Northern Travels

Here a new update. After travelling now for a couple of weeks in Cuba and Mexico, I start to get back into the real travellers vibe. I am totally adapted to the warm weather and I have totally lost track of time or days. I forgot what a pleasure it is to meet all these wonderful and inspiring people. Every day is a new adventure. Without making any plans you can live in the moment and enjoy everything that comes on your path. This trip definitely reminded me that I have to travel again in the future.

Back to Canada, The final trip

After my sister left I had only one more exam. It was weird to put an end to my minor in Canada. It reminded me a lot about my final exams in secondary school. Sitting in the gym, waiting to start on your final exam and realizing that this is the last test. When your studying you constantly work towards this moment and when it’s finally there it seems much sooner than expected. Suddenly you realize how time flies and that this is the end of another chapter, Minor in Canada.

I was planning to visit some Canadian friends after exams. It turned out that most of them were still busy and when I got invited to a final trip up North I couldn’t resist. These so called “Northern Travels” would be a quest to see the Northern Light and, more importantly, have a great time. The group existed from a now well known French friend: Clement, a Dutch girl Annick and a friend of her Björn. It was not the first trip together with Clement and Annick and we really became close friends during our time in Canada. Sharing meals, having drinks, playing squash, several road trips and much, much more. This would be our final trip and it will be a good one! I never met Björn but I was sure he would only improve the company.

Northern Travels

I didn’t do much research on the destination because I joined only last minute. The plan was to drive around Georgian Bay(the same way I drove back with Jo from Manatoulin Island) and stay in a cabin for 3 days on the St. Joseph Island, the second biggest fresh water island, located right next to it’s bigger brother Manatoulin. I knew it would be a long drive and I hoped we would have more luck with the roads than my journey from Montreal. Annick and Clement picked up the car so I could have a quick Skype session with my girlfriend. We started driving around 9 and had to pick up Björn first in the centre of Toronto. As I did several trips in the centre it was way easier to navigate. After a lot of traffic and a short stop in Toronto we started making our way north around 12. It would be at least another 8 hours of driving but there was a good vibe in the car. Björn turned out to be a great guy that had a good sense of humour and a lot of energy.

The road was much better compared to the journey from Montreal but it was still snowing along the way. This made the driving way more intensive so we switched between drivers. We had dinner along the way in a restaurant called “Dragonfly”. They were very committed to their name and there were thousands of wooden dragonflies hanging around, paintings of dragonflies and when the waiter came walking down with our burgers we all started laughing. The icon was burned in the bum of the burger in no other shape than, of course, the dragonfly.

After some good food we continued our way down the island and after another 2 hours of driving in the dark we finally arrived on the island and it didn’t take long before we found our cabin. It was located right on a lake and the host had set up candles on the path to our cabin which made it look very romantic. Very happy and tired we stepped into our new contemporary house. After a short drink we all fell asleep into something that could be compared with a coma.

The next day was very lazy and easy going. We walked to town and discovered the area a bit. Along the way we had plenty of snowball fights. It really felt like a holiday and the weather was perfect. A nice blue sky and a warm sun that made the cold temperature a bit more mild. There was a very sweet little town centre. We first walked to the dock and found a nice lighthouse. After walking back we got some food and drinks for our stay the coming days. We walked back to our house to drop off the food. I introduced Bjorn to a very local snowstorm that happened just to be at the cabin when he opened his jacket. This became a nice theme during the next couple of days. After the local snowstorm we continued our journey up the hill to the house from the host. We saw some deer trails in the snow along the way and I was immediately scanning the woods to find any sign of life. Unfortunately no animals along the way and also the host was not there when we knocked on the door. We just continued our way and walked through the woods that were all part of their property. It was a nice little hike and on our way back we saw there was someone at home. We introduced ourselves and were invited to come inside. The old barn that was transformed in a house was very pretty from the outside but when we stepped it was even prettier. Everything was made from wood and although the owners were not so happy with it, we were very amazed. Our host was a very friendly German couple, named Daniela and Detlev, that lived in Canada for over 20 years. We felt a good connection with them and it felt more like visiting family or friends than just hiring a cabin.

The next day we wanted to be a bit more active and took the car down to a park to go snowshoeing. Since I would only be in Canada for another two weeks I didn’t buy any good, water proof shoes. As a true mechanical engineer we found a solution by putting plastic bags around my feet and sealing them with duct tape. Nobody of our group had any experience with snowshoeing. It was an amazing experience. The bad thing about hiking in the snow is that you always have to follow a trail. With the snowshoeing you can go wherever you want to go. Bjorn took the lead and we started following a deer trail through the woods.  We saw some deer along the way from the car but I guess we made too much noise to see them while snowshoeing. We made our way to the shore and walked around the lake. Here we saw a huge boat cruising. You could feel the waves underneath the ice and we decided not to try and  come any closer to the boat. After about two hours we made our way back to the car and drove back to the cabin to get some lunch and to get ready for a cross country skiing tour.

