Kayaking on Vancouver Island

Written by Lynn

I finished up at work about 2 weeks ago now. With some extra time on my hands I decided that it would be a shame to take off around the world without actually appreciating what is in my own back yard. So I took the opportunity to drive around British Columbia visiting some of the small towns on the way to Vancouver Island.

After a slow, meandering 4 day drive out to Vancouver, I was up bright and early the next day to catch the 7AM ferry to Victoria. I quickly decided that this island is probably one of Canada’s best kept secrets. I called ahead to secure a coveted room at the beautiful hostel in Tofino on the west coast of the island. When I got there after a 2 hour drive on Hwy 4 (rated in the top 3 drives in Canada, and for good reason with the winding hilly road overlooking beautiful vistas) I took a quick run on the Wild Pacific Trail before heading out to my hostel. There I met several girls who were on their own Round the World (RTW) trips and got some great advice on places to see and things to do.

After a few days of touring the island on my own I met up with an old friend of mine, Leila Sumi. Leila and I worked together at the Delta Waterfowl and Wetland Research Station in Manitoba ELEVEN years ago (time flies!). We actually haven’t seen each other since then, so this was a great chance for a reunion. Because of the favourable weather forecast we decided that a kayaking and camping trip in the Broken Group Islands (see http://www.britishcolumbia.com/parks/?id=404) off the west coast of the island would be a great way to spend the next few days. What a fantastic trip! The weather was sunny, the seas calm and because of the time of year there was almost no one else camping on the islands. We spent the next 3 days paddling around, playing in tidal pools, and enjoying sunsets and campfires. On the last day we got up early to paddle back to our car and crossed a wide open channel. There we had the experience of a lifetime with a group of sea lions and a grey whale that was playing with them. We sat quietly in our kayak and watched this whale get closer.........and closer.............and closer. Finally when the whale was within about 50m of our fibreglass kayak we decided retreat might be the better part of valour. I’m pretty sure that a whale wouldn’t be blind enough to hit a bright yellow 10 foot long boat, but it would be my luck to run into the only near sighted marine mammal in BC!

Anyways, we survived 3 days out there on our own with no mishaps and some great memories to relive at our next reunion (hopefully we’ll manage it in less than a decade this time).
For now it’s all about packing up the apartment and getting ready to go. Our time in Edmonton grows short and I’m starting to feel a little sad about leaving all our new friends behind. But an adventure of a lifetime awaits and I comfort myself in the thought that good friends are never really left, but just waiting to be brought back together!

So we're off................

Written by Lynn

Well friends, family and assorted others……………….for those of you who we have been negligent in keeping in contact with we apologize. It’s been a busy year for us. So we're here to update everyone and let you know what's happening.









Back in August 2005 we loaded ourselves up the in car and drove across Canada to move to Edmonton, Alberta so that Gilles could go back to school. Gilles had made the decision that enough was enough and that he could no longer work for the federal government. So he decided to go to college to learn about motorcycle mechanics, in the hopes of eventually working in the field of motorcycle fabrication. By his own free will he was ostracized 6 hours north of Edmonton to the town of Fairview where he became just another college student. He lived in a little 7ftX12ft room in the geeky quiet dorm (no smoking, alcohol or noise after 10pm), cooked for himself in a kitchen shared with other students and managed to study hard enough to graduate with honors. He came out of it with a little more appreciation for the hard work involved in getting an education, and a diploma from one of the most unique and in depth motorcycle mechanic courses in North America.













Myself, I stayed behind here in Edmonton and took at job at the Mayfield Veterinary Hospital. It was hard to leave Kanata Animal Hospital after 6 years, but I had a great experience where I was. MVH is a dental specialty clinic here in Edmonton, owned by Martin Schiebel, who is presently going through the rigorous process of becoming a board certified veterinary dentist. As it turns out, I knew NOTHING about dentistry, so it was a steep learning curve for me. I learned lots and had fun working with an amazing team (cheers to you Brandy, Kathy, Connie, Charlotte, Des, Lyndsey, Holly, Martin and Anabelle).


Happily Gilles was able to come home every 2 weeks to Edmonton to see me, Cara (the black lab) and Zeke (the cat). For a few months we also had a new friend, Puss Puss, living with us. He was a 20 year old, diabetic, blind (obviously), hyperthyroid, renal failure cat that had been owned by an elderly lady that just couldn’t care for him anymore. But since he wasn’t really ready to give up the ghost yet, we kept him happy for awhile until the big litter box in the sky called him home. For those of you who are worried about our little family, it's all worked out. Zeke will be residing in North Bay with Gilles' parents for the year and Cara has decided to stay here in Edmonton. Our friend Kevin and his dog, Gaia, have offered to take care of her, which we truly appreciate, because we KNOW she can be a pain in the ass sometimes :)











