Oh Canada!

‘What a fuck up.’

Those were the exact words Dan used as he unloaded all the suitcases back off the bus to which he had just hauled them onto. For this was the wrong bus, this bus was headed south from Seattle to Portland, not north across the Canadian border into Vancouver.

No, that bus had left half an hour earlier. Somehow Dan had misread the ticket and after 15 months of solid travel, we had just missed our first point of travel. It had to happen at some point I guess, but it’s still a huge kick in the nuts. A 4 hour bus journey from the centre of Seattle to the centre of Vancouver seemed just too easy, so perhaps we’d let our ‘travel’ guard down.

Stranded on the side of the road with all our luggage and nowhere to go we needed a plan, and quick. A kind staff member on duty let us borrow his phone so that we could call the company to find out what time the next bus to Vancouver left, and if we could guarantee tickets on it. They advised us that we had to wait for 2.5 hours and that they would only seat us if there was enough room and that at this point there were still 14 seats left, so we had a good chance of getting on with our original tickets. Our other option was to repurchase 6 new tickets.

We chose to wait it out and try our luck.

We headed to the nearest Starbucks and fired up wifi so we could use Skype to make more calls. We needed to let our next Homeswap host know the we had missed the bus. Then we peppered the bus company with calls every 20 minutes to check the status of how many seats were left? We got a different answer every time and it was all becoming less clear and more stressful with every minute that passed.

In the end our luck turned, but our nerves were in shreds, thankfully we were able to board the next bus and finally got on our way to Canada, albeit 3 hours late!

On arrival at Vancouver train station, we were met by Peter; our home swap host who helped us pack up his car before heading off to the nearest supermarket so we could stock up on some provisions. He then set us the directions in the Sat Nav to the ferry terminal to catch our boat across to Bowen Island. However, time had again slipped away and we missed the 6.40pm boat we had aimed for, only to be told that the next boat left in 2hours and 10 minutes…..aaaaaaaagggghhhhh what a day!

Thank goodness for long summer evenings and the ferry terminal being in a pretty cove, we purchased some fish and chips, headed to the park and waited for the next ferry to arrive.

And what a crossing it was!

                                       Sunset in British Columbia!

They say the best things in life come to those who wait, and after a journey like the one we had just endured we were over the moon to reach Peter’s unbelievable home on Bowen Island. The real treat came the following morning when we woke to a perfect sunrise looking across the water, ah yes, home swapping is ace!

Bowen is an island situated just off the coast of West Vancouver, the ferry is just a 25 minute hop across the water giving you some amazing views of the British Columbian mountain ranges and we were treated to the most amazing weather for the 10 days that we stayed there.

                                                       Not a bad classroom!

We took a few day trips from the island to explore the mainland and city of Vancouver. One of which was a two hour drive to Whistler to check out this famous resort, our second Olympic Ski Village that we had visited in a matter of weeks and both in the height of summer. Perhaps we really need to think about learning to ski and visiting these places when they are meant to be visited!

                                              Whistler - Not a snowflake in sight.

Clair’s global challenge of finding all of her ex colleagues from Singapore 13 years ago was still in full swing, so visiting Amy and her family, who now live in Vancouver was a must do. It was excellent to catch up after so many years. The kids got on great, as did Dan and Briac who shared a passion for craft beer and the renewable/sustainable energy sector, which Briac’s actually doing more about than Dan as he is the lead mechanical engineer for Etalim. We had such a great day with them that a date was set for a return visit to ‘ours’ the next day so we could carry on the fun.

                                                        A quiet place to chat!

          Drinks for the adults.

       Marshmallows for the kids.

On another occasion we spent a day in Vancouver exploring Stanley Park and spending time with Peter who had graciously invited us to another park for a picnic lunch which he insisted paying for. Again it was so nice to have experienced the kindness and openness of people willing to share their homes and take time to meet us as we travel.

After an amazing 10 days in British Columbia we left Bowen Island and headed to the airport for our next destination.

          Peter was even kind enough to drop us at the airport, a 1 hour drive!

Next stop was Lake Joseph in Rosseau, Ontario, which was 2 hours north of Toronto. We just had to complete a 25 minute ferry ride, 1 hour drive, 4 hour flight to Toronto and 2 hour drive to the lake, meh, all in a days work.

Bruce and Barbara were our next home swap owners, and guess what? Yes, they also went above and beyond the call of duty to make us welcome. They had arranged to be at the cottage for our arrival, which was midnight!

