The sun had reappeared by the time we arrived in Nanaimo and we pulled up at the Garnetts house. Autumn and Hazen were still on their trip and weren’t due back until the day we flew to Hawaii so we nervously approached the front door. We had been in contact with Clark on a daily basis but when you rock up at somebodies home you have USUALLY met them at least once before hand! We needn’t have worried, we were welcomed with open arms and invited in and within minutes felt at home, even the cat (Zoe) liked me!! We drank ginger ale and caught up on the latest and tried to wean information about the wedding…to no avail! Once Angie arrived home from work we went out in their motorboat in the lake that their home overlooks, we drank great wine, ate great food (my favourite, Pork!), watched a stunning sunset from the lake and enjoyed the great company.

After dinner Angie showed me around her craft studio and I was in heaven! The lake gently lapped below us and the sun set as I was set free among trays and pots and drawers and bags upon bags of beads!! Like a kid in a sweet shop for the very first time I didnt know what to do first! Angie insisted I made something so I sat and made a little bracelet…too excited to think about what I was doing I had cut the string before I had a bead on it so it would never have been finished had Angie not packed me up with longer string with fastenings on, scissors and more beads the next day! We eventually went to bed after such a wonderful night and could barely sleep with excitement.

We had 3 days to explore the island before we had to be back for the wedding so the next morning we set off again on our little road trip to the west coast of Vancouver Island. We stopped at a farmers market on the way and bought some supplies and enjoyed the beautiful drive to Tofino. One of the most amazing experiences so far of the trip happened just as we pulled off the road to swap seats. We pulled into a gravel layby and Alex was just about to jump out of the drivers seat so I could get in when I noticed the bush move! I looked closer and stopped Alex from getting out of the van and pointed out the bear that was happily enjoying his berries right outside the van door! We grabbed the video camera and watched from the safety of Peggys window although watching him I can understand how people are tempted to go near them. He seemed so chilled out and not at all bothered we were there with Peggy’s engine rumbling away! We watched until he wandered off and swapped seats and drove away mesmerised that we had just watched a wild bear eat his lunch 2 feet away from us!

We soon arrived in beautiful Tofino and checked in to the pristine Crystal Cove campsite. There were flowers everywhere being tended to by the happiest lady I have ever seen! We were 3 steps away from a great view of the Ocean and we were a moments walk from the beach. We wandered along the beach dipping our toes in the freezing water and laid in the sun for a few hours before dinner and then headed straight back to watch the sun set! And what a sunset! The Ocean turned colours I have never seen before, lilacs to deep purples, pinks and vivid oranges to red and gold it was beautiful. We thought about running back for the video camera but couldnt pull ourselves away.

We watched the colours and talked about how lucky we are to have met these fabulous people who were so generous to throw this wedding for us and under a sunset just like this one!

We got up early the next day and Alex went for a run ( I watched) then we drove out to Long beach and watched the surfers in their full body wetsuits. We laid and read our books and started to day dream of Hawaii. We watched a family play a game similar to bouls but on the beach for 5 solid hours and marvelled at the seaweed! It looks like tentacles from some creature from the deep and can be longer than 7 feet with a huge bubble on the end and doesn’t smell so good but is interesting all the same! We had a lovely lazy day, had fun chopping some fire wood, lit a fire and had a BBQ for dinner. The next day we had a radio interview over the phone for CBC Victoria and sadly waved goodbye to Crystal Coves beautiful flowers and views and hit the road to Ucluelet (pronounced Uh-clue-let) to Surf Junction. We toyed with getting surfing lessons there on Wikkanninish Beach but decided we would save it for warmer waters! We spent another day enjoying the beach and watching the other crazy folk surf and even spotted whales spouting in the distance! Once we had had too much sun we took the Wild Pacific Rim route along the cliff tops and admired the views of the Ocean. The walk goes all the way to Mexico however we had an appointment with the hot tub back at camp so we only did about 5km. The views were spectacular and the area is more popular come storm season for storm watching! Apparently it is one of the best spots to sit safely and watch the clouds gather and enjoy the heavens splitting with lightening! It is certainly the first time I have wished for bad weather to come in just to see it! Maybe when we get back from Hawaii in a month the weather will have turned and we might get the chance to see it!

The hot tub eased our legs and helped us get into holiday mode even more and we excitedly chattered about what we thought Clark had up his sleeve for the wedding! Little did we know and little did we guess!

On the way back to Nanaimo on the Friday morning (the day of the wedding) we giddily drove along and didn’t even mind the droves of people that had stopped to see the cyprus groves at the very same moment we had! We quickly walked the trail (excited about getting back) and gaped with jaws hanging at the size of these trees! One of them was 300 years old when Columbus visited Canada in 1492, is 76 meters tall and 9 meters around!! The pictures do not do it justice at all!

We jumped back in Peggy and completed our journey back to Clark and Angies by 2pm.

We were greeted at the door by Angie who looked just sooooo excited and we met Morgan (Autumns sister) who had spent the day making us a cup cake wedding cake!!!!!! My excitement peaked when I saw it and that was it! The wedding nerves kicked straight in!!!!!!!!

See what happens next in our wedding travel adventure!