...Beginning.
So i have decided to post my latest and future adventures onto this blog. i was considering copying and pasting my previous emails in here too and adding photos to go with them. If people think i should do this then let me know (you can leave comments on this site). Meanwhile we can start off were we left off...

I started off this sememster feeling pretty flat and unenthused with just about everything. I think i was "homewsick" and especially missing friends and family over the christmas period. This year has a very differnent feeling to me and it took me a while to adjust to the slower pace my life was dictating that i move at. My fractured pelvis has been a constant reminder to slow down and be a little more grounded.

i am back in the swing of things now, had a busy time of it leading up to spring break. I went on a road trip for spring break or "reading week" as they also like to call it. i am not sure why as neither is it spring nor is anyone doing much reading in that week.

I ventured up to Whistler for the first weekend which was pretty nice. Didn't do any boarding just played in the snow and enjoyed the first real sunshine we have had in such a long time. It actually rained for the most number of consecutive days on record in january/feb. Pretty much a whole month of rainy days. Which was kind of a novelty, the kind that wears thin pretty quick... So for the next five days it was blue skies and smooth sailing... almost.

Anyway i went taboganning with my friends Braleigh, Pascal, Carlotte and Caitlyn. Never done that before. I managed to get through without braking any major bodily structures. While in whistler we commondeered a vehicle for the purpose of comencing a Magical Mystery Tour. "KEV" is a fine vehicle, weathered and wise. He was left here by some Aussie friends of mine Emma and Michael, who have since returned to queensland. He was left in the not so capable hands of a household made up half of bozzy australians and half stoners from Quebec. Needless to say the van was semi snowed in, parked on a hill, with no gas in the tank and the keys left in the ignition. So it was a challenge to get him on the road, further complicated by the fact that we needed to purchase some temporary insurance for the week, while the registered owner of the vehicle was back in Australia. Brilliant minded Braleigh came up with an idea and marched into the insurance office armed with nothing more than a scrap of part of an old insurance paper and her winning smile. They told her that the owner of the vehicle is the only one who can renew the insurance. Thinking on her feet, she managed to convince the insurance people that her lazy 'boyfriend' (Michael, who's name the car is in) couldn't be arsed coming into renue the insurance himself and had sent her in to do it. At which point she was told she needed the cars registration in order to renue the insurance anyway (oops). They gave her a form that had to be signed by the owner to allow for the insurance to be taken out in her name. So we got the rego (and a jerry can of fuel), forged the signature and the car was back on the road in hours (several hours...).

So we are now the custodians (for the time being) of a picture perfect 1979 Dodge campervan!

So we headed for Victoria on Vancouver island, taking KEV back to Vanies and then to the car ferry. It was so windy out to see that the ferries to Victoria were cancelled and we ended up going to Nanaimo and driving the rest of the way. This was my first experience of driving in Canada and driving on the right, never done that before. It was quite good to get behind the wheel of a giant sized car again. at least on the open road. driving in the city was a bit sketchy...

Pascal, Braleigh, Mike and Julie coping with the wind on the ferry... ...and me.

You should try not smiling in wind like that, it is really hard! We got to Victoria and stayed with a friend of Braleighs' who was very hospitable. We visited Butchart gardens which is world famous. Not the best time of year to be there but it was still beautiful. We then headed out on the open road again. We stopped off at some thrift stores on the way and bought speakers for the car stereo. Two for the front and two for the back. With a bit of splicing and some ipods we had the stereo rocking almost as hard as KEV himself! We camped in Nanaimo that night and enjoyed a clear night of Canadian stars. It was bloody freezing though.

The drive to Tofino was amazing. We cruised through the mountains and past huge glassy lakes, really picturesque stuff. Funny i don't have any photos of that! I think i took too many of the gardens and the wind on the boat! Actually here are some taken by Pascal... We even went swimming in one of the lakes , very briefly might i add. it was so cold i swear to god i nearly couldn't stay afloat. So we arrived in Tofino which is a little town at the end of this little peninsula on the west coast of the island. It is known as the surfing capital of Canada, and it is a beautiful little town. We found an amazing camp ground right on the beach, which i know sounds really cold in the middle of winter, and it was... But like i said, blue skys and fortunately no wind made it warm enough to enjoy a bit of shoes off on the sand, and up to my ankles in icy water.

Pascal came up with the brilliant idea to go surfing the next day, which i nodded agreement at while my feet were still completely numb from being in the water one hour earlier. I thought that idea might remain in the ether and perhaps come into fruition about 2-3 months later when things warmed up a bit. But no, come midday the next day we were all wading out into the perfect sized beginners waves at long beach, smothered head to toe in thick wet suit material and dredding that moment that all men dred when they take the plunge into anything colder than a luke warm bath. So i got over that hurdle pretty quick and found that holding onto that wee was really worthwhile once i got out there! I had the best day surfing, i was out there pretty much until the sun set. i managed to get up on the long board lots of times, although i almost couldn't tell as my feet were literally numb up to the ankle. When i got out it was like walking around with two dead fish attached conveniently to the end of my legs for stability. I LOVE SURFING! holy shit, why the hell has it taken traveling to the other side of the world and then catching a ferry and driving five hours to get to the end of a tiny peninsular to get to the coldest surf destination in the world, just to get me on a surf board. i kid you not that was the first time i have ever done that and i have lived so close to the water all my life... anyway somebody slap me when i get home.

My housemate Mike went fishing while the rest of us were surfing and managed to catch a decent sized "rock-something" for our dinner. We also purchased a whole salmon, fresh off the boat and a whole bag of muscles. needless to say, that night we ate like royalty around our camp fire. We also were treated to a Canadian delicacy known as a "Smore" which is a bastardised version of toasted marshmallows which involves even more sugar, in the form of chocolate and sweet biscuits. Ok it makes sense now "S- more", the s stands for sugar. So things are pretty sweet over here... sorry. When we were on our way to returning our hired surfing gear, we got nabbed by the mo mo for not displaying our insurance papers properly and just generally looking like a bunch of f#*king hippies. (Did i mention the insurance papers flew out the window two hours after their purchase, while crossing a bridge over vancouver harbour. ha hahaha... oh shit.) So the local member of the Royal Canadian Mountain Police began accusing us of not having insurancethen moved onto chastising us for not displaying our insurance, then to practically sentencing us for steeling the car and obviously being on the run! It took a bit of "reasoning" with her and an insurance receipt to convince her to let us go (with Kev).

The next day we wandering through a forest to another beach which had an island only accessable to the very brave, Those willing to tred in the ice cold waters, and those with trusty girlfriends hahahaha...

The trip ended much the same way as all such trips end. with fewer and fewer words being spoken as you get closer and closer to home. We managed to get accosted by the cops again just as we were pulling into our carpark at uni. We had our story down pat by that stage and they had nothing... NOTHING.

So like i said i have been keeping pretty busy with things at UBC. Still involved with the sustainabilty group, who have all become good friends. I am also one of a few leading the charge to have a huge outdoor concert out at the UBC farm next september. Whether or not i am still here it is exciting getting the ball rolling on that. The farm is the last piece of working agricultural land in vancouver and is only a formal certification away from being organic. The university wants to develop the land into non-university housing and needless to say there are a lot of (especially agsci) students who really don't want this to happen, and at leat 100 times more students who don't even know the farm exists. TheFarm-aid concert is to raise awareness of the farm as there will be a referendum on the future of it next year. I am also getting involved in designing and building some exhibits on urban agriculture and community gardens for the World Urban Forum which is coming to vancouver in June. Oh yeah and my studies are going ok too...