winner winner chicken dinner

So, it seems that I have had a stroke of luck recently. I got a lovely message on my facebook account saying "YOU HAVE WON THE GETAWAY TO GABRIOLA ISLAND CONTEST!".

Woah! Excellent!

This was a little contest I entered on Facebook a few weeks back, and I had all but forgotten about it (because really, what were the chances, right?)...and then this message! The odds were against us but POW!!!

Gabriola Island, named "Seagull Island" by the original explorers who found it (and whose Spanish word for seagulls is rather similar to the eventual name of the island) is a charming small island packed with artists and island culture, the likes of which we were about to enjoy for two nights!

The winnings included a 2-night stay at a lovely B&B, scooter rentals, kayaking, and gift cards to both restaurants and art studios.

So we booked ourselves in, arranged for the girls to be cared for by some family (thanks Mom, Dad, Anna and Dave!) and headed off to the ferry terminal!

Now let me say, every time I go somewhere on the ferry I am struck by HOW BEAUTIFUL THIS PART OF THE WORLD IS. Seriously friends, we are SO lucky to live on the West coast.

So, after a hearty breakfast and goodbye to the girls...

...we headed off to the ferry. Then wondered, as we were sitting in the lane we were directed to, why there was no one else in it, and why those pilons were right in front of us. Weird! (Okay, so we totally went the wrong way, but got onto the ferry anyway!)

And then we got on the ferry! So beautiful, friends! We also learned a little (thank you, Google) about the reason the ocean had two distinct colours in this area. (Psssst - it's because there's a river that pours into the ocean here and in the spring and early summer, there is a lot of sediment, causing the top surface of the water to be brownish. It's called the "plume". Isn't that pretty?) 

Also of note, is how much more ketchup can fit into these little ketchup containers if one simply opens them up wider. You're welcome.

So we arrived on the lovely Gabriola Island (a small island just 20-30 minutes off Vancouver Island at Nanaimo) after two ferry rides, and drove through the beautiful roads lined with trees until we reached Arbutus Bluff B&B. WOW.

The place was utterly amazing! What beautiful views! What an amazing location! And the room was, well, as you can see, it brought out the best in us. 

(Note the lovely gifts on the table that awaited us when we arrived!)

And so what did we do next? Well, we went and did a little exploring! Yahoo!

Ryan leaping for joy at our lucky trip!

Myself leaping for joy at our lucky trip, too!

In the picture directly above, you can see the interesting rock formations (sandstone) that have been created by sea salt over the years. The entire island, and in fact many of the islands in the area, have this kind of beautiful lacey pattern all over the place.

So at one point we went to a lovely spot that was recommended - a beautiful, serene, and deserted beach. Things got a little crazy.

We spent the dying hours of daylight perched on the rocks at Berry Point watching the sun set and letting more of our crazy loose. Thanks to Ryan's wonderfully limber legs, he got on a bit of a roll with the "awkward lunge" pose.

"A moment of serenity"

"The Laura-lunge"

"Awkward couple lunge"

"Even more awkward couple lunge"

"Rawr"

"Action lunge"

But seriously. The beauty!

Isn't it weird when the ocean does the "tilt" thing? ;)

Well after all that fun, we were tuckered out. We went out for dinner at the Woodfire Grill, which we were given a gift certificate to. OH YUM. Amazing pizza, and a really delicious burger! Please enjoy this delightful picture of us sitting at our table, with no ability to see either the restaurant nor the food, but you do get a nice view of a brown truck. You're welcome.

We had a nice sleep and then headed out fresh the next morning to use our SCOOTER RENTAL gift from Pages Resort and Marina and later our Kayak Tour at Silva Bay Kayak Adventures.

But first, this was the view from the breakfast table. Yes. Beautiful.

One word about the scooter rentals. We headed into this feeling quite differently. I have long dreamed of getting on a motorcycle, and Ryan has long dreamed of a motorcycle-free life. Way too dangerous, he thought. Lighten up, I thought in response. Well, in the first 2 minutes of our scooter driving experience, we completely traded opinions. Ryan raced down the road while I panicked in the rear, wondering whether maybe this was a bad idea. In the end, after adjusting, we both agreed it was the highlight of the trip. 4 hours trekking around the island on these little buzzing rockets! AWESOME!

 You may now refer to us as "Chips". If you're too young to know what that refers to, just google it. It was an awesome show waaaaay back when. :)

We stopped and had a DEEEELICIOUS lunch and hot drinks at MadRona's Coffee Bar, and then continued on. We ended up coming back to this place for another visit. It was great!

During our tour of the island, we discovered the magical rock formations that I mentioned before - the sandstone here had been completely hollowed out!

(You can hardly expect him not to lunge here...)

We also visited the site of some recently discovered Petroglyphs - carvings in stone made by the First Nations people that once lived on the island. It is guessed that these could be up to 5000 years old!

Just think about that. 5000 years old. It left me rather speechless.

In the afternoon, it was KAYAK time! Wonderful! We were really sad to hand back our scooters, and I'm really not kidding, but we did it, because, well, we would be breaking the law if we just took them. :/ So we returned them and headed over to Silva Bay to meet the lovely and brilliant Hillary who would take us for the next couple of hours on a Kayak tour of the small islands clustered at the tip of Gabriola Island.

So beautiful! Honestly, I would LOVE to spend more time ocean kayaking! It was so peaceful and breathtaking, and we saw loads of seals, an otter, some eagles, some harlequin ducks (fun name, eh?) and Sabine's Gulls as well. (I want you to know it took me about 1/2 an hour to figure out the specific type of gull we saw by googling. It was quite lovely, and different from the standard large ones we often see around home.) Hillary was a really great guide and was so knowledgeable about the local environment. It really enhanced the whole experience! A wonderful time!!

We spent the rest of the night lounging in the hot tub at the B&B, enjoying the hummingbirds, and watching a silly movie in bed. We were exhausted! Whew!

 The following morning we had our lovely breakfast at the B&B (french toast - yes please!) and headed off to Melinda Wilde's home studio where we would do a 1 hour art class with her. Yay! What a lovely person she was (and I'm sure she still is), and what a nice way to spend the morning!

So I only took a picture of my art piece and forgot to take a picture of Ryan's. Rude.

And then, as quickly as it started, our time on Seagull Island was over. We were sad to leave, but had some sweet girls who we were rather excited to be reunited with. And so, we took flight (or set sail, rather) and headed home over the water on our journey home....

THANK YOU to the wonderful people of Gabriola Island for allowing us such a wonderful time away. What a beautiful place you live in! Until next time!