Thursday June 30, Egmont, BC

When you wake up in the morning while on the road, you never know what the day will bring, and today was truly one of those. After a great sleep I decided that the body needed some exercise before breakfast so took the beach/forest walk from camp. It was only about 30 minutes return, and meandered along the shoreline but through some really old forest. It was a sort of a museum walk as there were many pieces of old forestry equipment under the trees, all with signs explaining what they had been used for. A great start to the day.

The weather was fine, but quite overcast after rain overnight, we really haven’t had a lot of sunny days on this trip yet, and thought the Sunshine Coast might produce them but no joy.

Packed up and parked in town, Ian went one direction to check out the marine and sports stores while I had a wonderful time in the galleries in town. The co-op gallery featured work from over 20 local artists, the quality was fantastic. Happened upon a little café/gallery and met Stacey the chef, a delightful lady, full of life and was quite happy to have her photo taken. The artist ( sorry can’t remember her name) was doing wonderful felting with silk and wool and other fibres, and making it into garments. Felt quite inspired.

Then meandered south along the main road to the next ferry taking us south, the whole area has a low key, no rush feeling to it, wonderful. Got to the ferry landing at Saltery Bay and found there was a 2 hour wait, so back a short distance to a park beside the water. It was low tide and we walked along the beach, surprised to see the vivid purple starfish attached to the rocks in big colonies. The sun even came out for a short time and felt pretty special.

Had lunch then back to the ferry where it was only a short wait until we boarded. The cost was $120 but included the next ferry crossing to Vancouver as well.

Just loved the 45 minute trip in inside waters to Earls Cove, sort of reminded me of a cruise out of Mitre Peak in NZ, with misty snow capped mountains rising from the water and huge waterfalls.

As we drove out from the terminal we passed the turnoff to Skookumchick Rapids and remembered that the girl in the chocolate shop in Campbell River had recommended we go there…she used to live in the area. It wasn’t easy finding a place to turn around, but managed and headed down the 7 kms to the town of Egmont. Spoke to a guy at the museum who could tell us all about the rapids, at high tide the force of the water funnelling down the channel forms huge pressure waves at one point, really spectacular, and there was an especially high tide at 6pm. The bush hike to the lookout was about 50 minutes each way. He also recommended a very small camp, right on the water run by an old gentleman of 98 and his daughter. Sounded like a lot of fun, so made a booking at the camp and after a coffee we set off through the bush.

The hike was great, really wide pathway through old forests with trees dripping with lichens. I had my camera on my back but didn’t stop to take any photos as new I would never make it to the lookout.

What a spectacular site when we got there, huge waves as the sea poured through at huge speed…and guys in kayaks braving the waves and doing amazing flips in them. Well worth the hike.

It was 7.30pm before we got back to Ruakiwi, both feeling pretty shattered but thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Onto West’s resort, not sure what we would find…but a real classic. It is in the most amazing spot right on the water, with mountains towering above us, but no frills or fancies. Just the sort of place we love. The misty rain came in again but hopefully in the morning can explore a bit before we leave.