Last weekend we finally, after many years since, revisited Hornby Island, one of our favourite places on BC’s west coast. Creating our own five-day long weekend beginning Friday morning (August 28th) we caught the ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, always a lovely ride over the Georgia Strait (or Salish Sea). From Nanaimo we drove north on the Island Highway to Buckley Bay to catch another but much smaller ferry to Denman Island, followed by a pleasant drive across that to catch the ferry to Hornby Island.

Our dearest friends have a lovely treed property with a cosy one room cedar rondavel (eight-sided cottage) which they always so generously give to their guests while they sleep in a tent trailer. Otherwise we spent all our time outdoors with an outdoor kitchen and picnic table where we lingered over many meals with much conversation. Across the road is the path to one of the rocky beaches. The roads and paths are lined with bushes heavy with blackberries.

Hornby Island belongs to the northern group of Gulf Islands but I believe they are all noted for their sandstone formations.

We took numerous photos that I’ve barely sorted through yet, including the petroglyphs that we’d seen long ago and I’d used in some of my work. It’s amazing that we even saw a beach we’d not seen before with dramatic cave and hoodoo formations that were wonderful to photograph. As some readers know, my photos from past visits to Hornby have appeared here as well as in many art works, see some links below. I hope to be posting some of these new ones in the near future.

Too soon, Monday morning we packed up, took the two ferries back to Vancouver Island, then drove south to Victoria, then north to Saanich to visit my sister-in-law. The next day we drove back south to Victoria to visit with a cousin and his partner over coffee at the Royal BC Museum‘s cafe. We had planned to see the exhibition from the British Museum but with only a bit more than an hour left the $27.50 per person seemed too steep.

Instead we walked around Victoria Harbour, had a bit of lunch, then went to visit my 81 year-old aunt. That was heart warming for we hadn’t seen her since my uncle’s funeral nearly two years ago. Back to sister-in-law’s for a bit then onto the ferry line up and the journey home. All that driving left us tired and happy to be home again in our own bed. It’s taken all week to recover from the holiday, what with catching up with chores, getting my prints together for an upcoming group show and attending a memorial service for a departed friend.

This Labour Day long weekend our eldest daughter is here to visit her sister and nieces one more time before they return to England. We have been worried about the forest fires raging in BC, especially near their home east of Kamloops. Her partner stayed home to keep watch in case of an evacuation call if it gets too close. The good news now is that rains have helped to reduce the dangers, and some families that had evacuated another area have been able to return home. Yes, it’s a rainy long weekend here, much needed, so we were very lucky taking our mini-vacation last weekend. Anyway, it’s a busy happy family time…

Related links:
my favourite rock, now gone
my petroglyph photos in a book
a petroglyph
Hornby rocks
another rock photo
and another