Last reported position

The last reported position of our intrepid adventurers, on Wed Aug 28 2019 03:59:43 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) was:
Latitude: 54.5177418
Longitude: -128.5749517
British Columbia, Canada
Full route map: https://whereami-167313.appspot.com/

Old growth, where are you?

It's been a continuous quest for the elusive patch of majestic old growth forest. The remaining patches are tiny and scattered. This country who makes so much song and dance of sustainability has very quickly and neatly done away with almost all of its old growth.

Last reported position

The last reported position of our intrepid adventurers, on Tue Aug 27 2019 03:35:02 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) was:
Latitude: 54.2409867
Longitude: -130.1326121
British Columbia, Canada
Full route map: https://whereami-167313.appspot.com/

Bye bye Haida Gwaii

Back to the mainland.

Goodbye Haida Gwaii

After having rescheduled this ferry 4 times over and taken our sweeet time on these amazing (and amazingly wet) islands, we are finally on our way to the mainland. Fairwell Haida Gwaii and all your magical beaches, rivers and forests! 

     

                

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Last reported position

The last reported position of our intrepid adventurers, on Mon Aug 26 2019 04:06:19 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) was:
Latitude: 53.2617565
Longitude: -132.2129171
British Columbia, Canada
Full route map: https://whereami-167313.appspot.com/

Breakfast chaos

When your child is so loud that even the cook comes out to quiet things down. Serendipitously caught on timer 😅  

Vertigo

Written in the morning:

The day's are blurring together here on Haida Gwaii.

What passes for summer here is a cycle of sunshine and wind, followed by cold and cloudy, followed by rainshowers and drizzle. As I write this, it's cold and cloudy. Rain later today then?

Rain isn't the only thing on the way. The trees have vertigo. Leaves are starting to fall.

The next day:

Holy cow! Rainstorm!

The cycle might be broken. Headed to town (Sandspit) today since there's not much to do during a storm. The prediction is rain for the next week. Our last week on Haida Gwaii is set to be a wet one.

We're going to try the restaurant in town, then head back to our stormy wet campsite at Grey Bay.

Last reported position

The last reported position of our intrepid adventurers, on Tue Aug 20 2019 19:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) was:
Latitude: 53.126313
Longitude: -131.706962
British Columbia, Canada
Full route map: https://whereami-167313.appspot.com/

Out of propane

Finally got to check out the forestry roads and beaches west of Charlotte till our stay was cut short by a propane outage. That slow cooked deer stew was worth it though :)

Last reported position

The last reported position of our intrepid adventurers, on Wed Aug 14 2019 05:20:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) was:
Latitude: 53.2507599
Longitude: -132.1177731
British Columbia, Canada
Full route map: https://whereami-167313.appspot.com/

River adventure

Rowed down the largest river in Haida Gwaii,

Yakoun River, with my trusty right-hand man in this pleasure craft: 7km and 5 hrs to make it to the estuary. Thanks to a great support team (Sybrand and Rab) who met us for picnics along the way.

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Cargo

Before we started our trip, things were pretty crazy. Newborn and pre-schooler crazy. It's the kind of space where you can't complete a thought, never mind a conversation.

Somehow, we moved our house into a container and got onto the road. We packed too much and too little.

We have two tents. A ground tent, and a roof top tent. The theory being that we don't want to miss out on walk in sites, and if we decide to stay in one place for a while, we can plop down the ground tent. Mistake. Just more clutter in the car!

Our roof to tent is a 3 person tent. We're four people. The theory being one of us is a tiny person. Mistake. A breast feeding mom and baby take up all the space. Where does that leave Orion and I?

We visited the post office this week. Sent back 19kg of excess junk we can live without. Adina might be able to use the front seat now!

Last reported position

The last reported position of our intrepid adventurers, on Wed Aug 07 2019 05:59:17 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) was:
Latitude: 53.6674614
Longitude: -132.1992518
British Columbia, Canada
Full route map: https://whereami-167313.appspot.com/

Agate Beach, Pure Lake (cold and clammy, warm and sunny)

After spending three nights at Agate Beach, we assumed that the whole of Haida Gwaii had been enveloped by a cold wet and windy storm. Ski socks, winter fleece, rain jackets.

Agate Beach is a beautiful place. Tow hill rises dramatically above the beach. The top gives panoramic views of old growth forest and some of the longest sandy beaches I've seen in Canada. Walks in the old growth offer some respite from the unrelenting wind. I dread what it must be like in bad weather.

A few minutes out, and we realize it's entirely localized. 30km away, at Pure Lake we find sunshine, t-shirt weather and swimmable water.

Harsh (loonie showers and pit toilets)

Canada is a harsh environment, compared to Southern Africa. Mosquitoes, black flies, bears, the cold and primitive camping.

The ancient Aztecs invented flush toilets 7300 b.c.e. and never looked back, but yet in Canada, the pit toilet rules. It's like they don't know any better here. Canada has a robotic space arm that goes around the earth multiple times a day, but flush toilets seem to be out of reach.

Then there are the showers. Now, I'm all for short showers. I've lived with water restrictions. Hell, it's been more than a week since I last showered. I appreciate that there's never a queue for the shower. I'm even ok with the whole loonie a minute thing. (That's 1$, they call a dollar a loonie here. It's got a picture of a bird (a loon) on. So it's called a loonie. Canadians can be cute.)

What I encountered in Masset, was a most evil shower. A 4$, 4 minute shower. Pure evil. You waste a minute getting the temperature right. Quickly soap up and quickly wash. Now. Hold on. I want to be thorough. Do I have time to really get all the grit and sweat off, or will I be left standing a soap covered fool? Fear of soapy foolishness wins out, and a stand there like a fool while money washes over me. Slightly cleaner, slightly more angry.

Namibia, 5 star car camping.

South Africa 3 stars.

Canada. 1/2 star.

Fresh fish: Sandy’s Seafood Shack

This is the only place where FRESH (not freshly thawed) fish and chips is to be had in all our travels on the islands and coast so far, in Old Massett on Haida Gwaii. Very tasty indeed! 

What happened to any and all other fresh fish restaurants elsewhere? The government had introduced such strict regulations on fish processing that smaller/rural communities cannot afford the facilities and are forced to send all commercially caught fish down to Vancouver for processing. Once processed, fish is sent all over the province for sale. The result is that everywhere on the coast and islands it is impossible to (legally) buy fresh fish or have a fresh fish meal in a restaurant. Canada killed fresh and local fish.

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Last reported position

The last reported position of our intrepid adventurers, on Fri Aug 02 2019 03:26:13 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) was:
Latitude: 54.0131817
Longitude: -132.1290799
British Columbia, Canada
Full route map: https://whereami-167313.appspot.com/