Betwixt the Butterflies and the Slugs

We haven't always had the best luck with private campgrounds in our past, but Whiskey Creek RV Campground turned out to be a delightful spot to camp for a week. It's less than ten minutes from Qualicum Beach and Coombs, on an acreage sized lot off Chatsworth Road. There are other houses in the neighbourhood, and a farm or two, but the lot next to the campsite is undeveloped, and judging from the intermittent chainsaw sounds, the owner is either meticulously clearing the land or harvesting timber from it.

There's only 16 sites and some are more open than others, but we had a bit of bush on one side of ours, and a fence separating us from the woods next door.

There was plenty of room to bring the picnic table and fire pit in closer to the Bride, and to set up the camp kitchen (packed away in this picture).

The campground was tidy, the washrooms were clean, and the hostess, Joy, a delight to deal with. I'd actually booked a site in Oceanside, but it was pretty much in the town and right next to the highway to boot, so I cancelled it once Joy returned my call to say there was an opening here. Plus, the seventh night's stay was free.

The washroom building and dishwashing station is on the left, with Joy's cabin/office on the right.

There were notices about wolves, bears and cougars in the area, but the garbages weren't secured and the recycling bins full of pop cans were fairly accessible, so I think it was just to keep people from doing anything overtly stupid.

Not to say there was no wildlife - near the end of our stay, a deer swang by for a visit.

And just before we left, we finally saw the enormous slugs we had expected to see earlier. First the invasive black slug, the first we'd encountered:

And then the banana slugs we'd spent so much time fruitlessly looking for on the Amphitrite Trail in Ucluelet.

Yeah, not exactly charming, but kind of cute in their own way I suppose. Certainly not something we'd come across back in Alberta!

Butterfly World in Coombs has a much prettier collection of invertebrates and was a wonderful place to get out of the rain one afternoon.

There was a large tortoise named Samson and a bearded dragon as well.

And a tremendous collection of orchids.

Perhaps most delightfully of all, they had a pond full of turtles out back.

For what is essentially a tourist trap, Butterfly World was a tranquil space in which to wrap up one of our last days on Vancouver Island.