kandlverse
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Campout at Sam’s Folly
We’ve been impatiently waiting for the snow to melt and the weather to be warm enough to rough it outdoors and this May Long Weekend, we got it! Our first overnight camp in Canada!
We convoyed out to Sam’s Folly, Lisa’s favourite camping spot, which we’d been hearing a lot about - huge fish! - sordid tales - drunkenness and revelry - beautiful scenery! Where she goes most May Long weekends. The road had lots of turns and very little signage, making it hard to find for anyone who hasn’t been there a few times before. Lisa helps to make it remote and special by taking down signs when she can. Which I think is great because you have to make friends with locals to get the chance to appreciate it. And maybe it’ll stay beautiful for longer because of that.
It was a rocky road out there, but cresting the rise to this made us forget everything.
Enter: Camp Mode. Everyone wants a turn chopping the wood!
Disco, in particular, wants to get photographic evidence of her being awesome at everything Canadiana, in the hopes that this will persuade the government to let her stay in the country for good.
Hiking boots, maple leaf shirt, axe, Canadian beer in hand - who wouldn’t want her?! That’s bush fashion right there.
Some take the bush fashion while wood cutting more seriously than others…
Emma rocks the duvet hoody I made her
So anyway… we settled in to the campsite pretty quickly, cracked open some brewskys and started mucking around
Me and Toby went fishing for a bit. We could see a few big ones (40-50cm) down through the perfectly clear water. But sadly, they didn’t want a bar of the flies we had on.
We stopped for a dinner of smokies (no fish for us!), roast veggies and Lisa’s delicious salad, then Emma, Louise and I went out to try our luck with the fish and have a paddle again.
No fish, but plenty of beautiful views and the wonderful tranquility that only comes from nature
Then it was getting dark, so we headed in for marshmallows and warming drinks around the fire
And after a wonderful, toasty warm and unbroken night’s sleep, we opened the back of the car to a stunning view, and thought, why not have another paddle ay?
After more smokies and at least three coffees that is!
Next camping stop: Sync Festival in Golden on the 1st till the 4th of June!
Life is GRAND!
Oh and p.s. Lou, Emma and I are going splitsies on buying a canoe in two weeks’ time!
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Offroading to Lake Enid
On the weekend Lisa and her fiance Toby asked us if we wanted to come with them to Lake Enid to hang out and have a campfire dinner. It was such a beautiful sunny afternoon and we’d been inside all day, so we thought it was a pretty perfect idea. We followed Lisa out in our car and after a while the road turned to dirt and gravel, then to dirt and rocks, then to mud and rocks and crazy ups and downs. She told us to put it in 4x4, and, to Louise’s dismay told us to take it really slow or we’d roll it…
It was heaps of fun!!! Louise was a bit nervous, but I loved my first off-road driving adventure!
And the destination:
Totally worth it
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Sighting!
We saw a moose for the very first time yesterday!
Driving down the hill after work, Krystal & I were both looking out the window and there it was just standing in the river below us, chilling out.
One of the ultimate Canadian experiences… absolutely amazing!
I can’t wait to see it again and snap a photo.
(Source: howtodrawanimals.net)
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Amazing April Flowers - A Springtime Adventure of Four Parts
Part 1: Arrival and Campytime Fun
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Constructing a Sleeping Platform for Our Explorer
We plan on doing a lot of road tripping during our time in Canada, so to save having to find a motel or set up a tent along the way, we decided to build a sleeping platform for our ford explorer. This would mean we could sleep stretched out while being able to store our stuff underneath us - keeping everything as orderly as it can be on a road trip!
We had an overnight bush festival to go to, so we wanted to hurry and get it done in time for that. So we went to Home Hardware on Friday night and a great guy called Garrett helped us out a LOT. He got right into the idea and helped us measure out the space, discussed the pattern with us - what would work and what wouldn’t, and then he went ahead and cut out the two sheets of plywood we bought into the exact shapes and sizes we needed!
We drove home really happy, with instructions and pre cut pieces all ready to go for the morning. Louise had also asked the Panorama carpenter, Colin, if he had some scrap pieces of 2x4 to use for the legs, and wonderfully helpful man that he is, he cut us six uniformly sized pieces.
Everyone is so helpful and friendly here!!
In the morning we went around to Lisa’s place and while she cooked us breakfast (yum, bacon, egg, cheese and tomato sandwiches!), Lou & I plus Sirus the dog sat outside in the sun drilling holes and putting in screws.
This piece goes in like a table - super sturdy and the main support for the bed. That’s why we have the plywood screwed to the 2x4 legs - to give them maximum support. We don’t want the screws wiggling loose if we move around too much in our sleep.
Once that’s in place, the second piece slots in and rests on the main table - we left two inches worth of the three support beams sticking out a bit so this other piece can rest on it. It gets held up with another length of plywood (below) which slots in between two runners. The whole thing is then braced together by pushing the front seats back as far as they will go - this is just to make sure it doesn’t slip off when you wriggle too much. When we were driving, we just had the passenger seat pushed back to brace it and it stayed together fine.
The join where the two pieces meet.
Us giving it a test run
Job well done, time for more coffee!
Then we went to Canadian Tire and bought a dense foam, 4 inch thick camping mat. It was almost the perfect size, mould resistant and super comfy.
With a fitted sheet over the whole thing it was good to go.
And here’s us testing it out at the festival! We ended up putting our heads up the other end because there was more head room. It was just enough room to roll over and cuddle, but not enough to get on hands and knees - getting in and out made you feel a bit like a snake!
And here’s me the next morning, happy, comfy and warm!
We may take two or three inches off the height of the whole thing, just to give us a little more space up top. But having all of the storage space underneath is pretty amazing too, so we’ll see. Right now we can fit a couple of chilly bins, food and water under there on one side of the boot. We take one side each behind the front seats for our clothing and toiletry bags, and that still leaves a whole huge compartment in the boot. It’s pretty great knowing all our stuff will fit in nicely once we start hitting festivals. And when we eventually hit the road for good!
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