Expedition Canada

Exploring Gibsons Thu May 7th  Gibsons Today was a drive-by day, checking out the local roads, seeing which we liked, viewing a few sale properties from the outside.  Our focus is on the southern coastline and a road called Gower Point Rd and a few no-though-road lanes that run off it.  We are staying at the end of Ocean Beach Esplanade where the round bubble is on the left of the map.   The bulge on the right of the map is a small hill which has a number of roads running around it with a  mix of houses overlooking Gibsons and the marina to the north or across to Van Island southwards.   The higher you get the better the views. Gibsons has a good mix of shops, restaurants and 'liquor stores' - the only place you can buy booze, apart from the multitude of micro-breweries across BC.  Supermarkets don't sell alcohol.  BC Liquor is one of the largest in BC with 198 stores and is owned by the state of BC.  It's used to generate...

On the Sechelt Inlet Thu May 6th Today was more house hunting.  Two properties on the Sechelt Inlet.  The inlet is a section of sea that comes right up to the back of Sechelt almost making everything NW of Sechelt an Island, but for the town itself being built on a land bridge.   Of the two properties, one was a possible and the second a really interesting art deco meets 70's hippy house.  An eclectic mix of styles, art and furnishings, but no garden!  It was a hillside property with stunning views over the inlet but Fred would need a safety harness  to manage the front garden!  The first house had great views as well.   So still looking.  We are keeping the first property in mind as a short term purchase.  Before heading back we headed further west to Pender Harbour (not overwhelmed) and Garden Bay (stunning properties -  but distant from services). We had previously made an offer for a property in this area but...

Property Search Begins Tues May 4th Robin - blackbird size! The realtor we have been working with had organised 4 viewings for Tuesday morning.  An interesting mix of real estate.   The first was a wooden clad house on three levels, surrounded by pine forest with a window through the trees looking across the Sechelt inlet. Several acres of land of which 5% is not mountainside forest!  Inside the dark wood floors, dark furniture and finishes made for a very dark and gloomy feel - 3/10 bah! The second property was on the inlet but closer to Sechelt.  A lovely house right on the waters edge, though neighbouring properties were quite close by.  Some work required on the lower floor that could be turned in to a dedicated suite. A possible but slightly above budget - 7/10 On the opposite side of the inlet, and facing due north, was the third.  Set higher up and with stunning views up the inlet.  Beautifully finished, but small garden and close to t...

Raining on the Sunshine Coast Mon May 3rd Vancouver Island in the distance .....possibly in sympathy with the weather in the UK.  Though the view was not bad as the sun started setting yesterday evening.  The Sunshine Coast faces Vancouver Island lying in a South Westerly direction, so large parts of the coast enjoy stunning sunsets over Vancouver Island.  Our area of Bonniebrook is a shallow cove and at the top end we are facing more a southerly direction, so do not see the setting sun.  Nevertheless a rather nice view.   Our local Otter was back on the rocks this morning, though the overcast morning made photography difficult.   Seeing an unusual bird fly in to a nearby dead tree, followed by a similar but smaller version had the binoculars out.  A quick scramble through the bird book and they were identified as a pair of Belted Kingfishers.  An absolute delight, though I had to avert my eyes as they demonstrated their joy of spring! T...

The Next Adventure A 3D Puzzle Sun May 2nd.  The car started ok today, no warning symbols, so packing commenced.  This was something of a challenge and just as well we left the dog crate and one piece of luggage with Nick and two pieces at our first rental for later collection.  Jack had to share the back seat with one large suitcase! Car packed, we headed off to Horseshoe Bay, the ferry terminal to the west of Vancouver.  Yet again, the auto stop/start was not working!   All our papers were to hand in case our reason to travel was challenged.  ‘No recreational travel’ was on all the matrix signs driving to the terminal.   Our dual nationality Canadian/British check-in lady, whose daughter plays for Aston Villa could not have been more helpful.  We had a nice chat with her, 'deck three with the dog, or you can stay in the car' she advised.  The ferry is only 29% full, such is the impact of Covid.  Not sure what Jack was going to mak...

Already Sat May 1st  Josie, the girl upstairs! It’s hard to believe we have been here for a month.  The time has just flown by and tomorrow we set off for the Sunshine Coast, we hope!   The last few days driving around Vancouver the auto start/stop hasn’t been working on the three year old car (five days since it was acquired).  Saturday morning a warning message came on ‘battery low start engine’, when returning to the car.   Several calls with the two main Land Rover dealers and their best solution was to book the car in next week as they needed 4 hours to go through the diagnostics.  Not possible, we’re moving to the Sunshine Coast tomorrow, Sunday. The service advisor suggested that as the car had been standing on the lot for several weeks the battery needed to be recharged to 100%, something an alternator apparently won’t do.  Begs the question why it wasn’t checked before they sold the vehicle. So a quick visit to Canadian Tire for a battery char...

