10/08/2012 – Return to London.

I hardly got any sleep on the plane from Vancouver not only did I have an uncomfortable seat that didnt recline but the young child behind me use the touchscreen mounted on the rear of my seat brutally. I even took some Melatonin pills that really didnt knock me out but rather made me drowsy. I can sleep with no issues on bumpy forestry roads but a no turbulence flight I cant.
I arrived in London Gatwick where I had to make my way to London center via train, at first the woman at the ticket office told me that I couldnt take my bike on the train during rush hour but she spoke to the manager and he said it was fine but only if I could get it on board and that I get off at London bridge (nowhere near Notting Hill Gate which is where I needed to be). I tried asking for a discount because I wouldnt be taking the train all the way into the city but the woman wasnt impressed. It was 10 pounds for the 35 minute train journey! Now, thats ridiculous – I should have just cycled my way into London.
Getting used to cycling on the left hand side of the road, lost in the crazy network of tiny roads in the city with double decker buses honking and pushing on my backside was a scary ordeal. I did manage to make it to the Cooks place unscathed.
It was great seeing Leslie and Jeremy as it has been 3 years since I was last in london and more than grateful I had a place to stay with them as the hostels are not only expensive but also fully booked because of the Olympics.
I have a few days in London before I go to Germany for Summerbreeze festival – something im very excited about because I get to see Nash (a buddy from home I travelled with festival hopping many years ago).

01/08/2012 – 09/08/2012. Treeplanting done deed and preparation for cycling Europe!

Thats it, thats all for this season of planting. It was a good three months with some fantastic people but like always towards the end I get itchy feet and need to get away from the people I work constantly with.
I made a decent amount of cash and was even helped out by the supervisor working under the table over the last few days so that I could claim EI money for 2 weeks before leaving to Europe.
I left camp with Andre a day before the last day because I really needed to get out of there and organize myself before my departure date, Andre drove me all the way to Kelowna over 2 days where we stopped in Nelson for the night. Andre who cherishes his van and never lets anyone come close to the steering wheel even let me drive it for a few hours as he napped on his bed in the back, it was unsual to drive his van not only because it was so tall but didnt feel as stable as the small 4 cylinder cars I often zip around in.
anyways we arrived in Kelowna in the summer heat where we knocked back a few beers on the waterfront starring at the gorgeous half naked women strolling by. Its certainly the 3 months in the bush well away from civilization that gives you the what we call “bush goggles” this and along with some alcohol make any woman stunners in our eyes, so coming here to kelowna during a festival where 90 percent of the woman have near perfect bodies, Andre and I were in awe.
We had a few more beers in the hostel before saying my farewells to Andre who continued to Olivia to see his misses meanwhile I continued to drink with people in the hostel, it was a drunken night and for the majority of it I had nowhere to sleep but thankfully I managed to get a hold of Missy and Ronny where I was able to literally crash on his floor... I was so smashed.
I had just 2 nights in Kelowna and suprisingly everything worked out well, having to sort out my gear for my next trip, visit some friends and nurse the hangover I put myself in from the previous night I had out at the hostel.
I even finally got the prints I orders at a sign printing shop of my favourite picture I have ever taken which is a shot of a cab in New York. I only ordered one 4 months before but having chatted my way into getting a discount with the staff. I really didnt mind it taking that long as they charged me next to nothing and like always I was grateful. One of the prints I gave to Missy and the other I gave to Jackie who was over the moon about it, she just loved it, im glad too because she helped me getting a lift into Vancouver where my flight was departing from and also where my bicycle was stored.
Jackie owns a small trucking company with her husband and sorted me out with a ride to the outskirts of the city where I took a series of buses and trains to get to Rose's place to use the little time I have left to sort out my bicycle and some of the issues I have with it.
I accomplished as much as I could before I set off and even had time to catch up with Arielle who I planted with and Amy who I met in Columbia the first time I was there. Being stressed out over the past week worrying about not getting all my shit together I managed to cook dinner for Amy at her place where I phased out of the stressful mindset I had been in for the past week. Amy and I had a get time chatting and drinking booze to a point where I couldnt cycle back to Roses... well, thats what I told Amy, I have been much more wasted and cycle many kilometers not remembering in the morning. I just wanted an excuse to spend the night. Althogh nothing happened I still had a fantastic night with this girl who see's life much like I do. I hope to see her sometime in the near future.
I called the airline who I was flying with a day before my flight to inquire about my bicycle being thrown aboard the airplane where I found out something very interesting. My flight had been changed from 8:00pm to 1:30pm. Good thing I called otherwise I might have missed my flight. They did send me an email but I musty have missed it amongst all the notifications as messages I get from facebook. Well, at least I made the flight.
Also what was great was running into Tony who I worked with up at Big White many years ago and who I aslo bumped into in Revelstoke a couple of months ago. He was also on the same flight.
9 months off work and I know this is going to be an epic adventure.
Europe here I come!

12/07/2012 to 16/07/2012 - 4 day break between contracts.

