Big White is AWESOME! A Christmas Story...

But it is Thanksgiving... Christmas is way off... what are you up to Sherriff?

Not much, searching the bottom of the barrel for things to write, and it not really a Christmas story, more of a birthday one... mine... my 25th.

But my birthday is Christmas day... you see a little connection.

I had just left the army and like many arriving at Big White, I went to spend a season at a ski resort - in my case - Chatel, in the French Alps.

It is funny how quickly you meet new friends when you are travelling alone... the bar is the perfect place... of course it is. Anyway I had arrived in Switzerland (actually) a week or so before and despite my command of the French language being similar to my command of Hindu, I had managed to 

• find accommodation, 
• got a job in a French restaurant as a plunger (say it with a French accent), it's a dish-washer.
• and I probably knew most of the brits working in the resort. I went to the bars... easy.

Plunger is a hard job, I literally ran in the kitchen trying to keep up with the mountain of dishes... each morning would start with last nights dinner... and just as I got through that, breakfast was piled high, and before I finished breakfast... lunch arrived... ahhh! 

Anyway lets get to the story. At this restaurant there was a French girl... (Frenchy) doing house-maid slash waitress jobs... she did not speak any english. We never conversed (cos we couldn't) and besides she barely acknowledged my existence - 'dumb English hooligan' French accent again please...

So, it is Christmas Eve, and the eve of my 25th birthday. I am with a couple of Friends, both who speak French, one is half Swiss (the French side) so is fluent... We are drinking and having fun when Frenchy arrives... it appears her standards have now dropped and 'I' am on her radar. Actually I am not just on her radar, I am target acquired, missiles are locked and loaded - she is all over me... all over... let me say that again (cos it never happened often, okay okay... never...) All Over me!

Now the language barrier problem... is no longer. I am understanding (with a little help from my friends and the All Over bit) that she is telling me I shouldn't be alone on my birthday... Okay... I can do that, the 'not' being alone thing.

She is sat on my lap, her arms are wrapped around me, she keeps kissing me, she keeps talking to me in French... 'not alone on your birthday... not alone' Okay, me man, I will do as told... keep her happy, do what she wants. Which funnily enough is exactly what I want... it is my birthday after all... And Christmas too!

So, I go to the washroom... (mistake) when I come back Frenchy is leaving... and is mad...! Mad! Despite my lack of French, I can tell when a woman is mad... I think it is a natural talent. Anyway, her jacket is on, there is some feet stomping, I get a final dirty look and she is out the door... gone!

What the hell did I do? What...? At this point I notice my 'buddies' giggling to themselves... b*******!

No they had not told her I was married, or had kids, or had a girlfriend - none of those by the way.


No... my friends had explained to her that I was a prostitute and she would have to pay...

Ha! We laughed... Not. B*******!


Pitch-
If you are coming to Big White for the season... go to the bars...

Big White is AWESOME! The Annual Migration...

Yes, yes it is that time of year again. The annual migration from Australia, to a central gathering spot in the central interior of BC... a mountain called Big White.

No one knows the exact size of this migration, nor how they navigate the almost 13,000 km... some say it is instinct, others say internal compass... others claim international flight schedules... others indicate an inter-generational knowledge transfer... ('talking') Whatever the reason - like students returning to the bar, these strange humanoids - arrive at Big White en masse.

Now there are two categories, 'Returning' and 'Newbies', each with varying personality traits between both the male and female.

The first category, the 'Returning'
The returning seasonal worker has seen it and done it at Big White; not only surviving the experience but thriving in the (liver) challenging conditions. The 'returning' source better jobs, better places to live, avoid (somewhat) the party scene, are more settled and tend to budget their income better. 

Now don't get me wrong the 'Returning', is usually an 'expert' drinker, and can be seen falling into the 'who wants a shot?' trap... be careful of this trap... 

On par with the 'who wants a shot?' trap is the 'here drink this...' pass if possible. However, avoidance can often lead to the withdrawal of the 'man card' membership status... This can be costly when it comes to attracting potential partners - critical if said target, has fallen into the 'here drink this...' trap.


