Back In Canada

We arrived in Victoria on the evening ferry. We cleared customs smoothly and were welcomed to our new home province. The ferry terminal in Victoria dropped us off in the heart of the downtown. We parked and walked the bustling streets. There were dozens of street venders and performers to entertain us as we walked. We found a nice city park in the suburbs to park for the night. We drank beers and played backgammon on the tailgate as the sun set.

Our next day in Victoria started with a trip to the library. We used the internet and researched topics such as fly fishing in BC, harmonica and pottery. We wandered the streets again and found a downtown jazz festival with live music. We got fantastic curry wraps for lunch and enjoyed the serenade. We left Victoria in the afternoon and pushed further north up Vancouver Island. We went to a jam-packed provincial park hoping to spend the night. The park had no vacant campsites but we did manage to use their showers and fill up our water jug as we drove through. Instead of the campground, we went to a movie theater, watched Bad Teacher (some inspiration for Brad) and camped in the parking lot.

The next day we enjoyed walks on a boardwalk and a picnic along the coast in Parksville. In the afternoon we continued north to Bowser to visit with our friends Aisling and Andre.  They are friends from Kingston and recently moved to a beautiful house along the coast of the Georgia Strait. We shared stories, cocktails and supper. The next morning we set a crab trap in the low tide and went on an exploration north on the island. We drove through Courtenay/Comox, Campbell River and on to Sayward; it was nice for us to take a backseat and have tour guides. We stopped to explore the towns and did a couple hikes into the temperate rainforests. We were back at their place around 7pm and began preparations for dinner. They had no boat to retrieve the crab trap; instead, Andre donned his full scuba gear and swam out for the trap. The trap only caught one crab, so Andre went hunting and returned with a mesh bag filled with five dungaree crabs. We had a feast of fresh crab, corn on the cob and asparagus quiche for dinner.



Andre returning with a crab bounty



Andre and Aisling - dynamo hosts

Before our departure from Bowser, Andre taught us how to start fire with a bow drill. What a time! The bow drill method of fire starting relies on a kit of: a slightly curved stick with a string (the bow), a spindle that spins in the bow, a bearing block to hold the spindle in place and board to receive the spindle and create the ‘ember’. Every little detail of the kit can make (or more likely break) your fire-starting abilities. We worked at it for hours to prefect the kit, the method and to eventually make a fire.

After much 'drilling' the ember was gently blown to flame

      We left Aisling and Andre’s place in the early afternoon, our stay was fantastic and definitely a trip highlight. We went to a provincial park near Nanaimo for the night. Upon arrival to the park, we scoured the forest for a dry, dead piece of western red cedar to make our own bow drill kit.  We spent the next morning building our kit and practicing the method – lots of smoke, but no flames yet.

We left our camp and headed to Nanaimo to meet Josie at the ferry terminal. We had a quick supper and ‘root beers’ (as far as the ferry terminal security is concerned) before heading south, back towards Victoria. We spend the night in Metchosin on the beach. We wandered down the beach to a few folks having a fire. We thought we might join their fire until they informed us that they, “had just done some drugs and shit was about to get real”. Feeling unwelcomed and unsure what ‘real’ meant, we decided not to join. Instead we sat further down the beach on some big driftwood and laughed the night away.

The next morning we drove to the trailhead of the Juan de Fuca trail at Sombrio Beach. We prepared our packs for a two night hike along the south coast. The trail was 7 kilometers of rise and fall topography along the Pacific. There was a welcome mist that kept the temperature prefect for slugging our heavy packs along the trail. With the regular rain that the coast receives, the trail was a muddy soup in many spots. Despite the mud, it was a beautiful trail with great views of the ocean and the mountains in Washington. Aurora thoroughly enjoyed the hike; she carried her own food and treats. She probably did the distance of the trail twice over with all her running back and forth. She had a great time except for crossing a 60 ft long suspension bridge which she was a little scared of.

We spent the night on Chin Beach; we had a fire and listened to the tide come close and the waves rolling throughout the night. The next day we were beach bums. The sun was out full and we relaxed on beach; taking naps and combing tide pools. We had a beautiful campsite; it looked like a tropical paradise. The hammock was up and heavily used. As the day progressed, the beach became quite busy with long weekend hikers. Tent spots were prime property and we guarded our site like trolls when the hordes of hikers approached.

The next day we were up at dawn and the first group to retrieve our food bag from the bear cache. We had no time piece (and no reason for one) but we assume we were on the trail before 8am. We hiked out like champs - in half the time it took to hike in. We were back at the truck at 11:11am. We left the park and bee-lined it to a fish’n’chip trailer outside the park. We had been dreaming about a greasy feed since we hit the trail.

After satisfying our grease-tooth we went to a rec centre to get clean. We showered, played in the pool (monkey in the middle, rope swing and diving board), and hit the hot tub. All cleaned up, we went to Victoria for a great night. We wandered around the craft markets with half of the Canadian population, went out for beer and apps at Surf Pub roof top then went to Irish Times for fantastic live music (and more beer ;) Check out Calvin Cairns for mind-blasting, toe-tapping fiddle playing. (yup, we bought the CD).

The next day we drove back towards Nanaimo. We searched along the coast, with the help of a backroads map, for a free campsite. We ended up in a reserve and had an interesting conservation with a fella that readily shared that he has killed three people in ‘boxing’ matches in his youth. He seemed friendly enough, but we decided to move on. After some searching, we found the Blue Heron Park to camp in for the night. We talked to many locals about our truck set-up and made friends with a cool dude who welcomed us to call him up if we are ever in the area again. We sat out along the shore and drank “Summer Picnic’s” (gin, tonic, cucumber and fresh ground pepper, yum). We ate a great dinner and played several hands of cards by lantern light.

The next day we took the ferry from Nanaimo into Horseshoe Bay. From the ferry we drove about 25 minutes to another great hike (man, this province is full of ‘em), Shawamus Chief.  The hike was only 2.5 km long, but had 500 m gain in elevation! What a view, and what a work out!  After this hike, we had earned a good meal and a tall beer, so we went to Howe Sound Brew Pub in Suquamish. We ate delish woodfired pizzas and drank tasty Rail Ale Nut Brown. Great meal, great service and a Jim-fantastic price of Josie’s treat! Next it was ‘home’ to Josie’s lovely apartment in North Vancouver.

The four of us on "The Chief"

Now, Josie can’t get rid of us and we are becoming very comfortable in her pretty and well appointed apartment. There is even a pull out, (we haven’t slept indoors for 2 months); there are serious benefits to the indoors, namely a bathroom mere steps away. We have been having a great time here in North Van. Yesterday we went kayaking, Court got her hair cut, and we did errands. Josie has been keeping us busy with great hikes and recommendations in the city, but mostly we have been chilling out, and enjoying this vacation from our vacation. Tough Life.

Courtney's new do

Josie in her favourite piece of furniture

Next on to Whistler and then the Okanogan.