So far we've had to deal with two problems here on Vancouver Island: finding fuel for our Trangia camping stove, and the rain.

Upon arrival with the ferry in Nanaimo we started looking for fuel for our stove. It proved to be a wild goos chase since nobody here seemed to understand what we really needed. What is called Brennsprit/Spiritus in German has different names here. We were looking for methylated spirit/methyl/spirit but it didn't ring a bell with anyone whom we asked. So we ended up setting up a fire at the campground and boiling water by putting the pans directly on the coal. It worked somehow…
The next morning we decided to hit every campground with a convenient store around Nanaimo. Luckily, we hit bulls eye with the first we found. However, we found out that the alcohol stove fuel is called methyl(ated) hydrat here in Canada.

So we camped again the next night cooking for the first time with our Trangia stove. However, we were forced to cook in the back of our Dodge Grand Caravan since by that time the rain had set in; and it wouldn't stop until next noon. So, in the morning we packed all the wet camping stuff into our car and drove to Tofino.

Tofino is a cute little harbor town at the end of the Trans Canada Highway. It's sitting on a peninsula surrounded by the pacific ocean on three sides. We just wanted a dry bed and a hot shower…

It hasen't stopped raining ever since and we're leaving Tofino today after two nights. Despite the rain and the heavy wind we were out on a whale watching cruise yesterday. It was a lot of fun thanks to the rough waves and the crazy french skipper. We didn't get to see any whales though 🙁 but sea lions, sea otters, and bald eagles instead.