A Haven for Injured Animals

Today we are visiting the North Island Wildlife Recovery centre... We honestly thought this was actually in the North Island area (like north of Campbell River), but no... it is near Parksville!

That is a beary toothy smiley... Can you see me??

This is a happening place!! With schoolbus loads of kids and lots of visitors!

And yes, bears feature pretty large here...

Which is as it should be... 

I feel really at home here and this guy...

Is my type of bear!!! Hullo fellow stuffie!

Majestic creatures, aren't they?

And the cougars aren't bad either...

They have a tonne of birds that, for one reason or another, were nursed back to health but can't be released into the wild. This is an albino raven who needs protection from the sun.

This is Casey, he was found as a baby on the ground, with no nest nearby. He had a severely dislocated wing and would never be able to fly... 

So now he lives here and is an educational consultant!

WE found a map and... OMG... there is a LOT to see here!!

They had webcams in the bear rehabilitation habitat...

There are several bears in there right now, getting ready to be released into the wild at some point.

They had lots of owls... This gray owl was hit by a car in the Interior and had irreparable wing damage, so he lives here...

The place is really set up to appeal to kids and there was this clump of boulders where you could go through... like in a cave system...

Mmmm... we saw some rats scurrying around earlier and... well...

... I'm going to pass on going through there... mice are one thing... rats are a completely other thing1

They had a wildlife garden...

With all kinds of cool, native plants.

And there was even a fairy garden!!

That's the Mad-hatter from Alice in Wonderland!

A lot to see...

Of course fairies can live in treehouses too!

And apparently some live in RVs too...

And have little campfires...

This was pretty cool!!

 

 

 

A Land of Boulders

 Hullo!! Today we are going on a little hike below Little Mountain in Errington. It's an interesting mountain and I thought I had pics from the top but... no. Anyhow... it's not really a mountain, more like a hill with a steep cliff on one side. Quite impressive...

Let's see if I can find some pics... oh yes, here we go! So there are some gorgeous views from the top!

And beary steep rock cliffs...

Today... we are walking along the bottom of those cliffs and... taking Boulder Boulevard...

Sooo... boulders is kind of a misnomer... cause these are waaaayyyy bigger than your average, run-of-the-mill boulder...

But it's hard to get perspective with these things...

It just doesn't look all that big but...

Well, there's a human for scale... so you begin to get a sense of this...

These are like house-sized blocks!

And it's quite fascinating to see how all the trees have grown around them. The theory is that these fell from the cliff during an earthquake in the 1700s...

Like I said... massive!

There!!!! you can see the human and... that is a "boulder"!!!!

And there's me!!!

That was a super cool hike and well-worth a visit!!

Camping... or should I say... Glamping!

 Hullo!! I know... you might think I am out for another hike but... that is not true...

Nope. We are actually... camping!!!

But not like tent camping... no... we are actually RV camping!!

Friends of Mama's loaned us their RV for a few nights and... it's beary posh!!!

Let me show you...

Even though it was raining a bit... we were snug and warm inside!! With a real dining table where we could play games and eat.

Luckily we don't have to drive this behemoth anywhere... but I might make a great RV mascot!

The dash is huge!!

 There is even... *gasp*... a washroom onboard!

Which I myself do not need to use...

A fridge... and even a freezer!

And a stove where we can cook a bit and heat up hot water for a drink or two.

Righto... now that we've had the grand tour... more or less... let's go for a hike!

The beach is down this way somewhere...

It's a bit overcast but the tide is out... let's see what we can find.

Cause Beanie Mouse keeps asking if we find weird things on the beach like sea glass or mudlarking stuff or broken shards of pottery and...

Generally... no... lots of bits of seaweed and broken seashells though.

And today... teeny tiny crab babies!!

Tiny!!! Do you have crabs along the Thames, Beanie?? Me thinks probably not...

Oooh... that's a weird crab!! Hunkered behind a cool rock... a xenolith of darker rock inside granite! Cool!

See... we have cool things on our beaches... just different things.

There was a little rocky spit and we walked out on a it for a bit but didn't find any sea glass...

But we did find some wild roses enroute back to the campsite.

So now... we are going to make a campfire... we brought some kindling from home.

Let's see if we can get this started up...

And as a good stuffie, mindful of their plushiness... I will sit far back from any stray sparks!!

There we go!!! Campfire burning!

It's a beary nice campfire... and we really do need to get some smores supplies...

And then it was time for bed... this little bear is pooched!! And we have more adventures planned!