In my last post I wrote about how I came to spend a week this summer at a Chi Gong retreat on the island of Quadra in British Columbia. This was a unique experience and a marvellous chance to spend time with my Mum and two sisters. But there was more to B.C. than “chi”.
The trip actually began in Parksville, a small town just a bit north of the Nanaimo ferry terminal. This is where I was to meet a good part of the family; one of my nieces was actually living in Nanaimo for the summer; my brother and his wife were able to break away for a day and take the ferry from Vancouver; my sister and her husband came down from Quadra, and my Mum and youngest sister also took a ferry from Vancouver. I flew directly from Toronto; and to my surprise, I found that Rouge flies there non-stop.
For my non-Canadian readers, Rouge is Air Canada’s answer to Easy Jet. It works hard to achieve a “bare-bones discount vibe” by flying the noisiest, oldest Airbuses it can find, with sardine-can seating, and multiple extra charges for everything from baggage, to food and on-board IPads, (in case you forgot yours). Even with all this, Rouge discount pricing never seems as cheap as you feel it should be; and loyal Air Canada flyers feel incensed when Rouge flights are their only option, since it is a distinct downgrade from regular air travel…and that is saying alot! Nonetheless, it got me there on time, without changing planes, so I was happy.
The Parksville stop was a rare opportunity to celebrate our sister’s Vivian’s birthday, albeit in advance, with Mum and all four siblings together; and a festive evening was had by all. Parksville is a resort town, and the hotel my sister Chris had chosen, “The Beach Club”, was a lovely place, on a wide stretch of sandy beach…I thoroughly recommend it if you are in the area…and it is well worth springing for a room with an ocean view.
At low tide, the beach extends out at least 150 feet from a boardwalk that sweeps along the length of the little bay from the front of the hotel, and the water is inviting: shallow and warm. It is wise however, to be careful about leaving valuables unattended if you go swimming, and not because they are likely to be stolen. It is because when the tide comes back in, (all the way back to the boardwalk), it does so astonishingly quickly, and even something that is left a safe 20 feet back from the water’s edge, can soon be submerged. In our walk along the beach, we came across sandwiches, clothes, a smartphone and car keys(!) under water. We fished them out and moved them further away from the water, only to be told by a fellow walker that she had just done this very thing only minutes before… and they were already re-submerged. So we, and she, moved the items yet again, even further away on to some rocks, and wondered all evening if their owners were able to find them when they got back, and if the smartphone had survived its encounters with the salt water.
While we are on the subject of Vancouver Island, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it also has its share of eccentric locales. I found this out on our way back to Vancouver from Quadra at the end of our trip, and only because we accidentally got to the Quadra morning ferry a bit too early, and so got on at 7:15 a.m. instead of 8:00 a.m. This gave us some extra time to make a few detours on our way to the Nanaimo ferry, and they were well worth the trouble.
Let’s start with a quaint collection of shops at the Coombes Country Market, anchored by a restaurant and emporium known as “Goats on the Roof”, so named because there are indeed goats living on its roof.
We had breakfast on the terrace under the watchful eye of the goats, and then checked out a number of other shops, including a retro hippy clothing store, where I managed to restrain myself from re-living my youth, or at least trying to dress that way. Now I think of it, it was never my best look.
From there, we headed to the Dutch Imports Store, a few miles down the road. Here I was indeed able to re-live some of my younger years. First we were greeted by this sign…well, two signs actually.
On walking into the store we were greeted by a full wall of licorice candy, both bulk and packaged. The Dutch are famous for licorice, especially the salted variety, and it comes in all shapes and sizes. I found my favourite childhood version of “Katjesdrop” aka “black cats” and just had to buy two packages. Opposite the wall of licorice, was a shelf full of “Stroopwafels”, butter syrup cookies that look a bit like very small waffles. These were also a childhood favourite, though on investigation I noticed that despite their modest size, (barely an eighth of an inch thick and three inches across), they pack a quite caloric punch, at 140 calories each!… I bought them anyway….In fact, just writing about them reminds me that I still have a few left, so I am having one right now.
In addition to wonderful things to eat, we found some charming fridge magnets. My favourite one is unfortunately the one I did not photograph, but it read: “Being married to Dutchman builds character”. I gave one to my sister-in-law, but I regret not buying more, as I can think of quite few other worthy recipients, my mother for example. I also liked this one:
But my absolute favourite item was this T-shirt which I regret I never found during my father’s days as an “Opa”. He’d have loved it.
Sandwiched between our Parksville visit, and our Coombes shopping extravaganza, were 10 days on the island of Quadra: this first week at the retreat, and 3 days afterwards in an Airbnb on a beautiful stretch of coastline looking east onto the mountains on the mainland. I am always happiest with an expansive ocean view, and being here was no exception to that rule.
Quadra Island is home to my sister and her husband, and we were in their hands for those last three glorious days. This proved to be a good place to be, especially if you like such things as fresh-picked blueberries, amazing sunflowers, picnics on Rebecca spit, and sing-along, wine-soaked birthday parties on the beach .
But before all that, a little plug: If you happen to be on Quadra Island, riding a bicycle, and it should break down, you must head directly to Smokey’s Bike Shop where it will be expertly repaired by my brother-in-law, a man whom I have known under several names since I met him…but Smokey is the one that matters here.
The bike shop takes up most of the main floor of their house, and one day it will make a fine living/dining room with a very pretty view onto a garden and forest. The garden is notable for its giant sunflowers, and the forest for its abundant and delicious blueberries.
But back to our cottage by the sea. We were lucky this visit to be blessed with gorgeous sunny weather. This mattered in more ways than one, because in front of our cottage was a stony beach, much of it punctuated with large boulders. Here, as in Parksville, the tide made some dramatic moves. When it was out, large rocks emerged from the water 15-30 feet out, and when it came back in they not only vanished from view, they were 4-8 feet under water. As it happened, the tide was out all morning and half the afternoon, so when it came in, it came up over rocks which had been heated beautifully by the sun, and this warmed the water to a very pleasant temperature. (Normally it is pretty cold.) My mother loved nothing more than venturing in for a swim (water shoes mandatory), and then stretching out on large flat “sun-baked” boulders on the dry part of the beach. Talk about a “hot stone massage”.
It is always an excellent sign when the end of a visit has you thinking ahead to planning the next one.