Craig & Mel's World Tour: Vancouver Island, John Butler Trio, Green Lake

I was looking at the calendar today and realized that we are approaching the 6 month mark since we left Australia. Not only that but it is only a few days later that it is 1 Year since we sold our house on Dorset Drive. I can’t believe how quickly this time has passed. It has been a huge year for us and definitely one that we will never forget… and the best part… it is only the beginning!

The weekend of August 19th we went to Victoria, Vancouver Island for the weekend to see John Butler Trio. There were 7 of us – Me, Craig, Mick (our house mate) Midnight (Joel – from Australia) Lisa (who you know of), Ali (Canadian) and Gary (Irishman)! The island is about a 40 minute drive from Vancouver and then a 1 and a half hour ferry ride which is really quite beautiful. It weaves in and around some of the islands that are off the coast of Vancouver. We arrived on the island mid afternoon and went to a local pub over looking the water for lunch. I had the most amazing fish and chips and then off to John Butler Trio that night. John Butler Trio was an unbelievably amazing show and they played for over 2 and a half hours which was awesome! Made us remember how great live music really is and that we definitely need to see more while we are here. The show finished at about 11pm and we were staying at a hostel only about 5 blocks away. We got home and were all settling in for the night when I realized that my wallet was gone. Could not find it anywhere! I started to freak out and instantly Craig and I headed back to the theatre where the show was. It was around 12.15pm and as we approached we could see that it was all dark and locked up. Then across the road I could see someone dressed in a uniform for the theatre. I ran up to the guy and explained that I had lost my wallet, he asked me to describe it which I did and then he said ‘oh I know just the one – someone handed that in’. I couldn’t believe it and so so lucky too…. It had about $450 in it as well as my pay cheques! We waited outside while he went in to get it for me and I thought that I was the luckiest person in the world until……. Craig could see around the side of the theatre and he points and says to me….. That’s John Butler over there! He was leaving to get on his super cool silver big arse tour bus! We ran up to him and shook his hand and told him how amazing his show was. Truthfully, it was all a little overwhelming, we were drunk, I lost my wallet, found my wallet then there was John Butler!!!! Craig and I both agree that we must have looked and sounded like the biggest losers ever but either way, it was exciting and definitely a fun story to tell everyone when we got back to our room. As my luck does show though, we didn’t have our camera with us and so, no photo evidence but I have my photographic memory and that’s all I need! Lol

We spent the wrest of the weekend exploring Vancouver Island. On the Saturday we went to Sooke Potholes which is a great place for swimming and cliff diving. Thankfully for us it was actually quite warm in Victoria and so the boys went swimming most of the time we were there….. still WAY too cold for me to get in though! It was a really beautiful place and so we went back on Sunday too on our way home. Saturday afternoon we found this really great roof top pub and had lunch and drinks there all afternoon. The sun and drinking was all a little too much for Craig and I so we were back in bed around 10pm but the others spent the night out and arrived home sometime around 3am! Clearly they had a great time! Sunday when we left we were meant to be at the ferry by 5.15pm for the 6pm ferry but unfortunately, we were a little late and had to wait 2 hours until the 8pm ferry. Not the greatest way to end the weekend, bored at the ferry terminal for 2 hours but we had fun anyway!

Since Victoria we have had pretty quite weekends. Victoria was Lisa’s last weekend in Canada and the following Tuesday she left to head home! It was a sucky goodbye and definitely my saddest yet! At the moment Midnight is staying on our couch while he is between houses. I am overwhelmed with boys now days but it is definitely something that I am used too! I have told the boys that they all need to start getting girlfriends so that I have some friends too! Unfortunately, I think they are actually trying so all the power to them I say!!! Haha

We also had to say goodbye to Damo (Irishman) who we have become very close with. He lives at the hostel and Craig worked with him when he was there. He moved to Banff last week. Although, in saying that he has only moved to Banff and so, I am sure that we will either see him again when we visit Banff or he will be back here in Vancouver some day. Ash (the guy who came on the road trip to Calgary with us) also left to go home about 2 weeks ago. He lives in WA and we have promised that when we get back to Australia we will go and visit him. He lives in country WA and has promised us an awesome camping trip when we finally get there.

