well good morning everyone we are back in Port McNeill we are doing another trip
today we are heading over to Malcolm Island to visit Sointula yeah the
Finnish community of Sointula and what does that mean Audrey it means place
of harmony place of harmony in Finnish that's nice but today instead of walking
we are driving the car into the ferry because the island is a little bit
bigger than the one that we visited yesterday yeah we're gonna be driving on
the island and there is a point where apparently you can see the Orcas yes
maybe we'll get lucky and we'll be able to see some waves
we're definitely going to go there and also there's some really good hiking
trails as well so there's quite a bit to do on the island and because it it's
considerably bigger than alert Bay we've decided to take the car so that we can
we can cover everywhere there's nowhere where we can we could do all this on
foot no impossible and it's the same fee as the passengers like that we're still
being charged ten dollars per person but the only difference is we're paying $20
for the to take the car on so really it's only $15 more because we
had to pay a $5 parking fee yesterday so we have just 15 extra dollars and we get
to have the vehicle on the island well worth it on top of that today's kind of
a rainy day wasn't typical Vancouver Island weather and if it starts pouring
then at least we have the car to go around and we don't have to you know
like I mean lose a day you know now we are waiting to board weigh-in the board
that's it
the crossing from Port McNeill to Sointula was just 25 minutes so an even
shorter journey than the previous day's trip to alert Bay we already mentioned
this on our last ferry ride but as a reminder you'll want to check the BC
ferry schedule since ceilings are in very frequent and you don't want to lose
a few hours waiting for the next boat plan ahead so you can really make the
most of your day trip
well we've arrived on the island and we're going down some dirt roads we've
already seen a little baby deer a little Bambi on the side of the road waiting
for us so that was pretty cool and our first stop of the day we are planning to
go to bear Point Regional Park we've got a little map of the island and
apparently there's a trail we can walk it's called
beautiful Bay Trail and they have a lookout point with a whale watching
platform so maybe we'll get lucky since we're not actually doing any whale
watching tours maybe we'll just be there right place right time and we might be
able to see something off in the water so that is where we're headed next yeah
still raining but I mean we've got our umbrellas it's nice that we have the
car today so we can stay kind of dry yeah back with an update
another reason we stopped at bere point is because we had been told by fellow
hikers that you can sometimes see orcas rubbing on the pebbly beach so we sat on
a log and waited and waited and waited with umbrellas in hand but the orcas
eluded us once more I'm not gonna lie guys it was a cold and wet day and my
morale was pretty low but that's just travel for you sometimes the weather
cooperates and other times you have to go out there and try to enjoy the
destination whatever the weather
well guys welcome to the forest it almost feels like an enchanted forest
here what do you think welcome to the fort welcome to the
wilderness you know this is a forest but it's also a wild place we were we were
driving by and we wanted to stop to show you what it looks like from the inside
right because so far we've been driving and filming the forest and the woods
from outside all you see it's a curtain of green and you don't really have idea
what goes on inside once you get into this places it's like you step into
another world it's surreal you know I don't know if the camera can really do
justice to what you see here but you walk in there and you feel like you're
walking on top of a sponge yeah everything is kind of goes down you know
from the years of decay of rotten logs and branches and leaves and what have
you you know maybe centuries and centuries of stuff that has been piling
on the on the floor also they the magnitude the Majestic of this place you
know like I mean it's something that it leaves you speechless is a WOW factor
you know every time so it almost has a bit of a magical element with like all
the trees covered in moss and old man's beard like it feels like something out
of Narnia like you've walked into the Wardrobe and you're in this magical land
no that's not in this go up this little feel a little bit following here yeah
it's fantastic you really on Malcolm Island you really feel the ruggedness as
you take the logging roads out into the bush it's green like even the tree
trunks is amazingly wild you know like I mean pure nature is pure nature again
you know it's like the cycle of the forest it's amazing here you can see it
look at the bottom these rotten trees and branches and trees that have been
you know that they fell and what can I say Wow no one who ever have the chance
of visiting this part of the world please do so because you will not be
disappointed and also there is
beautiful camping ground over there with all the services I was just telling my
daughter that this country that the best way to see Canada is to have like a
Motorhome some sort of like a trailer where you can sleep and you can stay a
couple of days here a couple of days there you know it's so vast and there is
so much to see it we rented a car but then you need to stop in houses and
hotels motel or whatever you want to do but if you have your own in a motorized
home that's all you need look Wow
our next stop on malcolm island was Pulteney point lighthouse over on the
west end of the island built in 1943 this is both a lighthouse and a fog
alarm building that provides navigational aid to boats traveling
between the Queen Charlotte's Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound the lighthouse
isn't open to visitors however we still enjoy the beach walk it takes to get
there so we'd recommend it for anyone looking for a short hike
well we just finished visiting the lighthouse what not to keep in mind you
have to follow a trail through the woods and that leads to the beach then you
turn left but I've read online that it's not accessible during high tide so we
just got here without checking the schedule we looked at we were extremely
lucky basically yeah otherwise you won't be
able to make it like no it's a beautiful rugged lookout point though I mean my
gosh right now it's one o'clock in the afternoon so water is still far away
enough that you can still walk the beach it's just so nice to walk along the
coastline there really to be the only people we just saw another couple very
briefly the beach is all full of logs you know all those logs that you see at
the beach there are the logs are either they fall because here the forest
reaches practically the water it does what is edge so when that tree falls is
goes in the water and then who knows which Beach is gonna show up in you know
in my opinion definitely worth the effort the drive over here is fantastic
- it's like a logging road and yeah it's very rugged you really feel like you're
exploring the frontier area of the island Malcolm Island
