I think I have found the perfect volunteer opportunity, if they will take me on. Tourism Vancouver recruits volunteers to serve as Greeters/Visitor Counsellors. As long as I can get my head around the sales aspect of it (which has always been a bugbear of mine – I like to tell people of all the great things to see and do in Vancouver and BC regardless of if the particular company/tour operator/hotel is paying for us to promote them), I think I’d be perfect at it. I love meeting people from all different backgrounds, I love showing off Vancouver, I love helping people to enjoy themselves and I’m very good at researching questions people ask of me (in fact I’m far better at that than any of the Visitor Counsellors I’ve ever met in this country).

If you are a successful applicant you go through some serious training and orientation:

“All volunteers are required to complete a mandatory 3-day provincial certification training program called Tourism Visitor Information Counsellor training.

During this training, volunteers receive an introduction to Tourism Vancouver’s customer service expectations, a review of a variety of travel counseling tools, and an orientation to the various aspects of the visitor centres. Following this classroom style training volunteers receive additional on-site orientation as well as 1-day Superhost training. After the completion of 40 hours of on-site counseling experience volunteers receive a performance evaluation which is the final step in completing the requirements of Tourism Visitor Information Counsellor Certification.

In addition to the initial training, in-house workshops and member product familiarization tours are organized as part of Tourism Vancouver’s commitment to on-going training and product knowledge development.“

The only problem is that because they spend so much time training you, you need you to commit for 4 hours a week for a minimum of a year, which sounds very doable but when you are working full-time that means you have 4 hours sheared off your weekend every single week, making it extremely difficult to go away for the weekend and explore! I’m going to have to contact them to see if there are any options for me to do evening shifts instead. I thoroughly doubt it, though, so maybe Saturday mornings are doable – if I can get out by 12.30 then I haven’t lost that much of the weekend and can still go on camping trips etc.

Funnily enough it was in the place that had absolutely nothing to do that I had probably the best day. We had breakfast in Port McNeill and went down to the ferry terminal thinking that we would go to Alert Bay, but the next ferry was to Sointula on Malcolm Island instead.

Sointula is a pretty small, originally Finnish, settlement (Sointula is Finnish for “Place of Harmony”) on Malcolm Island. The island is quite big, but we didn’t have a car in order to explore any further. If we had have done we would have headed to the North coast to do the Beautiful Bay Trail which would have meant a day’s worth of hiking.

As it was, we just walked up the pebble beach one way doing a bit of beachcombing (I found a nice bit of china) and then sat there for quite a while just taking in the nice view and the sun. Then we got onto the road and walked back to the ferry terminal.

From the fourth day we enjoyed ourselves so much more. We spent a day driving north on the island highway – such wonderful wilderness scenery even though it was overcast; miles and miles of nothing but trees and mountains and road, not even a little settlement. Sayward is the first village you come across and so that is where we got out of the car, stretched our legs and had a coffee in the Cable House Café – an attractive little place whose walls are covered completely in used logging cable. On leaving the cafe we admired the many rusted metal sculptures outside of the cafe and an interesting modern metal totem pole.

I breathed in huge lungfuls of rural air smelling of evergreen trees and wood smoke and I felt so relaxed and happy. For a special moment there I almost thought that I would never leave.

The next day we did that drive all over again as we left Campbell River to base ourselves in Port McNeill for 4 nights. The weather brightened up considerably and so all the mountains were on full view, which was fantastic. We got to Port McNeill too early to check into our B&B so we carried on to Port Hardy for a quick look and a quick lunch. The place seemed OK but lacking a certain something – I can’t quite put my finger on it. There seemed to be a lot of unemployed people milling about too so I guess times are hard up there. Still, it was an attractive place to sit and have a sandwich overlooking the sea.

I always like to go away somewhere for my birthday in May. This year we’d decided to go to Northern Vancouver Island, largely because earlier in the year we had planned to buy a house there. This plan came about for 2 reasons: 1) we saw a Wings Over Canada episode where John Lovelace was shown lots of properties in and around Port McNeill and we were fascinated by the beauty of the area; 2) we really would like to own a house again one day so we were looking at places where we could actually still afford a house, with the view of renting it out until we were ready to retire there.

By the time May came around we had already decided against the house idea, so we just concetrated on having a good vacation. It didn’t get off to a particularly great start, but got better as it went on.

We stayed in Campbell River for 5 nights, from which we drove great distances because we didn’t actually like the town very much (it was too sprawling for my taste). The self-catering apartment we stayed in, Wellcome Inn, was actually really lovely and massive – a bargain at $95 a night. The bathroom was the size of our apartment’s living room/dining room/kitchen combined, and we enjoyed lounging in the double bath each evening with candles and music and wine.

