3rd - 5th July 1998

Friday 3rd July
Claire got up for 7 to go fishing with J and Chris.  I got up at 11am to meet her at the pod.  We then went and did final business.  Cashed our cheques, bought presents and I finally got to do the Big Tree Trail.  Now I'm at work for my last working shift in Canada.  Kind of sad really!
Work was ok - I think.  I don't really remember now. Kevin said when I'm married and have kids I should come back and visit.  It was quite sad saying goodbye.  We had a couple of options for tonight and we decided on Joe's.  Tara had invited me out for a drink after work - so I went over to drop off my stuff.  Claire was in her pjs and I figured it was kind of rude to appear and then go straight out again. So I stayed and we went to bed.

Saturday 4th July
We slept in late and decided to go out for brunch to the Alleyway.  We met Ian an English guy who we chatted to on Wednesday.  After lunch we went to see if we could get on any whale watches.  On the way, by the co-op carpark there was a whole heap of people.  A juvenile eagle had hit the power lines and fallen on the pavement.  It was obviously stunned and freaked out if anyone got close.  We stood and watched for a while until Wilfred arrived to sort it out.  By this time we were late for most whale-watches, but the whale centre had one at 2pm.  So to kill and hour we went to the coffee pod - and who should be sitting at the computer but Rich!  He'd arrived with his friend Piers from Alaska - leaving Jon homeless and destitute with a criminal record!  He'd been arrested for stealing cheese!  We sat with them for a while and as a result had to run to catch our boat.  The whales put on a good show - lots of tails.
We arrived back at the coffee pod, running to the toilet.  Ilan was there already and we formulated plans for the evening.
We decided to go get out stuff from the B&W and drop it off at Liz's.  Luckily we arrived at Sim City just as Jay did.  He, apparently, didn't realise that Liz was coming back and we were staying.  We decided that we should call her and surprise, surprise she was working!  So she couldn't come to Tofino but she said she'd drive up after work.  We told her that it didn't matter and we'd make other arrangements but she insisted.
So we drank our cider and organised our packs.  Deidre said we could stay there anyway as she wasn't going to be there tonight.  That was a great relief as we didn't really want to spend our last night in Tofino, sleeping on the beach.
Our night out was good.  I chatted to Christy quite a bit.  Claire pulled a German whilst being inebriated by Brendan.  Everyone wanted to go to the beach but there was no way we could get home so we walked back with Stacey - and passed out.

Sunday 5th July
Liz didn't show.  So we had turned down 2 lifts - German guy, and Brendan, and we needed them.  If I was going to get any time with Joe we had to leave early.
After a hilarious display of "balance with a backpack" the taxi driver took us a bit out of town to the Wick.  It was here we stood for 45 minutes with no-one wanting to pick us up.  Then we started praying for Brendan.  He was supposed to be leaving Tofino at 9:30am and it would be perfect for him to get us a list as we wouldn't have to chat.  Our prayers were answered!  We called Liz from the junction and she said she'd meet as at the 7-11.  No show!  We cruised around and found Joe's apartment - no answer.  I called Liz again - this time she arrived.  Claire spent an hour or so with Brendan and Liz took me to Joes.  We banged and banged and finally he was in - bed!  I felt a bit bad as Liz had picked me up and dropped me but I just wanted to spend some time with Joe alone.  I agreed to meet Claire in Tim Horton's at 1:30pm so it was a rushed final visit.
We hung out at Tim Horton's for a while and I came to terms with saying goodbye to Joe.  Then we hitched out.  I really hope he visits me soon.  I have a good feeling about him.
Our first lift was to the outskirts and then we rode to Nanaimo in the back of a pickup.  They took us right to the ferry drop off.
Our backpacks feel kind of comforting but very heavy.  We had to take three buses once on the mainland, getting in everyone's way.  We found Audrey's house quite well, just getting off the bus a bit early.
Audrey cooked us baked banes and we showered and had a great night's sleep.

<these are extracts from my diaries written whilst travelling and working in Canada and the US in '97-'98>