CANADA 2010/2011

16.09.2010-18.09.2010 Cape Fife Trail

Here we go with this new experience in my life....

...I will never forget this hike. When I slept in this cabin and this mouse was looking for a companion and found me in the middle of the night. The mouse didn't let me sleep the whole night. She was even sitting on my arm and I was soooo tiered that I couldn't move or think about a solution to get away from this mouse. Oh well that happens and I survived for sure. Oh, my god the next hiking day was more than exhausting especially when you don't feel so good. My immune system wasn't working very well at this time. First time on this travel so far. But I made it.
My last night I was staying in my little tiny tent, cooked my self good food. Pasta with a salmon sauce. Went to bed early and as I would know the next morning looked like the world would go down...dark...looked like rain and kind of a mystery in the air. So a quick breakfast, packing up and as soon as I started walking the sun was with me. I love such moments where you think the whole world is on your side.
And it was on this day I guess because this nice lady picked me up when I was hitch hikning and dropped me off in front of Dominic's house.
Back in "normal life" what ever that means. With another great and unforgettable adventure in my backpack

Have a look at the Cape Fife Trail....enjoy :-)

me ready to go for my first more day hike on my own :-) great experience

beginning of the cape fife trail

my way for sure :-)

my backpack for the 3 day hike

my delicious meal, yammy fresh out of the garden

there I am going

my way again

the cabin which I had the horrible night with the mouse :-(

another image

showing me the way

again my shadow

arrangement of stones

waves are connecting

mhhhhhh :-)

it was great

sunset before going to bed at my second night on the 3 day hike

my little tiny tent :-) just for one person

sunrise I guess

another mystic image

ohhhhhhh so beautiful

my shadow picture

image

pattern, we all have those ;-)

north beach and I am on my last day

sunken ship only visible with high tide

oh, poor thing

a little bit more lively but death anyways

North Beach 1 – Haida Gwaii – BC 14.8.2010 – 7.10.2010

Mh, it was time to leave Maude Island and hitch hike up to North Beach...more to Sangan River. Waiting time was over and Dominic was back from work. It was a saturday and for me the best to go with the boat to Queen Charlotte City. There I checked my mails, did my laundry and forgot time again...but I made it before it was getting dark to Sangan River. Dominic was waiting for me up there and showed me his little farm, the goats, his house which he built with his spare hands :-) and he really can be proud of himself. Not a lot of people live that self sustaining in our times.
So I spent nearly 2 month up at his place. And we had a great, unforgettable time together. We went berry picking, fishing, made jam and chutney together, I was learning how to milk the goats Molly and Olive,....most of the farm life I really loved up there but when it was coming to the point where I have to stick my hands in the ground it wasn't always that easy. I liked doing that more on Maude Island :-) Dominic won't believe that when he will read that ;-)
Up North, I made a few friends, learned what a potluck is. And we should have this everywhere in the world. A potluck is when people coming together and bringing there own cooked or made food. It is such a great thing to come together to share good food, good conversations and fun.

and another view

beach view

my cabin at Haida Gwaii, nice place to be

the inside of my cabin up north

me, delay and the beach we two have fun

delay has a great sleep and rest

me sleeping

me waking up after a great sleep in the sun

me eating berries and the whole island knew about it :-)

chutney yammy yammy....so good

nice inside of a beautiful flower

potluck with friends...love potlucks and the friends as well :-)

me in dominic's kitchen

healthy food directly from the garden

dominic is preparing his fishing rod

got it :-) so proud

me with a caught salmon

me killing the fish and taking everything apart

me cutting the fish in small pieces that it maybe fit in the cans....

dominic and me prepared all those cans for the big cooking process, yammy

myriam and me

a bunch of people meeting by accident at the beach

another view

me having breakfast...don't watch ;-)

fish heads

myriam preparing the fish

the river and further on the ocean....this is where my place should be :-) house, coffee shop...sometimes dreams come true

family Legault and me

Olive

molly - dominic's goat

me milking molly

sunset on my island

me at work

I am so proud that I picked so much chanterelles

me collecting grass to make hay

Douglas and me doing garden work and having fun

Adriana and the good fresh food - mh, so good

But I was not only hanging around the farm, I did as well a 3 day hike on my own. Which was a really new experience have a look at the entry norht beach 2....

Maude Island - Haida Gwaii – BC 31.7.2010 – 14.8.2010

Arrived on the farmer market and meet Lynda, Adrianna and Ryan. Lynda is the farmer woman on the Island and as well mother from 3 children. I had 2 weeks on Mauda Island and I had made great friends again. We worked in the morning started early at 7am and were finished with lunch around 12 or 1...but because the festival was coming up and the crew planed to make some money there I helped out for the festival preparation as well..it was fun.
Every saturday we took the boat and packed the whole vegetables for the farmer market. This is the only income from the Maude Island people as far as I know.
Here a few pictures where I was living at that time:

nice view from maude island when you are standing in the huge garden which is lynda doing most of the time by herself

Andi and Lynda

maude island and the chicken

weed work....and you can do it for hours and hours - nearly like meditation

lynda's farm and the duck house

the cow on the island :-) on a little island

andi watching the man at work :-)

should we go for a swim or not...mh always those questions

andi and ryan are making my birthday cake - thanks guys it was so great to celebrate this day with you :-)

And I had my birthday with the whole family there I got a great birthday cake and had a great kind of waiting time which made it very short for me with such a great surrounding and amazing people.
Hope to see you again before leaving Canada, big hug.

