Best of Western Canada - Day 11: Port Hardy to Victoria via Cumberland and Chemainus

Day 11: Port Hardy to Victoria

We wake up and intentionally miss breakfast, lacking from sleep. Anyway we set off on our travels to Victoria stopping at many pitstops on the way. The first being at Sayward where there was a small cafe that sold homemade fresh pies etc.

   
Kim standing next to fallen tree. Look at the girth!!, Totem Pole at Sayward. Made out of metal from old machinery

We continue on our journeys, at lunch we reach Cumberland where Bryce gives us a brief history about the town. Its a very nice cosy town, we went for a quick stroll from one end to the other, and eventually ate at a small chinese cafe. I had rice with beef and brocolli in oyster sauce, Kim had rice with beef and tomatoe. The quality of the food was very high and taste very good as well as being reasonable priced.

Cumberland's Old Chinatown

We continue with our journey onto Victoria, our next stop being Chemainus. Here we see lots of murals on buildings and the town going through a tourist boom. Its very nice and cosy and a lot of the locals there seem to be eating ice cream. The weather on this part of Vancouver Island is a lot more pleasant and sunnier to what we have seen over the last couple of days.

Chemainus

After a quick ice cream and refreshments we get back onto the coach onto the final leg of the journey. We eventually reach Victoria in rush hour. My o my what an amazing city. In my opinion its like Vancouver but ten times better. The streets are clean and theres positive vibes and buzz coming from the city.

As we get into Victoria we have a quick orientation tour of Victoria, through Chinatown, Government Street, along the harbour, past Victoria Parliament Buildings, pass Fairmont Hotel to our hotel. The Queen Victoria Inn, 655 Douglas Street, Victoria. We check in, we would rate this hotel 4-4.5 stars out of 5. A very nicely presented hotel, rooms are spacious.

We relax a bit, freshen up then decide to explore a bit of Victoria and then get some dinner. We walk out of the hotel and start walking along Government Street and admire the shops and places where we should visit for the next day when we get some free time to ourselves.

We make our way to Chinatown to eat through the gates of Harmonious Interest. We walk past Bryce's front door and decide to eat a Don Mee Chinese Seafood Restaurant. We order lobster, steamed in ginger and spring onion, ooo this was as fresh as lobster could be cooked absolutely perfectly. The quality of food was of a extremely high standard and cooked to perfection. The restaurant seemed quite busy and packed out.

After our food we head over to Star Bucks for a nice hot tea with soya milk before heading back down Government Square to watch the buskers. The buskers in Victoria all have licences to perform and they all quite entertaining. We watched the dude on the unicycle just infront of the harbour perform. After that we headed back to the hotel for a decent nights kip.

Victoria is like a mini London, except its safer, cleaner, and more welcoming. The people are friendlier and more approachable. I liked it very much and a lot of the party agreed and wished we could have spent a few extra days here.

The next day

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Related Links

Day 1:
UK to Vancouver

Day 2:
Vancouver
Chinatown, Gastown, Grouse Mountain, Capilino Bridge

Day 3:
Vancouver to Vernon
Okanagan Lake, O'Keefe Musuem

Day 4:
Vernon to Banff
Glacier National Park, Yoho National Park

Day 5:
Banff
Helicopter Ride, Gondola, Sulphur Mountain

Day 6:
Banff to Jasper
Lake Louise, Columbia Icefield, River rafting

Day 7:
Jasper to Prince George
Maligne Lake, Mount Robson

Day 8:
Prince George to Prince Rupert
Skeena Train

Day 9:
Prince Rupert
Seaplane, Pike Island

Day 10:
Prince Rupert to Port Hardy
Inside Passage Cruise

Day 11:
Port Hardy to Victoria
Cumberland, Chemainus

Day 12:
Victoria
Chinatown, forbidden city tour

Day 13:
Victoria to Vancouver

Day 14:
Vancouver
Granville Island, Gastown

Day 15:
Vancouver to UK
and conclusion of tour

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Other links:

Cheester's w00tw00t homepage
Hesperia Isla Margarita Hotel Review
Advent laptop 6520 review