Ladysmith and Beyond

Hello everyone! A somewhat rushed entry today - we didn't realise quite how late it was, we got carried away singing campfire songs with Fred...

Today Alex, Roberta and I embarked on an early morning train adventure, leaving from Victoria and weaving through many towns on our way to the small community of Ladysmith. We saw heaps of countryside, plenty of tall forrested areas and massive flat lakes. Then we met Fred in Ladysmith and grabbed some coffee. Well Alex and I had mochas, which are curiously called 'moe-cas' here... the guy looked at us funny when we ordered. Most people tend to do that, we forget how obvious our accents are! So we pretty much spent the rest of the day making our slow way back to Victoria, stopping off at many places to see the sights.

First we stopped at Genoa Bay and came across more floating homes (much to our delight), then we continued along to Maple Leaf Bay and stopped for lunch in Cowichan Bay (their halibut burgers are delicious). We also passed a few lakes, such as Shawnigan Lake, home of the prestigious private Shawnigan Lake School - google it, it's totally awesome!!!!!!!! It's about 5 times the size of St Hilda's and all the buildings match, it's surrounded by tall trees and green foliage.

Later we visited the island's newest university, Royal Roads University (it was a military college until '95, then was a normal college and has recently become a university). It was so beautiful, the main building looks like a giant castle, the grounds are immaculate and peacocks fly about. They were shooting a film which apparently had Brooke Shields in it.... Anyway we walked around the beautiful gardens and saw a nesting goose, some mallard ducks and a squirrel.

After that we picked up Fred and Roberta's grandson (Alex's 2nd cousin... we think) Kaleb from play group and visited his parents at their home near the rail track. More driving led to the discovery of a beautiful lookout where you could see the Olympic Mountain Range which is in Washington in the US. More driving to Fred and Roberta's daughter's house and then finally back home to Swartz Bay.

Tomorrow's plans are weather dependent, possibly some biking or maybe a museum visit, it may rain so we're just going to have to wait and see. Here are some photos from today:

Totally stoked on a floating home in Genoa Bay

Alex and I at the lookout

Alex and her favourite tree in the RRU Gardens

Finally here are the photos of Fred and Roberta's house near Swartz Bay:

Here is the house (on the left) and one of Fred's garages (on the right... he's a bit of a car man)

Here is the view from Fred and Roberta's balcony. The island out there is called Saltspring Island and that body of water is the ocean between Vancouver Island and the Mainland.