On Saturday, Curtis was up at a good time to go and get a haircut. He had a really great barber, actually! She was new at the shop but she was very nice and did a great job. Curtis’ll definately be going back to her for his next cut.
Right after that, Curtis walked back home and met Kim, before we walked for about 30 minutes to get to a park for a BBQ with Curtis’ hockey team which the team organised!
Not too many people turned up, but it was nice to have a bit of down time in the blistering sun, eat some food and have some drinks.
We headed back home and Kim went out to get a few items at some stores and Curtis watched the first Leafs pre season game!
Sunday 26 September 2021
On Sundaymorning, we were up early and got ourselves some croissants for breakfast.
We left the apartment into the lovely rain and drove for about an hour up to Langley to a farm!
Kim had booked an alpaca walking experience for us both as Curtis’ favourite animal is the alpaca.
We got there and were handed an alpaca right away. We were able to walk them for a bit and then we got to a field where we met many more alpacas and got to feed them whilst we learned all about them.
We got to see the pigs, chickens & rabbits followed by some cows that came to say hello!
We headed back home after we were there for a while and once we got back we were pretty hungry, so we went out for an impromptu late lunch!
We went to Water St Cafe, which is down in Gastown.
We may have got far too much food, though on the plus side, we had dinner for the next night!
We got some mixed breads along with a cheese caprise, which was very delicious. The bread was really good too.
We finished that and for some reason, we order a meal each. Kim got a carbonara and Curtis got meatball pasta.
We had very little of our meals as it was a little too much for us! But we did have a few drinks which were delicious.
We walked back home in the rain and when we got home we did some relaxing for the remainder of the evening.
We’re back! Hello! We went on a little trip to Sunshine Coast for Curtis’ birthday. You can read about it here.
On Tuesday 14th September, in the evening, we drove out to Horseshoe Bay to catch a ferry out to Sunshine Coast. Whilst it is not an island, it’s technically connected, there’s no other way to get there without a boat, so we took the ferry.
The ferry arrived late, but that didn’t make much difference to us, other than the fact we were hungry!
There weren’t many people on the boat, so it was quick and easy to get ourselves some food. We ate that and then the ride was pretty much over. (it’s only 40 minutes).
We drove off the boat and drove on to our first accomodation, which was a cute little cabin!
Here’s a low quality video of the cabin!
When we arrived, the cabin was incredibly cold as the windows were open, but after a bit of time with the fire on it got nice and toasty. We arrived fairly late, so once we got settled we watched a little bit of TV before sleeping.
Here’s another low quality video of the cabin!
Day 2
We woke up in the awesome cabin and drove down to Gibsons for a spot of breakfast.
We got a breakfast bagel each from a cafe there. The staff were wonderful (and one was British!) which made it a very nice experience.
Once we had our breakfast, we had heard that people were filming down the street for a holiday film! We went down to check that out, but not much was happening at the time, other than there being some fake snow on the floor.
We walked around Gibsons for a bit as there was a nice little marina area and the sun was shining!
After walking for a bit, we found a park to go to for a hike/walk!
We drove to Cliff Gilker Park where it said there were waterfalls and hiking trails, which sounded perfect.
The walk was through the forest with nice big trees and some really nice little wooden bridges!
We saw the waterfall, but it wasn’t really much of a waterfall, but still peaceful.
We walked around here for quite a while, mostly to just find all the bridges…we love bridges!
Once we left here, we drove to a petting zoo to let some animals, but unfortunately it was closed on that day, so we turned around and drove to something nearby that we found, called Robert’s Creek Pier.
Robert’s Creek is a small town with some nice little buildings that we looked at and when we went down to the pier we nearly got blown over it was so windy!
Wind!
We drove back to the cabin and had a look online for some places to get food and also a look for other things to do whilst we were in the area.
We eventually found a place for dinner, which was a Mexican place. Luckily, they were able to seat us once we got there (they were very busy!) And we grabbed ourselves some pretty tasty Mexican food!
We went back to the cabin and watched a bit of TV and relaxed.
