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Published: October 20th 2010
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Wine Tasting
Penticton, Okanagan Valley So you probably got a pretty accurate impression from my last blog that Squamish was awesome? Well, you'd be correct. So how did I manage to drag myself away? I decided to leave right when the weather was fantastic, I'd rarely been surrounded by so many new and old friends in my life or such incredible and varied rock. I decided to capture all that incredible energy and see how far East it would get me. Idiot right? Well I guess you'll have to read on and see where riding that wave got me.
At first it seemed to get me on the wrong ferry, but after ambling around Vancouver Island and the city for a couple of days spending some quality time with some quality friends in and around the beaches of Vancouver, I jumped in a car and traveled a road unknown. That car belonged to Rob who I found on a ride share website, which makes so much sense in a country too vast and varied for trains. Like most Canadians I've met so far, he welcomed me to join him where ever it was that he was going and expected nothing other than good company in
Horseshoe Bay Ferry Terminal
So beautiful it sometimes gets confusing..... and you end up on a ferry going to a different destination to what you had in mind. return. Canadians are very open and trusting like that. They tend to look for the good in people, not the bad, and so treat everyone they meet as a long lost friend. Doors are left unlocked here and keys in car ignitions. You are invited not only into people's house's but thier home, and thier family.
Sorry getting back to the story........ we drove for 8 hours straight to Penticton, in the wine region of the Okanagan Valley. A little bit desert like, a little bit baffling for the brain when you think you're in Canada. I spent a week hanging out with Rob and his friends, making new friends and enjoying the last of the summer. Beers on the beach, spoken word, jam nights, tubing on the river, live music, mojitos, wine tasting and watching sunsets from beneath a weeping willow on a beach. Penticton is an awesome town with beautiful people in it's mists if you look for them. Somewhere in that awsome week I applied for a couple of jobs. Then figured it was time to move on. If a job offer came up I'd come back, but if not I'd keep riding the wave.
Don't drink and float and drive
So you can float down the river and drink beer The next wave came along in the form of a chick called Jen who offered me a ride for the 8 hour drive from Penticton to Nelson. A friend from Australia had recently moved to Nelson so it seemed like a good idea to hang out and catch up on the last couple of years whilst I checked out the town and any jobs that I could apply for. A week was spent doing the little things I'd been wanting to do for a very long time. To hang out with an old friend, go for beers, drink coffee, cook dinner, go dancing, watch David Attenborough's Life series and wander round the markets. And all without the concern that someone had to leave soon. I knew this was what I had missed out on with all the traveling over the last 4 years. It was a choice I had made. But perhaps not a choice I wanted to be making for too much longer. So I made every effort to be able to stay in Nelson. I contacted every possible organisation in town in my field that I thought might want to hire me, went in and showed my face,
then sat back and waited for the phone to ring. When the phone didn't ring, rational Hannah started telling me it was time to hit the road, a girl needs a job.
I decided to head North to a town called Revelstoke. A new and emerging ski town in the mountains, I'd heard that the climbing there was awesome and there was a decent job I'd seen on the internet I could apply to. I soon found a house of climbers on CouchSurfing who agreed to let me stay and so I stuck my thumb out and was on my way. We hit up Bigby Bluffs on my first day for some sport climbing. It was a wicked day of climbing, and we were just walking over to the final climb of the day when BAM. I twisted my knee. Just like that. On flat, solid ground and I was wearing good shoes (a change from the flip flops). I initially didn't think it was too bad, so iced it and rested it up hoping a couple of days rest would soon see it good again. A couple of days on the couch later I realised I wasn't going
to be doing any more climbing in the near future and began to rethink the wave I was riding out East towards the Rocky Mountains......
What do I do, I thought, if I can't climb?!?!?! And then I remembered WWOOFing (Worldwide Workers on Organic Farms). Something I'd been meaning to do ever since I heard of it 4 years back when I was in Uganda but climbing had somehow always taken priority. Perfect I thought. I can volunteer on a farm somewhere which means I will have somewhere to live without having to worry about paying rent and I'll be able to meet and connect with the locals who might be able to help me figure how and where I'm going to find a job.
So I paid my subscription and joined the organisation. The next day I was writing to every farm host in the area that was looking for volunteers and by the end of the week I had an offer to help some artists out on an urban farm back in Nelson. Perfect. Nelson had been an inspiring place that I had desperately wanted to spend more time in but my head had been pushing
me on. And now it seemed I'd found a way to let myself go back. And so the wave I'm riding did full circle. Despite the fustrations of my knee injury it seems that the universe has better things in store for me than climbing. At least for now😊
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KAREN KILSHAW
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Whow!!
How wonderful to read your Blogs!!!, I get so much enjoyment out of them. The book will be awesome!!! Stay safe, keep a good eye on that knee LOL K x