The second category is the 'new seasonal worker...' - 'Newbies'.
The Newbie is often seen wondering around the village come mid November asking 'where is the village?' Another common trait of the Newbie is to group walk, looking for nesting sites - often the Newbie is forced to accept costly, yet inferior, nesting sites.

As a result of the inferior nesting sites, Newbies spend little time in the nest, often reverting to the local gathering centres "watering holes" this leaves them greatly exposed to the 'who wants a shot?' and 'here drink this' traps. 

Note:
These two traps often contain toxic elements, fortunately the physiology of the species allows a natural counter, often triggered by the 'staggering home' activity - Pizza tracks.  The 'nightly produced tracks' can often be seen, early morning, radiating from the watering holes...

The Male Migratory Beast.
Whether a 'returning' or 'newbie' can be identified with common physical attributes... more often than not it is skinny jeans, canvas pumps and facial hair... 

Note 2: The skinny jean can actually serve as an indicator to outsiders trying to gleam a knowledge, some jean waists are found around the the buttocks or even mid thigh of the species. No research has been completed but the finding are interesting-

• The question of "why is your trouser waist around your thigh?"
• If the answer is - "because it is comfortable." then you are dealing with a person on a different level of intelligence.
• If the answer is - "because I like them." Ditto.
• If the answer is - "because I cannot pull them up properly." Ditto
• Of course if the answer is "they fell down." Then in that instance you are dealing with Ditto.

Of course there seems to be a correlation between the height of the waist and the IQ of the wearer. But only to a certain level... jeans around the neck... 

And males outnumber the females... this often leads to territorial and testosterone driven conflicts... Unsurprisingly the these conflicts often occur post or during the 'who wants a shot' and 'here drink this' traps.

The Female.

The Female, as in many species tend to be much smarter than the males. Often securing reasonable nesting sites and engaging in positions to secure a continuous and ready supply of the "beer token", this allows them to participate in the nightly watering hole rituals. Often the Female is able to secure participation in the rituals without expending any of their tokens - we find the Males enabling this situation with the "Can I buy you a drink...?" approach.

Note 3.

The "Can I buy you a drink...?" is not the real question, it is "would you like to see my nest...?" Do not confuse with the male to male question "Hey, want a beer? This means 'hey, want a beer?'.

Finally, if the beasts fall into the various drinking traps they can find themselves in the morning going through this thought process...

• "Where am I...?"
• "Man my head hurts..."
• "...Who are you...!?"
• "Where are my clothes...?"
• "I am never going to drink again... Ever!" - Don't believe this, it is a lie.

Pitch

Sólido Properties lives, works, owns, and rents property, falls into drinking traps, and writes a crappy blog about living at Big White. If you need a nest... contact us through Facebook, our website or email

Big White is AWESOME! Sun Peaks...

Wait... What? Sun Peaks...?

We took the kids for a quick break and to look at another ski resort that is working on improving the summer program. Luckily for me the Mayor of Sun Peaks (Al Raine) granted an audience - I was hoping for a hour... I had 'call me Al' all morning...

Sun Peaks and Big White.
On paper Sun Peaks does not seem to be as strong as Big White. 

• Local population 98,000+ in 2011 vs Kelowna 180,000 in the Metro areas. 
• Flights - 1.44m travellers through Kelowna, 263k through Kamloops.
• Kelowna has international throughout North America, Kamloops - none.
• Travellers to Sun Peaks have to fly into Vancouver or Kelowna.
• Elevation - Big White - 2,315m, Sun Peaks 2,080m
• Skiable terrain - Big White resort area 7,355 acres. Sun Peaks, 3,678 acres.
• Vertical - Big White 777, Sun Peaks, 881
• Average annual snowfall - Big White 24.5ft, Sun Peaks, 18ft.
• Up hill lift capacity - Big White 28,000 p/h, Sun Peaks 12,000
• Accommodation - Big White 17,000 beds, Sun Peaks 9,000.

