Geography of Tofino

This scan of an aerial photo shows the geography of the area well.

The town of Tofino is at the far end of the main peninsula, surrounded by big flat sandy beaches, the sea dotted with hundreds of small wooded islands all against a backdrop of snow-capped mountains.

Tofino Trip

Tracy & Paul have been saying that we must go over to Tofino with them since we arrived and now we know why. We just got back from a great (if too short!) trip there. Tofino is on the west coast of Vancouver Island; about 6 hours journey by car & ferry which in itself is fabulous as you drive through awsome scenery.

We stayed in a new build house right on the beach with Tracy, Paul & their dog Joe. Ours was the one in the middle.

Much time was spent walking on the fabulous sandy beaches. Above an evening walk on Chesterman Beach where we stayed.

This was the view of Chesrterman beach from our bedroom balcony. No Zoom used, we were really close!!

The next few post are more pics and info about our trip.

D & A.

North Vancouver Bylaw Signs

Now, we know BC Bud is one of our Provinces biggest exports, but we wonder whether some of the product is not leaving our borders and making its way into our Council offices. This is the full range of weird law enforcement signs posted by the District of North Vancouver.

The first three are clearly to pick up your dogs poo. The fourth sign though....jury is still out. We think it's telling you not to skateboard......all other suggestions on the back of a postcard please.

Resident Squirrel

Meet our resident squirrel. There are many squirrels living in the trees around our house, but this particular one lives in the big tree in our back garden. We have been watching him (or her) over the last few weeks scurrying along the back fence then down into the garden and up the tree trunk - each time carrying some food, or perhaps building material for his little squirrel house.

He has recently discovered a taste for stale bread (or in this case pita) which is thrown out for the birds. Not sure a squirrel digestive system is particularly designed for wholemeal pita breads but he seems quite happy on it.

CN Rail

While at the beach earlier this week, a train passed by. In good North American fashion it must have been about a mile and a half long !

An Afternoon at the Beach

Earlier this week we took ourselves down to Ambleside Beach for an hours stroll and some stick fetching and swimming for C. April's weather has been one extreme to the other so far - having snowed and settled on the 2nd, bright & sunny but chilly on the 3rd (these photos taken on this day) and by the 6th we were basking in warm 20 degrees + sunshine.

Views of Lions Gate Bridge

Views of the beach. Above showing a tip of Stanley Park in the top left corner.


The photo above shows the view West from the Beach across to Dundedrave Beach in West Vancouver, and then Bowen Island in the background.

Swimming at Ambleside Beach

Charlie is never one to resist the opportunity to fetch a stick in water.

Good Friday

Happy Easter to one and all. We've had a particularly Good Friday having spent the morning shopping for patio furniture and the afternoon putting it together and enjoying it.

David seen here demonstrating a patio chair and ottoman (with the help of a gin & tonic).

Montreal Views

Views from my hotel room at Le Center Sheraton. Montreal by night.....
Looking south east towards montreal second Cathedral.

An interesting mix of the old & the new.

The french look to some Metro stations.
The Sun Life Building. Whilst this is in s realtively new part of town there is an area called Vieux Montreal (Old Montreal) I only explored a small part of this around the Notre Dame Bascillica but will look around more the next time I am there as is reputed as the best bits. There are some historic sites dating back to 1600's when the city was founded.

I took a srtoll through McGill University, one of Canada most prestigeous. Yet another nice church.

Notre Dame Basillica

Montreal has many more old buildings than Vancouver. There is a sence of european history at least a victorian one. That and quite a number of churches. Here are some I viewed, the most notable being Montreal's Notre Dame Cathedral.

The second part of Notre Dame was quite different to the main church (pictured below) The Sacré-cœur chapel was rebuilt after a fire and has a very comfortable modern feel compaired to the more traditional gloomy and sacred main Chapel.

For more info go to http://www.patrimoine-religieux.qc.ca/bndmtl/bndmtle.htmAnother pretty church in Montreal City.

First taste of French Canada

Trip To Montreal

Well I must be doing something right in my new job as I was asked to attend an ICU Collaborative meeting in Montreal. I had been doing some work around the managment of severe sepsis for the hospital and this was chosen as a new topic for the national network of ICU's across Canada. To be a part of this I have to attend a few meetings and the first of which was in Montreal last week.

Of course I have attended national meetings before in the UK but non that I had to fly 5 hours to staying 4 days at Le Center Sheraton, in French Canada.

The meeting was a success and it was really interesting to network with people from different provinces as it is easy to feel that British Columbia is a country apart from the rest of Canada. I had a chance to do a bit of sight seeing too and the next few posts are some pics from the trip.

Climbing Mont Royal, a large hilside park adjacent to downtown Montreal, affords great views of the city, as pictured here.