I forgot to mention the stuff around Nanaimo.
Salt Spring Island between Victoria and Nanaimo is worth seeing, especially if you like farmer's markets and shopping for artisan-ish things. Ladysmith .. nice place. Oh! Chemainus. Chemainus has these super famous murals on all the buildings. Go check them out if you can.
Newcastle Island in Nanaimo. You take a foot ferry (it's basically just a dude and his boat) will take you there and you can walk around, very nice. If you bring your bikes, take your bikes with you and ride around the island. It takes about 45 minutes if I recall correctly and you get to listen to the ferries sound their horns as they enter and leave Departure Bay terminal. Somewhere around there is a floating pub too.