From 31 to - 15 ..

well it's that time again... time to hit the ol' dusty road.
the last huray in melbourne has really been good, bought back alot of what i thought in australia had be lost in the busyness of society. The beach cricket community, sharing and everyone in the area getting involved. Brought back hope!
Once again, Thanks to every here that has made my trip awesome.. not sure when the next time will be but until then, track me down!

Sweet as coconuts!
Pirate..

Hunting For The Last White Gold

With two weeks left at home, decided that i had to make it to the top of victoria's highest peak. It had been a goal for the past couple of years to make a backcountry trip up there in the winter but im never around for aus winters anymore.

Mt Bogong, standing tall at 1,986 meters above sea level. The route chose to take was the stair case at 16km rounds trip expecting to take from 6 - 9 hours coving 700 vertical meters. Set out from melbourne midday sunday arriving at base camp late just before sundown, a quick setup of the tent and dinner was on the go.
Up early the next morning, set off by nine to get a good start wile annie stayed at base camp to keep an eye on things.

After about two hours of steep hiking, reached the opening of Bivouac Hut on a small flat ground that they use for emergency shelter. With the top of the mountain still in a cloud decided to pushed on until i broke though to the alpine plains for lunch at 1600m. A short stop for lunch and few more layers due to the high winds temperatures normally in the low 10's most of the summer, it felt cold enough to possibly have some snow still around. Clouds wished by with the high winds, slowly revealing high cliffs and peaks around, the path now with no trees around heading steeply up the hill following guide post for winter travelers.

Half way up the final summit you encounter a memorial pole with the inscription of a tragic event where three men died when lost in a blizzard In August 1936. A memorial hut was built in 1936 called the Cole Hut on the Bogong High Plains to provide shelter for backcountry skiier and adventures.

The track up was still flooded from the wet and snowy winter and spring melt we had, so a consented stream cascading from above making the hiking track useless. not much longer and i was at a T in the path, and ahead presented the peak marked by a large stone dome. But before i reached it i was distracted, pulled by my search of the white gold.. Snow! after a quick survey of the area, pinpointed the shady side of the mountain and heading in search. There is was, glorious snow! Nov 15th ild found one of the last patches of snow in victoria, after throwing some snowballs around i headed up to the peak. Some photos and a sense of relaxation knowing that i can't go any higher, cracked a beer with my flipflop bottle opener and relaxed taking in the hints of the landscape below through the fast moving clouds.

One more ticked of the list, took five and half hours round trip early smashing estimated time.. to the next one!

The Catchup Game

Well where were we? It has been extremely long, to long since my last post.
Im going to start using my blog as a part venting/traveling, somewhere to express my ever change ideas and views on live.

The last two months have been very transient you could say, countless airports and ferry terminals has left me with a better appriation of being away from the crazyness of "the real world" society.
After leaving canada, early October a hectic time.. I was in and out of the states, went to a few rock shows, victoria and then eventually missed my flight back home due to ferries breaking down and delaying my departure. Leant a big (and expensive)lesson out of that one fore sure, after sleeping in the the airport for a night and living the life of tom hanks in the movie the terminal it was great time all round, finally got home a day late but thanks to Air NZ for there great help.

Being home, only for a week it was at the start, before a short trip over to bali for three weeks. Some quick catchups, three birthdays and then away again!
Bali was beautiful again, we rode motorbikes around most of the island for a few weeks, spent a week on nusa lembongan then a couple of days in the busy/tourist district of kuta and legian. It was good to get away for couple of weeks and send some time with the family, and timmy and catie.

Home again!
Melbourne, melbourne, melbourne.. the rat race of live begins again here. something that im not too common with again after living in canada for coming on four years. It has been good catching up with friends but every year alot of things change.
This year has been a big reality check, makes me dislike living in cities or and more.
Happy to get back to the peacefull kootenays. It seems to take some balance in life, to really know what your missing when it's gone, getting a better prospective.

Trains Need Rails

Back on track, the last month has been like a fret train on a roller coaster.
Ill sum up in a long passage of words..

Amazing friends, Goodbyes, Fishermen, Watching an Octopus eat a crab, Sam and Claire's first experience of pools land, Magic Mushrooms, PA for my two PW's, Swimming till 1am, Beautiful girls in Victoria, Pirate Pants, Dreams that solve world mysteries, Salmon Derby, Half Price Pitchers, DDA in pools, Nanaimo boat watching, Kyles Place, Rhino finding a Great Home with Pirate Jenny, Boarder Patrol insisting on BC Bud, Being Tailed and Pulled over by Power crazy US Patrol,Fruitland Hitchhiking, GoPro Cam Ultimate lawn mowing, Awesome RockShow in Spokane with My two rock girls + Airborne, Guns pulled on me at US/CAD Boarder, Sleeping on wet grass out side CAD boarder, Rossland-Patterson Hill..

I have four days to get to vancouver to catch a flight back to australia for my next adventure..

The overwhelming energy of life..