Whilst relaxing, we heard some noises outside, so we checked and sure enough, it was a BEAR! We saw him right next to our cabin trying to get at the bins, but we think he scared himself away when he knocked over the bin.
It was our first time seeing a bear in the wild and it was pretty large and right outside!
Day 3 – Curtis’ Birthday!
We woke up, got ready and left the cabin to grab some breakfast.
We went to a cafe (after a bit of back and forth between two) and managed to get a seat. It was pretty small and busy!
We had to wait 45 minutes for our food, which seemed pretty long, and when we got the food it was…Alright. It looked good but wasn’t incredible. Curtis had a smoked salmon and dill cream eggs benedict whilst Kim had a breakfast bowl.
We left here and tried to go to a few cool looking spots with nice views, hikes and waterfalls, but they all seemed to be closed for some reason!
We ended up finding a park near the new cabin we were moving to, so we sat there for a bit and stared into the water.
We checked in to the new cabin and it was not quite as we thought. It looked like a cabin, but was pretty large. It was quite dark and just not as good as we hoped. But it did look cool!
Looks cool outside, right?
We relaxed for a bit once we got in. The weather had started to deteriate, which we knew was going to happen, so we prepared to just hunker down and do very little.
Kim found a really nice brewery called Batch44 and we headed there for some drinks and dinner. Kim also found out there was a quiz, so we entered that and didalright! We weren’t last, which is a win!
We headed back to the cabin and got some really good sleep.
Day 4
It was raining all day, so we just slept and stayed in, watching some TV and playing card games.
We went and got pizza for dinner. Nothing fancy but a bit of a tradition for lazy days!
There was a large wind/rain storm which blew over a power line! This caused us to have an outage and, as the power line was laying on the only bit of road in/out of the town, we were stuck in the dark!
We were able to get some candles from a neighbour and we spent the night playing cards and chatting. It was kinda nice, in a way.
We didn’t get too cold and headed to bed. We were however awoken around 02:00 when the power came back on! But we were glad that was able to get sorted.
Day 5 – The Final Day
We woke up and got some breakfast at a diner style place and then looked for something to do before we needed to catch our boat.
We found somewhere called secret beach (it was sign posted, so not very secret!) And we had a wander around on the beach and the logs that were on there.
Pretty nice place!
Kim found a nice rope swing and had some fun on that!
We took the ferry home and drove back. It seemed to take far less time!
We got home and made some dinner and then it was time for Curtis to play hockey. He’s finished his 3rd game now and is really enjoying being back out there on the ice.
Curtis has a goal and two assists already, all of which came from the last game!
And there we have it!
That was our sunshine coast trip. We hope you enjoyed having a blog to read again. We had some fun times and we were excited to share it with you.
Maybe we’ll have some other fun stuff coming up at some point, but we hope everyone is well.
We woke up and slowly got ourselves ready. We didn’t sleep well at all last night, so it was a slow morning.
We had some breakfast after we showered and then we relaxed for the rest of the morning.
At 12:30, we left to drive up to Sidney. Linda wanted to go back there after not being there for a while, so we took her there for a wander.
We got a coffee and a treat from the bakery and enjoyed those before walking to the waterside and enjoying the weather and the sea.
We managed to see a beautiful seal, until someone scared it away!
We then sat for a couple of hours facing the water just enjoying the scenery and enjoying people watching. There were a lot of kids playing around us, so it was fun to watch them.
We eventually got hungry so we headed back to the car and got on our way to the place Linda had booked for dinner.
We had planned to meet Linda’s friends, Dee & Steve, there (we know they read the blog…Hello!) But they were unable to attend, so we just went with the three of us.
Kim got a chicken burger and Curtis got a burger and they were alright!
Kim had a chocolate brownie for dessert and then we drove back home.
Curtis was pretty tired as he didn’t sleep well at all last night, so he had a little lay down and Kim did a bit of research for some things.
We didn’t do too much for the rest of the evening, just relaxed and chatted, really!
