It was really windy again today so I got the last of the boat repairs out of the way! You asked me some questions yesterday! What is the greatest strength you see in each other while on this adventure ? Ngaios greatest strength is both her intelligence and the ability to be patient and understanding. I’m not the easiest person to live with. Although I don’t let it get in the way of the adventure, I often have emotional challenges that cause me to not want to talk and just spend time in my head. She can accept me and give me the space I need, or in some cases, pull me out of my head when I can’t do it for myself. Ngaio is incredibly physically strong! She has such a strong body and she pushes herself physically every single day. I find her strength attractive and is a positive thing to have on your side on expeditions such as this one, she is much more capable and independent in situations when others would need help because they simply wouldn’t be used to pushing their bodies to that point. Brando is calm and he is fearless. When I say fearless I don’t mean in a foolish way like he would jump off a cliff without a parachute. Brando can assess a situation that I find terrifying, and rationally justify what we are going to do. He makes quick decisions and he never questions my capabilities, he won’t let me question my own capabilities either. We can be paddling over swell that’s giving me heart palpitations, I’ll watch Brando calmly paddle on, assessing each wave, making jokes and keeping me updated on our paddle route. Hours later he will casually mention that was the biggest swell he has ever been in. He finds challenges exciting which is his greatest strength of all. Where did you get your Kayaks from and how did you find the place you got them from. Our kayaks came from a company called ‘Ocean River Sports’ in Victoria. The brand of our kayaks is named ‘current designs’, my AWESOME kayak sponsor Kayak HQ from NZ arranged the kayaks through Current designs. We are so lucky that Chris at Kayak HQ arranged these kayaks for us What was the hardest thing for you both, that you never expected beforehand? How would you prepare again taking this into account? The biggest struggle we are both facing is the wind, but we knew we would run into that this time of year and we knew we wouldn’t be able to control Mother Nature Personally I find it very hard to push Ngaio to do things that she is afraid of. I hate not being able to make her feel safe, especially when I know that she is, but I can see she doesn’t feel safe. Ngaio here! I wouldn’t say it’s my biggest struggle but something I’ve found hard that I never considered was having wet feet all day. It’s hard to dry them out once you are out of the boat, especially if you are camping on a sandy beach. You end up with wrinkly, soft, sore feet covered in sand that almost gets absorbed by your gross eternally damp skin. Favourite moment of the trip so far - I know there's been so many amazing sights already!! My favourite moment would have to be the lone wolf on the rocks at sunrise on the day we paddled behind Nootka island. Ngaio again! There have been so many wonderful moments, often cheesy ones when Brando and I just look at each other both grinning about how awesome it is that we are on this adventure. The otters always make me smile, having curious otters approach the boats was a heartwarming experience because they feel like such special little animals. But the most amazing moment so far would have to be looking out to sea and seeing a mighty humpback breach, twist and land with an almighty splash. Something I will never forget. Do you guys have anything to defend yourselves against possible bear attacks? We do! Our first defence was research, we learnt about bears and their behaviours and their reactions to humans. We never approach a bear and if we are close by we always make sure the bear had plenty of room and doesn’t feel trapped. I carry my knife and have bear spray. The bears usually give themselves a fright before we have the chance to scare them. Making noise lets them know you are there. On our second day we had a bear sniffing out our breakfast and I hit two rocks together and he was off into the bush faster than you can say black bear! How long is this expedition expected to take? We are aiming for around 60 paddling days.