On paper, Sun Peaks is inferior... on paper...

But Sun Peaks is now a Resort Municipality.

Sun Peaks municipal will spend $1m+ on capital upgrades this year, in 2015 they plan to spend almost $4m - these funds are external to the lift operator (Sun Peaks Resort). 'Call me Al' estimates the municipal government receives in the region of $600k - $700k per annum in other funding - grants etc. Funds available to improve the resort and develop the summer and shoulder seasons. Health centre, community centre, new cooled skating rink, baseball diamond, tennis court upgrades... etc etc. 

In addition the resort and municipality provides-

• free concerts (Colin James...) 
• there is a farmers market every week
• Geocaching,
• mountain biking
• hiking trails with lift access
• sports and aquatic centre
• canoe, kayak, stand up paddle boarding, horse riding...
• Golf...

Restaurants are open, retain stores are open, lifts are open, tour buses are there every week (they stop off on their way to Jasper).

According to 'Call me' properties average roughly 33%+/- annual occupancy, the flag hotel - Delta 37%... Big White? Annual occupancy 22%+... for Big White to increase 22% to 33% is a 50% increase.  Big White has 17,000 beds with an average 23% occupancy - this equates to 4.78m vacant nights per year...

Granted Kamloops is pretty ugly (sorry Kamloops but it's true), Kelowna has a beautiful lake, numerous wineries, golf etc etc - if I was in Kamloops, I would escape to Sun Peaks...

But Big White is better... well I would say that, I don't call the blog Sun Peaks is awesome do I...?

How do we as a community catch up - Sun Peaks is pouring $100k's into developing all season and shoulder activities, every year. The Sun Peaks Tourism Association spends $2m+/- every year, $300k of this budget goes to exclusively to summer promotion.

Sun Peaks became a resort municipality three years ago. Three years ago their school enrolment for the year was 22, last year 38 and this year 65. Not that school enrolment is a direct critical factor but...

Can we compete, can we catch up?

Imagine, 50% more visitors, 50% more business revenue, 50% more jobs (Big White attracts 1300 seasonal staff every year)... what would 50% more revenue do for property values?

But that is only if we equal the performance of Sun Peaks... Big White has the location, infrastructure, and accessibility.... we shouldn't be competing with Sun Peaks, we should be leaving them for dust...

Incidentally, our regional district the Regional District of Kootney Boundary has a budget for $6.4m of recreational and cultural improvements for 2013...

And even though Big White property owners contribute 23% of the regional districts total  property tax revenue... $0 of this $6.4m is being spent at Big White... zero!

Big White is AWESOME! Cos the people 5 - The Carrs!

Last night (Thursday - yes I am behind) the Carrs hosted a night at the Globe to celebrate their acceptance and approval to be permanent residents of Canada!!! Woohoo! Well done guys... so exciting...

Unfortunately I missed the first couple hours as I was (speak with an aloof voice here) attending a world class squash clinic in town. Now just to clarify, I wasn't doing the world class stuff, the world No. 44 (world No.1 doubles) was doing that... I was doing the mediocre, over the hill, mid-life crisis, fat, bald guy thing... but we were on the same court...

And yes Manon, there are more than 45 squash players in the world, thank you very much! Just for you I will be eventually doing a blog on my 'love' of all things French... oh, wait a minute I can do it now-

Things I love about the French-

1. 
   

There, finished.

My comments won't cause any strikes I hope...

Anyhooo... The Carrs

Joy - mum extraordinaire. Mother to four other family members - all very nice but do need good mothering...

Charlie... Charlie is on my soccer team and now I think he kind of puts up with my presence. Last year Charlie started playing hockey with us... and I mention it because every time I was on the ice with Charlie, he would give me the dirtiest looks... ever... EVER! No, I am not joking, these looks could stop a charging gorilla at 50m. 

But Charlie also has the cutest smile, when he is happy... or when he is playing soccer and takes out a bigger player... funny... it's the evil grin... 

