The drive through to Gold River was quite spectacular. Racing through avenues of 80 metre high Douglas fir trees from the road edge to the mountain top only broken by small interesting lakes, good habitat for bears but we didn’t see any. The temperature was over 30 degrees so we had the windows down and the breeze on our faces. We stayed in Gold River so that we could board the MV Uchuck (locally known as the Upchuck much to Diana’s horror) first thing in the morning for a day out on Nootka Sound, delivering goods and picking up full rubbish bins from resorts and forest camps. We had a great day. The Uchuck is a WWII minesweeper rekitted out to carry up to 100 people for this tour. It was done very well. 

While driving, and from on the water we pass numerous logging sites and sawmills. The locals seem to consider that the heydays of the timber industry are well past but to us there was a lot of logging trucks and numerous clearfell areas on the mountain sides. Where possible they seem to get their logs to the waters edge in as short as distance as possible then use the water to transport them. We were entertained by a wee tug type boat herding logs in Gold River. The operator had it almost tipped over much of the time. The water would be an efficient way of moving huge rafts of logs in one operation but from what we saw a few of these logs get loose. Some beaches have stacks of logs, more than enough to frame 1000 homes in Auckland. The environmental rules don’t seem quite as stringent as ours, yet. 

The Gold River road finishes at the West Coast so the next day we started heading back through Campbell River and to Powell River on the mainland. Problem there is they don’t have any roads in and out, a few local roads but we have to ferry across from Vancouver Island and then take ferries to get back down the coast to the mainland proper where there is a road.

Powell River was once the site of the largest pulp and paper mill in the World but that commodity doesn’t have quite the appeal any more. Their latest claim to fame is that they were contracted to make special paper for the book “50 Shades of Grey” to be printed on. The town has some wonderful buildings built around 1910-1925 but much of it is in decline. We stayed in the old Courthouse, now converted to a lodging arrangement.

We slept in the judges chambers! The hotel was filled with knick knacks from a bygone era in keeping with the building. It was such a lovely change from some of the ‘austere’ characterless places we have stayed.

One interesting thing in Powell River is the breakwater for the mill cargo; logs in and wood products out. There is no natural harbour of any sort, it is just a town and a wharf on the seaside. They have 19 ex WWII concrete hulks lined up 200 metres out to sea, end to end to act as a breakwater. We took some photos and moved south. 

Tomorrow we will be back to our highrise bedroom in downtown Vancouver geared up to watch the All Blacks at half past midnight with Blair. Interesting team for this 3^rd test so we are getting excited about that.