Dreamscapes Travel & Lifestyle Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dreamscapes.ca/i/725964
DREAMSCAPES FALL 2016 14 "Welcome to 'British Health and Wellness Columbia,'" she says as she shows off a long strand of soft seaweed. Well, yes and no. For all the stereotypes about West Coast yoga buffs clad head-to-toe in lululemon gear, there's also a down-home, country feel to many parts of Vancouver Island that I find tremendously refreshing. Just around the corner from Bernard's shop is a place called Mom's, which serves the thickest, juiciest slices of apple pie you've ever imagined—towering concoc- tions filled with up to 50 apples. They also do a ridiculously smooth chocolate pie and a tart lemon pie with feathery-light meringue that rises higher than Conan O'Brien's hair. We also indulge ourselves with homemade sweets and lovely tea at Teafarm in North Cowichan (they're growing their own tea plants) and gorge on fresh octopus and shrimp at the newly renovated Fairmont Empress Hotel in Victoria, which now offers up trendy craft cocktails, a sleek dining room and a renovated patio area in addition to its famous afternoon tea. Up at Bird's Eye Cove Farm in Duncan, we snack on tasty sandwiches and admire their friendly and adorable Highland cattle. UNSURPASSED BEAUTY The food and drinks are great, but much of the appeal of Vancouver Island is the landscape and the sur- rounding water. We see only a solitary juvenile whale during a trip out of Sidney with Sidney Whale Watching but take in a great chowder during our lunch at Poet's Cove Resort on Pender Island. The resort also does weddings, and on the day we visit a bride with purple and auburn hair is sashaying around the docks in a black-and-white pat- terned bridal gown. On our way back to the mainland we learn about orcas and whales and are told that cold water has more oxygen than warm water, which means more fish for bigger ani- mals to eat. We also take a short walk on Sidney Spit, part of the massive Gulf Islands National Park Reserve. I expected beautiful coastlines and rainforests. What I hadn't counted on were inland lakes and beautiful rivers and waterfalls. Just outside of Sooke, we rent fun electric bikes from a group called RUSH Adventures and head up to something called Sooke Pot Holes, riding along a former rail line called the Galloping Goose that's been converted to an unpaved but smooth walking/biking trail. We ride over a beautiful, wooden bridge and zip past grazing deer and families out for a walk. We ride up a small hill to an overlook, where I was told we'd be able to spot a small lake. Instead, we find ourselves gazing down at a stunning scene, with cool water slipping through a narrow chasm and cascading down into a series of small pools surrounded by deep green forest. I haven't worked off nearly enough apple pie, but I'm content as can be. DS