Gremlin's Tall Stories

The alarm rang as planned at 7am… but I didn’t go anywhere, eventually rising at 7.45am. We had the day to ourselves, only moving on tomorrow morning. Most were visiting gardens and museums… not quite my cup of tea. Murray (my roommate) was planning to have a seaplane tour of Victoria.

I was planning on visiting a small fishing port, Tofino, in the Pacific Rim National Park, a round trip of 650km. A fair distance, estimated to be 10-12 hours all up, as you couldn’t do 110kph everywhere.

Setting off in the hunt for breakfast, it didn’t last long, walking into the restaurant downstairs instead. Cereal (it did have fruit with it) and orange juice ran up $14…

Grabbed my gear I needed for the day, jumped on the bike and headed out about 9.45am. Some confusion at a traffic light, where I didn’t know who should give way, so I just went, an apologetic wave and the NZ flag should smooth things over

The speed limit constantly changed, but generally slower than NZ. For slowing down to a town they also use multiple speeds, i.e., we have 100 – 50. They would have 90 – 80 – 60 – 50 for example. Very seldom did the speed change by more than 20kph. A couple of stops along the way for some beautiful scenery, and I’m noticing that generally, this lot are speed demons.

A section of the road, the local bikers had told us yesterday on the ferry was the target of speed reduction, and there were even boards across the road saying enforcement was active. This evidently didn’t deter some, with speeds in excess of 20kph above the speed limit. I would be doing 10-15kph over the speed limit, and I had trucks up my arse and cars zooming by.

It was only once past Nanaimo that the speed limit was finally increased from a maximum of 90kph to 110kph and the cars were still doing 10-20kph (or more) over the limit. Unused to that for sure, but I simply kept out of their way, letting them attract all the attention (which seemed to be on a long lunch besides a couple dealing with a stopped car).

The limit didn’t last long, as I turned off for Port Alberni and the limit was back to 80-90kph. Puttering through, the tourists in full swing travelling 10kph or more under the limit, and passing the slower cars (getting passed by the faster ones), I finally reached Port Alberni, busting for a toilet and the bike wanted feeding.

Sorting it at a gas station (I think kiwis talk fast… I had to talk slooooow to the attendant for him to understand), I saw a nice white busa (old model) heading in the same direction, 2up. He was more local (from the mainland somewhere), but also on a break, and figured the road looked good. We had a quick chat, and then I headed for Tofino.

The quickly dropped the second lane each way and became more winding. Scenery was beautiful (with the whole trip like this, I can almost say it yawning now), so more obligatory photos. I ended up playing a game of tag, travelling faster than the cars, then stopping for pictures, and then catching and passing. Rinse and repeat, the cars must have wondered why.

The road mostly followed a stream or lake, the greenery so lush, I was rather glad the rain was staying away. It drizzled lightly now and then, the roads a little damp briefly, but mostly, it was dry, warm and beautiful. The busa caught up as the traffic became more dense, approaching Tofino.

Tofino eventually came into view, more than 100km later around 2.30pm, and I was surprised by the size and popularity. I expected it to be a quiet little town, maybe a couple of eating places and the odd person. Instead, it was full of tourists, several streets of businesses with a range of dining and tourism options. I had my closest call with a cop, who was hunting in the 50kph zone, just after I’ve overtaken some dawdling cars. Undercover SUV, I would never have known if it wasn’t for the radar detector screaming in my ear. In the grey zone, so not a problem.

Parking the bike, I went looking for food, hungry. My nose led me to a pizza place within 5min of getting off the bike, so investigating I found huge pizza slices. Naturally, the chances were high I would never be back, so one sample was not enough, and I had 3, with a drink. It also appeared that even though I had left the overhyped tractors behind (ok, fine, Harleys), another was waiting, parked inside the pizza place (owner was a biker). This one was much older, and a 125cc, which I never knew Harley made. I’ll leave you to figure out what it is…

On the return, the road was much quieter, allowing me to get into the groove and set a really nice rolling pace, requiring minimum braking. It’s amazing how different the road is at a different pace, and made it even more enjoyable.

After a couple of false starts, I found the gravel road I had spied on the route out, and figured I had time up my sleeve, so turned down it, as I was reasonably sure it went back to the main road. It was more stones than gravel, and quite bumpy in places, but first and second allowed me to traverse it, still wondering if my bike was enjoying crashing over pot holes.

I discovered a waterfall off to one side, unexpected… but err… beautiful… mental note that I must increase my vocabulary. The road didn’t go back to the main road as soon as I expected, being more like 30km long, with great views of the lake. I was probably on it for in excess of an hour, what with the stops and slow going at times (even first gear and bouncing over rock by rock).

On the main road, I put my mirror back in place, which has been driving me nuts. The right mirror won’t tighten right up, and rotates after the two nuts are locked together. Throw that on a bumpy road or a lot of head wind, and it simply loosens itself and then rotates freely… I’ve also discovered the CB radio screws have figured out how to loosen themselves with the help of vibration, so a couple of little things I need to iron out.

As I went to pull out, the busa passed by again… he looked rather surprised, and imagine the odds as well (they were still parked when I left Tofino). They turned off for gas in Port Alberni, but I was fine, and carried on.

The trip back was almost as boring as the trip out, slightly less traffic until the outskirts of Victoria, with most cars still speeding. Getting on the main highway for Victoria etc., I was surprised as hell that even the truck that had been holding me up was doing 120kph, with me doing 130kph just to pass reasonably slowly by!!

Traffic was a little denser on the return, slowed by a truck, and then a bike and car chatting to 2 enforcement officers (must be off their lunch break – and you can’t say they didn’t warn you huh?)

Dinner was a basic fare, I went hunting for a simple place (didn’t want anything flash) and found a 7Eleven, which sufficed with a couple of sandwiches and desserts.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/nGoGWcnLXftBSYkx5