I had a choice to either join most of the crew to a bunch of hot springs along the route to our next contract in Alberta or join our Veteran planter JF to Olivia, BC where I could meet up with Malou, a dutch friend I met in Columbia roughly a year and a half ago when I was there the first time.
Having worked with my crew for the past few months and where sometimes the tension between the crew members could be cut with a knife I decided to go with JF.
We left camp in horsefly after finishing the half day of work and drove for 6 hours to southern Bc where I spent the night in the caravan outside his place being eaten alive by the swarm of mosquitos that resided inside the portable home.
The following day I hitchhiked to Keremeos through Osoyoos that was easy enough having gotten a ride from 2 young girls heading west. Now I wasn't entirely sure where i could find Malou in this small town where I cycled through a few months before when traveling to Vancouver but persisted in searching for her under the hot sun.
I can honestly say that I met half the town asking many people where the cherry pickets hang out and if they knew of or heard of a Dutch girl named Malou.
I even joined a woman who worked in a print shop and her son (Cindy and Blair) for lunch telling them my travel stories and having a laugh.
Eventually after 5 hours of searching for Malou I found her giving her a nice surprise. I ended up buying some beer and taking it down to the river and having a few with her and her friend who she works with cherry picking.
Later we returned to the orchard where she works where I met everyone else she works with.
Somehow i also found out that Marie, a girl I worked treeplanting with earlier in the season was in town also so the following day I went to surprise her too.
I can honestly my time in keremeos was the best time I've had since starting planting and having to leave after sub a short stay was upsetting.
If any of you guys are reading this you should know that you are all awesome, this includes everyone I met in town too.
I had to hitchhike back to olivia to join JF to my ride to Alberta for the remaining weeks of planting. It took quite a while to get out of Keremeos but staying persistent with your thumb out is all you can do. The three rides I got were interesting to say the least as the first one was only for 5 minutes with 3 people in a van where one guy was cradling a weed plant, second with a British vegan who I told he needed to eat meat as he did not look healthy just pale and close to anorexic and
he third was with an east indian father and son where the driver was more so looking at me in the rear seat than a the road. Very frightening.
Another thing to mention is that the route JF and I drove over the Canadian Rockies was also the route I cycled too, so it was quite neat to reminisce for the 8 hour car ride hat took me almost 2 weeks to cycle.

Treeplanting 2012

 

I didnt write anything while treeplanting this season so I just put up a selection of photo’s over the three months i was working.

This season I planted 115,330 trees over 72 work days and now after 4 years of this i have put close to HALF A MILLION trees in the ground.

17/04/2012 to 20/04/2012 - Victoria, Vancouver island.

Ahhh, more drunken times. For the first night I stayed at the ocean island hostel where I met a bunch of people - like always.
I and my wallet were both thankful that I met this kinda airheaded girl named Victoria who said I could stay with her for a couple of nights. She seemed a little crazy in a way that made me feel like she wasnt all there. Regardless though, I managed to get two free nights in Victoria (I meant the city, not this girl)
I really didn't get to do much around Victoria other than wander around one of the parks and check out the beach which is littered with drift wood.
The weather held out for the most part and we got periods of sunshine.
On my third day in the city I went out to the bars again where I managed to score myself a whole bunch of free things - I saw it as a parting gift with an exception that I'll get to later.
In the morning of the second day when checking out where Victoria worked (as a cook - although her ability cooking was worse than bad) I met a Safa (south African) who was drinking at the bar, he owned a painting business and didn't mind offering Victoria and I many drinks. He also offered me a job if my knee doesnt hold up for tree planting this season, I may take him up on the offer if the job included me drinking for free. Anyway, victoria and I went back to hers where I met her hippy friends she lived with... I'm pretty sure I have written in this journal explaining my thoughts on hippies. I'm not going to go into it again but I have a strong dislike to them and their ways for that matter but only when they push their beliefs onto me. After an interesting or should i say uninteresting dinner that was unorganized because victoria didn't take my advice for anything and also believing cooking with water was a good substitute for oil made the food taste like shit.
Out of politeness and hunger I finished my bowl.
We went out after to a few bars starting off at the bar in the hostel and ended in a fancier one down the street where I met some guys who offered me tequila shots but only because one of them who was 7 foot guy and in the navy wasa little too interested in me. On more than one occasion I had to slip out of his bear hugs to get away, I'm glad there were no drugs in the shots this would have made the night much worse.
Getting out of the bar Victoria, one of her friends and I made our way back home with a quick stop off at mcdonalds for some greasy food, I bought the others food and I received a special free gift, something that can only be asked after 2am, after a heavy night of drinking and weighing in at 1/2 a kilo it is the McFrankenstein - a concoction of ingredients and a collection of meats from the skunkworks of the kitchen thrown together to make a heart attack of a burger.
Mmmmmmmm delicious.
I first asked of one of these a couple of years ago on Canada day and the manager on both the occasions made it for me, but this time I got it for free.
Happy days. All in all a great night also as I didn't get assed raped by the crazy Navy dude.
I left victoria and Victoria on the 20th, it would have been good to stay longer but I really had to head back to Vancouver and prepare myself for planting in a week.

Things on Vancouver Island.