Thursday I traveled to the new address!

In the morning I said goodbye to the family, and around 9 am, Will dropped me off with my backpack at the Gabriola ferry. I needed to go to a place/area called North Saanich, (above Victoria), about 140 kilometers from Gabriola Island. It’s less than 2 hours if you would drive there, but I needed to go by public transport: 2 ferries, 4 buses, and a lot of transfer time. It took me almost 8 hours in total, but I was lucky enough to manage to get a lift from a guy at the last ferry to the address. It was this big, typical Canadian guy with a long beard, a chain necklace, a pitbull, and a big white truck, that made me skip 2 buses! He even offered me a ticket for the ferry for free ‘cause you couldn’t pay with cash, which was super nice!

In the time between the buses, I checked out Duncan, a small village with some nice cafes, cherry trees, and totems poles. It was a long, but relaxed journey.

My last weeks on Gabriola were nice:

On my time off I did a lot of different things: I have been camping, been on walks with Bodie, rode to a few lookouts, have been to the small cafe in the village with Tanne (a few days earlier I rode all the way down there and it was closed), bought some souvenirs and a present for my sister, and did a lot of bike rides to multiple beaches. I loved to be outside, but I have to stop betting on every little path to the beach to be accessible by bike: I carried my bike countless times over roots and big rocks on my way to the beaches…

I have almost rode down every rode on the island! On the map, (I posted a picture of it (and some more photos) in the collection ‘Photos of Gabriola Island’. Also, I posted some more pictures in ‘Photos of the first address’, and in the new collection ‘Photos of Nanaimo and Duncan’), I marked down every single path I have taken: I’ve been to every lookout and beach on the island :)

One day after a long walk with Tanne we were super tired and had to walk still two hours back. A bit as a joke we were talking about hitchhiking home, and a few moments later we actually managed to get a lift. It went so easy that we decided to try it again (at some point we had to get out of the car ‘cause they needed to go another way). It worked! It was my first time hitchhiking but it was such a practical way of traveling and you meet so many new people! In less than 30 minutes we were home.

The days I stayed home I spend with making some calls home, baking meringues, watching movies with Tanne, reading books, and writing my blogs-, travel diary, and a few cards. Furthermore, I made some plans for the summer and I made a decision for my study (I’ve signed up for the study ‘Wildlife management’ in Leeuwarden, although I was really doubting between this and Journalism in Utrecht). We had some great dinners: Jenn madedelicious pizza, and one day we roasted some salmon on the fire outside!

One time Todd showed us around the other property of him, Jenn, and Will. It was 15 acres (!!) big and maintained sheep, gardens, and a lot of trees/bushes. There was even a super funny swing: you had to hold on to a rope while jumping off the hill and then let go to drop in a big net!

Another evening after work, the weather was so nice that we decided to check out the sunset. We bought some snacks and went to Berry Point, the best place for sunsets on the island. On our way, we made a stop at ‘Gabriola Sands Provincial Park’. Because of the low tide, we could walk around the peninsula: it was amazing! The sound of the sea and all the birds, the sun on my face, the view, the walk over all the rocks: I enjoyed it so much! We even saw a few otters and seals. I hope later, I can live nearby the sea too, just like the nice lady we met during the walk past her house. During the sunset, there were a few more people on the same point enjoying the view, including this Belgium guy who offered us a ride home. That was great because now we only had to bike 10 minutes back in the dark woods instead of an hour.

So after work I did many nice things, and I enjoyed the work around the farm, but sometimes it’s also ‘just working’: I needed to take care of the horses twice a day and did A LOT of garden work: we repotted plants, plant seeds in the greenhouse, and more. We spend three mornings weeding herbs between the garlic: the difference between garlic and blades of grass is SO small, so we needed to look at every single one. The first morning it was nice to do it in the sun and with some music, but after a few hours, it gets pretty boring… I was happy when we were done!

Luckily it wasn’t only gardening: I stacked and moved some firewood, helped Will with getting some hay bails from another farm with the truck (which was a fun job to do!), tidied up the house and the terrain, organized some drawers and shelves and got Jenna hand with making a ducktape boot for Kaden, the biggest horse: he had a nail in his foot, so he was a bit lame.

Sometimes the weather is super nice and I’m really enjoying the work, but at other moments it’s raining or colder. The weather was super unpredictable last week: we’ve had sun, rain, and even snow (sometimes all on the same day). Unfortunately, the snow wasn’t sticky and already gone in a few minutes.

One evening while babysitting, Ophelia fell asleep in my arms after reading 5 books and a lot of effort. She was sleeping so sweet that I didn’t want to put her away so I lay there for one or two hours ‘till Jenn and Will came back from work. I almost fell asleep by myself ;)

Unfortunately, past week Ruxton tested positive for Covid. A few days later the rest of the family got symptoms too… Because of Jenn’s work, they couldn’t risk it to keep working, so they needed to stay home for a couple of days. For me and Tanne was there not much impact: we both didn’t catch it (probably ‘cause we've both had it already) and didn’t need to go into quarantine or something. We could still stay in the house or get out around the island (I see now one here anyway). Even tho that was really nice, it was super busy in the house at some moments (‘cause everyone was home all day long), so I mostly stayed in my trailer after work or got out on the bike.

I’ve not been homesick (yet), but sometimes it’s a pity not to be at the events happening at home: it’s nice that it’s possible to have so much contact, but that makes too that I see all the nice things going on at home, like moving from my uncle and his family and everything around it, easter brunch, parties, kings day, the Dutch Youth Championships from my climbing team and much more. But of course, I got nothing to complain about ‘cause I’m having an amazing time around here :)

On Monday I’ve been to Nanaimo: Tanne left this address and decided to stay there for the night. After doing the horses, we took the ferry and dropped off Tanne's stuff at her hostel. First, we went to ‘the Vault’: a cafe ‘downtown’. We had some hot chocolate with cake :)) The atmosphere here was great!! If I would get the chance to make a layout of acafe, I would have done it exactly the same: it was an old building with a few levels of tables close to each other, a big bar, and lots of stuff (paintings, books, plants, chalkboards, etc.) on the walls and in the room. It was really cozy! After that, we hopped from one small store to another and made a walk across the water (Nanaimo Harbour walk) and a few old statues and totem poles. In the afternoon we ate sushi at a small, local restaurant. The town reminded me a bit of those old Canadian/American-style towns with vintage cars, signboards, and low, colored buildings. Around 3 pm I already needed to go back for the horses. I was a bit late so I decided to hitchhike (it was a long walk home), and after more than 10 cars I finally managed to get a ride. The last two days on the island I mostly spend in the house and tidying up my trailer. I also wrote in the Workaway book where you can leave a message for the family.

I had such an amazing time at my first address on Gabriola Island: the tasks were varied, I visited so many beautiful places, and the family was great. I really hope to see them again!!

Ps: I’m not sure if everyone noticed it but you can subscribe on my blog while leaving your email address: you just need to scroll all the way down the other stories ;)

See ya!

~Sophie