Hi Jason: Nanaimo's a good central location, and you have some good ideas in mind already. You might want to check out
Waterfalls of Vancouver Island for a map of some locations. If you're interested in caving, there are some good caving sites not too far from Cathdral Grove, and if you're going west from Parksville you could also stop in at the Butterfly and Orchid Garden near Coombs. The road from Parksville to Port Alberni and on to Ucluelet & Tofino is something you don't want to speed on - narrow and windy but quite picturesque. All three towns are worth visiting, and if you're in Port Alberni you can book a ride on a boat that goes to the coast. Port Alberni is in the middle of the island, but it's at the end of a very long inlet, and so is still in danger from tsunami. If you go north from Nanaimo you head toward Parksville (the international sand castle competition is over for this year) and then toward Qualicum Beach and on to Comox/ Courtenay and then Campbell River and points north. Port Hardy is pretty much where the road ends. The farther north you go the more 'remote' it gets, and if you get into the mountains this time of year up there you'll still run into snow. One site you could check out is the
Island Nature blog.
There's also
Tourism Vancouver Island and
Tourism BC If you're looking for cultural activities you can try
Harbour Living And you'll probably want to have a look at
BC Parks as well.
South from Nanaimo you run into Duncan/ Ladysmith/ Chemainus, and the Cowichan Valley - home to artisan cheeses (including the only water buffalo herd in Canada), wineries, arts, crafts, farms and more. There's also the Malahat area, more parks like Goldstream, and Victoria's about 1 1/2 hours from Nanaimo. Victoria is not a bad place to live (if you ask me) but the official line is that you don't want to move here - cold, rains all the time... got to keep the place to ourselves!
Go south or east from Victoria and you hit water and then Washington state. West and you head into the Sooke area (home of the Sooke potholes and more), and beyond that is Port Renfrew and Juan de Fuca Park. North of that is the Carmanah valley.
That should give you enough to start with, and you can also take a ferry from Victoria, Nanaimo, Comox, Campbell River or Port McNeill to one or more of the Gulf Islands.
Mike.
