It was no Karaoke hangover, though while I munched down my second helping of overpriced airport breakfast Gyoza I decided that maybe drinking till sunrise was probably a bad decisionā¦
The announcement came over the speakers that my flight to Shanghai was to be once more delayed, though at this point I was so deep into a Badge winning tournament on my Pocket Morty game I was actually thankful. Not to mention that anytime spent on the Japan side, would eat into my 15 hour stop over in Shanghai. I knew that I had a job vaguely lined up for myself in Canadaā¦ I was to be trying my hand at tree planting for the Spring while David was on his own adventure back in Okinawa.
There wasnāt a whole lot to report from the 15 hours in Shanghai except for an interesting man called Ryan who had plenty of Valium, to Lewis who had an amazing pallet for foreign beers, which luckily were in no short supply, either way our stories all ended very similarly we all needed a shower and we were all last to board our respective flights. When I landed in Canada I knew I had only a few thousand Japanese Yen and very, very limited knowledge of Canadaā¦ there were a lot of blanks.
Through the help of more than a few locals I managed to find my way to the Greyhound station at no great personal cost (Greyhound busses are basically your only other option outside of flying for travelling around Canada). Kaitlyn a fellow traveler and vagrant returning home shared her smokes and a fewĀ beers in the adjacent park while we waited for the bus to arrive. I Ā had decided that the cost of a ticket to Williams Lake was well out of my operating budget, not to mention its wasnāt leaving until 8pm, some 9 hours away, so I decided toĀ try to sneak on to just get out of the metro area of Vancouver. I should mention for the sake of context, that I had only one day to make it from Vancouver to Williams Lake, some 600kms away without any local currency or the luxury of a motorbike.
As I convinced the security guard that it was indeed my ticket he had just checked (definitely wasnāt) I reflected how the trip had definitely changed gearsā¦ I was now further away from the end target, Mongolia, then ever before, I also found myself without a bike and with out my best mate. As I sunk back into my seat on the Greyhound the heat from the engine warmed my back, the beers had warmed my spirits and while I still had very little idea about what I was doing I enjoyed some good conversation with Kaitlyn. There was definitely a degree of calm about being back in a country where English was the predominate language. While the busĀ moved slowly down what turns out to be the only highway in Canada (South Park wasnāt lying), I learned much about Canadaās reforestation industry and Ā its apparent lack of public transport. This bus was to be terminating in a town called Chiliwack, and from there I had decided to rely on the kindness of others and hitch the rest of the way to Williams Lake.
In Chiliwack, I waited an hour before the first car stopped, I learned more about BC in the next hour or so as we made for the town of Hope, Ā The driver (whose name escapes me) was a former highschool teacher, and had visited Australia many moons ago speaking highly of the Gold Coast, clearly highlighting that he had never spent any real-time there. As he left me on the side of the hwy just outside of Hope, I felt confident that Iād not only made the right choice in hitching, but also that Iād be safely in the bustling metropolis of Williams Lakes before my bus was even to leave Van. That thought remained with meā¦ for the first hour, though by the second it was safe to say that I was getting a little antsy, cold and remembering my last piece of food was from a shyster handing out doughnuts; hungry. As the light began to fade I layered up and contemplated setting up camp, as a huge highway truck pulls up about 100 metres down the road.
The gentlemanās name was David, and he was the best person, someone in my situation, could ever hope for. His route was direct into Williams Lake, he also knew of a homeless shelter where a vagrant like me could rest his head and make a phone call in the morning to get a ride into work. We spent the rest of the night chatting about his three daughters, his whirlwind trip to Australia (of course for a lady) and his plans to move south to do an eco-build where he could spend the rest of his time raising his girls. On several occasions since then I made attempts to leave David with my email address though unfortunately heās one of the many people who I will probably never have the pleasure to meet again. To David and his family I wish you all the best.
On very little sleep I setup a bank account the following morning, then spent the day waiting out front of the grocery store hoping to spot one of the company trucks for a ride up to the camp. Tree planting was an experience to say the least, if Iām being honest I had a pretty rough old-time. Basically you spend your days in the bush, planting trees for 12 hours a day. Itās a unique job because your solution to every problem is to plant trees; having a bad day? plant more trees; Good day? plant more trees.
Itās safe to say that I was a super low priority for the company, which is common for any Rookie though I suspectĀ being a proper foreigner I formed a new bottom rung. I lost a lot of time walking from piece to piece and waiting for trees pretty much every day (and delays in any piece work is never welcome) coupled with frequent threats of being fired and it takingĀ the company the better part of three months to pay me (which as it turned out was a shared mistake by me and the company). Those problems aside (and they did bring me down) I made some great friends, the food was amazing (thanks Mandy! and Melissa), I met a very pretty girl and saw some parts of Canada that very few people get to see. All in all it was bittersweet but Iāll be back to do it againā¦ which probably makes me a masochist.
During those four months David was to join me in Canada though worked for a smaller planting company, we werent to be face to face for another two months or so still. After four months of planting, I left the company one contract early with a small crew of mates, our plan was to buy a car and drop all the people off one at a time, giving me the opportunity to see parts of Canada that I guess are just more āon the mapā. Unfortunately a few of us were pushed for time making it not my ideal style of road trip though given the money I had made it was probably all for the best. Buying the car in Edmonton, we made for a quick escape so one of the lads could make his friendās wedding. Some two or three days later we were back in BC on Vancouver Island, another gorgeous part of the world, driving all the way out to Tofino, largely for the purpose of how cool I thought it would look on a world map for me, as from there weād be driving across the country (which is really, really big) basically all the way to Toronto, Ontario tracing a straight-ish line along the Southern boarder with USA, hitting almost every boutique brewery on the way. Meanwhile around the time we left the Island David was getting his act together and buying a new motorcycle in Prince George heading for Oliva to try his had a more than a few odd jobs from tomatoes to grapes with the occasional bit of roofing for good measure.
All this would eventually lead me to working in one of the most beautiful places in the world, the Algonquin Park. Canada has held a lot of firsts for me, though this was one of the most amazing experiences to date, the park is one of the largest lake networks in the world. Also here I traded in the soccer mum car for my first ever hardtail, back on two wheels and being employed after a month on the road, (Iād spent about two weeks in a university townā¦ aaaand nah) I was definitely in back in my element. Being from Australia, Iāve had very few opportunities to go canoeing, there I was able to experience what I think is something quintessentially Canadian, from cottage parties, to watching the leaves change during the fall and working with the most welcoming, lovely bunch of humans Iāve met since being in North America.
At this point youāre still about two months behind. Davidās birthday was on the 25th of September and unfortunately I was unable to be there to celebrate it. Weāre hoping to reunite briefly around my birthday and then hit the ground at some point in the new year.
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Oliver, BC
Shovelinā n Paddlinā It was no Karaoke hangover, though while I munched down my second helping of overpriced airport breakfast Gyoza I decided that maybe drinking till sunrise was probably a bad decision...