Much has happened since my last post, logistical ive moved house from mims place to living with steve in the blue house next to simon and gerry co, i live in a haunted attic which is quite awesome i think.
With some of my best friends moving, mainly mim to victoria.. ukee hasn't been as cool. Vibes have been pretty mellow, i feel that the places i go are never as awesome as i remember the first time, which is a very natural feeling i think!
The passing of my grandfather last week has been hard, i put together a piece of art work in tribute, my heart goes out to all of my family and i wish that i could have attend the funeral service.
To keep this short, i am selling all my possessions except my snowboard to be free again, i came to the conclusion that i have so much stuff now that ive tied myself down without even knowing it!
Also on a extra note, i gave away all my books to people i staying with and they found $200 that ild stashed in one of the pages for a rainy day.. such a pirate!

Inspiring Artwork

A year of sweat = sailboat!

Comox Valley.. The start of my journey to becoming a real pirate!
A year of hard work and sweat with enough patience and strict budgeting i wish to have a sailboat that i can live on and sail the world, with a seadoo too of course!
How will i do this i hear you ask? Very good question!
Im going to commander one people, just like captain jack sparrow did in the pirates of the Caribbean.. I wish!
So my plan is to market myself for who i am and what i want in this life, by trading my time, skills and what ever else it takes to get to my dreams.
I thinking of putting an add in a few papers around the island like below.

Crazy Pirate Dream.
Pirate Sam is my name, sailing the world is my dream.
With my trusty dog named Rhino, we will do what ever it takes to get there!
You will pay me to be your friend and personal assistant..
But watch out too much time around me can turn you into a pirate too!
Call me at 250 7474 2992 ..

It will be something along the lines of that, hhahah needs some work though!
It has to work, what can really go wrong?

Arts and Crafts

Yaaahoo, ive started some painting of sorts.. first time ive picked up a brush in about six years.. here are some of my doodlings..

An Itch turned into a scratch that lead back to Ucluelet

Dam travel itch, just keeps me scratching for new and exciting adventures.
Being back in Rossland for a week, left me quite unmotivated with the lack of goings on around town. Plans were soon made to head back to the island, with my travel plans, doctors and kellys all matching up it was last sunday that we set sail back to the coast. After a great night camping at nancy green the night before with nick and kelly, i was happy to say goodbye to Rossland for another adventure.
Stopping by the statues outside of Osoyoos for a quick photoshoot on top of the kokanee sasquash, past a few burning mountains which you could see the flames jumping from tree to tree. We arrived in Vancouver quit late, a quick night stop over at narines... saying good bye to doctor as he was heading down to california for Burning Man Festival. Caught the ferry across too the island just making it in the overfill parking, found us arriving back in ukee late that night..

Inspiring Sailing Couple

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The Big Book of Self-Reliant Living

The Only Resource You Will Ever Need!

Christina Lake

after a relaxing week in rossland, rope swinging at nancy green and hanging out with people around town. i started to get the itch.. the traveling, exploratory itch...
So on the road i was again, headed south to fruitland to do some work on my van again, to try stop the oil leak again!
A few beers in the shop with steph and brian after the shop closed for the day we headed back up the hill to there place, where he showed me where everything was for the recently past wedding of there daughter. seemed like one hell of a party!
The next day i got under the van and with tightening a bolt or two i had do, with my coveralls still on and some temporary like always goodbye i was heading north again, but not along hwy 25.. hwy 395 to christina lake!

Christina Lake..
"The lake is renowned as the "warmest tree-lined lake in Canada" and was voted "BC's favourite lake". The region experiences very hot, dry summers which results in July and early August water temperatures averaging in the 23°C range. It is rumoured that the lake itself lies above a geothermal fault causing its high summer temperatures." wiki

After a worry free boarder crossing, i arrived late afternoon to Justin's parents place right near the main strip. They lease out a spot in a campground where they have a permeant trailers with deck and all the necessities of home. It was great meeting and relaxing around the lake with his family, took there boat out on the lake and got to wakeboard for my fist time. It felt a lot like snowboarding i feel, i took to it like a fish to water! went hunting and found a few geocachs which is a GPS treasure hunt all around the world where you get directions to an area then you have to find a hidden box with treasure in it... Yarrr a real pirate game!

www.geocaching.com/ if anyone was wondering. :)

We floated the kettle river twice, which was a 10km five hour float.. rhino is still sore from coming, so have to keep an eye on him!
Carmen came out for a few days from vancouver, she hitched the whole way and back, it was awesome the three of us together again bought back many great memories from this past winter at red. Chris came out and week took his boat out onto the water for a rip around the lake, checking out the main attraction spots. One was Indian Rock and famous cliff jumping area, i went for a little bit of a climb and jump around the rocks. Then went up to the head of the lake and hung out on the beach for a beer before heading back for the afternoon.
I felt that my time on the lake was about good, and decided to head back to rossland after five days out there.. from here who knows.. i know ill be itching to leave again within the next week.. haha
much love.. take care all!

Shambhala

Deep in the Kootenay Mountain range, the Salmo River Ranch begins its annual transformation. Pristine pastures evolve into a city of 10,000, where nature and technology coexist harmoniously. A community rises, sharing a common goal; celebrating a collective love and respect for music, art and humanity. For five days and four nights time ceases to exist.

And after four ecstatic nights and five dreamy days, the show winds down. The time comes to put aside the enchantment and depart the magical realm for the hustle and bustle of that other life. Despite sad faces and reluctant partings, there is a sense of purpose, of peacefulness and accomplishment...of satisfaction...and of plans to return. These five days of Shambhala are the days you wait for the other 360!