They were kind enough to greet us and make sure we settled into the house ok. The next morning they spent the next hour or so showing us how everything worked, where everything was and familiarising us with the surrounding area before darting off for a work engagement back home, a 3.5 hour drive away!

Their home is awesome, based on the shores of Lake Joseph in Ontario, known as Muskoka Country, where celebs such as Cindy Crawford, Mike Myers, Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russel, to name but a few, call home. 

                        We found seperate ways to relax and unwind!

The lake is crystal clear and as still as a mill pond, perfect for exploring the nearby islands in our family canoe, and also great for some peaceful single canoeing or paddle boarding too! We turned our week here into an outward bounds summer camp for the kids and were overjoyed to get a visit from friends Sarah, Dave and kids who we knew from Koh Samui. 

Bruce shares Dan’s passion to make the perfect pizza and so he spent a few evenings honing his dough making skills and oven mastery, it’s certainly an art that is most challenging and rewarding!

                                                      More practice needed.

Our week flew by and we were soon packing up to move on again, we were heading south to Stratford Ontario to Bruce and Barbara’s main home where we would stay for a week whilst they went to their lake house. First settled by Europeans in 1832, the townsite and the river (Avon) were named after Stratford Upon Avon in England. The town is famous for it’s Shakespeare Festival which takes place each year. Actors such as Alec Guinness and William Shatner have performed at the festival. Oh, and Stratford is also the birth place of Justin Bieber.

Whilst here we managed to catch up with some of our oldest friends from Singapore. Scott and Stacey were staying with family for the summer, just 1.5 hours away. We met them for an awesome lunch and spent the afternoon catching up and learning about their home towns. It was surreal to be in their ‘backyards’ after all these years and a highlight of our stay for sure.

              A pro photographer shows us how to take the ultimate selfie.

                                        A great day with great friends!

Bruce showed us yet more kindness by taking the time to show us around his place of business. He part owns and works for a company called C.R Plastics who specialise in upcycling old plastics into garden furniture. He walked and talked us through the whole process of how they source the exact plastics they need. How they crush them, pelletise them, melt them and inject them into moulds to make the furniture. The insights were fascinating and the end result quite astonishing. The quality of the end product was excellent and not to mention super comfortable, a brand we will buy in the future for sure!

           Bruce and Samuel model the latest patented swivel bar stool technology!

Bruce talks us through the end to end process of making garden furniture from recycled milk bottles!

Stratford was just a 2 hour drive away from the city of Toronto which we felt compelled to explore. However we wish we had not bothered! Nothing against Toronto, in fact we never got to see any of the city, we are sure it's lovely. However, just as we pulled into the city limits we stopped in a car park to read the map and get our bearings, only to immediately get a flat tyre! After 20 years of motoring and countless thousands of miles driven over the last year we were struck down with our first ever flat! Having zero joy with removing the wheel Dan asked a nearby crew of Canadian guys to help us out. After much grunting, huffing and puffing the lads managed to get the wheel changed and directed us to the nearest garage to get it replaced. The story just gets worse from here as we then had to travel all the way back to the car rental office, a 1.5 hour drive, to switch the car and pay the fu**ers $350, (which we are now claiming on insurance) we then had a 2 hour drive back to Stratford!

                                  Legendary Canadian's helping us oot!

                                        Shit day, yes, a very shit, shit day.

By far the highlight of our trip was our visit to Niagara Falls! The falls separate the US and Canada, or more specifically split the province of Ontario and the state of New York.

The falls are formed by Lake Erie draining into Lake Ontario, the combined falls form the highest flow rate of any waterfall in the world, with a vertical drop of more than 165 feet (50 m) the Falls are the most powerful in North America. The volume of water approaching the falls during peak flow season may sometimes be as much as 225,000 cubic feet per second !!!!!!

PER SECOND! Mind boggling.

Not the place that you'd want to arrive only to find out that your camera battery is dead! Yup, dead as a dodo.

Thank goodness for iPhones! All the pictures taken that day were from Clair’s phone. They say that the best camera is the one you have with you, how true that was this day!

Canada was a great experience and a country we will definitely come back to, 1 month here was just a taster, we loved the friendliness of the people and openness of the country, but we are glad we came in summer, not sure how we would have fared in a winter!!!

Goodbye Canada and thank you for such an awesome time.