BRANDO YELAVICH EXPLORER

It was another beautiful morning on the north coast of Vancouver Island, the sea was flat and the air was still. Ngaio had woken with a head ache and not feeling her best. I remember feeling the same when I was starting out on big expeditions, it’s like the body and mind need time to adjust. We took things slow and headed onto the sea at 10:30am. We both had dried our paddling gear by the fire the previous night so we had nice dry clothes, a foreign thing on expeditions like

Packing up camp felt like it took forever this morning. Our little campsite was tiny so Ngaio and I spent most of our time looking around for bears and cougars. We got on the water around mid morning to ensure we were paddling on the out going tide. It was so much nicer paddling with the current, plus there was no head wind today and the sun was shining! We made our way along the coast and toward the end of the channel. It felt awesome, we were covering heaps of ground (ocean

The sun poured into the tent and woke us in the early morning. To be honest, we had both been half awake all night, it was so hard to relax knowing there are bears and cougars hanging around in the bush. Ngaio would wake up to each sound, then she would wake me up to tell me what the sound was... we’ve agreed that we will relax as time goes by. We began packing up camp, getting ready for our mid morning departure, timed so that we could paddle with the tide, not against it. T

Our last night in a bed was in an awesome air bnb in Port Hardy. This will be our start and finish point for our kayak adventure around Vancouver Island. We woke to the pitter patter of rain on the roof, typical for it to rain on day one of our paddle! Our wonderful host Kelly made us our last fresh meal, breakfast burrito with eggs, bacon and avocado, Ngaio was adding a tonne of hot sauce to hers (she would regret that later). With a busy morning of last minute arrangements

Ngaio and I are embarking on our first big expedition together. Over the past 4 and a half years we have faced so many challenges together, we have supported each other and learnt so much. Now it’s time for us to face a new challenge, a Wildboy challenge! Our goal is to circumnavigate Vancouver Island on kayaks. I’m saying this is a goal because there are so many unknowns, the weather, the swell, our health, injuries and so much more. This is a huge challenge and one that I a

Today it was whiteout conditions almost all day. It was looking like it would be a tough day walking and we would be lucky to reach our distance target. Thankfully, we caught up with the English team! This made things so much easier for us and the afternoon of walking was a breeze! I had noodles again for lunch, I’m so sick of noodles!!! (Ngaio loves noodles they are her FAVOURITE so I’ll have some making up to do for saying that). We walked until 11pm, had dinner and now in

I woke up today feeling hungrier that usual, I decided to jazz up my porridge with dates, baby formula and butter, wasn't too bad! The camp spot last night was at the edge of the ice fall. Today we have been walking on smooth ice, uphill. I can't wait until we reach the half way point and start heading down. But, that is still a long way away so I won't go there in my head yet. We had our skis on by 9am , I was running late because I was frantically trying to set up my Goal Z

Im counting down the days until I set off for greenland! find out more here and track the expedition. During my walk around New Zealand I learnt things about myself that I didn't even know were possible. I learnt about corners of my mind that I would have preferred to have stayed hidden. What did I expect, walking around endless coast line, alone, with days stretching ahead of me as far as I could think. The monotonous thud of my boots in the sand, not knowing when I would s