Hornby Island I – Aug 26 – 31, 2012
Its Gine's birthday week and what is her wish: we explore another one of the islands: and this time it will be Hornby Island.

 Ferry to Hornby Island
Normally when you go camping: the sun shines and the weather is great… and so today even it is August: It is cloudy and windy and it actually feels very cold.
So first Crossing to Denman: and we see the mountains of Vancouver Island in the clouds… driving across Denman Island and then we wait for the next ferry. So what do we do – let’s explore a little bit.
In the wind we walk a little bit along the shoreline and we also discover some funky "food trucks" here… wonder if this is a leftover from the Hippies?
Last cold ferry crossing and then we are there.

 Tribune Bay Campground
Is our goal and we actually find a super cool spot nearly for ourselves… good thing it is not very full at the moment. After setting up our motorhome we are ready to see a little bit of this island and that’s way we went to

 Tribune Bay PP
This famous beach has amazing rocks – it is nicknamed “Little Hawaii” – ok that is maybe not totally true, but is a wonderful bay with beautiful sand and they say one of the warmest waters on the west coast of Canada. Tonight we couldn’t feel the warm weather… but felt a little bit chilled, but already Gine got fascinated with the rocks here.

After supper with a little bit of sunshine: worth a picture… We had to go back for the evening walk to Tribune bay: with the sun out and sparkling of part of the bay… we walked along on the stones – which got better the more you walked: the best one was one looking like the mouth of a huge sleeping dinosaur. We also found a kind of cave where the water washed out the soil – overall that was one super cool evening – night walk.

 Biking to Ford’s Cove
So what do you do: if it is still cloudy and it is not beach weather. You take the bicycle and explore the island. Our goal was Ford’s Cove. But before we came there we had to stop at one of those super cute painted water towers. Oh and if you think you are on a small island and it is levelled biking… then you are totally wrong. Because it was not a big deal to bike to Fords Cove we had a lot of downhill… only on the way back we had to go up… so why not pushing the bikes and enjoying the nice farmlands?

 The sun is out – it’s beach time
And perfect for our being back: the sun is out, so let’s pack and bring everything to the beach: no better place for having a coffee… and afterwards walking along that super soft sand: so that we not only soak up the sun, but also have a better view on some of those yachts sitting out in the bay.

 Happy birthday
What’s better on a birthday: sunshine – a picnic table full of presents… and you are camping. And so after a nice breakfast we are on the go again

 Discovering Hornby Island by bicycle
So again on the bikes and this time we go towards the islands interior and lucky for us we found a

 Island Farmers Market
A little bit different than the ones we know so far…. This one is in the forest and you see the Hippie island style in all the art --- even the bike racks are art

 Cardboard Bakery
If there is a bakery, we have to go and stop there: so the Card board bakery was our next stop… even you wonder if you are not in the wrong store, since it looks more like an art gallery when you come towards it

We came by the Recycling Depot... and again the island of art greets

 Hornby island cemetery
Want to see a kind of different cemetery: here we go: I mean where you find an old bicycle, antlers, a Buddha, a rock, art displays

Hornby Island’s shopping centre
Ok the quilt is really amazing, the store is funky and there is a back entrance to the campground... so we come here and have fun

 Time for the beach
The longer the day, the nicer the weather and so we end up: sure at the beach – even Gine can’t sit still and had to explore all the rocks