indian artifacts.

Today we have been wandering around looking at the British Architecture of the place. We went out to Craigdarroch Castle. It is a massive 4 storey place with 17 fireplaces. Built for some rich coal guy in the 1800s. Not a bad place. :-)

We have been walking everywhere and hope to be super-fit one day, but alas, we keep trying out Hershey Bars. There are so many different types! No Crispy Kremes yet but we keep looking. Our accents must be thicker than we think. We asked for a lemon, lime and bitters at a bar, and got funny looks. The barman thought we wanted a lemon lime and guinness. That would have been nice. hehe

Tomorrow we are back up to Qualicum Beach to have another look around up there. Depending on the weather, we may go out on a scenic boat trip on Thursday.

We will talk later. :-)
Geoff and El.