Pacific Rainforest Adventure Tours

I mentioned before that we talked to Gary from Pacific Rainforest Adventure Tours earlier in the week.  We reserved our spots for their all day tour across Vancouver Island.

Gary and his wife Ronda picked us up promptly at 7 in front of our room.  A couple of locals joined us on the trip.  Hazel was already in the van.  She has lived everywhere- Florida, Pennsylvania, and England.  Peter joined our group too.  He had a great eye, and pointed out several things we may have missed otherwise on our tour, including birds and deer.  Hazel and Peter both had an appreciation for Vancouver Island and it's natural resources.

Ronda narrated the entire trip which was very impressive.  She covered history, geography, and local politics.  All was fascinating.

Ronda covered the treatment of the people of the First Nations.  Just like in the US, the people who were on the land first were treated harshly.  There were reservations and missionary schools that diluted the culture.

We went through the Port Alberni area, and Ucluelet, making several stops to see plants, animals and artwork.

Some towns have attractive welcoming statues with their arms stretched outward in a welcoming stand.  I really thought this was nice.  I saw similar statues at the Vancouver airport, and I think these are great.  We also saw various totem poles that tell stories.

Eagles were everywhere on Vancouver Island.  Gary pointed out a treeline area where he counted 14!  Before my visit to BC, I had had seen a few, but never more than one at once.


During our day we went on several hikes.  On the Wild Pacific Trail we got a great view of the ocean and of all of the green growth beside it.  There is something very pleasant about walking among lots of trees and looking out at endless water.

Check out our photos of the ocean, with those perfect grey clouds above them.  Luckily, I brought my video camera with me on this trip.

After a few hours, but what seemed like a full days worth of exploring already, we were ready for lunch!

We all went to the Matterson House in Ucluelet.  In addition to being in a cozy old historic home, the place had great food.  Check out the photos.  EVERYTHING was big and fresh.  We had a great salad, club and cod burger here.

AND, as I set with everyone at lunch, I realized how casual and fun this group was.  Gary and Ronda asked us about what we would like to see on this trip.  They asked about if we would like to spend more time at one park than another.  We tried to defer the questions to the locals on the tour, but they cheerfully argued that we were the ones visiting.

Plus, Hazel goes on this local tour often.  Her and Peter both know the area, AND they still enjoy taking Ronda and Gary's tour!  These guys live in the area, and still enjoy exploring.

After that we made our way to The Pacific Rim National Park area to watch more waves.  I thought it was odd that their visitor center was closed for the season.  Still, the beach area that we went to was very accessible and pleasant.

Similarly to the views on the Wild Pacific Trail, just looking at the ocean meeting the sky was unreal.  I think the most shocking thing about this was the fact that there weren't more people around watching.

We went by some other beaches in the area, and we did see a few people surfing, even though it was very cold.  They did have their wet suits on, but the temps still seemed unbearable to me for playing in the water.

The trip was very enjoyable in Gary's roomy tour van.  He and Ronda have done this tour a lot, and they were very prepared for everything.  Beverages were readily available.  Coats, and rain jackets were offered as needed (and we did need them with the frequent weather changes during the day!).  Also, when we had time to look for shells on the beach, Gary had bags!

After visiting several beaches, trails, and other roadside we finished our day on the west side of the island visiting shops in Tofino.  Peter insisted that we visit the gallery of Roy Henry Vickers in Tofino.

We visited briefly and we were impressed.  We were, however, on a bit of a time limit, so we were unable to casually look the way I would have liked.  Anyway, check out Roy's site at:

http://www.royhenryvickers.com/


We did pick up some nice jewelry at the jewelry shop Rubio:

http://rubio.ca/

AND we got a discount on some nice items (since we were on Gary and Ronda's tour) at Himwitsa

http://himwitsa.com/

I should also mention that we stopped by the post office in town, and I talked to possibly the two funniest postal workers ever (I wish I could remember their names).  One of them could do stand up.

Before we completely left the Tofino area, Gary drove us to Chocolate Tofino.  Do you like chocolate?  Seriously do you like chocolate?  Well, this is the place.  We had small cups of their famous hot chocolate.  It was thick and rich and I wish I never had it....  but man do I want another!  It was delicious but I felt so guilty drinking it.  Oh, and we bought some of their candy bars which are just as good.

And, on the way back to the east side of the island (which seems to be about a 2 hour drive) Ronda continued to tell us about local wildlife. 

Gary drove us by two airplanes used to put out forest fires.  The planes are extremely rare.  He told us that one of the five made actually crashed in to a nearby mountain.

At the end of our adventure I had that feeling I always get after a great day- I didn't want it to end.  However, nearly 12 hours had passed since Gary and Ronda picked us up.  We said goodbye to Peter and Hazel.  I told Peter maybe we could all get together and do the trip again someday...  and maybe we will.  I hope to return to the area again, and I would love to repeat this trip with the same company.

We absolutely felt that we got a bargain touring with Pacific Rainforest Adventure Tours.  These guys helped us squeeze in about 2 extra days worth of seeing the Island.  I mean that- I think it would have taken us 3 days on our own to see all that they showed us in one.

Plus, they had access to some areas that most tourists don't.  And, the drive from the Parksville area to the Tofino area is accessible by one road that is very curvy.  Having a local who knows the road was a major bonus.  It would have taken me at least twice as long to navigate this road.

http://rainforestnaturehikes.com/

Check out Gary and Ronda's website.  These are fun folks who really enjoy what they are doing, and they are very generous.  On our tour, we missed getting a few shots with our cameras.  Gary and Ronda emailed us over a dozen photos that we asked for.

This was easily one of the all time best tours we have done, and it was a great value for what we paid.