Friday, August 20, 2010

WEEK 8






Back to the lodge, and its been a week of adventures and lots of hours worked. For a majority of the week I have been in the kitchen dishwashing, helping with dinner service, and serving in the dinning room. It was nice to get away from the lodge, but is a bit of a relief getting away from society once again.



Have definitely got good use out of the fly rod Dad sent up with me. Almost every day since I've been home i've been out on the water or creekside fishing the estuaries and creeks. Have had very little luck with fishing from the Tyee boat in the harbor, but fly fishing the fresh water was pretty successful with 14 fish in one day. I've been taking lots of footage lately as well. Have been able to get some pretty cool shots of dinner service in the kitchen with Chef on more than one occasion. I have been taking that camera everywhere I go because you never know when there will be an opportunity to see something awesome.



I sent in my 3 pictures for the co-op photo competition this month. I'm pretty happy with the pictures I submitted but worry that the photos didn't look "work related" enough....I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I believe all the pictures I've submitted have been, at one point, either on my blog or Facebook so you have already seen them!

WEEK 7




This week started off with me packing my bags, my fish, and taking a plane home. Met up with Kelly at the airport and proceeded to get a fix on my sushi addiction in Richmond at some all-u-can-eat. After we did a bit of shopping and then attempted to find our way to the Nanaimo ferry...which we missed. In the lineup at the ferry, ran into Brenton and Mike. We Met up with Brenton once we boarded the boat and caught up for a while. Made it into town late that night and stayed with my Dad.
While I was in Courtenay with Kel we went to all my favourite rivers spots, for dinner with my dad and brother, and ran into a few friends.
Two days later I planned on going back to Victoria to see more family and friends. It all seemed pretty rushed due to the fact I only had 5 days to accomplish everything; buy 5 bandanas, wool for Kristie, deliver all my fish, go out with my friends, take old laptop to get fixed.
It was great seeing everyone and wished It could have been for 7 days since 2 of 5 were spent driving and waiting in ferry lineups.
Pretty excited to use the fly rod and flies Dad sent me home with. Im ready to get some fishing done.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

WEEK 6






This has been an amazing week! I had a pretty mellow week work wise which gave me a lots of free time to get out and about! I spent a few days in the kitchen before my 2 days off. I was able to get out to the Kiel/Cameron Cove hike which is supposed to go from one cove to another by crossing dense rainforest and and hilly terrain. We didn't make it due to too many right turns... We did however see lots of cool things while we were adventuring. We dubbed our new route, the Kiel to Kiel friendship loop. Once we made it to the top of the loop, we began to follow a wolf trail that ran alongside a small creek which lead straight back to the Kiel inlet. This is probably where we went wrong. All in all good times!

Day 2 of my adventures started early with my sights on X Mountain located on Campania Island 20 minutes away from the lodge. The team was made up of Michelle, Kristi, Naomi, and myself with our trusted driver Dan. Before we got the the mountain we were distracted by two large humpback whales playing in the channel. We stopped to watch them for a few minutes and got to see them breech and dance in the water. It's a pretty spectacular seeing such massive animals getting air like that. The day before the hike another group of coworkers went to X Mountain and it took them 9 hours....they got lost to say the least. So we made sure that we knew where we were going and the routes to take. We took the route on the left side of the X and went straight up. The views all the way to the top were amazing. It took us just under 2 hours to make it to the top of the mountain. We could see surrounding lakes, valleys, islands, boats, and whales. Once we made it to the top we had lunch and did some deep breathing and stretching. The rest of the day consisted of me putting on a wetsuit that was too small for me, and going swimming in the harbor to the empty West Coast fishing dock next door. I did some arial acrobatics off the shed on the dock and swam like a seal....until I cramped up on the way back and swam in circles.

On my last day off I was able to do some fishing and caught a 10 lb coho. I need to get more fish in the freezer so I can give some out to my friends and family. I have lots of plans to cook, cure, and smoke the fish I catch. I need to get some halibut too.

OH! I also hike up Ladder Falls which is located just around the corner from the lodge. Once we made it to the top there was a swimming hole called Infinity pool which overlooks the steep waterfall, ocean, and glacier covered mountains. Kristi brought clay with her...we covered ourselves in clay and I got a few pretty funny pictures. Check them out.