The old adage says that a picture is worth a thousand words. Since we have some several thousand words of blog posts we really should have written about the fabulous places we saw in our first month in Canada, we decided a look at our pick of the very best photos we took might just do the trick…

Vancouver

Our port of arrival, we stayed for a week to get our bearings and returned twice more to soak in culture and food after our trips to Whistler and to the island.

On the first day in Canada we went on a long walk to Burnaby through three big parks.

The most Canadian photo.

Hard to belive this is a park in a middle of a busy metropole.

Buzzy bee. Testing out a macro lens I got as a birthday present from David.

A surreal experience: wandering jet-lagged through a city and being warned of the Wildcats!

A couple of days later we headed to busy downtown Vancouver.

The harbour was playing host to one of the largest cruise ships I have ever seen.

A more permanent resident of the harbour: Digital Orca, meet Aleks.

An unusual combination of japanese flavours and an all-american staple makes David very happy…

… as did a ginarmous stack of pancakes. Om nom nom!

Puntastic advertising!

I’d like to meet the brave soul who wouldn’t yield to a bear. Good advice nonetheless.

Macro lens in action again!

On our last evening in Vancouver we took a wrong turn through Stanley Park and were rewarded with some of the best photo opportunities we’ve had.

Moody view from Stanley Park in Vancouver. The low clouds really add to the atmosphere.

Vancouver Island

We spent just over a week on Vancouver Island and during that time we went to our first National Park (Pacific Rim), saw some massive trees, almost drowned in a bog, visited a lovely friend of a friend, swam in the Pacific, celebrated Canada’s 150th birthday and all in all had an awesome time. We also went on a small side trip to a bear-free Newcastle Island.

Newcastle Island photos:

Pacific Rim (Ucluelet & Tofino) photos:

Just before coming to the Pacific Rim national park, home to Ucluelet and Tofino you can stop by Kennedy Lake for a lovely picnic spot.

A short stroll along an interpretive trail took us through temperate rainforest with 800-year-old trees towering above us.

Massive cedar tree – a David for scale.

A longer walk through thick, knee-deep bog was rewarded with the remarkably preserved wreckage of a plane which crashed in 1945.

Indiana Kaye ready for action.

From Tofino, Seaplanes ply the scenic short route to Vancouver, or just let you marvel at the view from above.

Sunset over the west coast of the west-est bit of Canada. The sun hid, but the colours did not disappoint.

Insert smart caption about dramtic skying and passing helicopters.

Managed to take a photo of the beautiful view at our picnic stop in between devouring stove-top cooked burritos.

Duncan and Victoria photos:

On our way back across to the east side of the island we stopped at Horne Lake caves and went on a quick tour.

After conquering the cave!

We stayed two nights with a charming new friend named Anu who lived just by Duncan – the city of totem poles.

Beautiful, colourful totem pole in Duncan. Such poles were used (and often still are) to tell family stories.

Close up on a totem pole ispired by a Coca Cola can. Inspiration can come from anywhere apparently.

Photo curtesy of our friend Anu 🙂

Happy 150th Birthday Canada! There were concerts all day long on few stages across Victoria.

The whole town was decked out to celebrate 150 years since confederation.

This dolphin wouldn’t look too out of place in Park Guell.

Seaplanes also take off and land at Victoria.

As evening fell, more crowds gathered outside the parliament building…

…and were treated with a grand fireworks display.

Crowds film and photograph the fireworks.

150 years old today!