So for this past easter weekend, me, Jess and Georgie decided to go on a little excursion to Vancouver Island and do some camping. The weather was set to be sunshine and hot hot hot so we were super excited to do some hiking and sunbathing and swimming, as well as a chance to escape the hustle and bustle of Vancouver city.
I must admit this was one of the best adventures of my life so far. It was a hilarious mishmash of events (some good, some bad) that overall made for a fantastic experience.
We start on Friday with preparing everything we would need; borrowing a tent off some friends, renting sleeping matts, buying food, packing bikinis etc. which seemed to take much longer than anticipated, probably due to the thrift clothes shopping that extended beyond what we needed for the trip...ahem.
We were finally tucked up in bed with bag all packed by midnight, ready for our early start at 6am the next morning. Setting off with high hopes we enjoyed a long bus ride and a sunny ferry ride, where we stayed on the deck all the way, soaking in the sunshine and even spotting a killer whale off the port side! It was fantastic to see a whale in the wild and the Island truly is a beautiful place, even passing it by in the ferry was lovely. And sunshine makes everything great too.
When we arrived in Victoria we set to gathering a few last minute things like maps, bus timetables, water purification tablets and then some food for our trip. Including tofu hotdogs, baked beans, hot chocolate and some fruit. We then had a quick bite to eat whilst debating getting maple leaves tattooed on our feet, then jumped on the bus to Sooke Potholes Regional Park. This makes it sound all very quick and easy, but in fact it took us a good 8 hours to reach this point. The bus rides were long and we weren't quite sure what we were doing...
Anyway when we arrived at the stop for Sooke, we then had a 5km walk ahead of us to reach the actual park and places to camp. At this point the sun was still in the sky and we were quite happy and warm walking along to the park, enjoying the scenery and appreciating the views. I was getting slightly nervous about the setting sun, but eventually after another hour of wandering and exploring we found a great little spot and set up camp quite quickly and got a little campfire going too.
This first part of the night was so much fun, cooking tofu dogs on the fire and telling stories, having lots of giggles and eating far too many marshmallows. We were right next to the running river, and had a little plateau area to ourselves and it was great to be so out in the middle of the forest (but in reality a stones throw from the trail!). The night stars starting coming out at about 8pm and gradually got brighter as the night closed in around us. Georgie's occasional loud noises kept any potential animals away and we were quite content as we polished off our melted bananas, cooked in the last few embers of the fire.
In preparation for the night we put on all of our items of clothing we had brought with us, including our hats and extra socks, but nothing quite prepared us for the cold. Presuming the temperatures would be mild, but manageable we didn't bring sleeping bags, just some fleece blankets to cuddle up in. Needless to stay we spent the majority of the night shivering and at times laughing hysterically (Jessica mainly) and swearing (Georgie and I), realising that camping in March in Canada without sleeping bags was probably one of the more ridiculous things we had ever done.
Time passed slowly, but eventually it was morning and we were up early doors to find a sunny spot to encourage some warmth back into our stiff, cold bodies. Luckily Jess is a bundle of happiness and kept mine and Georgie's spirits up with her giggles and girl scout attitude; I was dead beat tired and Georgie's lips were blue, but we pulled through just fine and set off to walk further up the trail to find somewhere to chill out in the glorious sunshine streaming through the trees.
Eventually we made it to a lovely secluded beach, where we promptly collapsed and began slowly removing clothing as the morning went on. By 1pm we were toasty warm and sunbathing in bikinis and me and Jess even went for a freezing cold dip in the river. It was like needles all over my body, but it felt very exhilarating! And it was wonderful to just dry off in the sunshine.
We had to leave our little beach at around 2pm to make it back to the main road to get the buses, in order to get the ferry in time for home. Hiking back was shortened by a friendly policeman who gave us a ride to the bus stop, meaning we could chill out, eat some ice cream (from a shop selling UK chocolate and food!) and rest whilst waiting for the bus. A blissful afternoon indeed.
Jess then promptly ate too much candy and got a bit hyper whilst I was nodding off in the sunshine. We caught the bus back to Victoria and then another bus which took about 2 hours (we were sure we had got on at the wrong point or something) to get back up to Shwartz Bay and the ferry terminal. We then had another long wait for the 9pm ferry back to Vancouver, which we past by eating the rest of our food (nuts and apples) and playing the name game. Georgie got very competitive...She is very good at thinking of names.
At this point we were all pretty exhausted, we stumbled onto the ferry and curled up with our blankets to try and rest up. No sleep can have a delirious effect with high and low points as we discovered. Bleary eyed we wandered off the ferry at the other end and managed to navigate the bus, sky train and last bus to get back home (just about) and then collapsed into bed at around 1am. 8 hours of blissful unconsciousness later and I got up from my makeshift bed in Georgie's room, enjoyed a much needed shower and trundled off back home with my rucksack and overnight bag in tow.
We later figured out that the tent we borrowed was in fact not really designed for Canadian camping...the inner tent was netted, so no protection at all from the cold, and therefore no surprise that we froze in the night. Despite this we still had a really great time, and the hours of campfire fun and sunbathing made up for the sleepless night. It was truly a magical evening and a beautiful day in the sun, the whole island looked really gorgeous and I would love to visit again. I am still exhausted and feel a little bit sun fried (but nicely tanned!), but hopefully a decent nights sleep tonight will set me straight. Because the next two weeks will require some serious attention and focus! 5 projects due in. All at once. Wish me luck...