We went to Elk Falls Provincial Park just outside of Campbell River on Highway 28 and hiked a trail that followed the river for a few Km and ended at Elk Falls and Moose Falls – nice, if unspectacular, waterfalls.

Later that day we drove the entirity of scenic Highway 28 west to Gold River – a wonderful setting for a town, but a terrible town for the setting in that it seemed to have no pulse and no soul. We will be staying there for 2 nights during our honeymoon as a base from which to explore Strathcona Provincial Park, so maybe we’ll see the soul of the town then. The highlight of Gold River was driving down to the edge of Nootka Sound and chatting to the Air Nootka pilot who convinced us to come back and do a scenic flight with him in July.

We’ve talked for a while now about getting a tent and trying out camping. Three things have put me off the idea in recent years:

1. No places that we’d really like to camp – This was rectified as soon as we moved to Canada and now there is no shortage of places that we’d like to go.
2. No shower – this bothers me mainly because of my hair. I’m not at all vain, but my hair gets very greasy after 24 hours and so it needs to be washed every day. It also gets extremely messy and sticky outy after a night’s sleep which I can’t combat without water and a brush. My hair also looks terrible if I leave it to dry naturally. All those things add up to the fact that if I go camping for a couple of days I am guaranteed to look a lot rougher than everybody else who has camped with me and that has always made me wary. However, I think this could be rectified by the use of a good hat.
3. I am a very light sleeper - I find it hard to get comfortable even in a bed (my SO mentions the words “princess” and “pea” in a sentence together fairly often). I also frequently have to use earplugs to block out noises. I’m not sure it is a good idea to use earplugs while camping since it might be useful to hear the bear coming to ransack my tent. As for the comfort factor – I sometimes find a contained space, such as a sofa, more comfortable than a bed so, who knows, maybe a camp bed will turn out to be blissful for me.

Koeye Lodge is the type of place that really makes me want to get involved in eco-tourism. The primary function of the place is to reconnect the local First Nations (Heiltsuk) youth with their homeland, getting them interested in their own heritage and educating them about the ecology of the area so that they can become the environmental stewards of the future – forever protecting their unique ecosystem from development and/or destruction.

To support this they operate a lodge and offer non-profit all-inclusive itineraries to folks from all over the world. Of course the extra bit of money helps but the main objective is that the Heiltsuk youth get a taste of helping to run an eco-tourism business (they cook the food, help with the website, lead some of the tours etc etc) and also get to interact with people from all different walks of life, and so learn something from each and every visitor.

I love the idea of this place and I really want to visit it and see for myself how it is working. We can’t go this year as it is our honeymoon, and next year we probably won’t have enough holiday as we have to go back to the UK for 2 weeks. However in 2010 it might be possible to go for a 5 night, 4 day trip and experience everything on their sample itinerary, then maybe stay around for a few days longer and do some volunteer work with them. I know that this year they are taking on lots of international volunteers to help them build the new Feast house and to help out at the Science Camp. Maybe in future years they will need volunteers to help with conservation projects in the area – who knows? It just seems like a very special and unique place, and something I feel I’d like to be a part of for a little while.

Eco-tourism/adventure tourism is a relatively new field and at the moment all the wilderness lodges out there seem to focus on providing luxurious surroundings and offering insanely expensive packaged activities, such as heli-hiking, that the average Joe just cannot realistically afford. Adventure tourism seems to be a world only for the rich and I’d like to see that change, and for more wallet-friendly wilderness lodges to exist for the curious, but cash-strapped traveller. I understand that the operating costs of a wilderness lodge are probably immense and that is why most of them charge so much, but places like Koeye Lodge show that it is possible to provide a more flexible pricing structure by offering up a mutually beneficial arrangement for owner and traveller.

We are getting married in 5 weeks and because neither of us has had a proper long vacation since immigrating to Canada (we only had our first proper short vacation in May when we spent 9 days exploring North Vancouver Island), we are both looking forward to the honeymoon more than the actual wedding! To most people honeymoon = lying around on a beach somewhere drinking cocktails. To us honeymoon = a chance for adventure and a road trip!

We are going to be spending our entire honeymoon in BC, because we love it here so much and there is much to explore and do. I spent weeks planning it, trying to fit everything in but then I realised that this province is just too damned big and even if we just stick to the coast we can’t possibly see all we want to see in 3 weeks. So, unfortunately, I had to scale back the plans quite a bit and the Queen Charlotte Islands and northern BC (among other things) are out for this trip, postponed to a time when we have more time to explore and appreciate what we are seeing.

On Saturday July 12th we will take the ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Langdale on the Sunshine Coast, then drive up to Sechelt with a stop in Gibsons for lunch/coffee and cake/a walk and explore.

