5 September return to Victoria

Monday 5 September

Today was the Labor Day holiday and we were expecting traffic heading back into Victoria. However, we were able to allow enough time to make a couple of stops on our way. We called in to Chemainus which is a town on the coast which is known for its murals. These are substantial and all over this small but quaint town.

Despite the footpath providing directions to find all the town's murals there was this rather pleasant way to take a tour of the town

Beautiful quaint buildings

This was carved from one piece of timber but had to be sawn in sections and transported to its position in town

The Christmas shop was closed much to the chagrin of some German tourists

I did not remember seeing this in town and then remembered that Ian left me at the top of the town to return to the car as we had already walked a lot and still had Duncan to visit

Then just down the highway we called in to Duncan which is a town known for its totem poles. We stopped in at Starbucks for coffee before parking in town to walk around. As with Chemainus the town was empty except for the tourists – as it was a holiday! No stores open and few eating/coffee places. It is hard to get an appreciation for the character of the town when there are few people going about their business.

There are also some murals in Duncan. These two were down an alley

The town hall in Duncan is a rather lovely building

If you think this looks more Maori than First Nations, you are right. It was commissioned by the town to be carved by a Maori totem carver

The beautiful totems standing sentinel at the railway station

As expected, there was a lot of traffic heading back in to Victoria. It was not helped by an accident on the Trans-Canada Highway heading north where a trailer (caravan) had overturned and the highway was closed in both directions. So many people were trying to get around this but it all had to bottle neck again. It put an extra hour on our journey. Good job we had not planned on doing too much else.

We arrived back at the same hotel and checked in before dropping off the car. Then we met up with Rebecca and Andreas for dinner at the Pink Bicycle – a burger restaurant with distinctively different burgers which they were happy for us to share – they were huge! A lovely evening to round off our visit to Vancouver Island.

A Canadian unique food Rebecca and Andreas introduced us to - Poutine

Rebecca and Andreas with us at the Pink Bicycle