Two Weeks on Vancouver Island

August 23, 2019

Two Weeks on Vancouver Island

We were lucky enough to line up a week-long work stay on Vancouver Island so we decided to spend two full weeks here before moving on to our next destination. Like most places we've been on this trip, we felt like the time we'd set aside would be an ample amount of time to explore. After all, most previous vacations were usually two weeks in total and some times covered 2 whole countries! But that's back when our life was constantly moving at a rapid pace and now seems like lightning speed to us. But it's all relative, right? Anyway, with one week spent doing a work stay we planned to spend the other exploring on our own with the hopes we would get some recommendations along the way. And that we did!

When we first arrived off the ferry from Vancouver, we had a couple nights before needing to be at our work stay but also quite a bit of driving to get to Sayward. Located on the north of the island, we really did need a couple days to get there so we weren’t driving straight through. We drove at a leisurely pace and day dreamed in anticipation about what our work away experience would be like. Being that this was our first time, we weren’t exactly sure what to expect. We had an idea based on Julie’s profile that we would be helping out with every day tasks around the property and that could vary from running errands, cooking, general labor, etc. Based on some of the reviews from previous work-awayers, we knew they had goats and to be honest, that is what really drew us in. I mean, c'mon... baby goats! Every single review for the place we were heading was overwhelmingly positive. Our hosts made it a point to mix work with pleasure for everyone that came through. And even the work seemed exciting. So as we day dreamed, we ran through all things we knew about our destination. We knew they ran a hostel/lodge for travelers and large groups. We knew their family lived on site. We knew they enjoyed canoeing and kayaking and hiking. We knew that Sayward was about an hour away from the next major town. We knew they had a garden and an in-progress goat barn. We knew they enjoyed cooking and welcomed work-awayers to cook family meals. We knew they were going to need help with all aspects of their life in Sayward. And we were pretty darn excited to experience it all.

We arrived at our work stay, Mt. Kusam View Lodge, to meet Julie and her family. We exchanged some awkward niceties and were introduced to everyone - including their pups Masha and Chinook. Eric, Julie’s husband, was working on the goat barn, along with one of the other work-awayers, and we very quickly joined them for our first work shift. They are building a cob structure to act as shelter for their 4 mama goats and 7 babies by recycling materials that they either already had or have ready access to around their 20 acre property. The process of mixing the mud and slapping it to the side of the barn was quite therapeutic actually and we grew to enjoy it quickly. After lunch that consisted of homemade bread, homemade goat cheese, and veggies from their garden, Eric & Julie took us out to the estuary with their two girls in the canoes where we went out to the bay and even saw a couple seals!

Cobb goat barn underway!

A little muddy.

Mud speckled faces.

Some of the babies!

Canoeing on Salmon River

More canoeing action shots

Our arrangement was to work about 3-4 hours a day in exchange for room and board. This meant access to a hot shower, toilet, wi-fi, and home cooked meals for the week! These things have grown to feel like luxuries to us since living in our van. It's amazing how even the simplest, most basic things that we used to take for granted have become exciting for us. What is life?

As the days went on we quickly branched out from mudding to other things like running errands, cooking a few of the family meals, and even milking goats! Zach has a dream to one day have some land, own some goats (despite his mother’s warning of how much they poop- acurate), and make goat cheese. So thank you Julie & Eric for giving Zach a crash course and setting him up for success to fulfill his dreams :)

Doing the shop.

Zach's roast chicken... delicious!

Fajita night.

Julie & Violet teaching Zach how to milk!

Not as easy as it looks!

Finally got it!

No day was the same. One morning, Julie came and grabbed us as we were getting ready to go mud up the barn and said, "We’re hiking today!" We spent the entire day on the Kusam Klimb and even attempted to summit the mountain. We didn’t do the entire thing, but drove up to a point where we would ultimately do about 8.5 miles round trip. The first half of the hike was a pretty steady climb until we reached a part that had ropes tied to trees and other anchors to help steady us because from there on out, it was incredibly steep. This is the point that we started to get worried about Miles. We usually carry him up steep parts of hikes, but at this point- neither of us had free hands. So Miles was carried up the rest of the mountain by Eric- he’s insane. After the ropes, we crossed and then climbed a super steep waterfall, followed by another steep rocky section, and then another steep section covered with adolescent trees. Oh and at this point- there was no trail, and Miles was still being carried. The next part was the summit and from what I could tell it was straight up loose gravel and I had reached my limit. So I stayed back with Miles. Everyone else attempted, but only Eric made it up to the top- twice! At this point, we had gotten to know the family well enough to understand how this was even physically possible for Eric. Ever heard of a tree planter? I hadn't. It is a profession I had no idea existed but makes absolute logical sense. After loggers come through and clear out blocks of trees, planters are brought in to plant new growth. Enter Eric. He's used to this sort of climb! He even claimed that carrying Miles was his training for next season. Ha!

Mid-steep section rest.

Miles on our way back down.

Happy to have been carried through the ruff spots!

Eric's endurance and lack of fear was only a glimpse of what we learned about the Olsens over the course of our week with them. They bought the lodge about 3 years ago and moved their family to Vancouver Island from Saskatchewan to run the business and live full time. Because Eric's planting job is seasonal and typically takes him throughout Alberta, B.C., and even on the island a few months out of the year, they figured this would be a great place to move because he can be a little closer to home. They've also done a lot of traveling themselves and really enjoy hosting travelers both as guests and as work-awayers at the lodge. They've even done a tandem bicycle trip from Washington, USA, down Hwy 1, through Baja MX, over to mainland MX, and all the way down to Guatemala. An almost identical route of where we will be over the next several months! They are truly interesting people and we are infinitely grateful to have had the we week we did with them. They've set the work-away bar high!

Aside from Julie, Eric, and their family, we were also able to get to know some of the other work-awayers that came through. We practiced Spanish with two of them, and geeked out about overlanding with the sweet family of four also traveling full time that we had worked along side during our time at the lodge. On one our last nights there were quite a few of us and we spent it by the fire swapping stories and laughing way too much. Best quote of the week (maybe ever): “This one time, at squirrel camp…” - Julie Olsen. Our first work-stay was really an all around wonderful experience. 10/10 would do again.

More babies! :)

After leaving our work-away family we spent the rest of the time exploring the western side of the Island before working our way back down south where we'll catch a ferry back to The States! A land where gas & booze are cheaper and Verizon data caps don't exist :) Here are some pics of some of the beautiful places we've explored on Vancouver Island.