4,534 kilometres and 4 weeks!

Not to steal the climax of the story...but we made it! WE ARE FINALLY HERE....!!!

Today started out great! I had hot water for my shower...woohoo! A great way to start the day!!

We left our lovely spot at Pedder Bay RV Park & Marina this morning around 11am. It always seems to take longer to get everything packed up than we think.

Packing up the basement of Newman today before we left Peddar Bay.

Leaving Pedder Bay we saw the coolest old pick up truck. I believe it is a 1930’s Ford pick up. It was in great shape, but when you rarely get snow, you can keep nice old vintage cars and trucks like this one on the road.

We were heading north today after spending 7 nights south of Victoria, B.C.

As soon as we passed the Bear Mountain exit on Hwy #1 north we were immediately on the Malahat Drive which is a 25 km portion of the Trans Canada Highway. The road was first cut as a cattle trail in 1861, and then was upgraded and eventually paved in 1911. The Malahat climbs to a summit of 356 metres. After the mountain passes we had been through getting to Vancouver Island, this was a “baby” mountain! The Malahat is known for its fantastic crashes and typically there are 50 crashes and 12 road closures annually, which they normally blame on driver inattention.

Today we were lucky and everyone was paying attention,so no issues getting through the Malahat today!

The drive up north today reminded us at times of the cottage towns in Muskoka of Port Carling or Gravenhurst. Very “cottagey” and quaint with lots of roadside places to stop and shop.

We left the new Highway 19 Trans Canada at Qualicum Beach to take the old Highway 19...the “coastal road”. In getting off the main highway, we found a couple of golf courses that are fairly close to us that we are going to check out. I was trying to book one for Saturday at Arrowsmith Golf & Country Club but their online booking system doesn’t seem to be working. I will have to call them tomorrow for a tee time.

We finally arrived at Lighthouse RV Park in Fanny Bay, B.C., our home for the next 4 months at 3pm today.

And this is our stunning view!

The front of Newman is facing right into the ocean! The island on the left is Denman island and Hornby Island is in the background. 5 minutes up the road, in Buckley Bay is the ferry to Denman island and for $17 we can take Jerry over to the island and then take another ferry over to Hornby Island. I’m intrigued with the prospect of going over to Denman island,now that I know the chocolate factory is there and the dark chocolate is some of the best I have ever had!!!

Stunning Fanny Bay...with calm water

Now that’s a big pile of oyster shells! The oyster factory is right next door to Lighthouse RV park. I was hoping the retail store was also there, but the outlet store is up by the ferry at Buckley Bay, in the basement of the Petro Canada gas station.

Our RV neighbours came by and met us as soon as we arrived. We have 3 Newmar RV’s all in a row for the winter! Jim from Fernie, B.C. Is on the left of us in his Newmar Baystar and Steve from Nova Scotia is on the right in his 2017 Newmar Dutchstar. Poor Newman is the old guy in the middle being a 2005 Newmar Dutchstar. We think we are going to like it here with some nice quiet retired old guys and their spouses. We also met Jody from Ottawa who drove out by herself with her new 5th wheel, 2 dogs and is still working for National Defence back in Ottawa.

We put our slides out, hooked up to power, water and sewer and will sort out our carpet, picnic table and outdoor set up tomorrow.

After we were set up and we still hadn’t had lunch, we decided to take a trip up to the Fanny Bay Oyster retail outlet. The Fanny Bay oyster company began farming shellfish in B.C. 30 years ago. Besides oysters, Fanny Bay also farm mussels and clams. The operation is a sustainable one producing their own larvae in their hatchery and raising the seed in their nurseries, placing it on their beaches or in trays or rafts where their farmers care for it until it is ready to harvest. They are the largest shellfish producer in Canada!

And the price was amazing! I bought what I thought would be enough oysters for dinner for $11 and we ended up with 24 oysters..way too many for both of us!!!

The retail store didn’t have any mignonette sauce for oysters so we drove until we found a grocery store...which ended up meaning we drove to Courtney - about a 20 minute drive. They didn’t have any mignonette sauce either, so I made my own sauce.

We really are in the country when the closest town is 20 minutes away! I’m sure we will figure this place out and be experts at the end of our 4 month stay.

On tomorrow’s agenda is to buy some cornmeal so I can fry up the leftover oysters and make oysters po’boy‘s like I first experienced just off Bourbon Street in New Orleans so many years ago!

We hear the hiking trails are amazing around here, so we will have to check that out tomorrow too! So much to do and all the time in the world to do it! Perfect! That’s what working 37.5 years has taught me...now I can do what I want...with Richard of course by my side!!