All i can say is... this festival has been the best ever ive been too, awesome vibes and the energy in was amazing. An experience ill never forget and next year will be even better!

The Summer Has Begun

After some final running around saying goodbyes in ukee, we hit the road.. mim, kelly and I on route to coombs for the bluegrass festival. Even just 20 minutes out of ukee the weather changed from fog to sunny amazness, driving through port alberni the weather was around 28 deg... its been a wile.
Arriving at the bluegrass and kelly and mim hiding in the back of the van, we found our ukee friends and set up camp.

On saturday we went out to englishman falls about 10km from coombs, played around on the rocks right on the edge of the falls, defiantly got a few photos from the gathering of asian tourist huddled on the bridge above. The afternoon we poked around the shops and famous goats of the roof in coombs, checking out the hemp shop "stairway to hemp"
Saturday night was alot of fun, some dancing and hulahooping.. meeting an interesting man from germany that is doing some photography work in bc.

Some sad early morning goodbyes from mim and jessie left it just the two to continue back to rossland, after missing the 10.40 ferry we chilled out in the loading area in the van watching this life acoustic performer. We had another interesting character appear at our window for a chat, his name was Infinity "something". Which we found out that is his alias and he told us how to get an alias if we ever needed one.
He was a very interesting man, great times!
Got an amazing spot on the ferry, over looking the ocean from my bedroom window.. i retired for a nice nap on the two hour crossing.

Vancouver!!
We just missed the pride parade in town but kelly got in contact with some of her friends and we chilled around downtown for abit. Rhino was getting all the pats sporting his pride flag around his neck. After hanging around along the beach i retreated to visit nairne and kelly went out for the night, we need relaxing night watching the jungle book. Not a huge fan of the city so was happy to see it go tomorrow.

On our way out we stopped at rob and robin in Chilliwack about a hour and half from van, after a late arrival we were greeted with some awesome smiles and a great meal accompanied with some great laughs. Met robins Dad and stepmother, but before we knew it was time to keep continuing on. With a extra take out meal and many hugs as well as a few photos of course we were back on the road.
The rest of the drive was very very smoky, saw up on one the mountains a fire burning and then we stopped for one fire had come to the edge of the road and the police has reduced traffic down to one lane. With 100kms to go and only a quarter of a tank left i knew it was going to be close.. with two more mountain pass to climb my coasting skills might come in handy. They defiantly did, literally rolling into rossland the relief was lifted.. Home!

Another Adventure Home. .. . .

Okieeee it's time! the time is now!
Finished my last day of work yesterday for the adventure back to the kootenays for the rest of the summer. Last weekend was Ukee Days a big festival in town with great events, like keg throwing competition, long boarding comp and live bands with beer garden of course. So the town was bustling with tourist and locals alike, ran into some rosslanders aswel pretty much making the longboarding comp field half of our sweet little alpine town. Good vibes in the air but alot of moisture and fog, which is one of the factoring reason for leaving this amazing place... summer regually consists trackpants, hoody and touke, alittle cold for my liking.

On the sunday went into tofino with mim and kelly just for a poke around and get out of town for the day, stopping at my old beach house near fletchers beach. hung out in the hammock and enjoyed the sun for the afternoon with a few cold brews, before collecting all my remanding stuff out there. Someone had actually been there and written a note on a piece of wood from charcoal, claiming it as there as asking people to look after the shelter and clean when you leave. So i wrote my own, saying " Built by Pirate Sam, Kootenay love"...

I has been another sad saying goodbye to many great people i have meet here, but our paths will cross sooner or later sometime in the near future.. the island has treated me to some amazing things and great energy, my time here has been well appreciated.

One of the local shops in the area called pina a fashion shop that prints there own clothing from organic earth friendly materials has an awesome owner called Angie. After hanging out with her around the shop discovered that i know her sister that lives in rossland too! I gave her some of my designs that i was thinking about for getting some t-shirts made up, of rhino and i. Which i got done yesterday and ill put up a picture below.. so awesome! Im definatly going to get some more done and visit her when she comes up to rossland for her birthday next month... Top character!

So the plan is heading back to the kootenays, stopping at the coombes bluegrass music festival along the way, visiting Rob and Robin aswel as many other great people we randomly run into along the way.. Wish us the best, can't wait for the next few days ahead... Much lovee, bring the good vibes!
oxoxo

PeaceFest...

Peacefest was an amazing experience, being around so many postive people chilling out on the grass listening to some amazing artist playing all afternoon. Narine and Kelly came down with me and we meet up with a bunch more ukeelits through out the after noon. The excitement suddenly turned as a girl popped out her knee on the dance floor and the music stopped, everyone started to panic.. but give or take 25 minutes and she was on a stretcher and the music and parting kept on till the later hours of the evening. Meeting some many new people as the day went on, with a awesome sunset in tofino topped of an amazing afternoon..
Soon we were invited to another beach party at middle beach, a short drive from tofino. after following some roads, and few interesting characters we found the party.. Jam session was the mood of the night being around a bunch of hippies of course, sung and hung out for hours.. meet my polar opposite there is more to be said about this one, they are pretty awesome. Someone at the party called out that "cops are on there way". I didn't believe them or was to obvious to relies, then out of the darkness we hear " alright your all under arrest" then "nar just joking" it actually was the cops that had come down after a noise complaint from the neighbors. They were really cool and just asked us to collect our rubbish and be on our way..

