Sooke, BC

We drove out to Vancouver Island, from Ontario, by motorcycle shortly after we were married and ended up staying almost two years! Now that was a honeymoon! You know, to this day, we still laugh about some of the things that happened during this adventure, after over 30 years of marriage. And just you never mind asking about!

We camped for 3 days through Ontario, after that it was hotels, believe me, I had had my fill of mosquitoes, black flies and bees! LOL It really was the trip of a life time for me. Although Rick had been across Canada a few times, I never had. Pictured above is our well packed motorcyle, we had all the comforts of home. We are just outside Banff and I remember seeing the mountains for the first time, it was breathtaking.

Whiffin Spit Beach is a natural spit that has been reinforced to allow easy walking. When we first moved to Sooke, we found a small apartment building (4 units) on Whiffen Spit Road and lived there for a couple of months. We were a 3 minute walk to here.

This picture has a funny story to it. Rick was taking my picture on our first trip to "The Spit". He kept saying "hold it", "hold it", knowing that wave was coming up behind me (which I couldn't see). Of course, just after Rick snapped this picture, I got soaked! LOL

In November 1979 we found a beautiful spot way up on Otter Point Road.

The waters around Sooke, the Sooke Harbour and the Strait of Juan de Fuca are home to seals (they are cute but really do have large canine teeth and should be approached with care) and also home to dolphins which come up to local docks to play.

The Government Wharf is at the foot of Maple Rd, just past the streetlight where Sooke Road turns into West Coast Road.

We used to to down to the wharf (around midnight) and catch our own shrimp and crab. After watching and talking to some of the other folks shrimping and crabbing, we devised our own crab net and shrimp scoop.

We usually would get home around 4am, with a take of several crabs and lots of shrimp. What a treat, you can't get any fresher! And I can't believe more people didn't do this. There was usually only around eight people there, including us.

Here I am cleaning crab for when my parents visited (April 1980). Tawnya, our BC born puppy, was a big help. We had her only a few months at this time.

After we arrived, we purchased our first BC car, a 64 Chevy Impala. What a beauty! And of course, rust free, not like the Ontario cars we were used to.

We used to go to their All Sooke Day which focused mainly on the forest industry. The many logging competitions were really fun to watch. They used to cook freshly caught salmon over a huge BBQ style set up, it was around 100' long. The food they served was yummy, salmon on a bun, chowder and so much more.

Sadly they no longer have this event, although trying to get sponsors to get it back.

Of course the weather there was gorgeous, especially in the winter. Here I am in January (1980), we had just finished cleaning the bike. You can see Gypsy (the horse) in the background.

Cathedral Grove is a rare and precious surviving stand of ancient Douglas fir and western red cedar and is home to a wide variety of plant species and wildlife. It stretches over 136,000 hectares of forest land.

Here I am with Auntie Fern (from Victoria) in August 1979, in front of a Douglas Fir 244' high, 9 1/2' wide and it is 30 feet around the tree.

When Mount St Helens erupted, we were on our bike driving up to visit a friend in Duncan, BC. We never felt a thing and on our arrival, when she told us about it, didn't believe her. We actually had volcanic dust fall over Vancouver Island, and I mailed some back to my mom in Ontario.

After the eruption, our (natural artesian) well, which was 100' deep at the time, went dry and we were without water for just over a month. Our water actually came from the Olympic Mountains over in Washington, under the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It took us a while to get used to this pure form of water.

Our landlady, found the new water source by divining (water witching) and yes, it really does work! After 2 days of drilling, the new artisian well was 600' deep. The water was never the same, but was still great.

Our landlords had a little mini farm, and we lived on the same property. Complete with Gypsy the horse, and chickens, geese and a few other critters. I was allowed to ride Gypsy any time I wanted to, she was a great horse.

This picture has a funny story to it. Rick was taking Gypsy up to her barn after I finished riding her. I wanted to take a close up picture of her and as it was getting dark out, I used a flash.

Guess what happened? LOL, yup, of course I spooked her and she nearly yanked off Rick's arm! Did I mention that he wasn't too happy with me after this. LOL

Here I am on our first day after arriving to Vancouver Island (July 1979). The Trans-Canada Highway 1 traverses Canada from east to west (and from west to east, actually), from Mile 0 at St. John's, Newfoundland to Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, and the other Mile 0.



This is when my parents came to visit in April 1980, and here I am with my mom outside the Victoria Legislature.



Of course, I also took them to see Butchart Gardens, a must stop place to visit. They are located on Vancouver Island, 14 miles north of Victoria, and 12 1/2 miles south of the Vancouver-Victoria ferry terminal at Swartz Bay. This is a picture off their website, of one that I had almost taken from exactly the same spot. Their picture was much better LOL.