This was a new place for us, and we were pleased with our choice. They had a well-equipped playground, and our pitch was spacious and secluded, overlooking one of the ponds in the middle of the campground.
We broke with tradition for our first night camping. Instead of the pasta carbonara that we've always cooked on our first night away ever since the kids were young, we were tempted into the on-site Chinese restaurant. We ordered a range of dishes - what we thought would be a suitable amount, expecting only a moderate portion of each. We were staggered when we saw the mountain of food on each platter, but the quality and flavour was equally amazing. In the end, we made respectable inroads into the feast and had enough leftovers bagged up for a decent lunch the next day.
Unlike Pacific Playgrounds, this was a vacation for getting out and about off the campground. We visited the beautiful Little Qualicum Falls, the children's favourite playground at Parksville, Qualicum Beach itself, and Coombs (of course! No visit to that part of the island is complete without a mooch around the famous market). To round off the trip, we stopped in at the World Parrot Refuge, where we were able to say "hello" to some gorgeous birds.
Once more we were lucky with the weather, driving home and unloading in sunshine then waking up the next morning to grey skies and rain.
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4 comments:
Looks like fun.
Yes, it was Stella. One of my measures of a good break is when time starts behaving strangely. When we returned home after only 4 days, thinking back to the start it seemed like at least a week, and I could hardly remember what had been going on at work before the weekend. Is that a good sign, or just incipient senility?
Love the bird pics! What a cool place to visit!
Jean, it doesn't look much from the outside, and even inside it is little more than a series of large sheds with a caged-off walkway down the middle for the human guests. But it is amazing. We lost track of time while we were in the free-flight shed at the end where you can mingle with the more sociable birds.
We learned a couple of things for next time, though. (1) Wear old clothes that you don't mind getting a few holes in. The birds are unbelievably gentle with their feet, but they use their beaks to help them climb around. (2) Sandals are an open invitation to nibble toes to attract attention.
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