We ended up back at a place called "pools land" a known hippy shantie down near tofino, only untill the morning we could see to the full extent of what this area looked like. little vegie gardens everywhere, projects going on, and hippies and there campervan stuffed in like sardines. It was truly an interesting place to spend the night.

Pounding it out!

It's been busy and a touch hectic around here lately, jen scored me a job at Romans in town here starting in the dish pit. I have made an agreement with the boss and management that i will work my ass off for the next three weeks until i go back to rossland/nelson for my upcoming court date in grand forks.. my court date is for a traffic ticket "driving without consideration" which im disputing because it's a load of chicken poop.

I have decided to go back earlier than i expected because i really miss all my friends back in rossland and want to go floating so bad.. Ukee has been an amazing change and im having a blast of time! This is truly how i want to live my love, the traveler, nomad, meeting people along the way sharing my experience... living life to the most!

Soundswave music festival is next weekend in the outskirts of ukee, that a bunch of our friends are sneaking into for the saturday night.. it has a reputation for being an easy to enter festival under the cover of darkness. Aswel as tonight there is the free festival in tofino called peacefest which has some awesome djs playing.. And narine is coming out from van for a camping trip so shes gonna be here this arvo after i finish work then we can grab kelly krandall and party in tofino..

I started some of my designs for my tatoo in my forearm the last few days aswel as some awesome skiing quotes too.. some pictures below..
I love you all! I hope to inspire you in someway or another..

To Rob and Robin, we will be coming through around aug 1 - 2 for a visit! so exciting to have a great chat with you guy!

Ukee Gold!

A local told me that an easy way to spell Ucluelet is “U” “clue” “let”…
Since my last post great times have been had getting to know the people around the area, applying for jobs, camping trips, surfing… and the list goes on!
This seamlessly innocent town has a lot of stuff to do around, I guess it’s what you make of it right?
Carmen left a few days ago, before she left we went back out to mike’s tree house and took some photos from the ground looking into the net above (photos below) It’s a whole different vibe being up the all by yourself jumping out..
That was actually Canada day! And what a great Canada day it was, carm checked out the aquarium and was super stoked it’s something I must do soon. We cooked an awesome home cooked meal of rice and veggies before heading down to little beach for a fire and salmon cook off, meet a bunch more cool cats down around the fire and many people ild already meet. Jammed for a few hours, watched some fireworks and then the cops came down and politely asked us to move on.. all in all a great Canada day! I love this country!
We spent a night camping at mike other beach house on the other side of the inlet, after some twists and turns and 20 min hike with creek crossing we came to a secluded beach with a fitting beach house nestled in the woods, resembling mikes designs. Jeff showed us around, including elephant rock a rock that actually looks like an elephant.. but the highlight was the Indian burial caves, they had somewhat of presences when you entered them and still alot human bones remained in this untouched place.. felt quite honored to still be able to see this after hundreds of years of humans discovering this area. Simon jammed out on his guitar wile we all sung along to some of the good old campfire favorites before crashing out for the night. Me stupidly had not bought a tent, only a sleeping bag and tarp.. half way through the night the condensation made it uncomitable and cold to sleep in so I retreated at an early hour to my van for a few good hours of shut eye. Over all amazing camping trip!
I have been applying for many and all sorts of jobs around town.. totally blew one at black rock ( 5 star hotel) for not owning a pair of black pants and being myself, crazy ey? Turned down another at Island west because wasn’t really feeling the vibe from the boss and I didn’t think ild enjoy working there. But applied for the Grey Whale Ice cream shop! I love ice cream and it would be so sweet if I got a job there.. hopefully.
Still looking for a permant place to park my van, after staying In Kellys parking lot for a sweet I have moved over to the other side of town (literally 5 min walk) to Jen, Jerry and Simons place. They have a awesome surfy chilled back house, with random people staying with them from all parts of north America. I have posted hand drawn signs around town offering $100 a month for a parking spot and electricity, hopefully something will come up.. the more and more people I meet have offered to have me for a few nights so I can keep hopping around till I find my final spot!
Like me always, my mind changes like the tide! I have been intreaged by this website Carmen was telling me about.. called findacrew.net . It’s a website where people with boats sign up looking for people to join their crew for a sailing adventure, they range from small fishing boats to 150 meter yachts, from unpaid position to three to four g’s a month ( with experience of course), teaching you the ropes or some opt for experience crewmates only. So I put together a profile with Rhino and Me and started applying for boats that are in the area or coming by ukee or tofino. I found out one my friends did it last year and traveled the Caribbean last summer and had an amazing trip, it seems like an amazing opportunity to get experiences, see places and not by even spending a dime!
With summer setting on, past couple of days have been clear blue sunny sky, flip flops are in full force !
Went out for my first surf in about five years down at famous tourist packed long beach outside of Tofino with Simon, It went really well! The surf wasn’t great but somehow managed to catch a wave and stand up, it must be the snowboarding I thought to myself. There will be plenty of surfing done this summer in preparations for Bali in the fall (kicking tims ass at surfing jks) …
Time to hit the hay, see you when the sun rises!