Kim did go out and check out Ogden Point, which she likes to do when here.
We woke up after sleeping very early last night and felt very well rested.
We had some cereal for breakfast and Kim then went out for a hot stone massage! She really enjoyed it, actually. She felt like jelly!
Mattick’s Farm
Kim got back and we went out to Mattick’s Farm.
This was only about 20 minutes away and once we got there, it was coffee time!
They had a restaurant and tea room, so we went to the tea room and got ourselves coffee and snacks. Curtis got a cinnamon bun and Kim had a tuna and mayonnaise sandwich.
We left here and went to play mini golf! They had a mini golf place at the farm, so we took Linda to play her first round ever!
The game was pretty close, actually, with Curtis coming out with the win in the end.
We really enjoyed that, actually, and it wasn’t really in the sun either, which was good for us.
We drove back toward Victoria and on the way, we stopped at a supermarket which is known for really cheap fresh fruit and vegetables, so we got in there and got some produce there.
Delicious Dinner
We got back home and relaxed for an hour or so and then we went to a restaurant that Linda has been visiting for a long while.
Curtis and Linda shared a ceasar salad and Kim had a French onion soup, which was her first time trying! She really enjoyed it actually, though it was a lot for her!
Curtis had a steak which came with potatoes and veg and Kim had chicken marsala with mushrooms and veg, too.
We really enjoyed our dinner and were perfectly full.
We headed back home and had some strawberries which Linda bought at the veg store today.
Drinks With Another Friend
We went for drinks with a friend of Kim’s from work just down at the brown’s social house in Victoria.
Curtis hadn’t met her before and Kim hadn’t met her in person but we had a good chat and a drink before heading back home to Linda’s.
We’re heading out again tomorrow, so that should be fun!
We woke up around 08:30 and we got ready to go out for breakfast.
We both walked up to the Beacon Drive in, a staple for us when we come here, and got ourselves some nice breakfast and relaxed there for a bit.
Linda came and joined us and we chatted whilst Kim ate an ice cream and then we left for a walk.
A Nice Walk
We planned to go into the petting zoo that was in the nearby park, but unfortunately it was closed! We were able to see some goats and other animals through the fence though, which was really nice.
We did a bit more of a walk around the area and Linda pointed out a few new places and points of interest nearby that we’d not seen before.
A Friend
We headed back to Linda’s place and then after a while, we both walked down to meet a friend of Kim’s for a coffee and we got to meet her child who is now nearly 1!
After a great long conversation, we walked back to Linda’s and got ready for dinner.
Delicious Italian Food
We met a couple of Linda’s friends at an Italian restaurant across the street which we had been to once before. It was AMAZING food! Kim had mushroom pasta and Curtis had lasagne. Both were phenomenal.
We got profiteroles to share for dessert and then we were truly stuffed!
Fisherman’s Wharf
We managed a nice evening walk to Fisherman’s Wharf just down the street, though it was pretty cold, so we came back to Linda’s and relaxed before heading to bed.
We woke up at a good time, though Kim woke up early as a dog was barking constantly in the hotel and she heard that so she couldn’t get back to sleep.
We got up and ready around 10:00 and packed up the last few things, showered and then took our stuff down to the car.
After checking out, we went to grab some breakfast. We found a cafe and Curtis got a breakfast muffin and Kim got a pesto and brie toasted sandwich, along with a coffee each.
We ate our food whilst sat in the sun and then we got the car and drove to a car wash. We vacuumed the car and then tried to go to a car wash, but it was too busy so we had to head to the airport.
Somehow, Curtis managed to lose his mask during this time, so had to use a disposable one for the time being.
We met Linda in the airport as she was returning from Kelowna on a flight and we were very happy to see Linda again after what must be at least 2 years!
We had a great chat on the way home and once we got back to Linda’s place, we had more of a chat with her and then we went out to the mall to see if we could get Curtis a new mask.
We found a mask, but it wasn’t actually that great. Linda then remembered she had a perfect one lying around, so Curtis has that now instead!
