Day 13, Day 14, Day 15 and Day 16 (11th, 12th, 13th and 14th of Fogust) - Tofino and Final Farm Days!!

Day 13 was the first of our two days off and as previously mentioned we had planned to go to Tofino for the 2 days. We left the farm and headed into Port Alberni to catch the 12 noon bus which got us into Tofino just before 1500. The scenery on the bus ride was nothing short of spectacular. Beautiful snow-capped mountains, crystal clear streams and huge lakes all to be ogled at the whole way into Tofino - which means no time for Plants Vs Zombies 2.

View from the bus

We arrived in Tofino well after lunchtime and headed straight to Tony's Pizza to cure our empty bellyitis with a couple of slices of pizza. Post pizza we headed across to check-in to our hotel, The Maquinna Hotel. The hotel was perfect for us; close to everything, clean and tidy, friendly staff and Wi Fi. I think the hotel may have won a few awards in the 'thinnest walls with least amount of noise cancelling' and 'the emerald green carpet' categories, but that didn't bother us too much.

After dropping our bags in our room we set out on a walk along the 'Tofino Lighthouse Trail'. It was a nice walk, all up around 3kms through semi-rainforest trails and onto beaches. We went to Tonquin Beach and also Middle Beach, they were not surfing beaches but had sand, saltwater and an stunning view.

Jo taking a breather on the Lighthouse Trail

Rainforest surrounds the Lighthouse Trail

Mitch getting ready to fight off the bears and cougars

Mitch lost and waiting for my direction

Tonquin Beach

Tonquin Beach

Nawwwww

Prodigious old trees

Crystal clear waters of Middle beach

Huckleberries we ate along the trail

Post hike we went to the 'Tough City Inn Sushi Bar' for dinner. While indulging in our Sushi Rolls and Miso Soups, we starred out across the Tofino inlet towards the cloud and conifer covered mountains of adjacent islands as a bevy seaplanes flew across the afternoon sky. We had some very scrumptious sushi that was full of fresh local seafood including Dungeness Crab, Salmon, Scallops and Tuna. We had a post dinner beer at the restaurant before heading back to the hotel to regroup for a big day in Tofino.

Fog hugs the mountains like a blanket

Sushi

Bit of Panorama action

The next morning we arose early for a full on assault on the small town of Tofino. We had a quick bite to eat before renting a couple bikes and setting off to see what this town has to offer. Now, the weather was not ideal for riding, drizzly rain and cool but we soldiered on regardless 'cause ain't nobody got time for that'. First stop was The local botanical gardens, where we borrowed a few umbrellas splashed our way through a few puddles whilst admiring the local flora.

Mud Flats, Tofino.

Tofino man found in the Mudflats of the botanical gardens. Hominid, Gigantopithecus tofinianum. 

Mitch not really impressed with the moss

Next we headed over to Mackenzie Beach, but again due to the weather was an anti-climax for us. Further up the road we found the 'Lonely Planet' recommended 'TacoFino', we grabbed a Fish Taco and it was extremely delectable.

Mackenzie Beach.

Holy Taco's

Next stop on our water logged Tofino tour was the local brewery, we tasted a range of local brews and they were all very tasty. At the brewery our guide informs us that locally in Tofino that the month of August is also known as Fogust due to all the Fog. As you can see by the dour outlook in a lot of our photos.

Billy bangin' a local brew

By now we are getting sick of riding around in the rain so we decided to return the bikes, grab a coffee and wait for our bus back to the farm.

We had decided not to head out to Ucuelet (U-COOL-IT, no u cool it!! lolzys, rofl....) due to the lack of time and buses, next time we will get there.

We arrived back in Port Alberni at around 1700 to rays of sunshine pushing through the clouds, there has definitely been a change in the weather since the scorching days of last week. Back on the farm we had some dinner and re-capped our trip with Cathy and Phoebe over some burnt marshmallows around the campfire.

Charcolin' a few marshmallows

The results, not too shabby, eh?

Day 15 and we are back into the hard yakka in the Blueberry patch. It is a great feeling to have helped Cathy on Avalon Farm for the last week or so. I couldn't imagine how hard it would of been for Cathy and her husband to have to do all the weeding and maintenance by themselves. I feel this is the reason that WWOOFing is such a great concept. For us we learnt about farming and all the associated hardships involved in getting food from the ground to our plates - not to mention organic food. For Cathy and Kerry, they get to meet like-minded people who are keen to understand what organic farming entails, they get to pass on their vast range of knowledge and of course a greatly appreciated set of helping hands. I hope Cathy and Kerry get an opportunity to read this blog, Jo and I would like to Thank You again for the opportunity to come and stay at Avalon Farm.

The happiest couple in the universe!

Jo, Mitch, Cathy & Phoebe

Jazz posing for the camera

Today we travelled back to Vancouver to get ready for our Rocky Mountain Road Trip, after a bus, a ferry, another bus, train and one more bus we arrived at our hotel where we stay tonight before heading out to pick up the hire car at 1200 tomorrow.

Our rough road trip outline is as follows;

Thursday 15th - Whistler
Friday 16th - Kamloops
Saturday 17th - Jasper
Sunday 18th - Banff
Monday 19th - Canmore
Tuesday 20th - Calgary
Wednesday 21st - Calgary
Thursday 22nd - Fly to Toronto (Get Ready Eddie)

Yours through the fog

Mitch and Jo

xxoo