This week started off with the country’s election, voting here is not compulsory.  With a three-day break in the rain we headed over to Vancouver Island, again just in time because at the end of this week the tourist providers close up shop until the end of February when they start up again. 

One company that I thought had a good business plan was the Victoria Harbour Ferry their staff were all of the older generation (retirement age) they work the boats from mid/late February to mid/late October (tourist season), then have 3 months off where they can head south to warmer weather.

We headed over to Fisherman’s wharf to see the floating houses, one area has three story houses and on Vancouver Island you can live on your boat in the harbour which is pretty popular.

From there we visited Butchart Gardens with the fall colours it was just beautiful.

Love these colours!

We visited Port Renfrew, Ucluelet and Tofino, went to the Thornton Creek Hatchery where we saw a bear fishing and a mother and cub hiding in a tree.  There are concerns with the number of salmon this year with numbers slowly declining over the last couple of years.  Commercial fishing, climate change and bad forestry practices have taken a toll.  There are some refurbishments projects happening but will take time to bring the ecosystem back to full swing.

Another week and a half back in Abbotsford before heading into the US.