Island Life

Ahoy ..
Mother earth can really create some amazing places and things, Ukee seem to be one of these... I have never ever been to a place like this in my entire life!
The ocean meets the rain forrest creating a sweet sub-habitat for all living things, the deadwood washed up on the beaches create mazes, even platforms floating on rivers that sink with every step.. Home to some of the largest spruces trees in the world, towering high up into the canopy above, their roots sprawling up from the earth creating cabins underneath the ground for animal and human alike, coved in mass amount of the greenest moss..

Then we have this small little town called Ucluelet tucked away on the most southerly point of the tourist road to famous Tofino, Nestled in between ocean on one side and inlet on the other then mountains behind them, is this place really real?
The town itself is very similar to rossland some 2500 people live here and it is very much a seasonal town for the summer surfing community, a mix of young people and old fisherman that really makes this place quite quirky in a way. Ukee has alot of little hidden treasures all over the place, secret local spots that you would never find as more often than not its alittle passage through some overgrown trees, that darts through the forests for kilometers.

One spot like this is called hitchhike mikes treehouse, after a hike you come to an amazing maze of bridges and ladders through the forrest leading to a little treehouse around 60ft from the forrest floor, built off a huge spruce. A net about 25ft x 25ft suspended at the same level from several different trees, not for a safety net but one to spread your wings and fly from the treehouse jumping away from the trees into this net hoping that it will catch you even though you can see right through it to the floor of the forrest.. truly an exhilarating experience! On one of the other surrounding tree were in the root system mike old place of residence he build a small cabin with wood stove, rocking chair and all. Where he lived for several years until what ive herd he moved into town, leaving this great place for the imaginations of the generations to come!

This is just one of many places that i have been so far on my island discovery, there will be many more + pictures..

My plan for the summer is to find a small remote spot off the logging roads in the area for my van, live a simple self sustained summer in the rain forrest, build a deck around my van out of fallen wood in the area, string my hammock.. commute to town by bike with rhino for supplies and work. Catch rain water and hopefully fish, this is a test and experiment for myself to see if i can kick all the extra necessity we have evolved to rely on nowerdays.

Ukee..

On a ship, Independent waters

I come to you this blog aboard a boat heading across from Port Anglers Olympic Peninsula WA to Victoria BC.. I have had no sleep since yesterday morning, I am worn out, drained, pale and surrounds by Americans! (talking about if they bought their pole so they can fly there flag in BC ). I spent the night driving from Spokane to Seattle, catching a small ferry , 50 mile more drive then catching this ferry to the island.. I have pushed myself to the physical and mental limit, been awake for over 25 hours with no sight in end.
Spent the last few days visiting Kara down in Sandpoint, we chilled out at her aunts property right on the lake, with a private dock.. Rhino loved it out there, he finally clumbliy feel in the water after being hesitant without seeing the bottom .
My next adventure is to drive to Ukee this afternoon (aprox 6 hours) meeting up with a bunch of Rosslanders and spending the summer out there..

Arrived in Ukee and the great town on the western point of the island, After finding everyone around town its defiantly feels like a rossland wiggles, crandall and carmen, laura and paul are here!! we chilled down by the to dock, rhino has having a ball running around. After an amazing dinner with some people town at pauls place carm made an amazing vegan food.. good sleep!

Unpredicted Events

Good morning Rossland!
the sun beaming threw the windows on the first sunny day the kootenay has seen in weeks i feel that coming home this is defiantly a sign. We covered over 600 kms over the past few days driving from Nordegg AB to Rossland, with a somewhat memorable night in between at Invermer.. Involving a high centered van and a cottage on the lake, good time had by all and great to catch up with Sam.
My life seems to be a roller coaster of events, that all stream together to make one hell of a time! At 12.23 yesterday afternoon i decided after a deep conversation and weighing up the pros and cons of this trans-canada journey left me with the result of being that i will not be driving to onterio this summer. One major deciding facters was the V8 van and the gas consumption putting me at well over 1K one way for a job that won't even cover the gas money.
Soo i have put together a brief plan of action for the next few months, looks like Island life is the way for me!

Elk River – AB

Well it has been alwile since my last post, this bush camp living is taking a toll on my blog but not for long. Tomorrow afternoon I depart on my next adventure across the country, after visting Rossland, Fruitland and Sandpoint. Treeplanting camp has been a very interesting and an amazing experience, I can see why people get hooked not only on the money but the lifestyle itself. You can express yours self in anyway and be accepted in this community born on reforestation.
Elk River camp is about an hour out of Drayton Valley, A smallish down that was founded as a gateway for the endless oil industry in northern Alberta. As the name directs its along a currently swollen elk river that winds its way to Brazeau Dam, With the current wet spring has made all the roads difficult to say the least, Alberta has a tradition to have the worst logging roads when it rains due to the clay base.
The past few weeks have flown by, now my excitement has changed for the road trip. Van preparations have been made with the contributions off more curtains leaving only the two rear windows un curtained. Started a picture collarage on the ceiling and raided the Drayton Valley dollar store for a bunch more useless stuff.
Jeremy my buddy from Rossland that was also working for Rhino, arrived from the other PG (Prince George) camp with another 50 planters joining our camp has pushed the number of planters to over 100! Has made meal times a nightmare, so many people that sometimes you feel you can move without treading on someone toes. But luckily this for me is only till tomorrow; some off our camp is heading back to horsefly for another contract at the end of the shit making it easier around here.
The moral of the planters have been down, from talking to quite a few the lack of organization is leaving planters without trees to plant and places to plant them in this fast planting mounts that have been machine prepared. With trees getting paid at their lowest for the season due to the ease of the land, making money depends on a well organized foreman and many have not been.
With things coming to an end here I feel a sense of satisfaction and relief I have made enough money to comfortably travel across the country for my next job, meet some amazing friends that I will stay in contact with for the years to come. This experiences has definitely opened my eyes and helped me grown seeing the how many make there only income for the year in a short four month window and spend the rest on EI. See you on the road!

