Gibsons Trip #6 - Coy Koi and Works of Art

On our last morning I took a few final pictures of Harriet & Jan's property. They have wonderful Koi in their pond.

Jan is an artist - he is a sculptor and painter (and an engineer and renovation specialist!). Here is some of his art

and the new glass block window he was working on while we were visiting.

We had time for a 'group photo', taken by a helpful traveller at the Langdale ferry terminal. Never did get the story of the 'dog'!

We had a great time catching up and hope Harriet & Jan will visit us on Vancouver Island next summer!

Gibsons Trip #5

We walked along several docks while in the main part of town and found this wonderful floating garden. Houseboats are a fairly common sight along our coast but this garden is definitely 'one of a kind'.

Gibsons Trip #4

Does 'Gibsons Landing' sound familiar to you? If you grew up watching CBC television in the 1970's you may remember The Beachcombers. The Beachcombers, in production for 19 years, was the longest running series drama in Canadian television history.

Nick Adonidas (Bruno Gerussi), was a licensed beachcomber . He was primarily involved with his young Native partner Jesse (Pat Johns) and his unscrupulous adversary and rival beachcomber Relic (Robert Clothier). Working out of the port of Gibson's Landing, Nick runs the Persephone into the inlets of the Sunshine coast, a setting filled with rugged individuals.

The Persephone is now displayed near the main part of town. Molly's Reach (the restaurant in the show) is still near the dock and we enjoyed lunch there.

We toured the beach area - what spectacular views!

Gibsons Trip #3

Harriet & Jan's property is about 5 acres with a wonderful curving driveway, an old apple and nut orchard, a main house with several ponds and a deep ravine with a magnificent view. This is the view from the small cottage where we stayed. The 'hills' are Gambier Island, then Bowen Island, then the Coast mountains.

Their property starts with this wonderful red gate,

and then a tree-lined driveway (allée)

beside the old orchard.

Gibsons Trip #2

After we arrived at Harriet & Jan's place we toured the gardens for a bit - unfortunately I didn't take my camera for that short tour. It was VERY SHORT for a reason! I mentioned 'wildlife' in my previous post....well, not just these cute deer were passing through.

A mother BLACK BEAR and her THREE CUBS were having a drink in their pond. We stayed right next to the house - no chance for me to get my camera. Mother bear stood right up at one point and it is amazing how large she was. We were a safe distance away but I was very careful after that when I toured the 5 acre property!

Jan told us how the bears were regular visitors and they can be very destructive to the main fence on one side of the property. He's tired of fixing it so now there are several 'bear holes' to allow them to get through.

Summer Travels

Last week I travelled to Gibsons with my mom to visit a cousin who I hadn't seen for over 30 years! Harriet and her husband, Jan, live in Japan where she teaches Japanese history to Japanese students. They live in the very south of the country but have a great place near Gibsons. They spend the summer here in Canada, tending the gardens, working on their house and watching wildlife.



We travelled by ferry from Nanaimo to Horseshoe Bay, and then another ferry to Langdale. This is one of the new ferries that travels between Nanaimo and Horseshoe Bay. On the side is the logo for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics and a great closeup picture of the Canadian women's hockey team after they won the gold medal at the last winter Olympics. Vancouver welcomes the world in 2010 - are you planning to come?

Over the next few days I'll post more pictures and stories of our trip.