We went out for dinner with Linda to a place down the road called the steamship grill, which is somewhere we had been a few times with Linda.
Curtis had a salmon burger and Kim had a Nashville chicken caesar salad. Unfortunately, Kim’s food tasted a little fishy, so she didn’t really eat much, but we did have a lot of bread and chips so she ate those!
We walked back to Linda’s and spent the remainder of the evening having a great conversation, as always with Linda!
We have some fun times planned, and lots of dinners, over the next few days.
We woke up and had to check out at 09:00. We got ourselves ready, checked out and hit the road.
We drove until we got to Qualicum Beach, which had French Press Coffee Roasters where we had breakfast! Kim had bruschetta with mushrooms and arugula. It was very nice, though a little small. She had that with a pretty tasty mocha and a chocolate chip cookie.
Curtis had a sandwich with egg, tomato and some really nice bacon in and a cappuccino which had some very nice coffee in, that was roasted in house!
We had this and then got back on the road and drove onward.
Animal Sanctuary
We drove to the animal sanctuary called North Island Animal Sanctuary which was a really nice animal rehabilitation center which also had animals that could not be released into the wild, mostly due to injury.
Before we got there, though, we stumbled across a small old looking town that had, for some reason, some goats on the roof! We had to stop and check them out
We then started driving again, only to find an antiques store just down the road!
We went in there and Curtis managed to talk Kim out of buying an old sabre, though there were some cool items there.
We drove onward to the sanctuary and once we got there, we wandered around to take a look at all the animals. We took no photos here as it didn’t feel appropriate but the animals seemed well looked after and we got to see some awesome animals there, such as eagles and hawks. There was apparently a bear there but it must have been hiding as we didn’t get to see it, but it was actually a really nice stop along the way.
Little Mountain Lookout
Kim had noticed a place on the map called little mountain lookout which was meant to have some great views and it didn’t disappoint!
We drove up to this which was a VERY steep hill and once we got to the top, it didn’t look like anything. However, a short wander through the trees took us to a sheer cliff edge but with stunning views!
We left here and drove to get another coffee. We got this in a cafe in a small town.
Whilst there, we decided to check our reservation only to find out we had only booked one night and it was tomorrow, not today!
Luckily, we contacted them and were able to sort that out, though we did panic for a second.
Malahat Skywalk
We drove to a place that was suggested to us by Linda which is a new attraction.
This is a skywalk, a wooden walkway through the trees, and then a large spiral structure which gives amazing views and there was also a slide to go down from near the top!
We wanted to do the slide, so we queued for about an hour for that. Unfortunately, we got near to the top where the slide was and Curtis really needed to pee, so just had to hope that didn’t happen on the slide!
It was quite a large and fast slide, but it wasn’t bad at all, other than the bumps for Curtis! Luckily, he didn’t have an accident, which is a positive outcome.
We did the slide and then walked back all the way to the top of the structure which had a see through netting floor which could be walked on.
Kim decided this would be fun to roll on instead, so she did that, but did regret it a little after, due to the sheer height of the tower.
We took a look at the beautiful scenery, technically this area has a fjord, and it really was beautiful.
Nice Hotel & Italian Dinner
We drove onward from here to Sidney, where we will be for 2 night purely to relax and sleep! We have had a busy few days and a busy few weeks before now, so we wanted some time to just…chill.
We got to our hotel and it was around 19:00. We checked in and got to our room which is beautiful.
We were very hungry, so we went to a restaurant super close, which is an Italian restaurant.
We had to sit outside, which is good for COVID, but we were a little chilly. We could forgive that though, as the view was stunning.
We had to wait a while for our food but once it came, it was delicious!
We were pretty hungry by the time it arrived, so we ate it quickly and then decided it was relax time, so we went to the shop to get snacks and then went back to the hotel to chill out for the evening.
Curtis started the day with a meeting at 09:00. This was with his team but also with another team. This meeting was an update on how the offices are coming along and remaining items for returning to the office.