Alberta and the Three Day Snowfall

With Alberta brought one of the most magnificent and breathtaking drives ive ever had and what seemed very fitting first mountain climb for vanny through the rocky mountains..
Along hwy 93 through Lake Louise ran into an interesting character AJ at the gas station, after bringing up Rossland we discovered that we both knew Nick M, one of the guys that originally put the idea of a campervan life in my head with his amazing van at old 2121.
Arriving in Rocky Mountain House past midnight a covert scow of the local Inn located some rhino vans and pulled up to find some of the planters still awake chilling in the van, after a beer and some laughs retreated to the van and slept in the Inn parking lot.
Snuck in the backdoor of the hotel and ran into Nathan in the hallway, poached a shower and hung out with Sam and Jess at the hotel before heading to camp for step. A Rhino convoy an hour later found us in camp after a few wrong turns, along quarry transportation roads with wildlife everywhere and RV’s parked in the most random places.
Camp setup went pretty smooth, just finished before the rain came luckily. Big fire and many of beers enjoyed by all, those did we know..
Woke up with an impressive 5cm fresh Albertan moist snow, plants died from being outside overnight but nothing could stop me with snowboard in hand heading up the closest hill for what would be the shortest run in history..
A big breakky by Ian and Justin to heading into town for a checkout of the local attractions, which wasn’t a lot.. It was Sam’s birthday so we did abit of a bar craw from the Saddlesaw to downtown Also included eating pizza in the local grocery store parking lot. Another fire with many of relaxed but anxious planters.
Temperatures stayed low over the next few days, received an additional 7cm before things started to melt, creating two seamlessly endless streams though camp which the planted widdled boats from wood for boat races. The winter playground had now turned to a muddy snowy what seemed to resembled a 1980’s AFL wet mud pit, that my dad would know all too well.
The storm finally broke the third night and looked like we would start work the following day, and we all did to the relief of both planters and contract bosses.
Welcome to Alberta!

Central & South America

The next destination?? Im addicted to traveling.. it's becoming abit of an exciting habit. Canada is one of the most amazing placing on the world, but i feeling that im limiting myself again... Im becoming to comfortable in my new life here, ive gotta fly.. be free again.. hah
Central and South America are on the cards, after speak with some very inspirational people at camp, seeing katzy amazing photos and the sense of diving into the unknown.
The vague idea is working to travel, taking the camper van down there for at least a few years. So this trip is not really a trip at all it's a adventure i guess. Volunteering, doing odd jobs, just doing what ever to just do what ever.. hmmm english language.
In the end i think i want to chill on an island, its in my list of things i want to do.. #17 Live on a island
Deep sea dive, learn to be dive instructor, work in a holiday destination... now im just rambling.. the recruiting mission begins too, because this is one in a life time adventure and i would love to share it with someone.. This is idea, inspiration, recreation ...

Williams Lake co..

The weather has made a turn for the better, only dropping down to around six degrees at night from zero last week. Starting the summer health kick this week, a lot of running, walking, swimming and tanning..
Still dealing with the constant attack by the resident ravens, crows and black birds fighting over the garbage bins around camp, And the hidden metal spiked cactus’s that numb you when you get pricked.
Zac and I went out with his dad Louie the supervisor of the camp around to all the blocks, to visit the tree planters and his mum. It’s interesting seeing the land that they are planting on and the rules you have to follow in order to plant a good tree.
Found a really interesting dead root floating in the lake the other day, it’s shaped in an S! Going to be the start of my collection for the van. Have been drawing up some plans for some fly screen netting that will be needed for the trip to Ontario and I have to get making the curtains too.. A mini vac is on the shopping list for next day off, the small area I do have gets pretty dusty and dirty easily.
Three more shifts after this one till we move camps to Alberta, then five more and I’m heading east! Throwing around the idea of getting down to Mexico next year and hit up the burning man festival in the fall… anyone wanna come?

campervan update!