Foot off the gas Fri Apr 30th Hyannis, Bridle, Fishermans and Baden Powell Mainly because it was pouring with rain this morning - a more leisurely start was promised .  Jack poked his head out first thing and thought better of it.  Odd for a dog that heads to the nearest water whenever we are out. A mid morning walk first thing around the trails just north of us - Hyannis, Bridle, Fishermans and Baden Powell was at a quick pace.  Maybe a run tomorrow!  Moist but not drenching.  A few dog walkers, a couple of joggers and lots of pines! We have been researching properties ready for viewing next week when we head across to the Sunshine Coast on Sunday.  A property we were particularly interested in near Gibsons, that came in from our realtor this morning and we'd booked to see Sunday lunchtime, had gone by lunchtime today, such is the BC property market at the moment!   We find our media viewing and listening habits have changed materially ...

Norvan Falls Skunk Cabbage - grows in bogs, it smells Thu Apr 29 The weather was set fair so we decided today was a good day to do the roundtrip to the Norvan Falls.  A minimum of 14k, but longer if you park down the hill (to avoid the paid for car parks), which will add at least 2k.  We parked down the hill! We had walked half the trail on Sunday, but then hadn't come prepared to do the full distance, plus it was raining!  The lower half is relatively straight forward, though there are some areas strewn with rock, tree roots or just a bit boggy. On Sunday we got as far as The Debris Chute, an open area accessible by service and emergency helicopters which has a strange metal locked cylinder.  We assume it has rescue or services equipment.  On Sunday we'd seen a couple of BC Parks staff walking up carrying a chain-saw on their backs, but no fuel. Today we discovered the second half of the  trail is classed as 'intermediate' and is hard work.  Uphi...

Exploring the North Shore Red Breasted Sapsucker Tue April 27th A different trail this morning as we decided to take the Baden Powell trail that heads easterly towards Deep Cove.  Except we took a wrong turn and ended up on Bridle Trail.  Less water for Jack to explore, but we were rewarded by coming across this stunning Red Breasted Sapsucker.  It allowed me to get within 20' to get this picture. It's a member of the Woodpecker (Picidae) family.  I rather like the name, but have not yet found how it got it. While walking we heard a bird, we'd heard before, that sounds like a ref's whistle without the pea.  We've yet to find out what it is, or see it! This afternoon, we went checking out residential areas in West Van, the bit of North Shore on the other side of the Capilano River that separates West and North Van. The first area we looked at was a district called British Properties (not yet sure how that got its name either). Some stunning houses with views...

Vancouver Traffic Mystery Creek Mon Apr 26th Which can flow quite smoothly will come to a grinding halt if there is an incident on either of the two bridges that separate North Vancouver from Vancouver.  More later. The morning excursion was a repeat of the day before, only this time we were confident we knew where we were going.    Hyannis, Power Line, Fishermans and Baden Powell trails, with plenty of water for Jack to explore on route. Fred tried out her new hiking poles, which made going down hill much easier. Jack made short work of the hills and slopes with his four-paw drive.  He really has become quite adept at going places I would not dream of climbing up or down. Confirmation during morning that a SWIFT transfer of funds from the UK had been completed and it was agreed I could collect the car in the afternoon, which  was booked for 15.30. Poles and Pylons I set off at 1400 to drop the hire  car  back in Burnaby, which is in east Vancouve...

Norvan Falls Trail Not only does the forest look like a rain forest, today it rained.  The mountains were shrouded in mist with occasional glimpses of the tree clad slopes, their snow covered caps hidden for the day.   The trail up to the falls runs alongside Lynn Creek which was flowing well with the melt water coming down off mountains that form Lynn Headwaters Regional Park.  The round trip to the falls is 14k.  New to the area, we parked short of the trail start so added a couple of extra kilometres to the walk.  We made it just beyond half way, but plan to return and do the complete walk during the week. We arrived early and only met a few people on the way up.  A different story coming down, but there is so much space it didn't spoil it.     It is amazing how close residential property is to rugged, untamed forest.  Living 100m from a trail, the forests go on for several hundreds of kilometres with only occasional roads bisect...

Three weeks already New From Old Friday April 23rd  It's hard to believe how quickly time has flown by.  Tomorrow will be three weeks since we arrived in Canada.  It feels very normal.  We're not getting used to north American TV and are rather glad we brought our Apple TV box.  The BBC's Sounds app works well; so we go to bed with the Today programme and wake to the World at One.  The Covid Pandemic continues to have a constraining effect on Canadian life. The vaccination programme is well behind that of the UK and USA and cases have started to rise again.  Travel restrictions have been put in place across Canada; no direct flights from S Asia, only essential  inter-state travel.  In BC  all but essential travel limited to your current health region.  Fortunately our next rental on The Sunshine Coast is the same as our current health region and Nick and Lizzie's. The weather since we have been in Vancouver quarantine and over the l...

Cars and More Cars Thu 22 April Today was about cars, all day.  After coffee in Kitsilano, it was off to Richmond, out near the Airport, to another car retail park.  A few more test drives and the list narrows.  Toyota Highlander, Ford Explorer, Discovery Sport and Jeep Grand Cherokee.  We don't anticipate doing a lot of town driving and want something that will tow and be safe on the trails.  The last two made the final shortlist and the evening was spent reviewing specs for a decision Friday morning. Lunch back in Kits was followed by a quick trip to the bank to see if we could open a joint  account with Nick.  Not possible until we have something other than visitor status.  So getting local debit cards and cash management is at least five months away.   Back to North Van via the Lion's Gate Bridge.  Whether viewed from Stanley Park below where it's possible to admire the bridge structure and architecture, or from the bridge ...