Day One - Port Hardy

Well what a day we had - we managed to leave ahead of schedule which allowed us a quick detour into down $50 in fuel!!

The drive up was intersting - dad started telling stories of his time on the north island as a logger and the stories of his Uncle Albert. The most interesting story had him totally his Aunty Dot's car - while pissed drunk! Wish I knew that one as a teenager!

Seyward. It was a cute community but at the same time it was sad to see all the for sale signs. A drive down to the harbour showed the effects of the downturn in the forest industry. Perhaps the saddest sight was all the "bumper boats" used for moving log booms sitting on the log sort paymet slowly rusting in the salt air.



The only other stop we made was the Esso outside of Port McNeil...dad's truck was already As we approached Port Hardy we spent a great deal of time trying to get the stumps along the side of the road to morph into black bears. We both took a long look at one stump but had no results. We (I) had just given up when we turned a corner and saw a lovely bear on the side of the road. Dad was brave as I quickly pulled off the road and started backing-up along the highway (it was a tight shoulder and on a corner...not sure why he was so nervous). I managed to get some good shots and once I tuned back into my surroundings I noticed another bear on the hill...Day one and already we've seen 2 bears!

Once we got into Port Hardy I went off to visit two of our co-op students who are doing a great job at the tourism information centre and dad headed off to Betty and Terry's where later joined him for dinner. The entertainment for the evening? How about 2 different pods of Humpback Whales preforming in the harbour? What an amazing first day - 2 bears, about 10 whales, and too many eagles to count!! This is going to be a great trip!