At home on an island

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Finally we pulled some strings, spent some savings, swapped some shifts and both got four days off together to head out to Vancouver Island.

One of the things on my ‘must do’ list while in Canada was to visit my cousin Colin and his fiancé Julie (http://www.angusadventures.com/index.htm.) The two have recently just completed the first entirely human-powered circumnavigation of the globe. I first met Colin when he sailed in to Australia somewhere close to 15 years ago. His adventurous spirit had inspired my budding one, and left a big impression on me. Meeting up with him again was very exciting. Unfortunately Colin and Julie are very busy and very popular people. They are currently still doing talks and presentations from their last adventure, planning a wedding, a honey moon and a next adventure while running their business (selling DVDs and books) from home, and Julie is writing her book about being the first woman to row across the Atlantic ocean from shore to shore! Needless to say - trying to work out a time that worked with all of us was challenging. We set aside this date, but it turned out that Colin and Julie had to go into Vancouver for a friends wedding, but they kindly let us stay in their house while they were away. It was quite surreal, rocking up to virtual strangers, who shook our hands, handed us a key to their house and then we waved them off. Their place is set on five mostly forested acres outside of Courtenay with a creek running right next to the house. Apparently they see salmon and trout in it quite regularly coming up to spawn. We instantly felt at home and at ease. Having forest in the backyard and a creek next to the house felt a little like my parents place in Mt Keira, right down to the dears foraging on green pick! Mum and Dad don’t have bears though.

Anyhoo, we quickly made ourselves comfortable in our home to be for the next four days. To fill in the afternoon, we borrowed a couple of mountain bikes that Colin had offered and went for a ride to one side of Comox Lake. Inspired by the sun, we went for a quick, refreshing, invigorating dip (read freezing), and then sat on the bank eyeing the seam of beautiful basalt opposite, deciding that it needed to be explored. An Internet search told us that it was a climbing area, so we had our next day mapped out for us already.

I just got called in to work. Good news for the bank account. Bad news for the travel blog. So, I will leave it at this point, as good as any point to leave it, I guess. The end of our first day on the island. (Oh, which finished with a BBQ and beer on Colin and Julie’s back deck. I am so not a vegetarian any more! It was organic though.) Being near forest with a running creek, having soaked up plenty of sun and enjoying a BBQ and beer, I felt quite at home.

More soon.

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Photos

approaching Nanaimo
nice spot for a paddle... maybe next time.

the river near Colin and Julie's place
almost looks like surf!

bbq
no animals were harmed in this process... well, not much.

Comments

[Arthur]

Great to hear about your meeting up
Great to hear you've met up with Colin and Julie. That and getting called into work explains the few days without a Travel Blog update. I check it every day. Maybe I'll get an RSS Feed from there when I work out what all that high-tech stuff actually means. Johno looks like a laid-back Ozzy BBQ chef there. Just like a summer arvo on the back deck. It turned so cold here in Oz overnight I'm starting to look forward to spending some time soaking up the Canadian summer. Those earlier ice and snow pics, pretty tho they were, weren't super-endeering me to the climate. Do you get to see Colin and Julie later, or when they come back? Looking forward to seeing you soon.

[Jono Dahna]

hey dad
hey dad, yeah Jono does make a good laid-back aussie bbq chef. Looking fwd to seeing you guys over here and playing in the sun too. We might catch up with Colin and Julie again later in the summer. See what happens.

[Kevin]

conversion
Nice work Edwards..... finally converted that girl! No more barbies with veggies burgers and been sprouts .... Beer BBQ and a meat eatin bird !what more could you want ......ah... the state of origin....now life is complete....