It was chilly and overcast, so we did not swim in the freezing green glass water of the Beaver River on our way across the Island. We did visit the town of Coombs again though, with our first stop being the World Parrot Refuge<\/a>. It is as it sounds, a refuge for previously owned parrots. Whether the birds were rescued or donated, the Refuge pledges to never sell or give away birds that come to them. The housing for the birds is warehouse space, divided into galleries based on some bird logic. Each gallery seems to hold birds of a similar type. The floors are concrete, for cleaning I imagine, and the walls are lined with cages, although they are all open. The birds can fly, walk or climb freely through their galleries. It’s no jungle, but there are lots of playthings for the birds everywhere.<\/p>\n They gave us earplugs for the noise when we entered, warning us that the birds in concert were cacaphonous. The earplugs were both useful and not, because the birds had a nasty habit of perching on our shoulders to pull out the colourful earplugs. We were also warned not to wear jewelry of any kind, as that would also draw unwanted attention from the feathery thieves. They also peck, nip, bite, and sometimes stalk guests. It’s a wonder, really, that they let anybody in without signing a waiver.<\/p>\n Even worse, in yet another gallery, several cockatoos were behind frost fencing for the protection of the public apparently. They would hang on the fence and reach through plaintively with their black claws extended as if begging for alms. Once anything came in reach however, they would drag it right into their sharp beaks. One got a hold on my sweater cuff and bit a hole through the sleeve. One of the volunteers had to come pry the creature’s beak open to free me, else I would have had to cut off the sleeve or leave it behind. Buzzard.<\/p>\n They finally threw us out of the Refuge at closing time. We could have stayed for a lot longer though. Before leaving Coombs we stopped in at the Emporium again for fresh fruit and ice cream. I had fruit, Mama and Those Johnston Kids had ice cream. All the treats were exceptionally good though.<\/p>\n From there we drove to Nanaimo to catch the ferry to North Vancouver. We had to wait for the next boat because Friday evenings are busy as the islanders head to the mainland for the weekend. The ferry was followed a very long drive into and through Vancouver to Golden Ears Provincial Park. In the dark. In the rain.<\/p>\n Because that’s the way we roll.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Our charter fishing adventure ran later than expected. After we got back to the dock, Matt cleaned our fish in full view of the public at a cleaning station on the pier. Every tourist that passed by had to take a picture of the Fish, while every salt had to pause and whistle, “Nice spring. … Continue reading Pretty Polly<\/span> ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/thosejohnstonkids.ca\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/P7240961a1-225x300.jpg\")
As we drove east from Tofino, we passed through the Cathedral Grove, a stand of giant redwoods wound through with viewing trails. Until you’ve seen giant redwoods in the flesh<\/del>![\"\"](\"http:\/\/thosejohnstonkids.ca\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/P7240966a1-300x225.jpg\")
wood, it’s difficult to appreciate the true size of the trees. Even walking among them, I found myself overwhelmed. I kept looking up to try and put them into a manageable context. They are the largest living things that have ever existed on this planet. Yes, even bigger than blue whales. And we cut them down to make ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/thosejohnstonkids.ca\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/P7240967a1-300x225.jpg\")
planks.\u00a0We walked among\u00a0the sweet smelling trees on trails muffled by fallen pine needles.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/thosejohnstonkids.ca\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/P7240975a1-300x273.jpg\")
Parrots are amazingly social creatures. In the wild, they spend their days talking to each other non-stop. It’s not surprising then, that they are so easy to socialize with humans. When there are no other birds around, their human family becomes their flock, and they crave human attention and feedback. It was immediately obvious which birds had had good owners that interacted with their birds frequently and positively, and which birds had had bad owners.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/thosejohnstonkids.ca\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/P7240973a1-300x225.jpg\")
The birds with good owners were calm and tractable, and wanted to be talked to and petted. They wanted to be near people. It was actually more than a little pitiful. The policy of the place notwithstanding, some of the birds would have been happier with full-time human companions again, rather than the transitory attention of tourists. There was one cockatoo that would walk up to anybody that cooed at it, sit on the person’s foot, and rub it’s head on the person’s leg. It was very endearing how it presented itself to be scratch. It would almost fall over as it tried to look cute.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/thosejohnstonkids.ca\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Phone-pictures-1704-300x225.jpg\")
In another gallery, a small cockatoo sat on my shoulder as soon as I entered and refused to leave. It enjoyed being petted and clung to my shirt front to nuzzle my chin. When it came time for us to go, it tried to burrow under my shirt collar, obviously reluctant to let go. I considered smuggling it out and had we been closer to home would have tried it too. I like birds.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/thosejohnstonkids.ca\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Phone-pictures-1699-300x225.jpg\")
They weren’t all sweeties though. In the cockatoo room there was a posse of Walkers that would slowly but inexorably surround you. They moved slowly and appeared completely non-threatening, but as soon as they got close enough, they would bite your ankles! Short Pants was fooled by the zombie horde, and took a good nip that left a mark. The rest of us took care after that not to get surrounded. Those would be some of those birds with bad owners. They’ve gone slightly bonkers.<\/p>\n