Our new home here in Nanaimo is at... The (lovely!) Living Forest Campground. In a word: Heaven. Truly the most spectacular campground we've ever stayed at (in our short career as campers). Spacious, natural sites, surrounded by old-growth cedars and arbutus and towering firs and native ferns and wildflowers and SO many birds that my heart is singing constantly! We've got a site right on a bluff that overlooks the Nanaimo Estuary that flows out to the ocean. We look out at islands in the near view and the massive Olympia Mountains far beyond. We're sitting at a million dollar view for about $360 per month. Not bad....
We spent the first few days here just hiking the 60 acres (and more) of campground that surround us. Nanaimo has a park system unlike most towns its size. What it lacks in nightlife and restaurants (!), it more than makes up for in biking and hiking trails.
Anyway, we don't need fancy restaurants because Tim has us set up with an outdoor BBQ and stove already, so we can do some great cooking in this gorgeous setting. We do, however, always need a good pub AND we found one! The Lighthouse pub is right on the downtown harbour and is actually built on a pier that sits out in the water. Killer pub food and good local beer on tap = happiness for us.
PLUS there's a brewery nearby so Tim is slap-happy. It's a very small-scale, craft brewery called Fat Cat Brewery AND the assistant brewmaster is a woman named Bunny (!) -- who gave us a great tour of the place, along with very ample samples of their yummy beer. Tim fell in love (with the beer), so we're set. We've become pretty spoiled back home living within walking distance of first rate wineries and always seek out something similar when we're camped for awhile.
There's also a small group of stores about a half kilometre away, so we've got easy access to supplies to help keep ourselves occupied. First set-up job was to make birdfeeders out of our empty milk cartons (!) --- and we've got them hanging all around. Expect many bird photos as the Nanaimo part of the blog continues.... (joy!)...
Also have collected some fun beach jewels in our travels and am finally in one place long enough to start to play with them (see silly art above, for example....). Also expect many "campsite art" pix over the next little while. All in all, we've only been here about four days (and are here until the end of the month) and we've already got Shaggy all set up & homey-like!
I've even got a new office! Well... it's really just a gazebo down by the main office but --- nobody's ever in there so, every second day or so, I cart my computer down to the gazebo, plug it in and cruise onto the internet (we don't have wifi at our site but it's available within an area around the main office).
I'm also reading Emily Carr's "Klee Wyck" (thanks, Carol!) while on the island. A lot of her stories have Emily venturing into coastal communities near to Victoria so... near where we are now! It's amazing to look at a 150 foot tree perched on the edge of a bluff and wonder whether Ms.Carr walked past this tree in her travels.... Also, am doing some sketching (of birds and flowers). There is a calmness to this seaside haven that makes one breathe a bit deeper. Of course, the thick Porter beer helps liven the soul, as well.....
No comments:
Post a Comment