Camping at Clearwater - May Long

First, I am writing this from Kamloops airport because Air Canada is the worst airline ever. My first flight of three was delayed, which means significant airport waiting and missing out on delish dinner plans. I would be less sad about the whole situation if they had some level of customer service, they could have done any number of things, an upgrade, access to the lounge, food and drink vouchers, any voucher?! But no, it's just a "sorry for the mix up". Of course if I was a man and didn't have stupid girl emotions, I would be able to chuck the shits. Instead I cry. Air Canada, I really hate you. If Canada wasn't so stupidly protectionist and had competition I would NEVER fly you.

Anyway! Luckily I have just returned from a relaxing long weekend, camping at Wells Gray National Park. Wells Gray is about 2 hours north of Kamloops. I love Canadians views on the weather, I think I was told at least 10 times that it was going to be freezing (going 2 hours NORTH and all). Apparently May Long Weekend you're supposed to go south, to find that warm weather?! It's not like we just came out of 3-4 months of minus temperatures or anything. So, it wasn't cold at all. I think it was in the 20s during the day, and I slept in a tent no problems at night. I bought all my thermals but didn't ever need them.

We had two short sun showers. No big deal!

This was my first tent experience in Canada, and probably the first since a Falls Festival however many years ago. I'm not going to lie, I was a little scared I was going to get eaten by bears. Wells Gray is supposed to be home of the bears, including Grizzlies! I made sure I didn't keep anything that could be construed as a bear snack in my tent. I needn't have worried, I only saw one bear the entire trip and only because I got up to go to the toilet around 6am and the lady who ran the site saw me and took me for a spin on her golf cart to see one. No babies though.

Skipping rocks across the river and stick races

We went for a mini walk along a cliff to see a fantastic view of Helmcken Falls. There's a lookout on one side, and also a short hike on the other. We did both, but the hike definitely had the view. The sun was right behind us so we had some fantastic waterfall rainbows.

On the left from the safe lookout, the right.. that dodgy cliff you can see in the first photo!

Prom pose and the ladies perched on the edge!

Steph had a fantastic set-up for dinner. We ate so well! It makes me like camping much more. Sadly O'Hara had to work so he wasn't there to test out his chef skills at the camp ground. I also tried s'mores for the first time. You know what? They are freaking disgusting! I don't like graham crackers for one, and Hershey's chocolate is revolting. It's so overly sweet it was just gross. Perhaps I would have developed the taste if I started eating them at a young age? I was so disappointed. It was something I'd been looking forward to!

Lil risking her life on the dodgy jetty and my perfect s'more that tasted shit

You can see Lil's jetty skills HERE. It's hilarious.

I think it's possible we've had the last of the nice weather before rainy June gets here. I'm concerned my flight may be further delayed as there is a severe thunderstorm warning in Kamloops today. Hurrah! I hope my office window is fixed, I did a HUGE happy dance when it was installed last week until two hours later when I had a significant water feature in my office. It was almost as premature as the happy dance I did when I totally made it to first base in softball... only to be called out (a few times as I was clearly not listening). The shame!

Easter at Revelstoke

One hill that we'd heard so much about was Revelstoke. I know a lot of people who say it's their favourite ski hill. Something about having a lot of snow and awesome backcountry runs. They didn't lie.

Some Australian friends from Vancouver had organised a giant house, and invited us to stay for the weekend. Thanks guys! So nice :) I think we counted 17 people all up, with people from Australia (mostly), Canada, Wales, Persia (??) and Norway.

Snowman and sun, there's nothing better

Now Easter weather in Australia, could learn something from the weather in Canada. It was ridiculously nice. T-shirt and shorts in the sun good, though I know a lot of you won't believe me. This was only 2 weeks into Spring, so I am hanging out for an incredible summer. You guys in the southern hemisphere got one, it's now our turn. So some really fantastic weather over the previous few weeks meant there wasn't a huge amount of snow on the hill, luckily a fantastic season prior ensured there was good snow out there it was just a little harder to find.

It's snowing!

Our snowboarding skills seemed to experience exponential growth in the last few weeks of the season. I am hoping that it's like riding a bike, and the start of next season won't be like the start of this one. We went up for a day during the week before Easter with one of O'Hara's friends from work. He had us doing double black diamonds (steep as F), and showed us some amazing runs that we hadn't been able to take advantage of before then.

Standard jump shot

So when our new friends told us about an amazing run at the back of Revelstoke where you had to hike up a small hill and drop off a mini-cliff, we were slightly nervous (for me mostly about walking up a hill) but agreed. As you can probably tell, we survived and had a fabulous time. I fell over a stack, probably only managed about 5 turns, got ran into, experienced a deep burn in my thighs and failed significantly at a jump.