Quick joke... what do you call a gorilla with a machine gun?
"Sir"

Ned - I don't know Ned that well, he chats with my daughter quite a bit... Ned is on thin ice...

Lucy - Lucy is a bit of a bully to me, poking with straws, bits of wood, kicking and hitting. Eventually she has had enough and retaliates... of course this leads to tickling. But as the Bearestine bears will attest - there is such a thing as too much fun... so the tickling usually leads to (my) tears... occasionally Lucy pretends to feel bad... but... no apologies... ever!

What we need is more Sugar!

And then there is the eldest - Jaime. Jaime seemed to have consumed a little too much sugar on Thursday and found himself without a ride home... (mum had gone to bed...), and he seemed to lack the coordination to get himself back up the hill... funny how sugar can do that... and make you slur your words too...  I think it has something to do with that insulin stuff... Anyhooo, we dropped Jaime at home, and waited just to ensure he got in the door... 

Ha! mum had played a trick on him... she had moved house! Well not really, she had parked the car (slightly) in-front of another house. Combined with excessive amounts of sugar; this created confusion (more...?) in Jaime's head - the discussions on Alien civilizations had been taxing. He could not get the door codes to work on either the garage or the front door... 

...Of the wrong house... way, way too much sugar I think... we tried to help "Jaime, are you at the right house...?" And there were a couple of subtle clues - but obviously the big brass number at eye level, on the door... did not help... 'why is this three, not a four?'

Eventually of course Jaime found the right house and got in the door... the expectation was  loud choice words from mum... we decided not need to enjoy those, and we scurried off...

Welcome to Canada!

Big White is AWESOME! A bit on health, fitness and nutrition.

Calling all unfitties - yes, my (new) word of the day. 

unfitties - person who would rather be fitter - so... everyone...

He he he he!


Treadmill, eliptical, stationary bike... brilliant. I can go into a sweaty stinky room and enjoy the view of a wall... yay!

Benefits.

• You can get off when you want.
• They make time pass really slowly... good god mother - 4-minutes and I am watching the seconds tick by...
• Make great clothes horses.
• Occupy tons of space in you home.
• Er... oh burns some calories...

Actually when I lived in Bosnia and could not go outside without getting shot at, or blowing myself up on a land mine, I would sit on a stationary bike and read for a hour or so... So they can have their place... in the middle of a war torn country, where people try to kill you... not in Canada tho...

Outside...
Wait, what... where? Outside! It is the fresh air bit... the bit between the car and Tim Hortons... 

If you are reading this, you probably live at, have lived at, or are coming to Big White. So yes, outside. Big White is the perfect training ground - you don't need a treadmill, you need a pair of shoes and some comfortable clothes - you can do it, step outside... don't be afraid... and.... Go...!

There you are, wasn't that easy? 

Benefits-

• You cannot get off when you want.
• You forget about time.
• It is stunningly beautiful.
• Just walking will give you a great cardio work-out.
• Walking is considered one of the best pure fat burning exercises.
• You will build up muscle, and improve muscle tone.
• And it is free, yes Free, capital F if you want.
• Your dog will thank you... what no dog? Get one, or go borrow one, there are a bunch hanging around the Globe.

And it is available, (this free thing) all year round... perfect.

Yes it rains, yes it gets foggy, sometimes there is snow (get yak tracks, or snow shoes, or touring skis, snowboard... whatever...). You can do it. Get outside, your mum was right... she probably still is... even the Brussels sprouts bit... 

Quick note on muscle.

• Muscle burns energy, fat does not.
• Your muscle fibres break down when you exercise and build up again when you rest. They build up using protein - eat some protein, you will recover quicker.

Quick note on protein.

• Protein contains 4 calories per gram, fat is 9.
• Protein takes a significant time to be processed through your digestive system - you will stay satiated longer.
• This means your blood sugar levels will remain balanced - sugar rush cravings will diminish.

Carbohydrates - a quick note.

