Flicking through Facebook I once saw the quote:
'not until we are lost do we begin to find ourselves' - Henry David Thoreou
This little nugget of wisdom seems rather appropriate for all those travelers setting out into the unknown. However when googling the quote I found an alternative a little more appropriate for our time in Canada:
 |
| (Photo by pinterest.com) |
Thankfully we haven't died, both of us survived 2 weeks in bear country - and yes, we ran into a grizzly bear (literally!) and have been 'blessed' to see Coyotes, Moose and numerous libidinous Elk.
Let me rewind to when we first touched down on Canadian soil. Having left Iceland we arrived fairly jet-lagged in Vancouver on the 15th of September. We had booked our 'Wicked Camper'. Now for anyone who hasn't come across this company before they describe themselves as "camper van rental in North America for backpackers on a budget". What that doesn't tell you is that their fleet of vans are all decorated with gaudy graffiti and crude slogans. Ben and I hedged our bets and booked as it was by far the cheapest RV rental, and as we expected, our van had... an eye catching paint job!
 |
| Clearly our van suited us, as regular recreational drug users! (NOT). |
The van was ours for 12 days so we used it to drive out to Banff, Alberta. One thing that we take for granted in the UK is how easy it is to drive from one side of the country to the other. To be fair not many people would consider driving the distance from Tunbridge Wells to Dundee in a day, so we decided to spread the 500 mile drive from Vancouver to Banff, via Kamloops, over two days.
 |
(Photo by map-of-canada.org)
We drove from star to star (Vancouver on the left, Banff on the right) |
For all those who haven't been to Banff our pictures (which we'll include a few of at the end) really don't do it justice. The national parks are made up of imposing snow topped mountains, turquoise coloured lakes and rivers, awesome glaciers and an expanse of pine tree forests. Because the town of Banff is in a National Park the residency is limited to 7,500 people, however this doesn't curb the tourists and so the area sees more than 3 million visitors per year. To entertain these crowds Banff makes use of the natural playground around it. We obediently got stuck into a number of different outdoor activities; hiking/crawling up Sulphur Mountain, horse riding along Bow Valley River, a wildlife tour, running and walking (pretty quickly through wooded areas), soaking in the natural hot springs, and a 4 hour via ferrata up Mt Norquay (Italian for 'iron road', the via ferrata is a series of iron cables/ rungs that allow you to climb, walk and scramble up the exposed mountain side).
 |
Melissa takes the Via Ferrata in her stride above
whilst I sit terrified upon the worlds least dangerous horse below |
 |
| I got on him and he just turned round to face the fence! |
(Just a side note, Ben suggested we go horse riding but when we got there and were told to go familiarize ourselves with the horses he admitted to probably having a phobia of them. Ironically he was given the most placid, insipid horse for the tour.)
We took time out from our activities to visit Ben's grandma's grave in Banff cemetery. She passed away when Ben was only 12, and being the other side of the world he didn't really know her too well. She was born in Banff on 22 September 1915 meaning the day of our visit, 22 September 2015, well, you can do the maths. It was lovely to be able to visit the grave and pay our respects. We said a prayer and laid some flowers which meant a lot to Ben's mum Ruth, as grandma was her mother.
 |
| Grandma's grave in Banff |
After 6 jam packed days in Banff we headed back to Vancouver via an over night stop at Lake Louise. This glacial lake gets it's world famous colour from the rock flour carried into the lake by melt-water from the glaciers. We walked around the lake then headed up the Plain of Six Glaciers Trail which climbed up between Mount Lefroy and Mount Victoria to witness the glaciers that hang off them. The views looking back to Lake Louise were breathtaking and well worth the hike.
 |
| The view of Lake Louise from the top of the Six Glaciers Trail |
Back in Vancouver we visited Ben's cousin Mark and went rock climbing - us novices gave it a go but ended up with jelly arms and blistered hands. Not as pro as we were hoping we would be! It was then Saturday 26th and our main priority was to hunt down a pub showing the rugby, not quite the result we had hoped for England, but at least Mumma Powley was happy that day! That evening we watched the Vancouver Canucks take on the Calgary Flames, ice hockey alone is a high adrenaline game but to see the NHL in Canada - well it was awesome!
 |
| The puck moved far too fast for us to keep up with it! |
After a day spent up in Grouse Mountain zip-lining around we headed over to Vancouver Island to stay with Ben's grandparents.
 |
| Melissa on one of the ziplines |
I'm taking over now (Ben this is), as I type Melissa is at home not very well. We did say we'd share the ups and the downs with you all :) As an aside I don't really know how to use the blog software and I'm on my own in an internet cafe in Cape Town, so apologies for presentational faux pas.
