It was a fab 9 hour flight from London to Vancouver by British Airways. My AirB&B accom was finally okay, but had to negotiate a different room from the initial assigned, with resident onsite manager.

Caught the Hullo ferry to Nanaimo the next morning. Jacqui and Jack are my hosts for the next few days and they spoiled me with a lovely lunch (see below) and then a ‘smoking’ dinner. 🙂 Jack cooked smoked ribs, Jacqui the salad and potato salad, Yummy, yum, yum!

We headed for Comox the next day, a one and a half hour drive north. Jacqui and Jack wanted me to see the Filberg heritage park. In the 1930’s, Comox timber baron, Robert Filberg built Filberg Heritage Lodge (now Grancuna Lodge), as a summer home for his wife and 2 children. Spectacular view of the Goose Spit, the Strait of Georgia and the magestic Beaufort mountains (still with some snow on the peaks). Its a real gem – nine acres of breathtakingly landscaped waterfront gardens. The park features 130 varieties of trees, seasonal gardens, and hundreds of rhododendrons. It’s become a popular venue for picnics, weddings, art shows and special events including the popular Filberg Festival held in August.

Wow, an absolutely beauty of a day, and park. Blue skies, green grass and trees, flowering bushes and more peonies (I think I’m getting obsessed)…water views galore.

Jacqui, a very bad influence :), introduced me to yummy ‘Empress 1908 gin’. Love the purple colour. And Comox marina.

View from the Oceanside route on the way back to Nanimo…

Deep Bay….

Enjoying a lunch @ the Bluefin pub in Comox (tide out) and then in late afternoon…back at Nanaimo, the Irish pub, ‘Carlos O’Bryan’s’.