Freejan

What an exciting, wonderful time I had in Victoria with Sam (Jane’s eldest) and Karin, his partner. I flew there on a sea plane and I had a ball on the trip over as the pilot, when I asked which side to sit for the best views, invited me to sit in the cockpit with him! I wore headphones, like him and had a microphone attached so that i could speak to pilot and listen to ground control news as we went along – and up! We were 1000 feet and it was a fantastic sunny ,cold, crisp day with amazing views! We hit clouds at times but these were wonderful too. It was a 35 minute trip and I felt like a child! I was complimented on my co-pilot skills as we got off the plane! Sam was there to meet me and we went back to their house for a tea and see their lovely home – now equipped with a yoga studio for Karin (she teaches yoga) with a magnificent wooden floor made by Sam – I was well impressed! He then took me on a scenic drive along the coast and up to Mount Douglas. We drove most of the way and then Sam helped me up a path to the summit, where we had a 360 degree view of Victoria, including mount Baker which is over the US border – impressive! It wasn’t Everest but we were pretty high up. Snowdon seems a hill compared to the mountains here. We then picked Karin up from her yoga class and went to Spinnakers for lunch, a lovely wooden pub with views of the harbour and the seaplanes coming in. I met a waiter whose mother lives in Tal Y Bont, just up the road from me in Colwyn Bay! It’s a small world as they say! Sam just drove a short way to sit a few minutes to look at the harbour as we left and to our surprise a seagull landed on the car bonnet. Sam put the windscreen washer on but the bird didnot move! So we set off to go with bird on bonnet – no movement! By this time passers by were taking pictures and laughing with us as we went up the road! He decided to take his leave as we turned right! I was then taken to Fisherman’s Wharf to see 4 seals being fed fish by some families – the man selling the small fish was doing a roaring trade! The seals seem to be almost tame jumping up to snatch the fish surprising the children somewhat! The herring gulls were into this ritual as well swooping down to grab the fish – one knocked me on the head on his descent to the fish! We had a look at the moored houses around the marina with some for sale. I am tempted! They buy them and then have to pay mooring fees but each one has character with different decorations on the walls and decking etc. Fancy living with the Pacific underneath you! We checked me in to Trutch Manor with Sharon, a Morticia in black leggings but very friendly, and dropped Sam off for a while as Karin took me on a tour of the shops and Chinatown. We went to warm up at a place called Rebar – Modern Food with a Winter Zinger (pure apple cider- non alcoholic-ginger, lemon and cinnamon) for me and a Lady Bug (apple cider, cranberry and ginger) for Karin, heated like a punch. Delicious! There was just enough time for me to have an hour’s break before going out for a meal at Ferris’s Oyster Bar – yummy! We ended the evening in the Hotel Chateau Victoria’s Vista 18 bar on the 16th or 17th floor(could have been 18th as name suggests!) with night views over Victoria and a jazz band playing! Fab! I slept well and had a very civilised breakfast at Sharon’s house across the road – dining room like something out of Hollywood movie – log fire, Christmas decorations in abundance and old fashioned china cups and saucers for my amazing tea. I didn’t like to say she would be unlucky being so late taking all the decs down so late! She was now planning decs for Valentine’s day! Lovely experience. Sam, Karin and I decide to have morning coffee at the Empress hotel which overlooks the harbour and is the most elegant old English style place. They let us in the resident’s dining room and we sat next to the fire having crabcake eggs benedict (Sam/Karin) and grapefruit with honey (me) and large pot of tea and never ending cups of coffee for Sam. Bliss! Time to go so we dropped Karin off for Yoga (big hugs) and Sam drove me to the ferry. We got there just in time and I got on as a foot passenger – bit of a long walk! I am slowly uploading photos so these will come. If you click on pictures they will enlarge. Easy week now before San Francisco next week! I feel so lucky to be here with Jane and Simon, they are really looking after me and I am having a restful time. Ducks are sitting on different rock now – is this significant I ask? I think the snowfall may deter any egg laying at the moment but need to find out the gestation period for the eggs. Apparently, the ducklings (6 last year) practice flying round the pond much to everyone’s amusement! Shall I stay to see this or will Simon get a camera set up? We shall see!

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Tags: Travel

This entry was posted on Monday, January 14th, 2013 at 3:27 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.