We had our first real day rest day today. The paddling conditions were made too bad by the high winds and big swell, and it was predicted to be getting worse. It was a rainy windy day so we headed into the forrest and walked along the trails, picking my favourite berries to make fresh berry ginger tea. These berries are also black bears favourite berries, you can tell because when you come across a bear poop it is purple and full of the berry seeds, usually very near a bush once covered in berries.

We walked along the estuary where there was a couple fly fishing and another group setting up camp for the weekend. The couple who were fishing had pulled up a big sheet of plastic from the river. It looked like the perfect thing for me to turn into a tarp! A tarp/fly is one of the few things that Ngaio and I forgot. Camping in the wet weather is made so much easier by a tarp, you can stay dry while you cook and you can be outside your tent without getting soaked on a rainy day.

I cleaned the dirt and sand off the plastic and we carried it back to camp where we erected it among the trees and over our tent. Just as we got it all tied in, the rain came thundering down, perfect timing. We had lunch under our new shelter then snuggled into the tent in the late afternoon to hide from the rain and rest our bodies.

We are listening to an audiobook called “the untethered soul”, it’s pretty thought provoking and it really makes you look at yourself and your mental practices (A bit like a crazy two month paddling trip around Vancouver island does).

GPS Tracker Tips - If you are following Brando & Ngaio on their TRACKME GPS tracker, here's a tip; Once you follow the link, click on the 'Brando & Ngaio' location icon and select 'path' 

(If the Brando and Ngaio Icon does not show up on the map click the menu then participant list then 'show all')

(first image and blog via satellite phone)

#kayaking #paddling #kayak #Canada #Nature #FirstNations #expedition #VancouverIsland