I had vague memories of my last visit to the island, when I was just 10 years old. Some of these memories included a house we stayed at that had a trampoline which Tim, John and I broke several springs on during our near 24 hour a day usage whilst there, going up in a private plane with one of Grandpa's friends and him having to tell John and I to be quiet over the radio system, and, being whipped by the most ridiculously long piece of kelp (eel like sea weed) by my Dad on a beach somewhere that resulted in me crying and Tim and John in hysterics.
Over the next week all these memories and many more would resurface in some shape or form.
We had no set agenda whilst here as we had simply come to enjoy company with Grandpa and Grandma Joan (he remarried a few years after Grandma passed away). However we ended up having a really nice fun busy time. We were able to use their car and enjoyed the freedom to be able to travel anywhere we wanted, plus with petrol so cheap at about 50p a litre we didn't even try and restrict our mileage.
One of the highlights for us was taking a trip out to Tofino. Tofino is on the west coast of the island, but is a good 2 1/2 hour drive from Grandpas in Qualicum Beach. The long windy mountainous roads sweep past lakes and endless pine forest which means it beats any long drive down to the coast at home in the UK. Tofino is a world famous surfing town so we headed to a surf hire shop, got ourselves a wetsuit and bodyboard each (we're saving proper surfing for Durban) and made our way to one of the many beaches. We spent most of the afternoon in the sea, riding some pretty decent waves on our tummies. Although I was initially frustrated that I was useless and Melissa seemed to be catching every wave perfectly we had a real laugh and by the end of it agreed it was probably one of the top moments of our trip so far. Tofino, as it turns out, was where I was savagely attacked by sea weed as I mentioned above.
We also took a drive down to Victoria, right on the south of the island. This is a popular tourist city and we enjoyed looking around the parliament buildings and the fisherman's wharf where we saw a group of harbour seals eagerly gobbling down fish thrown in by some delighted little kids on a school trip. The drive back was interesting as it turns out Grandpa's car doesn't have amazing visibility, and when added with driving rain and fog over the mountains it meant at times we could only see the brake lights of the car in front!
It wasn't all just fun and games on our stay, I spent 4 hours one afternoon in a local hospital waiting with Grandma Joan to get her foot checked out whilst Melissa had to wait at home to ensure Grandpa didn't panic too much. However these things were all part of us being there as family so we weren't complaining.
My cousin Mark came over for the weekend with his new girlfriend Kate, who we had previously met rock climbing. It was great to be able to spend time with them on the island and we made the most of it. We went to the nearby 'Goats on the roof' which in essence is just a local farmers shop/marketplace that has a grass roof upon which two goats plod about eating all day, but they are a great marketing tool as the place was heaving! In the afternoon we went to visit Maureen on her farm. I had no idea who we were going to see but when we met and she said I was "only this high" (and pointed about two thirds of the way up my body) since she last saw me when I stayed in her house it started to click. When she replied "Yes" to my question of "Did your house have a trampoline?" it felt like we knew each other extremely well and we spent the next few hours chatting and walking about the farm. I'm still not quite sure why she lives on a farm, but we had loads of fun walking through the fields being chased by and chasing chickens as well as a few sheep. Maureen was privileged enough to see a mother bear with three cubs in a tree right next to her house just the week before we were there. We left with two dozen eggs for Grandma Joan who seemed slightly overwhelmed at where to store them.
 |
| I spy myself Sunday lunch above whilst Melissa gets some unwanted attention below. |
We did loads of other stuff including trying to comprehend the size of some of the 800+ year old Douglas Fir trees at Cathedral Grove, they're just ridiculously huge!
 |
| This tree is over 80 metres tall |
Our time drew to an end and we were excited and dreading moving on. Saying goodbye to Grandpa & Grandma Joan was tough but we were keen to start the next leg of our adventure. On the other hand though we were not looking forward to the upcoming 36 hours of travelling we had to Cape Town, via Dubai!
We took a lot away with us from our time in Canada. Once again just taking time out to be amazed by creation and appreciate the earth God has given us was, at times, breathtaking. We were reminded of this verse "in his hands are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land" Psalm 95:4-5. Also we were reminded of just how strong and important our family bond is, despite thousands of miles between the various family members. We were leaving full of hope and expectation of what's to come our way, now that the real part of our African Adventure begins.
Prayer requests:
We are now safely settled in Cape Town and many of our and your prayers continue to be answered each and every day and for that we are so grateful. There' still plenty more though :)
No comments:
Post a Comment