• Bad, bad, bad. Well not completely, except sugar and sugar mimickers - bread etc.
• Your digestive system will process sugar immediately.
• The sugar enters your blood stream waiting to be put to work.
• Without work the energy has to do something. Your body is brilliant at conserving energy - the excess will get stored... on your body... as...? Fat... Yes, well done, you knew the answer!
• And then... the energy is stored, the blood sugar levels drop, and you get hungry... again... quick eat a donut.

Food and Calories - quick note.

• An egg (protein and fats) has 70 calories, three for breakfast will keep you going until lunch.
• A bagel (carbs) has like 500 - hungry by 10...?
• Your little fancy coffee with da da da and da da da, oh, and whip cream please - 500+ calories. Black coffee - zero.

They say you are what you eat - want a million dollar body...? Don't eat at the dollar store...

Lastly - if you get sick, where will you live?

Come see me for free rants, raves, and lectures on protein etc.

Your loving conscience.
C.

Big White is AWESOME! Stuff...

Hey... winter... already? I never got the memo, what happened to Fall... did someone forget?

Snow at Big White this morning!!! Woohoo! Very exciting!

Not much I know, but it is coming... above is looking up the cliff, below is top of the saddle.

 And looking down towards the saddle and East Peak.

So what has been happening at Big White? I am run off my feet... I know, I will fill up the spaces with pretty pictures, then talk drivel again... no one will notice.

Big White got invaded by giant mushrooms.

Anyone know what kind it is?

And apparently there was a 'chocolate' incident at one of the Big White homes. People close by heard strange noises coming from the Isfan residence very early this morning...

And the rumour (I am just starting) - Scott Isfan has been summarily terminated by his 'lovely' wife Jenni... a lack of chocolate... obviously a very dangerous situation... 

This execution is inconvenient... who is going to help me coach the soccer Jenni? You are so selfish.

Anyway as a safety precaution I am now walking around with chocolate bars in my pockets, to fend off any predatory Jennies... Bears, cougars and Jennies -

People don't be fooled, you may think it is cute, and friendly 'hi, I have juice... would you like some little boy...? And then BAM!

Enough!!! Back to work...

Pitch - We look after stuff... etc etc... whatever.
Link

Big White is AWESOME! One Dog and his man pt 2.

So we start the hike, me carrying everything and him with probably nothing - I get over the unable to move thing... okay it is not so bad... We are in the woods, there are critters everywhere, the sun is shining through the trees, the air is as fresh as at Big White. It is a bit more humid cos of the ocean - but I don't mind, it makes my long flowing locks all curly... I show these off to baldy over there... regularly... Ha... Baldy!

So we walk for four hours... cos baldy is so slow... dude, pick up the pace... I can't wait to get home, food, cosy bed, ear scratching and belly rubs - excellent. So we stop at a beach and it is kind of late and numpty over there starts putting up a big orange thing... where is the Globe, where is my bed, where are my little luxuries... then he pulls out a sleeping bag... Wait, what...? We are sleeping here, on these rocks...? Okaaay... you have brought a thermal mat and sleeping bag for me... yes...?

No!!! wtf dude, WTF...! We are over, done, finito...! Dumb-ass.

So he goes to sleep and I am watching him... from my 'cosy' rocks... but he did feed me... so I let him live another day... actually it was pretty good - crunchy pad thai - yum!

The next day we are up bright and early, I am ready instantly - baldy has to take down his tent, roll up his mat, pack his sleeping bag, load up his back-pack - dude do you... oh, crunchy pad thai noodles again... yum!

And then we are off... up and down these hills, up and down, up and down... why? Even though I am carrying everything, baldy over there is sweating like a pig - ha! Baldy!

Eventually I smell a bear, but I ain't gonna say anything - you want the sleeping mat and bed? You can deal with the bear... man it is loud and stinky - chomping his food like there is no tomorrow "Om... nom.. nom... nom" Baldy does not hear him, does not smell him, does not see him until the bear is looking at him... up close, personal and er irritated... Ha! Baldy scurries away like a little critter... bet you wish you had some big teeth now eh... quick beat him off with your sleeping bag... Ha! dumb-ass... he pulls out a knife and starts to whistle - are you kidding me, like that is going to save you...