but now let's go back to the reason why we came all the way to Sointula to
learn about its Finnish past the most logical place to start would be the
Sointula Museum Sointula's history started when a group of Finnish settlers
rode up from Nanaimo looking to escape the brutal working conditions in the
coal mines and create a self-sustaining place of their own the group got in
contact with Matti karika a finished journalist and utopian socialist to see
if he would be interested in providing leadership and he accepted that's how in
1901 the new utopia of Sointula meaning place of harmony was established
on the island their guiding principles included ideas like communal ownership
decision-making by consensus equal pay for women and a separate children's home
the communes a grow and for a short time it appeared to have a bright future but
then a series of unfortunate events brought things to a halt first a fire
that killed several people and devastated the community supplies and
then there was the issue of mounting financial debt and poor decisions on
Matty's part by late 1904 the colony had deteriorated with many people choosing
to leave but those who remained carved a new life for themselves and today that
whole history is recounted in the Museum
this place is got it all from telecommunications to old forestry
equipment and you notice something that I had never seen before well that's for
me which I'm from then in 1954 this is a trip back in time when I saw this one
immediately remember this is the machine we used to use in Argentina to kill
flies and mosquitoes they used to sell a bottle of liquid that you put in this
container here you filled it up and then the mother used to tell the kids okay go
go kill the flies you know and they used to give at one each and we'll go on it
will dispense through here okay we used to call it flea the product that we used
to put in here but in Spanish flea it was mispronounced because it probably
meant fly and it was an imported product from the United States who knows work
and nobody knows till today what kind of poisonous liquid were put in here we
were strain in the air and then we were breathing this thing so we're actually
killing the flight by killing ourselves too and in those days nobody knew about
these pesticides and all these things you know that so funny so we were
visiting a Finnish Museum and you found things that you can relate to from look
that's another one that one that's for their welders when you had to weld all
day back home when I was a kid all the piping of the houses were made out of
lead yeah we did not know that lead was toxic yeah okay and when they had to
join the pipes and stuff like that this was a welder you know it was like a
kerosene pressure with these they used to work okay so many things here we
should go take a look at the fridge the fridge is really interesting
I in here man be a man don't come here drunk and you have all the vintage
bottles wow that's the old lucky lager I'm wearing a lucky longer cap that's
the old old bottles there look at that or orange Krush I don't want to touch
those they've been making that beer for a while here on the island and I guess
over here would be the finish the same thing that finished yeah so yeah yeah
this is just an incredible collection like normally I'm not a big museum
person but this is as if this is well worth it guys this is from my
Westinghouse look at that refrigerator yeah from the late forties maybe early
fifties please amazing and to come here it's by donation they have a suggested
donation of $5 and we reach paid that and well worth it as you guys already
know if you've been following our Vancouver Island series that we use the
trover app to geo tie cool places we came across during this trip this museum
is one of the many places we added to the app so if you have plans to visit
the island and are looking for some travel inspo you can browse arch over
lists for ideas after our museum visit Sam couldn't resist going into the co-op
to see if they had some finished products in stock namely his favorite
salmiakki my dad and I played with dogs while Sam tore the market so now you
know where I get it from
on the cutest Sam has found a finished product
salmiakki hey hey hey hey the find of the day my favorite liquorice in the
whole world from Finland it's not just any kind of licorice its salmiaki
which is the best the saltiest the most what do you what would you call the most
potent by far and you know what I'm gonna enjoy this right now but I'm also
gonna let you guys try it oh gosh oh yeah oh yeah this guy will eat boy son
I'll just I'll tell y'all strong there oh yeah the one from Finland hey Donna
look it is song yeah how does a finished blackbird
alright you enjoy back
I think it's fair to say that my dad did not enjoy the salmiakki but no worries
Sam finished the whole box all by himself on the drive back it was then
time to get on the ferry and head back to Port McNeil this was her final
destination on the north of the island but we still have a few more Vancouver
Island videos in store for you so stay tuned for that
all right so we have returned back from our day trip to malcolm island in the
finnish community it was great it was a beautiful day beautiful day we
did a little bit of everything and the only thing we didn't see was the orca
whale the whale point yeah nothing but on the way back we saw a bear a little
one landing on the middle of the road yeah too bad that our photographer was
dreaming you know we caught a picture no I was having a salmiakki coma I had too
many Finnish licorice yangtze I was yawning in the back say he ate a box of
a licorice on his own so he was there like I know in and out of consciousness
you know in and out of coma food coma I was a Peugeot in the car anyways we're
back we're having yoki prepared a nice pasta sauce it's got sausage mushrooms
onions pepper and we've got of course our wine from Argentina a Malbec from
Mendoza what's new yeah what's up you know what it's very
good it's very good 1884 so cheers guys in 84 cheers Cheers
we recommend these one if you can find it it's very good and guys um one thing
to keep in mind is that when we first when we first saw these two islands
alert Bay and Malcolm Island we originally were gonna be like let's do
it all in one day that would be crazy do not do it all in one day each Island
needs its own specific day it's too much there's way too much there's a lot to do
on both places I mean alert Bay's a little more cultural Malcolm Island we
went to today there's more to do in terms of like driving and then hiking
being out in the thick forest so yeah the other one is more on the art first
nation you know theme because that's where they
yeah the communities yeah leaving this island today it's a totally
different story yes sir originally a finnish community
yeah yeah both are both are fantastic if you have if you visit the north part of
Vancouver Island make time for both of them and yeah we've got a fantastic meal
so we're gonna say goodbye for now our next episode we're heading back up no
cellphones oh sorry my friend Oh to the central part of the island
we're gonna be basing ourselves in koh muk so we'll see you with more episodes
from there that's it cheers guys