Expedition Canada

Still feels like Summer Mon Oct 3rd Sunset over Van Island - still warm enough to eat outside Message from the editor:  Technical glitches in the last blog update email, lost the formatting and didn’t save the changes after the typos were corrected.  Guardian readers may not have noticed.  The forecast rain reported in the last blog never arrived, water restrictions remain in place and the Sunshine Coast Regional District has convened their Emergency Committee.  Although it’s cooler at either end of the day, temperatures have been in the mid twenties which is 6c - 10c above average for this time of year.  The rain forecast set to swamp the Public Holiday next weekend  (Monday Oct 10th is Thanksgiving in Canada) is also looking less likely, maybe a few showers.  The coast has gone 80 days without any significant rainfall.   Some are speculating it may lose its status as a temperate rain forest. Canadian Thanksgiving is a celebration of th...

Challenges Little Different Wed Sep 1st Clear skies looking across to mainland mountains Thu Sep 2nd One of the BBC headlines today (Thursday) was about council bin collections being hit by driver shortages.   A few days back the Coast Reporter, which largely serves the Sunshine Coast, headlined  Waste Pickup Interruptions Continue on Sunshine Coast . The truck driver shortage in Canada is about 25,000 (Pop. 38m).  Proportionately smaller than the UK, but nevertheless having an impact on waste management, food deliveries and courier services.  This at a time when online sales have doubled during the pandemic adding to the demand for delivery services. Looks like honeycomb but probably not edible! Similarly Covid numbers have been rising.  In the interior and northern BC the increase is pronounced amongst  the unvaccinated.  The latest report is 801 new cases , a total of 5931 total active cases of which 199 are in hospital and 116 in ICU....

Batteries not Included Tue Aug 24th  One of the many barges taking wood chips to Port Mellon  Wed Aug 25th Having checked out the Chevy Bolt Electric Vehicle (EV) on Sunday we arranged to take a closer look on Tuesday.  The red EUV (slightly larger than the EV) remained unsold on the forecourt.  We learnt that it, and all other Bolts were going to remain unsold due to a Chevrolet recall and sales ban.  They were happy to take a deposit on it, but we were not able to do a test drive. Irritated (understatement) we'd driven down to Sechelt when the salesman knew it could not be sold and then tried to sell something else was not a great dealership strategy.  It was particularly frustrating as we wanted to buy an EV from a Coast based dealership, rather than have to go back to Vancouver for servicing. GM are the only EV supplier on the Coast.  About ten of GM's earlier models have caught fire because of a battery fault, none of the...

Jack Sets Sail Sat Aug 14th Hopkins Landing in the morning haze Sun Aug 15th With Nick and Lizzie here it was going to be a busy weekend!   Hikes to waterless waterfalls, paddleboarding on the Sechelt Inlet, more hikes and swimming - when I fell off the board.   Saturday morning, while Lizzie ran to the top of Elphinstone Mountain (16k and 1200m elevation), the rest of us wandered up to Dakota Falls on Dakota Creek.  It was the last day of the heatwave and around 30c, though we were in the shade of the forest some of the time it was still hot!  As we neared the Falls we came across  a  huge Douglas Fir.  Nick called it a 'mother tree'. You may remember a documentary on UK tv Calculated circumference of 7.5m about how larger trees support the growth of younger ones through a subsoil connection of roots that share carbon and nitrogen to aid younger tree growth. Much of the work was done by Dr Simard, of the University of British Columbia (UBC)...

Just Awesome Mon Jun 7th Skookumchuck Today was our planned visit to the Skookumchuck Narrows.  The part of the northern Sunshine Coast where the ocean flows through a narrow funnel to fill and empty the Sechelt Inlet each tide.   The Sechelt Inlet is a huge body of water that covers some 1500km2, and the tidal flows in and out are huge.   "Each day, tides force large amounts of seawater through the narrows—200 billion US gallons (760,000,000 m3) of water on a 3-metre (9.8 ft) tide. The difference in water levels on either side of the rapids can exceed 2 metres (6.6 ft) in height. Current speeds can exceed 16 knots (30 km/h),[1] up to 17.68 knots (32.74 km/h).[2] Although it is sometimes claimed to be the fastest tidal rapids in the world,[3] Norway's Saltstraumen reaches speeds of 20 knots (37 km/h)." It is an awesome sight and sound and having seen it on the way in, the 'flow' wave, I rather like the idea of seeing it on the way out, the 'ebb' wave!  So...

Exploring Egmont Morning Visitor Thu June 3rd A new mix of visitors today, starting with the Otter over my morning coffee, who was contravening the fishing restrictions and taking trout from the lake.   Soon after a Red-breasted Sapsucker popped by to extract insects from one of the pines in the garden, (not sure why they are called Sapsuckers if they eat insects?) closely followed by a Western Tanager, (a member of the cardinal family,  brightly coloured but quite common ) were added to the list.   Breakfast done, my main focus was the formal Transport Canada PCOC (Pleasure Craft Operators Certificate) examination.  All very formal, we are allowed 75 minutes and need circa 78% to pass.  After yesterday's online courses and tests, it took me 20 minutes for a 96% pass-rate on 50 multiple choice questions - quite chuffed.  I suppose knowing Port from Starboard on an aircraft helped!     I now know what a Cardinal buoy and a Bifur...

This time .... Memories of Yesterday Evening Wed May 19th They say moving is one of the top five emotional demands in life.  We can attest to that; more so if you add an international dimension, uncertainty over residential status and the cost of moving internationally.  My former BBC Recruitment colleagues will understand this.   We have withdrawn our offer and paused our search.  The vendors asked for a delay and in hindsight it worked for us.  We love the place and want to stay, but things don't always work out as you expect or plan; so we will remain in the rental market for a while longer. The upside here is the relaxed way of life, stunning scenery, friendly locals, amazing trails and opportunity.  We wish we'd done it 30 years ago, but glad we have done it now.   Relaxed is great, but permanent holiday isn't.   The downside of being a 'visitor' is not being able to work, open a bank account, get a Canadian credit ca...