Okay, I figure baldy is gonna get himself hurt, so I deal with the situation - I give the bear my best 'look' and he is gone. And what thanks do I get? None... no, I don't like peanuts.

11 hours today - I could have done that in two... I decide to lead - sick of the view of baldy's butt, of course I have to keep coming back for him, waiting for him, scaring away the bears for him... We get to the next campsite and it is pretty cool - the beach is sand, not rocks - whose idea was the rocks anyway...? Baldy builds me a little campfire to keep warm, I have more crunchy noodles, the sand is soft... I am drifting away to the sound of the sea... Critters come in the middle of the night, chew on baldy's back pack - I explain the situation to them and they disappear - no thanks again...

Up... not as early, baldy does his packing thing, I go and cruise and mark, cruise and mark - I visit the next camp - of course they love me, it is my curly locks... they speak to baldy a bit and we are all off.

So this turns out to be the longest and most boring day, the best thing I can say about it... it ended, of course Baldy had to do two detours, why? Cos he is a Dumb-ass. Baldy carried my pack a bit... one km out of 52 - I saved your life dude... 'even' you think...? No, no, no...

We got to Port Renfrew and eventually back to the truck - soft cosy seat...? No pack...? No rocks... er yes please. And two giant pastrami sausages... let me just say I love pastrami sausage - they are like bacon in a wrap... bacon - I love bacon... oooh imagine pastrami wrapped in bacon... And cheese, I love cheese, cheese in pastrami in bacon...

We sleep in the truck, baldy looks uncomfortable - poor ickle baldy... try some rocks dude! And then we are on the ferry and back to Big White - I couldn't wait to get back to explain to the ferret how I captured a bear... all by myself...

Big White is AWESOME! One Dog and his Man...

Hiking the Juan de Fuca trail... with his best buddy...? Ha...?

Just because I tolerate his presence does not make him my Buddy, Master or Alpha... I am an independent dog... Yes, I do greet people all the time - just being social... and yes if I do sniff some butts it is just communication - "hey, how you doin', what did you have for dinner last night... ah dog food again... been traveling long...? Yes I caught your scent a couple of clicks back... did you see that damn squirrel...?" You know - water cooler stuff.

And he didn't 'ask' me to go on this 'adventure'. No, he dragged me from Luca's (my real buddy's bed) at death o'clock in the morning, bundled me in the car and kept me locked up for 11 hours whilst we were 'driving'. Does this guy not know when we travel around we mark our territory - we have to check things out, we have to 'cruise and mark man, cruise and mark!' Dumb-ass.

Okay so I did get to sit shotgun, and yes he brought me a cosy blankie to lie on, and okay we did stand at the front of the boat watching er nothing... he said he saw some killer whales but I don't believe him... I have a keen sense for all things that need chasing...

Burgers, yes he gave me half a burger, big deal. I could eat two without blinking, probably four on a good day - 'I am stomach of steel dog me'. Well unless I get into some garbage and eat something bad... then I become 'instant food to waste dog...' My casual acquaintance (owner...) usually gets mad at me if I become rapid food conversion dog... But what the hell dude, I am a dog, this is what dogs do... we eat stuff, edible, palatable (or not), or excessive... 

Hey, did I ever tell you about the time I ate that whole apple pie from Costco... er yum! It was massive, must of weighed 5 kgs. He left on the counter, it was in my territory... (well his, but when he is not there... I am dog, I am in command...) and if stuff is in my territory... Don't blame me, you left it out... Of course 5kgs was a bit much for me, so I returned the apple pie... but no, this was not good enough, there was still yelling and lots of 'bad dog'... Whatever...

Don't get me wrong, I love hiking, (I don't to the Miking thing - handle bars and the opposing thumbs is a bit of an issue...) we go up the mountain I chase the critters, we come down - go to Globe people love me... me, not him, me. Not once have I seen someone scratch his ears... eh?