Your snowboard should be under your legs...

It was really nice hanging out with a big group of Australians again, it kinda made me homesick as there seems to be a certain vibe with a group like that. Our drive back was lovely and we found some cool places to enjoy the sun and Greg's birthday. I can't wait for summer!

Grraaww

Today I am thankful

It's Canadian Thanksgiving today! Due to the shorter harvest period in Canada, they celebrate Thanksgiving a month earlier than the US. Last night we were lucky enough to be invited to our friends house for a Thanksgiving feast. Of epic proportions! I wish I took photos of the decorations and all the food, because Tiff did a ridiculously good job. Think classy magazine, candles, flowers, different oranges. It was lovely. You're all missing out by not having seen it!

Some background for the next part of the story. Australians do not really mix sweet and savoury. I think the furthest we go is apple sauce on pork and cranberry sauce on turkey. Sometimes we might do a honey glaze on meats. Canada and the US do sweet and savoury a lot. Quite well really. Chocolate and peanut butter. Maple flavoured everything. I want to think of more but it's early.

So, I had two sweet surprises with our dinner. The first was Candied Sweet Potato, where I had an awkward moment looking up the recipe: "I've found a recipe, but it has marshmallows on top. That can't be right." "Um yes, that's it." This was actually quite delicious. Google and try it, you won't be disappointed.

The second, Wheat Salad. I had to Google this when I got home, as I kinda thought it might have been one of those secret family recipes (similar to HIMYM with the gummy bear salad. Anyone??). Nope. It's a real thing! I found this recipe at allrecipes.com Canada

• 1 1/2 cup whole wheat berries (these are delicious... I don't know if you can get them in Aus)
• 1 pack of cream cheese
• 1 can crushed pineapple (we had glace cherries. I think)
• 2 tbs lemon juice
• 1 packet of instant vanilla pudding mix (this is where it gets interesting)
• 1 tub of frozen whipped topping (I think it's like whipped cream but not from a cow)

I'm sorry Canadians, but this will go into my vault of hilarious travelling food stories. Similar to when we were in Taiwan eating pigs blood cake, and the locals were laughing at us because we couldn't swallow it.

Pumpkin Puppy and Wheat "Salad"

Today I am thankful that I have lovely friends who provide good food and good company. And will hopefully invite me back, even if I laugh at dessert for dinner!

I've obviously forgotten all the manners my parents taught me. Always eat what you are given, even if you don't like it! Permission for anyone to tell us our Australian food that we force you to try is gross! Unless it's egg on hamburgers. Then you'd just be wrong.

Vancouver Island (it's not just part of Vancouver)

I'd like to think that Vancouver Island is similar to Tasmania, except that it isn't it's own state, and Victoria is the capital of BC. Apparently Tassie is more like Newfoundland. I'm not sure if people are being kind or not.

We were on the Island for the Labour Day weekend, which I thought would mean it would be WILD with people. Luckily for us this wasn't the case, but unfortunately we still failed at the ferry. On the way over we had a reservation for 5pm on Friday, but O'Hara got stuck in Vancouver traffic so didn't arrive until 5. We'd heard that it can be impossible to catch the ferry on a busy weekend so in panic we reserved the 9pm ferry as well. When we arrived we slotted straight onto the 6pm.... On the way home we arrived an hour and a half before the ferry left. Fail squared.

We spent Saturday in Victoria, cycling to a castle (yep Canada has Castles?!), visiting some markets, eating oysters and checking out the waterfront. In the last week I think I've eaten more oysters than ever before. This is a great thing!

On Sunday we made the drive up to Nanaimo which is small town on the east coast. The drive up was impressive as we took most of the scenic sea routes along the water. We stopped for coffee and to pick up lunch in Cowichan Bay which is a cute coastal town half way between Nanaimo and Victoria.

We finally saw some giant trees in MacMillan Provincial Park. 5 months in Canada before we did this. Slack! They were pretty big, I want to say the ones at Tahune Airwalk are bigger but I have nothing to back that up. Anyone? The kayak managed to get a bit of a spin, but I've decided kayaking is a lot more fun when it involves drinking. I'm not great at just paddling for the sake of paddling.

We got barked (yes human barked) at from a moving car, and some Canadian bogans on a boat yelled at us. Brilliant! We were also lucky enough to see the WORLDS LARGEST HOCKEY STICK! If that's not a bucket list item right there. We couldn't get far enough back to get in in the photo. That. Big!

It was a successful long weekend, avoiding most of the crowds until the drive home (uuggghhhhhh I HATE driving on long weekends here. Awful). Next time we'll be testing out the west coast, and seeing some whales!!