An Australian Advencha!

Well it all started with a phone call... "do you want to work a contract in Australia canoeing on the Drysdale River?" "Sure...when?" "In 2 weeks..." So there I was boarding a plane (well multiple planes) to Broome Western Australia (north west tip). Upon arriving I was then asked to stay with the expedition and continue to hike with them for another 3 weeks... reluctantly i said yes..

Before we did anything else there was one thing we had to take care of first - scare the students at the croc park - check out these bad boys. As Willy my southern co instructor would have said " they will whoop your asss". Luckily these crocs are saltwater crocs (in which we were only in "potentially" in their area for only 4 days) We were mainly in Freshwater croc territory - in which we saw them everyday but they are pretty docile. Apart from one which chased after some students and rammed their boat...

So once we got our gear and food sorted we headed our way up to the Drysdale Station (8hour drive on a dirt road) putting on the river with 10 canoes, 39 days worth of food, 19 people, 220km to travel.

The river itself is a mix of class 1 - 5, with some very interesting rapids that look like they disappear into the trees (very hard to scout!). We ran some rapids...

We found various ways to "line" some of the rapids...

And there were some which we just had to portage around...

Everyday seemed like a new discovery, there was always something new that would be amazing. The insects and animals, the river itself, the amazing plant life...

We came across this amazing bat colony, we watched these eagles attacking the bats and flying off with them - it reminded me of the wizard of oz...

We did some days hikes to explore some of the creeks and rockart near the river - there is so much rock art in this area - some the oldest in the world! But unfortunately I am not allowed to publish these photos.

We were camping mainly on slick rock every night, some of the best camping spots I have seen. Its was super hot at the start of the trip as the rock would never cool down it would hold the heat of the 35 degree days well. But then we got a lot of rain which cooled it off. Sleeping under mosquitoe nets and the stars was a pretty special ways to end a great day

We had to deal with many medical issues - it was like we were running a clinic. Infections were the biggest of our concern, we didnt know it at the time but somehow a staph bacteria got into the group and several people kept coming up with boils. We had 5 evacuations (one student of which got evacuated 3 times)...

We caught the end of the wet season, which bought thunder and lightning storms in on a daily basis...but half way through the canoeing section the dry season kicked in and we no longer got any significant rain.

The classroom...

So after 39 days canoeing down the river, we met up with a NOLS truck and they picked up our canoes, gave us some more food and sent us on our way to hike back up the river for 26 days.

Unfortunately for us we still were not aware of this highly contagious bacteria amongst our group. Now that were hiking and getting more sweaty and dirty the bacteria had a field day...and I was one of the victims.

In total we had 7 people evacuated because of this infection, some peoples bodies could handle it some didnt...So after 5 days of hiking I had some nasty boils on both my legs, I jumped on a helicopter, then a 4 seater plane to fly us back to Broome.

I am currently still in Broome, hanging out waiting to be healed. I have been on 5 different antibiotics one of which was an iv. The 5th one seems like its doing the job nicely, at this stage I will be hangin out until the end of the week and then flying back to Vancouver to join in on the adventures with Shaun, Hills and my sis...so until then

A springy feeling

OK people time to write a bit about life in Vancouver and around as the winter comes to an end. With Jacqui away, the boys have had lot to do to keep entertained and busy...well. Anyway, between work sessions, we have had a few visitors coming and bringing fresh news form other continents and good mood. Lately The Alaska crew lead by Chunk turned up.

It was quite good, once used to the colours

A trip to Edmonton allowed me to catch up with Heather, and meet her good friends. A road trip trip lead us to Jasper where we managed some good camping and a bit of climbing. Dried mango was on the up.

Team french was put together after a hard hang over day back country skiing in the gullies of Mt Seymour and it was decided that a ski ascent/descent of Mt baker was on in up.

After an average first day getting up past the tree line in the rain and the blizzard without my shell, the skies open and gave us a perfect summit day (well, it surely was cold and windy but it worked alright)


MegaPouascaille et Jeff

Luc teh Duke in good style

Our campsite for the night, which proved to be a horribly windy place the next day, but hey.

Luc finding the stinky goat cheese in his backpack on the way down, while Jeff excuses himself for a short nap.

Good times.

Gareth, Shaunie and I went to the Chilwack Kayaking Festival last weekend, which gave us a good opportunity to remove the dust from our party apparel and give our hips some exercise. Once again, we didn't leave unnoticed. Gareth had his first proper river trips and came back very pleased, despite an expressive hangover. The Rastafari was quiet on the way back.

Hillary McC is around this weekend to visit and making most of a beautiful Vancouver in the sun.

Happy days.

Hope you guys are having fine moments and hope to hear from you soon

Winter Roundup

A dark batch of Homebrew to wash away the winter blues

We haven't put any pictures up for a while, here's a bit of what we've been up to over the last few months...

Winter arrived and we did some skiing, here's some pics from a trip Luc and I did to a backcountry hut, some whistler pics and one from Silverstar Resort.

Brew Hut

Mt Brew

Luc, Brew Meadows camping

Rhys at Whistler

Rach, Rhys and Jacs at Whistler

Silverstar Resort

Then the Olympics came to town. It was pretty good fun mingling with the crowds and cheering for Canada...

Your mate

Jacs hard at work during traffic patrol duties

I know someone who works at the Olympics and has two thumbs

The weather has now started to get warmer, that means the paddling season is kicking off again

East Fork of the Lewis River, Washington USA

Norrish Creek, BC

I had to go down to Reno recently to present a paper at a conference for work. I figured while I was down there I might as well fill in some time and check out the local area. I ended up catching up with a friend from high school and skiing around lake tahoe for 3 days. Not bad...

Quality Vancouver Sunrise from Cypress Mountain

USA & Mexico

I'll admit it's been a while since I got back from this part of the world but have recently moved into a really cool new flat up on the hills with fellow Xtremer Em and associates Titty and Debs and it's time for the update!

After spending three months kayak instructing in North Carolina I headed down to Miami, the Florida Keys and Mexico before flying home via San Diego.

Unfortunately technology failed me and I lost a fair few photos from Mexico and San Diego but managed to have some great times, particularly in Mexico diving with whale sharks, snorkelling in cenotes (underground rivers), drinking Sol and Corona on the beach and checking out the infamous Cancun nightlife.