After yesterday's big drive we weren't in any hurry to stir this morning. I rang the front desk at 9.45 to see what time breakfast finished in case it was ten and we had to move it only to be told it finished at 9am lol ah well there's always a banana :-)

We packed up and checked out aiming for the 1pm crossing. The drive to the ferry terminal was over an hour. We needed to stop on the way to stock up on groceries for the next few days assuming it'll cost more on the island; captive audience and all that :-)

The drive was quite nice, we went through a market garden area and some nice looking suburbs, we even got a preview peek at the city in the distance.

We dicked about a bit and got held up by road works and traffic. We got to the terminal 20 minutes before it was due to sail and when we bought our ticket we were told, you're wait listed and may not get on. She was right, we didn't get on the 1pm sailing. Next boat 3pm, b***** it :-(

While everyone else took to the terminal to shop and eat we set ourselves up at the car and made some lunch. The terminal had wifi so we did some email checking etc then played scrabble til we could board. The previous boat was running behind time so we left a little late with an ETA in Victoria of 5pm. Bit of a wasted day in some ways but relaxing which was exactly what we needed.

The gift shop on board had a pretty cool bear claw back scratcher which we bought. My other back scratcher is a longer wooden one I bought back in 1980 in the Cook Islands so it's not the first I've bought as a souvenir. I had to hold Pete back, he wanted to buy big stuffed bear wearing a RCMP uniform lol

The sunny warm weather has given way to murky, overcast and mid to high teen temps. We got called to rejoin the car quite a time before we actually docked. It was pretty cold, I guess I chose the wrong day to get the shorts out again lol while we waited I changed in the front seat; shorts and thongs off, jeans, socks and trainers on, much better. It took a bit of wriggling to do it so nobody noticed but I got there lol

Off the boat and heading for Victoria, petrol is 9c/lt cheaper here! Ripped off, we filled up this morning lol

In Australia if you go to any island everything is way more expensive with the freight to get it there the oft given excuse - that does not hold true for here.

The island didn't have the feel of an island as we know it, more like heading towards any city. Victoria felt a bit like Brisbane complete with a Chinatown, fake English pubs, ornate govt. buildings etc. The area near the harbour was pretty, lots of parks and or large gardens near the flash hotels and the main seat of govt. The marina had not only the usual boats and tour operators but also float planes.

Deciding it was all a bit too miserable wandering about in the drizzle we set off for Nanaimo. It was an interesting drive, the first bit was a three lane hwy which gave way to what felt more like a drive through a forest or canyon. We drove through several small cities and in between there were cultivated fields and all the usual semi rural businesses.

We got to our apartment or condo as they say here and it's terrific, can't wait to see the view from our massive balcony overlooking the marina in the morning :-)