Been buying some stuff to make the van more homie and unique, pretty much using the money of my tree planting camp to get my van ready and in tip top condition for my road trip across Canada. Stocking it with the little things that you forget about until you really need them. Picked up a electric heater and got my propane system working, so tonight is going to be a warm night ( just sniped some power off a campervan next to me for a few beers). Having power in a campervan makes it just like home, laptop is charging, battery too.. playing music without killing the battery. Started my regular home maintenance cleaned out the icebox that I used for the first time the other day, No Leaks! Put up some posters on the roof and got some Surf Velcro ball game that is looks awesome hanging up, Snowboard is mounted in its home. My only complant at the moment is that I still have all my snowboarding gear, bag, boots, snowshoe because I couldn’t leave them in Rossland so alittle less space than I would of liked. Went down to Canadian Tire and got some camping chairs and a indoor/outdoor temp reader that I can see how cold it is outside from my bed. Still lacking the privacy without curtain but isn’t much of an issue in camp because everyone is usually in bed by nine pm anyway. When I was in the states picked up a cassette to computer adapter allowing me to play music off my laptop, and brian and Kathy packed me up with a lot of awesomely useful items for my adventures!
Next items im thinking for getting is going to be one of those mini rechargeable vacuum cleaners so I can keep my carpet somewhat reasonably clean without having to go to a vacuum place every month. Also a drill would be nice for any repairs on the road, I picked up a 52 piece ratchet and muli tool kit in Rossland at Canadian Tire for $60 saved $50 or so from the original price, Has already helped a lot!
Hope you are all doing well following my blog.. I am consisting writing but only updating when I get internet access so don’t be worried if you don’t hear from me for abit.. Im just on another adventure!
Much love take care !

Treeplanting and Mark Poppins

The drive from Rossland to Williams Lake took about 11 hours with a few wrong turns around Vernon, the convoy with Carmen to Midway was awesome. Two campervans taking over the road nearly impossible to pass haha.
Arrived in late to camp, caught up with Sam and Louie before crashing for the 6am start.
Didn’t expect it to be still this cold up here, but we are pretty north.. I was locked out of my house in Rossland unable to get my sleeping back so only had a doona, but can go into town at the end of the shift to get some more blanketed.
In the first week of camp I have learned about how everything works around here, we pay our camp costs of $25 per day which includes three amazing meals, showers, toilets and camping fees, a bargain!
Breakfast is between 6 – 7am and the planter have to be ready to go in the vans for 7 and normally return around six at night. We work Four and One, which means four days on and one off which is great.
At camp I look after Sam and Louies kid Zac, an hipper active five year old that is obsessed with starwars.
We play games all day and run around the camp, go for hikes in the woods, collect all the cans to cash in so he can buy a bike and some school work whenever I can get him to do it! Its great preparation for summer camp, which is coming up really quick. I’m leaving for Ontario the week of the 20th June until end of August and then doing abit of touring around east coast before returning to van to go back to Aus and Indonesia.
Randomly ran into Jeremy from Rossland/Red working for the same company around camp, we are the only Rosslanders from the ski hill other than Sam, Louie and Zac. Meeting other people around the camp, there alot of unique characters at camp.. A lot of people from out east, Rebecca from Waterloo Uni unsuccessfully trying to teach me to balance on a Slack Line but with perseverance I’m sure I can get it by the time I leave. People from everywhere and every different lifestyles, and Dogs! Make me want a dog so bad, they are all so awesome out here, the freedom of treeplanting camp creates sweet dogs.
On our day off we party the night before at camp, then jez and I went into town to get some stuff done. After a greasy breakfast at Dennys, we went to the dollar store, Canadian tire, camping store and then a soak in the hot tubs at the swimming pool. On the way home we stopped at the visitors center to get some internet time to check email ect… The refera truck with this week’s trees came in, a chain line of box passing, we got about 960 boxes of seedlings this week.. seems like they never stop coming.
An early night before starting the week again!

Birthdayy!

After just making it through the border with somehow not having to pay any import taxes or duties, I went straight to Allan’s place to see what’s happening for the night.
I had organized on facebook for a party to be held at nicks, so I picked them up and grabbed some beer along the way to nicks!
Long story short about my birthday! It was the best birthday to date, being surround by all my amazing friends and Carmen and Justin being here too! Exactly how I wanted to spend my birthday in my favioute place in the whole world!
Woke up for breakfast with the people who were leaving, Bonnie, Graeme, Dani, Greggor and Jen were all leaving today so we went to sunshine café for breakfast and to say our good byes!
After all was said and done, it was only Justin, Carm, Jess and Me left…
So I went to justins and chilled with carm went down to trail to grab a few things for her van, we taught her how to change her oil on Tigga.. Then make a Mexican wraps for dinner and watched Avitar which I got the most part of 20 minutes threw before falling dead asleep on jess’s arm hahaha
Awesome sleep, justin said I was sleep talking about having fish in my campervan ( which I had been talking about all day ) But it was sweet to spend the last night with my two bestests!
tomorrow I head to treeplanting camp and carm heads to Van before going to camp…
Let another adventure begin!

