It hard to imagine that for 37.5 years I was up and at my desk, or in my office for the past year, at 8:30am every day! Now I don’t even roll out of bed until at least 8:30am! I’ve had a WHOOP strap for the past 1.5 years where I track physical strain, sleep and recovery and since we’ve been out West, my sleep performance has been 100% almost every day!
We really have to get it in gear if we want to get out of Newman by 10am any day, but that’s exactly what we did today. We were on the road by 10am and off to Nymph Falls Nature Park, a 26 minute drive up the big Hwy 19 near Courtenay. We had put off going to Nymph Falls for some reason, but today was a perfect +7C, no rain day. Perfect for hiking the trails at the Falls.
A nymph is the personification of nature, or a mythical spirit who lives in the woods and the water. The forest and falls certainly were magical today and we would both rate the Falls and the hike a 9/10. All Trails says this is a 2.6km loop trail and rates it as ‘easy’. We added on the Long Loop trail as we didn’t feel the Falls hike was long enough.
Nymph Falls Nature Park protects 151 acres of second-growth forest located on the north side of the Puntledge River. The river and falls rage over a series of exposed bedrock ledges, to the delight of white water enthusiasts. In the summer, the glacial waters run calm, clear and cool making the park a popular spot for a refreshing dip on hot days. The spectacular Nymph Falls cascade over fish ladders which were blasted out in 1977 to help spawning salmon swim upstream each fall. A rock outcrop, which we stood on for photos, provides a great location to view the river, the falls and fish ladder.
Rock outcrop which was perfect to shoot up the river to the Falls.
Nymph Falls shooting up the river. The mountain was barely visible in the gap in the trees.
Shooting across from the rock outcrop we were standing on.
Shooting down river from the rock outcrop.
The Nature Park had an amazing abundance of places to sit. I love how people in B.C. really stop and take time to enjoy nature in all of its glory!
Benches in Nymph Falls Nature Park.
Benches to rest in Nymph Falls Nature Park.
We probably saw 3 people today on our hike. Its amazing that this beautiful park was not very busy at all during the week!
Fallen logs in the forest on the Long Loop trail.
The trails were very well maintained and the Plateau Road Residents Association maintains the trails for everyone to use. They do a fantastic job and we were very impressed with the condition of the trails!
Well maintained trails at Nymph Falls Nature Park.
The hardest part of the trail today was walking over these tree roots.
The forest floor was magical with the light streaming in through the trees.
We left Nymph Falls Nature Park really exhilarated by our hike and the beauty that we experienced today. Its nice to explore new trails and today we truly LOVED the Falls!
We finished our hike just after 12 noon and since I had an Amazon package to pick up at the Town Pantry Amazon locker in Courtenay, we headed into town.
Since we never know how anything is going to ship to us, and if it is coming via courier, we end up trying to track the package down, I decided to try out the Amazon locker service instead of having packages go missing, if they are not mailed via Canada Post. The locker was amazing! I scanned the bar code in the email which Amazon sent me and next thing you know a door popped open and there was my Amazon package!
Our new de-humidifier for Newman! We have found that with the amount of rain we receive on the Island, the inside of the windows of Newman are quite “moist” and we thought buying a dehumidifier would help with the moistness. Most of our neighbours in the RV park have them, but they purchased them at Home Depot for $150 more than the one we purchased on Amazon.
As we were driving to the Town Pantry store at the Chevron station, to pick up the Amazon package, we saw the famous George’s Food Bar that we were told we had to try one day for lunch.
George’s Food Bar in a ‘divey’ looking building has been serving the Comox Valley since 1968.
Burgers and Chinese food. An odd combination. After having an amazing burger yesterday at Q Burger in Qualicum Beach, we didn’t want burgers today so we ordered Sweet & Sour Chicken, thinking we would get chicken in some kind of vegetable, noodle combination. We were wrong....
Sweet and sour chicken meant chicken balls with sweet and sour sauce. We were very impressed with these chicken balls. Steaming hot, lots of white meat chicken and the lightest batter ever! Almost like tempura batter. Delicious even if they were not what we were expecting for lunch!
Another lunch in Jerry the Jeep.
After lunch we had to run a few errands and then it was time for Richard to get his hair cut finally! After Richard saw that my hair turned out ok at the salon I visited in Courtenay, he made an appointment to visit the same salon.
A fitting name for a salon.
Finally got a hair cut. I don’t think he has had his hair cut since August in Fort Erie!
We finished up in Courtenay around 3pm and headed home down the Coastal Highway. We stopped at the Post Office in Union Bay and finally our mail had arrived from Fort Erie that was sent on December 7th! An entire month to get mail across the country! We made across the country in less time in Newman!!
And look what showed up today!
My new zoom lens! The lens is really heavy and as soon as we got home I decided I had to go outside to try it.
New Fuji XF50-140mm 2.8 lens.
Fanny Bay at blue hour. After using the lens I realized I should have ordered the 2x magnification piece, so I put my order into Vistek after returning to Newman. Camera equipment is not cheap, but if I want to do nature photography I need the proper tools!
Richard had to be home for 4pm as he is on the Men’s Club Board at Bridgewater Golf & Country Club in Fort Erie where we live. The men already planning for the 2020 year and wondering when the border will open as a lot of our American members were not able to cross over last year to play golf. Let’s hope that with the vaccine being rolled out, we can have a somewhat “normal” golf season this year and see our American golf buddies at the club!
And speaking of golf, the Sentry Tournament of Champions from the Plantation Course at Kapalua is on this weekend. After having played the course in 2018, it is always one of our favourites to watch on tv, since we feel like we can remember the holes and how we played them. We have friends in Hawaii who were able to attend the tournament today and they sent us a photo of the scoreboard. What we wouldn’t give for some nice Hawaiian heat right now!
And today we heard that Dr Bonnie Henry has extended the ban on social gatherings for another month. The current orders including a ban on gatherings with people outside of one’s immediate household, will continue to apply until at least Feb 5th, 2021 at midnight. Of course today was the highest one-day case tally since December 2nd and comes 2 weeks after the holiday period. 761 new cases today in B.C. and 23 new cases on Vancouver Island - most of which were in long term care homes. It looks like we won’t be going to Tofino in a few weeks time or be able to visit with Josh & Alicia next week for his 34th birthday. It makes us sad that we can’t visit with family while we are here, but we understand everyone is suffering with the same circumstances. Let’s get that vaccine rolled out quickly!
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