Canada - Day 18 - 8th July

Today began foggy, which is a first on this trip. The weather here is very changeable and quite cool first and last thing. The wind is definitely a plus here as it keeps the fog at bay when high pressure dominates.

After a continental breakfast, we headed off to the light house point at Ucluelet. Take a look at this link for more info: http://www.ucluelet.com/

We took the marked trail which takes you through a variety of rain forest terrain. There were aerie sections of forest with moss laden trees,



sections of plants with bright yellow raspberries,



haunting views of the foggy coast (with the fog horn blowing in the background) and endless stretches of coast with hundreds of washed up trees.



Whilst walking towards the end of a path we heard screeching. Suddenly there were two large bald eagles flying above the trees. We darted into the open and there, sitting in a tree, was a huge bald eagle.






He was quite happy to sit in his tree and watch us, whilst we snapped away.



The trail continued until we hit a circular board walk section. We then began the walk back and, low and behold, we came across a second Bald Eagle (or was the same one in a different place).

On the way back towards Tofino, we stopped off at the Wickaninnish Interpreter Centre, where they have some small hikes, a great beach and an large nature information centre. We will pop back and see this place tomorrow, when we have more time.

The afternoon had already been arranged by our travel company, FreshTracks. This company have dome a very good job in arranging our Canada trip. If anyone is looking for such a service please click on this link: http://www.freshtracks.ca/canada/index.php

By now the sun had burnt off the low cloud and flog, so we met our fellow guests at Jamie's. There was a large German lady and two young girls from the Tour office.





We almost flew to our first location as the driver of the boat, a young lad, was out to give us all a thrill. He went like a bat out of hell, turning the boat on a sixpence. During one part of the trip, we hit very large waves. He slowed a tad, but not much!!



We eventually hit dry land, where we paid our three dollars entrance and began the long board walk through the forest. This was, without doubt, the best forest walk to far. The trees etc. were just amazing, some so large you could fit inside the trunks with room to spare. We both let our selves go and hugged a few trees.



The forest life was simply amazing and we couldn't stop taking photo's.



After an hour and a half we emerged by the coast and could smell the sulphurous water of the hot pools. There were quite a few people already soaking up the minerals. We changed and made our way into the sulphur water fall. Wow, we it hot!! After a while we acclimatised and started to work our way down the pool system. The closer you got to the sea the cooler they were.




After half an hour, we returned to our dry clothes and then sat on the rocks watching the sea and taking some photo's for the large German.

The walk back through the forest was equally amazing as we experienced a whole new set of views.

We arrived back at the jetty for 6.30pm. The float plan, so called as it floats on the water with two large air tanks, arrived a little after seven. The pilot was very young and very quiet. John managed to get into co pilots seat, Fiona in the middle section but by the window. The entire plane only took six people.

We took off at full speed and enjoyed a very scenic flight back to Tofino. The sun was out and the air was not too turbulent. The landing was immaculate. We didn't see any Whales, but we are off on a Whale watching trip tomorrow, so fingers crossed.



We went to the poshest restaurant in town tonight. Not impressed!! Poor service, tasteless starters and an overcharged bill!! Dont' go here: http://www.wickinn.com/restaurant.html