Day 11

Today was an awesome day!
Sleep in until nine then got underway with the small list of thing I had to get done today.
Grabbed the icebox lid that had been sitting gluing overnight, tried it in and fit like a charm, was a pain in the ass to get out though until I get some knobs or handled fixture ect. I quickly stained a few extra trim for the edges of things and fired the nail gun up to finish it off.
Next I did some washing of the sheets and my clothing from the cabin where I have been staying for the past 10 days, Then headed down to the shop to fix up the bill and put in the propane tank and hinges.
Hung out down there, getting all the messages out for my birthday tailgate/campervan party in Rossland organized. I am going to visit Steph and Brenda on with way back ( friend from Red ) that live about four miles out for hunters, see their property and vineyards.
Got some amazing news as well, They granted me another two year visa for Canada from November and Sam emailed me about tree planting camp location for the next two months!
So this birthday is really coming together, so much happier celebrating it in Rossland than Vegas like last year... After lunch put in my propane tank and all the hinges for the cupboards, couldn’t find the right attachment for the propane connection I have to order directly from Coleman.
When I got home I started moving everything from the cabin into my van, cleaning as I went.
After I got all my stuff in, it defiantly looks like home! Kathy did her mum thing and started coming out of the woodworks with all sorts of useful things for the van, including a can of sardines … so cute!
She gave me some candles, storage baskets, towels, kitchen cutlery, saucepans and bedding… These guys are truly amazing!
Got everything in and then did a wipe down of all the dust on the dash and windows, just like a real home! Then sat down with Kathy and a glass of homemade wine and helped with artichoke dinner , which was amazing then finished of watching Avatar…
Time to set heading for north again, I have to drive up to 100 Mile by the night of the 26th to start work on the 27.. looking forward to this next adventure with the still to be named amazing campervan of mine!


Eleven!

Day 10

Today, today, today! 10 days down one to go!
Thanks Carmen for your comment it made me smile, and I can help out on tigger forsure!
Another early rise hopefully last one for the week, It was a cold morning but the final touches needed to be done. I started on the facer for the bed, cut out two access storage holes in it and used the purple shagg carpet for the lining around it. Great Result.. The piece I cut out I will hinge onto the frame and stain to keep the wood grain theme going.

Next was the insulation again for the ice box, which always sketches me out considering it’s so fragile and one slip up and you have to start all gain. I cut the bottom piece for the box and the top, then had to use the jigsaw to cut out the bit for the lid :S.. after some nervous corner cutting it went off without a hitch, wood glued the insulation to the lid and let it sit until tomorrow.
I headed down to the shop to get some silicon for the ice box walls and to install the drainage tube, after making some minor adjustments with a knife on the insulation to make the tube fit better started by siliconing the crap out off all the walls to make it water tight. By the end of the day I had put three coats on not just to keep the water from leaking but the heat out, am really happy with how it turned out.. One brick of ice should keep in there for about three days brian thought. The deliveries came in during lunch and got my outdoor power lead, which we had to cut off the female end and connect a male adaptor too for the exterior power outlet. Plugged it in and gave it a test! 120v in the van! Took a drill in there to test it, worked a charm, both battery were charging too everything is working awesome!
Headed back up the valley to do the stain, chose a dark walnut and used a rag to rub it on. Two hours later Wow! It finished it all off amazing. Applied two polly pro (waterproofing varnish) to the top with the sink and icebox, then cut and stained some trim for the edges.

Tomorrow 6pm is the D day, I think I have pretty much done it though, just have to attach one more piece of trimming and some hinges. Everything has come together amazing still can’t believe from looking at the pictures 10 days ago where it has come from to now! Time to celebrate my campervan will have the same birthday as me!

Day 9

Only two days to go! But things are really coming together, started the morning by cutting out the faceier of the side table and icebox and then did some dishes for b & k before heading to the shop to finish the electrical. After having to make a quick switch back to the house to pick up the terminal kit for the wiring, I grinded off some of excess metal around the external sockets to make it sit better. Drilled some holes in the van for the waterproof casing to sit in and attached the case and silicone the edges to ensure it was water tight.
After lunch we started on the final bit of wiring up In the engine bay with the isolator and house battery to starter battery. The system we did was that when im plugged into a exterior socket both battery charge as well as running 120v outlets in the van, but the isolator stops the house battery from running out by only allowing current to flow in one direction. We got that all done and I installed and wired the 12v outlets in the van before heading back to the house to finishing off the afternoon projects.
I decided that I had to get the shelves in for the bedside table and the facer for the storage area in by the end of the night, with some contemplating and the mind wandering I got it done. Then spoke to bri about the icebox idea, he put me on the right direction so I cut out four walls of the icebox only leaving the top and bottom for tomorrow. Let me tell you now, insulation doesn’t taste very nice alittle to but texture hahah. Tomorrow im going to put on the polish, finish the icebox, attach the hinges and finish the bed front covering.. Then the last day will be for cleaning and final touchups around the van and the house. I can’t believe it’s only been 9 days from when I had a non working van, that was full of crap to now nearly complete campervan that’s running like a beast! I would like to thank some people for getting me this far,
My mum and dad for helping me on this endeavor! It has been the best birthday gift ever!.. I love you guys so much..
Brian and Kathy without you guys I couldn’t of ever made this happen and you guys inspired me to get a campervan to start with and I shared that with other that have let to getting a campervan too!
Carmen and Jen, my two campervan buddies from Rossland, BC.. I know we will have our first campervan meet sooner than later! Love you kids!
All my friends back home in Aussieland, even though I don’t see you very often I think about you every day and I want you guys to see that anything is possible when you put your mind to it! Especially you mia, you can do it girl!
My adopted family from Chilliwack, Rob and Robin.. I saw you guys have joined up to follow my adventures, I will come visit you guys soon.. I had a blast with you on Christmas Day driving from Van to Chillia I time I will never forget, that trip defiantly made me a stronger person and I’m happy I got to share it with you guys!
Please stayed tuned everyone because the this summer is going to be a memorable one for sure, And I would love to share it with you all!
Let the light shine and take you where you dreams dare to go!
TWO DAYS!!!!