Day 24 - Ferry to Vancouver Island & Drive to Campbell River - 25/08/13

After a restful nights sleep, this morning meant it was time to leave Squamish (and mainland Canada) behind... for now.

We headed to the ferry terminal at Horseshoe Bay, which is just a short while north of the city of Vancouver. The journey there took us down the remainder of the Sea to Sky Highway and, now with daylight and clear skies, we were able to appreciate the magnificent view of the Howe Sound, but which joins the Strait of Georgia (which itself joins the Pacific Ocean) - it was our first indication that we'd successfully reached the west coast!

After arriving much earlier than they'd like, the ferry terminal staff asked us to come back in an hour which gave us the chance to have a look around the town of Horseshoe Bay. Since it was now lunch time, we had lunch (fish and chips seemed appropriate) before rushing back to the terminal. Since we were still early (and we'd reserved, unlike another vast queue of vehicles) we were just the third vehicle to drive onto the ferry. Since we were the first RV, we'd also be the first to depart!

We parked in the lower belly of the ferry, and made our way to the deck to get a good viewing spot. As it happens, this was unnecessary as the ferry wasn't particularly crowded at all. After departing, we got our first distant view of Vancouver City and the vast strait that separates it from Vancouver Island which gradually appeared in the far distance.

The voyage was about two hours, and as mentioned before we were front and centre on arrival which meant we got to see the approach into the port of Nanaimo since they opened the lower vehicle exit well in advance.

We exited the ferry and after a quick refuel, we immediately headed north to our next campground at Campbell River. It wasn't long before we came something strange - something we hadn't seen since we'd arrived in this country. A traffic jam. Unlike the UK, and likely most other countries in the world, Canada has remarkably few roads, which means if you meet a queue of traffic, you're generally stuck with it. In this case, we were on the one and only road that linked the north and the south of the island. The queue added just over an hour onto an already lengthy journey.

We arrived at our campgrounds and checked in before heading back out to stock up on supplies. In this case, it meant our first trip to a Walmart! By the time we'd finished, it was already night and we returned to our campgrounds (situated in an extremely dense and remote forest) in the dark.