Gabriola Island Ferry - Savings

There are a few ways that you can save money while riding the ferry between Gabriola Island and Nanaimo. Island residents will often purchase a BC Ferries Experience™ Card which is an electronic swipe card that can be loaded with money and used to pay for ferry travel on participating routes. On the Nanaimo-Gabriola route, you pay for a return fare before boarding at the Nanaimo ferry terminal. When you pay for a standard vehicle and driver on the route the fare today would be $30.10, however if you pay using the Experience Card the total fare would be $18.70- that's quite a savings!

Seniors receive free passenger fares Monday to Thursday excluding Statutory Holidays.

If you're traveling for medical appointments you may qualify for the Travel Assistance Program, eligible medical services are outlined on the Ministry of Health Services website.

Also, students travel free between their residence and school, and to attend or participate in school and junior association education and sporting events on the Gabriola -Nanaimo route. As a parent that has kids in weekly swimming lessons in Nanaimo, I find that it makes a difference at the end of the month.

Hope these Savings will help !

Daytrip to Newcastle Island

The Gabriola Elementary School Kindergarten and Grade 1 students headed over to Newcastle Island Marine Provincial Park for one of their year end events. The ferry to Newcastle Island leaves from Maffeo Sutton Park, near the sea wall in Downtown Nanaimo. During the summer the ferry leaves regularly between 9am and 9pm. Newcastle Island is a 10 minute ferry ride from Nanaimo, and is a beautiful park with great walking trails, camp sites, a dance hall, camp store, concession, biking and no cars.
The students went to Brownie Bay where a marine biologist met with them, had them set up a net in the eel grass and discussed the marine life they found in the net. It was a great day trip from Gabriola and all within walking distance to the Gabriola Ferry, a memorable event for the kids and a great day for the parents that were able to attend.

Mmmmm.... I smell chocolate!

Coast Realty's Community Easter Egg Hunt, Food & the KERPLUNKS !

Open to all ages, at the Commons on Saturday, April 11th, the day starts at 12 noon with our very own, Juno award nominees, the “Kerplunks”. Dance and sing along, there will also be a concession with hot dogs and drinks by donation to our 4H Club. Then, the really big event of Easter Weekend, and starting at 1pm ‘sharp’, is the Easter Egg Hunt, itself. This is a sight to behold if you’ve never been and the Easter Bunny makes a surprise appearance especially for picture taking, young and old.

So, you ask, “How many eggs are hidden amongst the trees, and meadows?” We asked the Easter Bunny, and with a wiggle of his nose, he whispered “way, way over 10,000”!

So, come one, come all and don’t be late, race time is 1:00 (and it starts on time)... It’s bound to be a fun day.

Home Made Valentines Cards

Being a bit of a romantic, I find that valentines is one of my favorite holidays... I love the cards - both the ones that are home made, and the kids cartoon cards - that just seem to get cuter each year!!!

So when Valentines was around the corner, I started my search on the Internet where there were hundreds of great ideas for making home-made Valentines cards. I cam across a website that had some simple ones to make that I thought might be fun to craft with the girls, for their Gabriola Preschool Valentines Party...

Originating from w. skiptomylou.org these fun lollipop lilies -were a hit, and relatively simple to make!

The flower patterns are available online at: http://www.skiptomylou.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/flower.pdf , then just print them (ideally onto a colored card stock paper. Cut around the dotted edges, punch a whole in the middle of each - to put the lollipop through and let the kids decorate away... For simplicity we just used sparkle glue and did around the petals, which gave them a nice shimmer & looked a lot like fairy dust (a girls favorite thing!)

Next we tackled the leaves, which again the pattern is posted online at: http://www.skiptomylou.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/leaf.pdf , again you'll want to print them onto colored card stock, green is nice, but the flowers can also have a purple leaf! We carefully cut around each of the leaves, and again just put even more sparkle glue on them just the edges... Then it's time to put the name of the lucky recipient on the front of the leaf and the card creator on the back!

On a whim we slightly altered the cards and punched a hole in the leaves and pushed them up the lollipop stick until they reached the wrapper, which made them stay... For displaying them we took a foam lined basket filled it with moss and stuck all of the flowers in - ready for giving!

Gabriola Elementary School Christmas Concert

In the midst of a winter snow storm, the show still went on. There were a few changes as the rehearsal quickly turned into the real show as snow accumulated outside of the school doors. In less than 2 hours the school contacted enough parents to notify them of the time change to fill the school gym. It was an impressive display of young talent that included all the children, mice, reindeer & villagers set against a beautiful hand painted back drop. The school’s music teacher Rose Topp was to thank for the heartwarming production that set all in the Christmas spirit !