Road Trip #2 with a whole lot less road. Nanaimo, Newcastle Island and Gabriola Island

Newcastle Island campsite

Nanaimo is Vancouver Island’s “other metropolis”. 100km north of the regions capital Victoria, Nanaimo is a small city which we didn’t bother to explore. After waiting in the baking hot sun for about an hour – along with half a dozen other travelers – we finally caught a bus from the ferry terminal into town, and thanks to Nicole’s brochure reading on the ferry decided to skip over to Newcastle Island.

After a quick beer stop with a good view of the sea planes constantly taking off and landing we walked down to the dock and boarded our wee boat for the 10 minute ride across the bay.

Newcastle Island is only about 4kms long and has no cars, so it’s popular with campers and cyclists. We decided on a camp spot on the edge of a massive grass reserve and pitched our tent in a prime location to maximise the evening sun and minimise the morning sun. We ventured on a short walk and then cooked dinner before an early night.

In the morning we walked to the northern end of the island through the track up the spine of the island, checked out the lake and wandered back around the coast. We packed up the tent, packed our back packs and then made use of the islands café for brunch before sailing back to the mainland.

With a few groceries on board we caught another boat over to Gabriola Island – this time a car ferry. Upon disembarking we walked about 3kms up the road to a camping ground – past a static queue of cars waiting to board the returning ferry. Gabriola Island is reasonably big and would have been good to explore on bikes. But us on shanks ponies were limited in our exploring, although we did make it up to another bay in the heat.

In the evening we shared a bottle of wine on the edge of the island looking across the bay to the sunset – ah the serenity. The perfect environment for some deep cogitation.

With limited funds and a career in shoe sales awaiting back in Vancouver our short sojourn to the islands was a bit more of a reconnaissance mission than anything else. But it was great to be able to get out of the city for a pittance (a holiday budget to match my new wage rate), and so easy to do it without a car.

Don’t worry Vancouver Island – we’ll be back.

Tags: Gabriola Island, Nanaimo, Newcastle Island, sea planes