30.05.2012 – 30.05.2012  16 °C

We actually all had a little sleep in today after such a long day driving yesterday! The rain from yesterday arvo has continued today, so its one of those days where you just feel like rolling over and going back to sleep, the weather lady did say it would clear, so here’s hoping!! We wandered across the road for a nice hot brekky this morning, bacon and sausage for D, cereal and muffins for M and maple syruped pancakes for yours truely.. Yummy!!!

Our first activity of the day was a drive around down town Nanaimo. Last night we really didn’t get a chance to have a good look so first thing, we went for a quick drive. The town pretty much lived up to the Lonely Planet’s description, a moderate sized town, on the water, used as the springing board for other towns on the northern and western shores of the island.. There isn’t a whole lot here, so after a quick ten minute tour we headed out of town and on our way to Torfino (which the LP has really talked up as the place to visit on the island!).

We drove out to Torfino via this funky little village called Coombs. There is an outdoor market here that has goats eating grass on the roof!! Cool huh? We decided to check it out when we come back this way on our way to Victoria.. i’m really hoping the little dudes are still up there when we come thru tomorrow.. Our drive took us directly across the island (when i say directly, I mean in a general westerly direction.. the road has more twists and turns than a water slide) thru plenty of woodlands and more Canadian hills. We stopped into one of the forests, MacMillan Park, and wandered below the canopies of old growth cedar and fir trees. I love the rainforests here on the west coasts.. the moss just covers everything, the light is subdued.. awesome!

After a long and winding road, we finally got ourselves out to the Pacific Rim NP and eventually to Torfino. When we got in to the town, first port of call was to find this Sockeye Salmon that we had heard so much about! LP recommended a restaurant, Schooner, so we went in to see if they could help us out to try this Canadian speciality. We were disappointed to discover that they don’t sell Salmon baked on a cedar plank for lunch. After proclaiming how far we had come etc etc the waiter went and asked the chef, who agreed to cook us up cedar planked salmon and salad for us for lunch!!

Wild Canadian Sockeye Salmon is probably some of the tastiest fish i’ve ever had!! The pinky/ red flesh just melted in the mouth and the cedar and lemon really adds a smokey/ lemony flavour to the fish… Just delicious. The accompanying salad really enhanced the flavour.. All in all, easily the best tasting dinner i’ve had in a long time!! All three of us cleared our plates.. no scraps left over for the birdies!!

Before finishing up for the day we drove out to check out the beach (no waves, cold wind, grey-ish sand), which really wasn’t super inviting so after a grand total of 5 mins on the beach we got back in the car and decided to turn in for an early night (we had lunch so late that no-one was keen on any dinner).

Song of the Day– Sheryl Crowe, Everyday is a winding road