What difference 24 hours makes. A hotel breakfast on Sunday to a hotel breakfast on Monday is as different as chalk and cheese.
Plenty of places to sit. No overworked morning breakfast girl spinning waffles. No queue of tourist waiting patiently for their’s to land on their plate.
For some reason, and one that we still haven’t worked out, Max insisted on having a hard boiled egg for his breakfast. In his three short years on this world, he has had one for breakfast a total of zero times.
It was no surprise when the egg found its way into the bin. After check out we headed to the bakery at the bottom of the Fairmont Hotel, near the upper village of Whistler.
It would have been very easy to park ourselves at a table and gorge on the many fine pastries, breads and cakes on offer.
But Victoria was calling, and answer that call we must. So we set off, driving from Whistler to Victoria.
Driving from Whistler to Victoria
With sadness we leave behind the mountains of Whistler, but look forward to the mountains we have still yet to see.
We had somehow managed to trick ourselves into thinking that we had all the time in the world to get to the ferry. An hour away from the port we realised the ferry left in an hour.
If we missed the 12.50 one, the next one was at 15.10. We (or perhaps more accurately, I) were naive enough to think if we rocked up at the port at 12.49 we’d be ok.
But, of course, we weren’t, and we joined the long line of cars that had gotten there long before us, and still not made it on.
We killed most of the next 2 hours in a local play park where we ate a picnic lunch bought from a coffee shop called Beanz Cafe. Max had fun in the play park, although when he went up to slightly older boys, and said, “Hi, I’m Max” all they could do was take the mickey by repeating what he said in a childish, squeaky voice.
I only hope had their parents been around, they would have been suitably corrected.
After a meltdown when we told him we had to leave the park, we boarded the ferry and set off on the 75 minute crossing.
The trip was pretty uneventful, with the ferry being pretty much what you’d expect.
Vending machines, cafe, toilets and even a clothes shop. But we spent zero, squeezed in a 20 minute nap, and eventually disembarked, after docking in Nanaimo, on Vancouver island.
The other side, driving from Whistler to Victoria
If memory serves me correctly, the ferry held 180 or so vehicles. As you’d expect, this many vehicles exiting the ferry at the same time, is bound to create some traffic. It did, but as we distanced ourselves from Nanaimo, and the ferry, the traffic thinned.
We approached Victoria, and the traffic put on a bit of weight again, but we had a beautiful full moon, a glowing red sky, and the anticipation of what the next hotel would bring.
Not much as it turned out. Basic room. Two double beds, but two very small double beds. A simple average hotel, although there was a restaurant and bar attached, that we chose not eat in.
On the way though, we did drive passed a very quaint, restaurant, that looked like it was a converted house. We decided to take a look there for dinner. Quite pricey, and table cloths.
We felt we didn’t want to put ourselves under that much pressure with a tired Max, after driving from Whistler to Victoria.
We ended up in a place called Belleville’s. Perfect for families, and a tired Max. It had a warm feel, busy but not chaotic. Service was smart, and we all got what we needed. Food, apple juice and beer / wine.
We ambled home, enjoying the ignorant bliss, that it was going to take us the best part of two hours to get Max to sleep.
Until I write again….Richard, Suzanne and Max
Distance covered today – 291km
Total driven / ferried so far – 1,822km