The weekend just gone was Labor Day long weekend here in Vancouver and we were meant to go camping on another island off Vancouver. Unfortunately, it was all a little last minute and we felt entirely unorganized so we pulled the pin at the last minute. Another contributor was the fact that Nance (the van) needed some general maintenance that cost us $278 – 2 new tires! They had been going flat over a week or so and we had pumped them up 3 times so it was time to get them fixed. It was really disappointing to miss out on camping because we know it would have been a blast. However, we did end up having a wonderful weekend anyway. Craig’s boss Mike (or they call him Tupper which is his last name and the name of the business – Tupper Landscaping) invited us to their Lake House for the weekend on Green Lake in 70 Mile which was about 6 hours drive from Vancouver. Well so we were told but it took us a little longer. We left Vancouver on Saturday around 3.30pm after we got the tires fixed and arrived there at like 10.30pm. It was a long long drive but totally worth it. When we woke up in the morning the place was just beautiful. I honestly felt like we were in a movie….. just at the lake house for the weekend……. Lol Tupper and his wife Brooke have twin 4 year old girls too which were super fun to play with. There was also another guy that Craig works with, Spencer and his girlfriend, as well as Tupper’s parents who live on the lake about 100 houses down (a mansion for their house is an understatement). There was also another couple Todd and Sara that also have twin 4 year old boys and a 2 year old. They live in Bellingham which is just over the USA boarder around a 1 hour drive from Vancouver. They ere really excited to meet us because they actually lived in Brisbane (on Vulture Street) for 14 months many many years ago. Todd is a gastroenterologist and was there doing his fellow ship. They loved Brisbane and had nothing but great things to say about it. They couldn’t understand why we would we leave Brisbane to live in Vancouver? Lol They were very nice and offered that we could stay at their house when ever we would like, and if we wanted to get flights from Bellingham (flights into the US are much cheaper from here) we could leave our car there etc which was really kind of them.

We spent Sunday relaxing and in the afternoon we went out on Tupper’s Fathers ‘barge’ which can seat about 15 people or so. It was great to go around the whole late and see all the beautiful houses. It water is just crystal clear and you can see straight to the bottom but as expected for good old Canadian water… it is bloody cold! Craig jumped in once and was straight back out with in seconds. I as usual, did not even touch the water! Lol We came home Monday and again, it took us hours to get home. It was the end of a long weekend and the end of the Canadian summer. Back to school for the kids here now and so traffic was terrible to say the least. It was definitely worth the drive though and it was so great to spend the weekend with a bunch of Canadian’s doing what they do on their holidays. It was a great experience and we definitely want to go there again. Tupper was telling us that in the winter the lake freezes solid and you can drive your car on there. It is a bloody huge lake and so to hear that, it is just amazing and something we will have to see with our own eyes. Obviously, in the summer people at the lake are doing fun water sports like jet skiing, boating, water skiing etc but then in the winter when the lake freezes over, they do snowmobiling so we are really interested in getting involved in that. It sounds like heaps of fun!

It is starting to cool down at night here in Vancouver and we have been told that our beautiful summer days are limited. Usually by the end of September/early October it will start to really cool down and wintery weather will start (rain). Then around early November will be when the snow hits. It is not common to snow in Vancouver but all the ski fields will be full of it. We are buying a season pass (lift pass) to Mt Seymour this month (early bird special for $379). Mt Seymour is only about a 40 minute drive from our house and is a little less busy than Whistler, so we will be able to spend lots of weekends in winter skiing there. Plus we will spend some at Whistler when we feel like it too. I have already got a snowboard which I bought off my friend Lisa before she went back to Australia so Craig just needs to get his now and we will be all set! Craig is so excited; he talks about it every day. He has also started applying for some positions on the mountain that he might do part time, while he still works for Tupper Landscaping. Obviously during the winter they don’t do much landscaping but he has a snow plowing side to his business so if he gets enough work, Craig might be able to get involved in that too. I am still enjoying my job with Steve, working 4 days a week is an absolute dream and he is great to work for too so no complaints here! Craig however has been working long long hours lately, usually leaving at like 6.30am and not getting home before 7.30pm each night. That won’t be for too much longer though because it is starting to get darker earlier and I am sure that Craig is happy about that. He is over the hours and so am I for that matter – didn’t come here to work, we came here to have fun. He is going to suck it up for a little longer and when winter hits, lots of fun will be had!!!!

We have been collecting stuffed animals since we left Australia. Before we left we found this random dog at our house and decided to take him with us so that we had something to put on our bed when we travelled. His name is Stevie. Then when we were in China we got a little panda and called him Pedro. While we were in Calgary we got a horse and asked our friend Ash to name him, which he did and randomly called him Darryl. Then on the weekend while we were at the Lake House, I went to the local shop and seen a squirrel. I took it back to the house and asked one of the Twins, Sophie to name our Squirrel. She decided to call her Sophie Lui (Brooke later told me that this is the name of their local new presenter in Vancouver) but still, it is very original and it now has a story behind it.

September doesn’t really have much going on but October is going to be a blast. We have Craig’s birthday, Thanksgiving (which I am going to cook my first Turkey) and then my birthday which is HALLOWEEN!!!!! Everyone here tells us that they celebrate Halloween like Christmas and so I am SO SO excited! Unfortunately, it is a Monday but I don’t care, I am going to celebrate it hard either way!!! I have posted some pictures of the stuffed toy family and also from Victoria and Green Lake.

Love Mel and Craig xoxo