I did not have any experience with the ccs but it was a lot of fun because everyone was struggling and every 10 minutes someone would see the snow from a bit different perspective. After laughing we usually helped each other back on the feet. We sometimes raced a small distance. This was so much fun. It felt like running and sliding in the same time. Daniela and Detlev took us to a small maple syrup factory. Here he showed us how the juice was sucked out of the tree and condensed into syrup. This was a modern version of what I’ve seen prior on Manatoulin Island, where they still collect buckets with the juice. Here all the trees were connected with tubes and the juice was simply sucked out of it. This did take away the natural look of the forest. After skiing back to the home of the house I felt tired. I could feel the morning walk in my legs and I started to develop blisters around my feet. We were invited to come inside but someone had to go back to get the cars. Everyone said they would join to go back. My Dutch proud was a bit stronger than my tired legs and I decided to join also. After 10 minutes I was already regretting my choice, haha. My feet really started to hurt and it was very hard to keep up with the others. It turned out that there was a lot of ice on my skates and this was why they were not sliding anymore. After it went better but the trip seemed way longer than I imagined. When it got dark and I couldn’t see the others I realized I really didn’t want to get stuck around here. In the far distance I saw some lights and finally I made it! We drove back to the house of  Daniela and Detlev and got invited inside to try some homemade beer and cider. We couldn’t resist to try it and it was very delicious. It all tasted so pure. We really became friends with the Daniela and Detlev and we got invited to come on a trip the next day. We would drive up to another park where they used to live to do a hike on snowshoes for about 4 hours. After they would cook us dinner. It sounded perfect and we were all very enthusiastic. I saw a picture on the wall of a small house covered in snow and asked about it. She told me that it was a sauna that they build at their old house. This reminded me of what I would like to do that trip so I asked her were the best place would be to visit a sauna on this island. She said I should follow her and she took me to the back of the house where the sauna was located. It was a wood fired Sauna and outside was a nice terrace where we could rinse after the sauna. We were welcome to use it after the hike of the next day. I couldn’t be happier. It was really like a dream, first a nice hike followed by a good sauna session and finish with some proper food. My smile didn’t disappear the following couple of days.

We got back to our own cabin and made some dinner and played some card games after. I learned them the Dutch game “boeren bridge” that is very famous in my beloved student house “RKSH JVB 71 B’vo!”. After a few games we had some interesting conversations with also a recap on the amazing experience in Canada. Bjorn actually studied in Quebec City which is located much more north than Toronto. This made a huge difference on a temperature base. The stories sounded more like what I was expecting it to be, before I came to Canada but I’m very glad that Waterloo was much less extreme. After a few beers, jagershots and whisky we decided to call it a day.

 Winter wonder land

After a good night of sleep I woke up and it was so nice to be in such a beautiful area. It was completely quiet and we really felt part of nature. We made some breakfast and prepared for the big hike. This time I was able to borrow some real winter boots from Detlev which made the entire trip much more enjoyable. The day was just perfect. A beautiful blue sky and a lot of fresh snow. Not to cold not to warm, just perfect JIt had not been very windy so there was still a lot of snow in the trees what transformed the forest in a true winter wonder land.

I was so happy that they took us up to the park because it was a real treasure to visit it. Only locals can recommend the best places or show you their favourite spots. We were surprised by how fit this German couple was and together with their niece we had an awesome group. The terrain was quite rough and every now and then someone would slip and make a nice “Touchdown”! I started counting everyone’s touchdowns and the final score. The niece definitely won with a good score of 9 touchdowns followed by Bjorn with 7. Annick and Clement both scored a good 6 touchdowns and I made 5. The German couple did pretty well with Detlev 2 and Daniela 4. We found several tracks of wolves, deer and a couple of other animals but we didn’t see any. After taking pictures at a very pretty viewpoint we had a little lunch break. It was quite warm to hike around in the snow but after sitting still for a few minutes the cold temperature started to kick in again. I was very happy when we decided to continue our journey. We made a nice loop around the mountain and in exactly 4 hours we came back to our cars. It was a very pretty hike and to be honest I didn’t mind to do another couple of hours. After we got back to our car it was time for a little toilet stop. We were joking that Annick should try to write her own name in the snow. When I started to cry out of my stomach I was still laughing about that joke and before I knew it I was writing my own name followed by a nice circle around it. I simply couldn’t resist. Haha. I was actually not keen on taking a picture but when I walked away I had to think about this thing that is always said at my surf club: “pics or it didn’t happen”. As I was very proud of this little piece of art I took my camera out and took a picture, haha.

After a drive back we took our clean clothes and towels up to get ready for a couple of good sauna sessions. We settled down and prepared some buckets with water to put outside for the after rinse. The first session was just a quick one and we only rinsed ourselves after the sauna. The second one we increased the heat and I imitated one of the “opgiet sessies” I once saw at a sauna park Elysium in Holland. It was much hotter and we decided to climb down to another terrace and cool ourselves with some snow. This was much better and we sat down on a couple of chairs outside before heading back in. On the last session Detlev joined. This was a little less hot session but very long because we started asking about his life and why he came here. It was so special and for about half an hour we were listening to his stories. He came down with some friends from Germany to build a log cabin in the woods. When a fire caught their tipi they were sleeping in he lost everything, including his passport. He decided to stay in Canada but after two years he was caught by immigrations and almost thrown out of Canada. He fought for a reminder of departure which would give him the ability to re-enter Canada. If he would be deported this would not be possible again. He booked the cheapest flight to Amsterdam and within a week he was back in Canada. In this time he already met his current wife and they actually married to be able to stay in Canada. A very inspiring story about a passionate man that followed his dream and we all had so much respect for this guy. When he was done with his story it was getting time to cool down. Clement was never a big fan of sauna’s and really begged to get out of it. We decided to climb down the terrace into a field of snow where we all made snow angels. This was another activity that I can now proudly cross from my bucket list: Making a snow angel, naked.

Everyone was starving and I felt like I was just floating. After that long hike we didn’t had much to eat so it was time to fill our stomach. During our sauna adventure the rooms slowly filled themselves with the delicious smell of some Chilli con Carne. We brought some beers but I first had to eat something in order not to get drunk within a zip or two. When they put some bread on the table and said we could start I simply couldn’t keep waiting patiently and started grinding food, haha. Every bite tasted like pure gold gliding down my stomach. We brought the Jagermeister. The couple was a big fan and the guy kept asking for another shot. It was almost like he was the young guy among us. It felt really like a big family which gave the cabin a much higher value. I never met any host with such a high level of hospitality.