In Sechelt we will stay at a luxury B&B for 2 nights – A Place By The Sea

From there we will drive up the coast and hike the Skookumchuck Rapids trail. Then we take another ferry to the Northern part of the Sunshine Coast where we will be staying on a tiny island off the coast of Lund. We will stay at the Sevilla Island Resort for 5 nights.

I think the kind of job that appeals to me most is Front Desk or Concierge. They aren’t particularly well paid but you don’t need a vast amount of work experience to get them either (i.e. I wouldn’t have to take a year out to study for a diploma), and it’s not as though I’m making any kind of fortune in the library world. I’d probably lose $6 or $7 an hour in the first instance but if I could work my way up to supervisory or management roles the wage would go up too. If it had the right sort of benefits like this one advertised here, then I wouldn’t care so much about the money.

Front Desk Agent

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Company	Middle Beach Lodge
Location	Tofino
Job Status	Full-time
Posted Date	05 Jun 2008
Weigh West Marine Resort and Middle Beach Lodge are seeking smart, fun, hard working people for Front Desk Agent positions on the Wild West coast. Property Description: Weigh West Marine Resort is located on the inlet side of Tofino. It is a full service facility that boasts 63 rooms, 2 conference rooms, marine pub, waterfront restaurant and Marine Adventure Centre. Middle Beach Lodge is situated on 40 acres of pristine west coast wilderness it is a 64 unit lodge which offers a high level of amenities and services in a casual setting. We offer an opportunity to Live, Work and Play on the Wild West Coast. Keep in mind it’s more then just a job it’s a lifestyle! Job Responsibilities and duties Able to effectively provide top quality customer service Answer phone calls and make reservations Have knowledge of all rooms and services provided on property Have basic knowledge of housekeeping, kitchen and bar services Be aware of all upcoming events in the Tofino area Knowledge of local area tour operators, restaurants and other companies in town Job Benefits and perks Staff housing provided Staff camping trips, beach BBQ’s other staff events make for an amazing summer Free whale watching, hot springs and kayaking tours Other small perks such as discounted rates
Job Requirements
Qualifications 1 year previous customer service experience Must be willing to work year round Previous Front Desk experience is an asset
Salary	Negotiable with experience + staff housing

I was at a dinner party last weekend and the conversation turned to climbing. Three of the people present were really into it as a sport and our host pulled out all his climbing gear. This really got my partner interested as he had always wanted to try it but had never gotten around to it. I had the opportunity to climb with some of my friends at University who were in the climbing club but I always declined as I thought I’d be terrible at it – being short and overweight and lacking in upper body strength.

However, since I have promised myself that I will try as many outdoor pursuits as possible I have decided to try it out. We are going to be attending an Intro Course at an indoor climbing centre nearby in a couple of weeks, and we get a week’s free climbing after that. The worst that can happen is that I absolutely hate it. The best that can happen is that I find it is the sport for me after all and we can look for groups to join so that we can try some outside climbing. I’m hoping that at the very least I’ll be able to add indoor climbing to my list of after-work fitness activities – after all I’m never going to build up upper body strengh if I don’t do something challenging.

People I know are starting to visit my great city and want me to give them an idea of what to do. I started a list and couldn’t stop writing! So here’s a very long list of things to do in and around Vancouver in the spring/summer/fall.

Must do in Vancouver:

• Walk/bike/rollerblade the entire seawall from Canada Place to Kits Beach, taking in Coal Harbour and Stanley Park, English Bay and Sunset Beach, Yaletown, Science World, False Creek South, Granville Island to Kits Point. You might not want to do this all on one day – I think it is about 23Km in total!
• Walk the trails in Stanley Park making sure to visit the racoons at Lost Lagoon
• Visit Granville Island (not just the public market but all the little independent shops and galleries around there too)
• Go hiking on the North Shore – Lynn Headwaters and Lighthouse Park are particularly recommended
• Don’t visit Capilano Suspension Bridge and pay huge amounts of money – instead get the bus to Lynn Canyon where the suspension bridge is lower but more rickety and, more importantly, free to walk. The trails around there are nicer too – you can link up to Lynn Headwaters from there via 30-foot-pool, lots of stairs and Rice Lake.
• Grouse Mountain – expensive but really worth it if you go on a clear day. There’s the Lumberjack Show and Birds of Prey show, nature walks, huge wood carvings, Theatre in the Sky and if you go early you will also see the 2 rescued grizzlies before they retire to their den. Then you can hang out on the patio with a beer taking in the view, or there is some fairly good hiking. If you are lucky enough to catch a First Nations performance at the Feasthouse, do it.
• Check out what festivals are on – there is always some sort of cultural or musical or film or dance festival happening in town!
• Cirque de Soleil’s new show is on this year from June 12th to July 20th