Back at Morex – BC - 29.7.2010 – 31.7.2010
So my way out was again with Morex where I stayed 3 more days after deciding to see another farm again. Maude Island was expecting me on the farmer market on saturday. Great when I was waiting there I saw Adrianna and Arvin again and we went on the hike Sleeping Beauty together. That was soo good to see them again and to spent a few hours with them on this great hike where you could see Haida Gwaii from a different point.

moresbyexplorers - good trips they offer and I had an amazing, great time

moresbyexplorers...downstairs the store and upstairs the living area

school bus in the back was a used as a living and sleeping place for a couple who was working at morex

nice spot after work lying in the hammock and relax and have an amazing view

staff party from moresby explorers with a yummy pig

on the trail from the sleeping beauty

another view from the hike to the sleeping beauty trail

Leaving for a 7 day kajak trip with green coast kajaking – Haida Gwaii – BC 23.7.2010 – 29.7.2010
An unexpected trip came up while I was staying at Morex. I tried to figure out where I want to go next and this telephone call from Jo who I meet in Rose Harbour made it easy for me. Jo is one of the most positiv persons I ever meet. And you ever want to do a kayak trip with someone on Haida Gwaii go with her (ttp://www.gckayaking.com/ have a look). She called Morex because her next trip which was coming up wasn't fully booked and she looked for additional people to join it. So I was an additional one on this trip and it was amazing. Jo offers her trips so that every person has to cook or prepare a few meals on the trip. So she let me know before what meals I have to prepare and than I went shopping and tried to get a good combination of dinners and lunches. I was sooo looking forward to this trip because I want to do one of this stretch on my own but it didn’t work out before. But NOW it was perfect and I was meant to be on this trip. We were only 5 people on this trip and 2 of them were our guides. Jo and Dominic, my guides were great and make this trip so special for me. But not only the guides also this married couple Adrianna and Arvin were great and it felt like 5 friends were going on a kayak trip. The weather was great and the water to paddle on was from totaly calm to heavy waves but the sun was always with us. Have a look on the pictures and get an impression how the trip was for me. AMAZING. Sad was that I couldn’t stay longer on the next one but life gave me one amazing week out there. Thank you Jo and Dominic for this special time with you out on the ocean :-)

landscape

our luggage for the kayak trip ( only from jo and dominic )

view from the back of the moresby boat which brought us in and out from the kayak trip

break, swim, food....what else do you need

jo and dominic - my kayak guides

dominic eating again - second job after guiding

jo and me exploring...

believe it or not you can eat that

jo is showing Black Katy Chiton - you can eat it :-)

I am so tiered :-)

that's the mystic look the landscape has for me

jo is packing her kayak and arvin and me just watching how good she is in that :-)

me and the colourful sea stars

me touching the sea stars...great creatures

me and the ocean

Adrianna and Arvin paddling

dominic and jo crossing the river with this boat on a rob

river crossing

I am so little beside this huge tree

jo trying berries and she looks so happy

muffin eater...thanks dominic for the second one

the clouds are always so different

another impression

me enjoying good food

dominic had always his food first...only to show how it works :-)

our so polite jo had her food always at last

dominic is making dishes today :-)

dominic paddling the rubber boats and me around ;-)

Jo paddling with rubber cloves :-)

dominic and me connecting

meeting point for kayaks

best hotsprings ever...overnight stay with fullmoon...whatelse do you want ;-)

fullmoon shot - unforgettable night :-) thanks

Jo and me, brushing our teeth and watching the full moon...nice camp we had this night - thanks so much jo

deer captured on a island

another sunny day...we didn't had a lot of rain on this 7 day kayak trip

sunset

and another view

Jo and Arvin

dominic is carrying the food..important for him :-)

me and the tent

another pretty view...I love the clouds

good looking kayak guide :-) thanks for everything

arvin is looking for the whales

break and eating those good ginger cookies :-)

eating :-)

having fun paddeling

the whole group is going into a small cave

me having a look back before going into the cave..just to make sure

yeah, we made it to the next stop

exploring

jo reading

me having a short nap in this amazing surrounding

Adrianna and Arvin try to figure out where is what in there kayak :-)

me taking pictures from this nice and breathtaking underwater world

underwater creatures

sea urchin

snail

sharp snail and me out of focus

me taking pictures of this bear so close

birds

another breathtaking view

me paddling

sun tanning

another view from our last campground

me, enjoying the camp fire, the ocean, the silence and myself

our last camp for the last 2 nights....

waiting for our pick up after 7 days

moresby explorer picks us up after 7 wonderful days :-)