MFM (Map For Mum) and Round-up: British Columbia

So have done the coastal British Columbia thing. To be honest it is just like home but a bit bigger and full of Canadians. Sometimes I have felt like I never left home. Obviously seeing bears and bald eagles has tipped the scales in the favour of not being in NZ. All in all it was pretty good. Lonely on the bike and when camping but nice people to chat to on the ferries and in the hostels. Had a very relaxed time of it in terms of cycling. I probably be spent more time doing nothing than cycling. Think I was delaying the inevitable move to the US when I actually have to get into some proper cycling. Bit scary really. Was meant to head off on Wednesday 19th but took a rather long way to the ferry and then got lost leading to me missing the one ferry. Therefore, I ended up staying another night in Victoria (not really a hardship). Unfortunately this means I missed the nice weather and was cycling in the rain.........ah well.

Hey Mum, this is where I have been so far. Up the Sunshine Coast, across to Vancouver Island, Denman Island, over to the west coast, back east, Salt Spring Island and then to Victoria.

Number of ferries: 6 plus three to get between the islands and over to Seattle. L-O-V-E ferries!!
Best Campsite: Ruckle Provincial Park, Salt Spring Island
Cycling wisdom:  very important to make brrruuummm car noises when zooming downhill and not to look like you are dying when cycling uphill.
Number of rocks collected:  0 (very good, keep up the excellent work resisting the pretty shiny granite!!)
Roadkill:  Poor. VERY poor in fact! Giant slugs, geckos, worms, caterpillars........not very interesting to look at. But seriously the slugs are enormous!! When one has been run over its guts are spread across the shoulder of the road.
Distance:  Not far and a very, very, very small fraction of what I still have to do.


Highlights

• Qualicum Beach on the east to Ucluelet on the west of Vancouver Island. Narrow and windy but very scenic even in the rain. Cars and trucks also nice and not trying to run me over - thank you!!
• West Coast of Vancouver Island. Wet, wild, windy - just like NZ!! But still very cool.
• Salt Spring Island
• Cycling in Victoria. Lovely trails, lots of cyclists, good signs and pretty things to look at.

The Great Kiwi Survey

1. Number of people who thought I am Australian = 5
2. People who mentioned LOTR = 2
3. People who mentioned Flight of the Concords = 1
4. Number of other New Zealanders = 1