So we get to the trail head and my casual acquaintance is putting a big pack on his back - what are you doing that for dude? 'Idiot' I thought, that will really slow you down - how are we gonna catch the critters? And then he pulls out another pack... and I get a bad feeling - what is going on? No...! don't do that... man... I cannot walk, I cannot 'cruise and mark' I cannot sit down, I cannot lie down, I cannot do my 'stuff' and I swear I am carrying half of his stuff... Dumb-ass.

A man and his dog Pt 2 - 'Om nom nom nom, Om nom n...'

Day Two.

Coffee...! No hot water, what do I do about getting my bean fix? I had brought this great upside downy thing that would brew filter coffee, and I had brought ground coffee - I even had milk and sugar...

Extreme situations call for men to dig deep and find inner strength... to find the solution, to do whatever it takes... to drink cold coffee... wasn't bad - wasn't Globe's, but I got my fix.

I was tired - going from a luxury king mattress to a thermal mat on rocks is a bit of a downgrade - even though I had been awake since 2:30am the previous day, slopey, rocky sleep was not ideal... This allowed me the luxury of enjoying waiting for first light from 4:30 am... it was delayed - six it arrived, who is in charge here?

Even though the next leg was 12km and the 'moderate' 8k the day before was slightly tiring ('please please god will this ever end...') I figured if I started early, and hiked for 10 hours doing the glorious 2km per hour, I could do the next 7km leg also... one foot in front of the other... and repeat...

So the dreamy image of backpacking is this, picturesque, tranquility, serenity, peace and beautiful scenic views...

The reality is probably closer to this...

I had set off and I am going along... my back pack probably weighs 450kg by this time and I have to lean way forward to balance myself out. I am listening to my glutes rebelling, looking at the wonderful view of my feet padding along at almost 2km per hour, and the straps on my pack are just squeaking in my ears. 


As I am padding along staring at the ground I notice this other noise in a very low tone, and it is just slowly registering in my mind - it is a James Earl Jones kind of tone "Om... nom.. nom.. nom.., Om... nom.. nom.. nom..." as I start to think to myself, what is this Om nom nom...? I look up, as I look up, the current "Om... nom.. n..." stops... and there is a black bear, in mid chew looking at me... he is in the bushes, but he is close, probably 7 feet close... And he is looking at me, kind of like the look your wife gives you when you have left your socks on the floor...

"Uh oh... er nice bear.. yes, don't worry about me... I'm just gonna go back... no please don't stop...  keep eating those berries... you don't need any extra protein... "...om nom nom..."

I quickly backed up... and scurried away... my buddy didn't even see him but I think he heard something... So I backed away probably 100 feet, I was quick too, probably got up to 3.5km per hour... maybe more... I got out my knife (cos that will help me against a cranky double duty Wolverine) and I made some noise - loud whistles... don't ask, I have no idea why I would think whistling is scary for a bear... and then I crept forward... 

And he/she was gone! Woohoo! Whistling worked... me man, scare off bear with stick and whistle... 

"Om nom nom nom..." I scurried away again...

The rest of day two was less dramatic, I saw some Orca whales playing in the ocean - they were there for about 15 minutes - that was pretty cool and I was in a great spot to see them.

You see the spot in the middle of the top left quarter? That is where the Killer Whales are no longer... they were there I promise - water spouts and everything...

And this was behind me - great spot for bathing my feet and filling up the water supply.

Anyhooo... I managed the 21k - it was after 7pm by that time - 11 hours, probably with 60 minutes of breaks... and I was consuming roughly a litre of water per hour... hard work but I was beginning to enjoy it, my body became accustomed to the weight, I was able to take in the beauty of nature instead of my ugly, muddy and very stinky boots - it was pretty cool.

So I pitched camp and this was just as the sun went down... pretty nice.

The site was all sand - luxury, the temp was perfect, cool breeze, not a cloud in the sky. I made a little camp fire, I ate my dinner... peanuts... which I had also had for breakfast and lunch - but an easy choice - eat or not eat... I figure I am burning close to 6 million calories a day... eating was the choice.

I hit the sack and was in la la land pretty quick...