Over the course of the year we managed to get out to Jasper and Banff National Parks several times, as well as doing lots of camping in the interior of British Columbia. I managed to make it home to Ottawa twice in the year, once for Tanya’s baby shower, and again in June for Sue and John’s wedding. In February, while Gilles was on reading week, we went to Las Vegas for the Western Veterinary Conference. We rented a car so that while I was attending lectures and learning lots, Gilles was off in LA schmoozing with all the famous motorcycle fabricators. Chica (of “Biker Build Off” fame) being one of them, even mentioned Gilles could start working there if he wanted to stay, which he of course couldn’t.
After the conference was done we went to see the Hoover Dam and Death Valley. Death Valley is an amazingly beautiful place where you can stand on one promontory and see the highest and the lowest spots in the contiguous USA at one time. We would highly recommend it(though not in July, when you can literally fry an egg on the exposed rock surfaces).








Socially, we made some great friends here in Edmonton (Ryan in pic). There was all the guys that Gilles went to school with. When he came home he even managed to get a job at the same shop, Echo Cycle, as a couple of his school mates, Chris and Warren.








Myself, I joined a running group at the local Callingwood Running Room. They were a bit crazy, to say the least. I joined in November to train to run the local Hypothermic Half Marathon in March, but got caught up the fever these people inspired. With the encouragement (bordering on harassment at times - just kidding) of the group I managed to complete not only the Hypothermic Half, but also the Vancouver Marathon, my first sprint triathlon (Leduc women’s, where the underlying lesson was that I just can’t swim!), my first trail ultra (the Blackfoot 25K), my first cycling race (the 100K Tour d’Alberta) and (one of those momentary lapses in judgment) Leg 4 of the Canadian Death Race (see http://www.canadiandeathrace.com/ if you want to know what I’m talking about). So thank you so much to Mia and James Clark, Lawrence and Kerry Avery, Don and Louise Wheatcroft, Bing Phung, Brian and Cindy Stewart, Glen Horner and so many others who helped to remind me that running is for fun, and the social aspect is WAY more important than the physical. I’ll miss my Sunday morning/post-run coffee :)


I was also lucky enough to reconnect with my mother’s side of the family here in Alberta. We spent our holidays enjoying the closeness of family with the Kadonaga’s and Near’s. We can’t begin to thank them enough for making us feel at home, even after so many years apart (I hadn’t seen most of my cousins since I was about 15 years old!). As an added bonus, when I was in Vancouver for the marathon I was also able to stay with Auntie Sonia (dad's sister) and Uncle Earl. They were kind enough to not call me crazy for running that race, even when I could barely walk the next day.






But all good things must come to an end and this is what this website is really about. We sat down about 6 months ago to discuss what we wanted to do now that Gilles had finished his schooling. After much discussion our final decision was that what we really, truly wanted was to see the world. And we mean THE WHOLE WORLD. So we have bit the bullet, done what nobody believed we would, and have decided to take the year off and travel. We’ve bought our round the world trip tickets, we’ve made the arrangements, and soon we’ll be on our way. We want to keep everyone (or at least the ones who are interested) up to date on where we are, what we’re doing and how things are going, hence the website. We’ll be checking in regularly at internet cafes along the way, so feel free to email, comment and keep the gossip from home flowing. We’ll miss you all, but we are so incredibly excited to have this opportunity to see all the things we’ve only ever heard about. So…………….here we go!



TO SEE MORE PICTURES FROM OUR TIME IN ALBERTA GO TO %%%%%%%%%%

Here's what's in store for the both of us over the next year. Lots of miles, lots of stops and hopefully lots of adventure. Cheers for now and keep an eye out for our future posts!!

Our Round the World Itinerary

Oct. 31st, 2006 Toronto, Canada to London, England

Nov. 2nd, 2006 London, England to Caracas, Venuzuela then overland to Santiago, Chile

Jan. 31st, 2007 Santiago, Chile to Easter Island

Feb. 4th, 2007 Easter Island to Tahiti

Feb. 6th, 2007 Tahiti to Auckland, NZ then overland to Christchurch, NZ

Feb. 23rd, 2007 Christchurch, NZ to Sydney, Australia then overland to Perth, Australia

March 15th, 2007 Perth, Australia to Jakarta, Indonesia then overland to Bangkok, Thailand

May 23rd, 2007 Bangkok, Thailand to Hong Kong then to Bejing, China and back

June 14th, 2007 Hong Kong to Johannesberg, South Africa

July 9th, 2007 Johannesberg, South Africa to Cape Town, South Africa

Aug. 6th, 2007 Cape Town, South Africa to Madrid, Spain

Aug.9th, 2007 Madrid, Spain to Marrakesh, Morocco

Oct. 30th, 2007 Marrakesh, Morocco to London, England

Please feel free to contact either of us via email whenever the whim strikes you........
Gilles gilles.champagne@gmail.com
Lynn griffy35@hotmail.com