After a month away (for me - 3 weeks for Jus) we finally got back to Galiano. In addition to the usual work around the property, we had some fun things lines up. My friend David has a boat and had booked a weekend at Montague Harbour with his family. They were coming up to our place for a BBQ on Saturday, then had offered to take us out on the boat on Sunday!
Update: I added a short video to Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-13GtD4bjyE
It was a beautiful sunset on Friday evening.
We took the ferry over on Friday evening, and honestly I was a bit nervous about the state of the place after a month away. As as I suspected, the grass on the lawn was…a little long. That was going to be a lot of work on Saturday.
But we had a beautiful evening to enjoy the sunset with a drink or two. We knew we had a busy day tomorrow, so Friday night was for relaxing.
Garden Update
For those that have been following along, I thought I would post a few photos with updates on the gardens. Sadly, it looks like we’re not going to get any fruit on our fruit trees. I don’t know if that’s the weather, or something else, but none of the flowers (and there were not a lot of those) turned into fruit. But the gardens are thriving, so that’s some consolation.
The orchard we’re going to let go a bit wild…
Saturday we needed to tackle the yard, ahead of David and family coming by for a BBQ. Much like the last time we were there, it took a good 3-4 hours to cut the long. I love my battery powered lawn mower, but it lasts about an hour, before it needs to be recharged. Justine tackled using the weed wacker to do the parts that I can’t get to with the mower, and we managed to wrangle the place back under control.
We’re in prime daisy and foxglove season, and our property has both in abundance. I thought I’d share a few pictures from different spots on the property.
There are some really big foxglove about.
After getting work done around the property on Saturday, we relaxed a bit, and then got ready for the BBQ. David and his family (wife Viv, son Jack, daughters Kate and Ali and Ali’s finance Ben). Our neighbors Dave and Tova also swung by to hang out. We had a great time, had some burgers and salads and a few drinks, and had a great time hanging out.
Sunday, we had a bit of leisurely start to the day, before heading down to Montague to meet up with David and his crw for our day of boating. Before we left, we had some goldfinches settle into the thistles. I guess that’s one reason not to cut them all down…
We met David and his family at their boat in Montague Harbour. The plan was to go out to Wallace Island, a short cruise north from Montague, as it has a protected harbour and some hiking trails. It was a beautiful, calm day and was finally warm!
The one blue star was where we started at Montague; Wallace Island is marked with the red pin; I added another blue star for roughly where our cottage is on Galiano.
The boat ride did not take any time at all - maybe an hour total, and we were pulling into the harbour on the west side of Wallace Island. The island had been privately owned in the past, and while a small piece of it still is, most has been added to the Gulf Island National Parks.
The view as we pulled into the harbor.
Dave’s boat at the dock at Wallace Island
An old sign (we think it’s been redone a few times) from when the island was a camp. Many of these things do not exist any longer.
The dock was surprisingly not very busy. On such a beautiful day, we expected it to be packed with boats. But it was easy to get a spot at the dock, and get sorted for exploring the island. We had decide to do a quick hike to the south end, from where we were docked. The hike to the north end is quite a bit longer.
Before heading out on the main path, we headed over to where the remains of the old camp are. It wasn’t far - a couple hundred meters at most - and we came to the clearing with the cabins. There are a couple of signs explaining the history of the island, the camp that used to be there, and how it transitioned to the park. It’s pretty good, and gave a real sense of the history of the place.
We spent a little bit of time reading the signage and having a look in the old cabins. Most are gone, but a couple still remain in place.
The cabins were in the small clearing you could see from the boat dock.
Just off the end of the dock and ready to head out.
One of the big, old (and very interesting arbutus trees along the path.
The more interesting of the remaining cabins is just a shell. But local boaters have been adding homemade signs indicating their stops on Wallace Island. I saw signs going back to 1996, but there may be older ones - I didn’t look that hard. Many actually had multiple dates, as people returned and updated their original signs. It is really quite cool.
As David’s family had all been here before, they new some of the cool things left on the island to check out. Not far beyond the cabin’s was an old truck that had been abandoned. It made for a great subject.
After checking out the old truck and taking some pics, we headed back towards the dock, and then on towards the south end of the island.
The boat was still there as we passed by…
Heading off down the path into the woods at the south end.
The path to the south end led up and through the woods, and there was a ton of bird life in the forest. I didn’t get any pictures of any of them, but the bird app did identify a couple of different types of warblers. It’s pretty great how much it can identify that you cannot see. The path was a bit rough, but eventually lead through to the rocky point, and some amazing views.
The south end has two separate points. We were on one, looking across to the other.
As with many of the gulf islands, there’s lots of sandstone, which leads to many cool nooks and crannies to explore.
Looking north up the outside (east side) of the island.
A little map of our hike on Wallace Island.
At the south point, some of us explored the rocks and shoreline, while others chilled out in the shade. It was quite a warm day (finally) and perfect for doing either!
The southern tip of the island!
After a while, it was time to head back. The hike back was pretty quick, but it was warm and time for a break. We made some lunch and chilled out, then decided it was time for a swim. The dock had a good ladder, so it made it ideal for getting back out. And thankfully the dock was there to dive in from, or I would never have gotten in - the water was freezing! Still, with the heat of the day it made it worthwhile to dive in a few times, and eventually it was manageable (refreshing…). I can’t believe that it took us until the end of June to get into the water - it’s been such a weird year.
David has a couple of stand up paddle boards on the boat, so Justine decided to take one out…
We hung out a while longer, swimming and enjoying the afternoon sun. But sadly, we eventually had to pack up the boat and head back to Montague Harbor. The cruise back was a bit more eventful as the water was full of debris, including some pretty big deadheads (logs floating in the water) that could have ended our day badly. But all was good and it was a nice cruise home. I think we were all pleasantly tired from a great day on the water - thanks David!
Heading back into Montague
After getting back, tied off at the dock and getting ourselves organized, we all headed over to the commercial harbour for dinner at the Crane and Robin pub. This is one of our favorite places to eat on the island, and we had a great dinner out on the patio. An excellent ending to a great day and weekend.
The Crane and Robin