We spent almost 3 weeks in Vancouver waiting for the parts to arrive from Poland, as well as for the availability of the mechanic whom we found for the job. Antoine worked on his programming project with UNamur and we explored the city a bit more (we stayed at a campsite close to the center).
When the car was finally done (or so we thought…), we jumped on the first ferry to Vancouver Island - a 500 km-long stretch of mountains and rainforest on the British Columbia southern coast.
But we only managed to visit Victoria, B.C.’s capital and island’s biggest city, before we had an oil light pop up on our dashboard. Turned out the mechanic back in Vancouver didn’t properly seal the chamber of the timing chain that he changed, and now our car was leaking oil… Fortunately this time, it was easy to find a garage eager to help us (they were recommended to us at an oil change station in Victoria). It still took us 5 days to have it done as a specific seal was needed (this time, we managed to find it locally, so it wasn’t necessary to have it shipped from Europe). During this time, we stayed at oceanside as the heatwave reached Canadian western provinces.
When Mike the mechanic got the seal and finished the repairs, we hit the main road in the island. It follows the eastern coast and is dotted with cute little towns and totem poles. We also crossed the inland mountains through a rather windy road and visited the west coast, where the main town, Tofino, is a mekka of Canadian surfers. And so Antoine spent some time surfing, but I’ve got no pictures of this as for the whole time we spent there, a mist lingered above the water and I couldn’t even see him from the beach…
After getting back to the eastern side of the island, we made our way to Port Hardy, at the northern tip of Vancouver Island, where we caught a ferry travelling through the so-called Inside Passage to Prince Rupert, in northern B.C.. The Inside Passage meanders between scenic wooded islands of Canada’s rugged west coast, where mountains assure that the handful of people who live here can only be reached by water. On the way, we saw many whales and porpoises.