Bluebird's Nest

Wow. Am I ever tired of camping. I was reflecting this morning of the things I really dislike right now.

• I just realized that the only time I’ve sat on a toilet that wasn’t in a gas station, camp ground, hotel, restaurant, etc… is when I’ve been at friends and families houses. I miss my own shitter.
• And on that note, how much do I hate single ply toilet paper. You might not even be able to call it single ply, it might be even ½ ply it’s so freakin’ thin.
• Showers that you have to pay for. Really? Just charge me more for camping and hide it in the cost.
• Waking up and everything is soaked. Lame.
• Doing dishes in stinky cold water. Boo.
• Having to share the front seat with my tweenager. I don’t like to share.
• Trying to pack up camp in the morning. I’m so sick of unpacking and packing. Make. It. Stop.
• Wondering constantly if we’ve forgotten something.
• Making sure everything is charging. Making use of the battery as best as we can.
• Trying to find cooking things in our big bag. It’s so disorganized and I refuse to clean it as it’s just going to get disorganized 30 seconds later.
• Making the wee babes bottle and rice cereal wishing we had a place to wash dishes and clean up.
• Bugs. Enough said.
• Bug bites. Even worse than bugs.
• Sleeping in a tent with the wee babe.
• Fog.
• My hubby’s driving.

I think given these complaints, it’s time for a camper or motorhome. Enough of this tent bullshit.

Thankfully we all went to bed last night early due to the rain. I think I was asleep by 9:30pm. AND the tweenager didn’t need to get up in the middle of the night to hit the bathroom. BUT I was cold. I slept in my fleece pants, a long sleeve shirt, my fleece sweater and socks. And I was still cold. I think the wee babe was cold too as she didn’t sleep very long in her tent but when I pulled her into bed with me she slept well snuggled in tight. But that means that I didn’t sleep very well. At least there were more hours for me to try to sleep away.

Today is the day we leave the mainland and take the over night ferry from Sydney to Newfoundland. But the ferry doesn’t leave until 11:30pm! We’ve got a long day ahead of us. I wonder how the wee babe will do.

We ate more pancakes this morning for breakfast and packed up. It took forever to pack up.

We’re now on the road and we’re officially on the Cabot Trail. It reminds me of the windy part of the drive to Tofino. I’ll get back to you later on how the rest of the trail/day goes.

The rest of the day ran rather smoothly. We stopped in at a little place for a picnic lunch just before the fog rolled in. It was really pretty. Then we went on a hike through the forest and saw some amazing views and pretty forest. Still no moose or bears.

We drove a little farther and stopped for ice cream. We were killing time since we needed to be at the ferry in Sydney at 9pm. But it was so stunning it was easy to kill time. We also stopped in at Ingonish Beach to take in the surf and sun.

The Cabot Trail is very much like Tofino in a lot of aspects. It’s unique but at the same time reminiscent. We kept saying “oh, it’s just like Tofino!” I must make a note that thankfully we missed the perfect photo op of our trip. The hubby wanted to sit/stand on the edge of a rock (that I took a photo of) but I would have nothing to do with it. Too risky.

We drove to the ferry and picked up our tickets and then headed off for supper. We found a little pub in Sydney that served up a great meal and I had a Guinness! Yum.

We then took some photos with this huge violin and then back to the ferry to sit in line. I just happened to look at the odometer for some strange reason and I noticed that the trip read 8000.0 kms!! So from our house in Central Saanich to the ferry terminal to catch the Newfoundland ferry is exactly 8000 kms.

Anyway, by this point I was done like dinner. Tired. So we fed the wee babe in the car and then got our overnight stuff ready. The actually loaded the ferry early (2 hours) so we had time around 9:30pm to get situated in our cabin and then check out the ship. Ok, this ship is tres cool. It’s kinda like a BC Ferry only better. There’s big screens for movies and TV’s everywhere. The seats are big recliners (so people can sleep on the ferry but not get a cabin), there’s beautiful Newfoundland photos printed up all over the walls. The only thing that was considerably less cool was the gift shop. The BC Ferries win there.

We retired to our cabin and got ready for bed. We were knackered. The wee babe slept with me for a portion of the night and then I transferred her into her tent later on in the night. The bed was the softest I’ve slept on so far. The room was warm. I slept on a bottom bunk and the tweenager and the hubby slept on top bunks. There was even a shower in our bathroom.

Best. Sleep. Yet. Even though it was probably the shortest, it was by far the most deep. And I totally thought today would be a write off since our sleep would have been so short and broken.

The boat rocked but it was a peaceful rocking when you’re laying in a bed. Try the shower the next morning. That was a little more challenging for me. But the shower was amazing!!

The disembarkment when smoothly and now we’re on the road to not sure where. The weather is foggy and dismal and the hubby wants to camp tonight in a National Park. I say “hell to the no”.

EXPENSES:

Sleeping: Free, we paid for the cabin months ago so it’s not in our budget.
Wee babe disposition: Splendid
Weather: 20-26 and cloudy with sunny period (I actually got burnt yesterday).
Stress level: relaxed.