Moose Tour - Vancouver Island (Tofino)

view from ferry
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MOOSE TOUR  - Part 1 Vancouver Island, Tofino.

Our minibus with driver and tour guide, Micah, picked us up Friday morning to head over to the island! Tofino, the only surf beach town on the west coast of Canada, was our first stayover for 2 nights. There were about 10 of us in the group and as it goes i went from knowing no-one to making a few odd friends; the best were Eva, a 20 yr old German girl who's worked with wild animals in Africa and has 10 scarves,and Aaron, a 24 yr old brickie from Melbourne with a penchant for stuffed beavers and bears....

long beach tofino
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Back to the trip - we got the ferry out to Vancouver Island, drove our bus onto the ferry and then went up to the top deck to check out the sights. The scenery was spectacular, we could see snow-capped mountains, the volcanic ranges in the US, lots of green, and it was just beautiful being out on the water even if it was a huge huge boat.

Arriving in Tofino, we stayed at a hostel that was right on the beach with views out to the water and the mountains (even from my room!) It was a small town that's mainly a tourist hotspot but also has some fishing trade and obviously the surfing is a big attraction. there are apparently cougars out there on the beach at night which we didn't find out about until after.

Day 2 - Hot Springs. We got a speed boat out along the ocean and through the inlets for about 2 hours until we made it to the Great Bear Rainforest boardwalk. Walked along that for 20 minutes through the rainforest until we got to some rockpools and big rocks where the hot springs were. The water was so hot, it was better than any spa or hot tub. So relaxing. You could just lay in the water and look up at the trees and the sky.

That night we got back and went out to a pub for dinner, then had a campfire on the beach. A local girl kindly gave me far too much red wine and it would mean 'hangover hiking' for the next day.