He had a lot of admin to get done today, so he did that, and then it was mostly tickets for the rest of the day.
There was an office-wide meeting in the afternoon, just to discuss a few important things and also just have a bit of fun.
Kim’s Day
Kim started with an interview and then had a catch up after to chat about how it went. She then joined a 1-1 with a teammate to check in on them. Then Kim joined the weekly department meeting.
Towards the middle of the day Kim joined two calls about recruitment planning and what that might look like. She also joined a recruitment call to update the exec team about a couple of live roles.
Towards the end of the day Kim had a 1-1 and then joined another interview. She finished the day with a connect about two roles, it was a great way to end the day.
Evening
We went out to Canadian Tire to get Kim a trolly for work. It was nice to get outside!
We got some take out for dinner and once we ate that, we did some cleaning and some other house work in preparation for going away for 10 days!
We also had to pack, so we did that, and then we hung out and watched some TV.
Curtis had another orientation at 09:00 this morning which went really well and the person was also very nice.
He had a team meeting after that and then did some tickets followed by another meeting to discuss a new process.
Curtis had to get a list of people that took chairs home which he needed to take from the ticket system.
Once that was done, he had some lunch and then reviewed some security systems to check for anything of note.
There were more tickets to do in the afternoon and then he had a bit of spare time to get some more Norwegian homework done.
Kim’s Day
To start the day Kim joined a meeting to discuss next steps with candidates for a role, it was great to get on the same page. She then later joined a 1-1 meeting with an employee to see how they are settling in to their new role.
Kim then had a call with a new starter where they asked how they could support Kim’s teams! It was wild to be offered support and someone turn to the department and ask ‘what can I take off of your plate’, which was so lovely and maybe even a little odd! She then had another 1-1 with a new employee to see how their onboarding went.
To start the afternoon Kim had a sit down with her manager to go over events planning as the plan she had for Friday may be ruined by rain! She then joined a meeting to discuss teams and planning with a department manager before joining an interview.
After the interview Kim joined another planning meeting about a different department. She then had a quick review of the interview before joining a weekly recruitment meeting for the same team.
In the evening Kim was able to really sink her teeth into some admin. She started making some steps in the planning for Friday and she was able to get a few salary based tasks done.
Evening
Kim did a little more work in the evening after she had an appointment and then we had some dinner. Everything outside smelled so good for some reason, all day, many different excellent smells so we were hungry for most of the day!
Kim did some more work after dinner and then we relaxed for the evening watching some TV.
Curtis went right to the office this morning. He had to get a laptop setup and sent out for someone.
Whilst he was doing this, another laptop arrived that he was waiting on, so he got that setup too.
Whilst he was there, he got a lot more of the remaining office tasks sorted out. He needed to add more monitor arms to some desks as well as order more monitors and cables ready for everyone to return to the office.
There was a pile of e-waste for Curtis to go through and take down the asset numbers to mark those as ‘disposed of’ so the records are correct.
He helped out some people in the office with moving some things and he also got some tickets done, as well as answering some messages from people.
The second laptop Curtis setup was being a pain, so he had to start again at 15:30! He managed to get it done before he finished for the day, though.
Curtis walked home and picked up coffee for him and Kim as Kim needed to work late tonight.
Kim’s Day
Kim mostly just had meetings today! She started with an interview and then went right into a 1-1 with her teammate to check in about projects.
Kim then gave her weekly update and the company wide meeting before joining a quick call to discuss the interview earlier in the day.
Towards the middle of the day Kim had a chat with her other teammate to help them build some templates, structure and a plan around social media and recruitment.
In the afternoon Kim had a couple of recruitment meetings. The first was to discuss the new plans for processes and the second and third were weekly team check ins to discuss the open roles.
To finish the day Kim joined another interview and had a quick chat after. She then spent the evening getting through some admin work. It was great to really sit down and get stuff done!
Evening
Kim worked for the evening, so Curtis played games for most of the evening, along with getting some other things around the apartment done.
Kim took a little break and we had some gnocchi and a tomato sauce for dinner. We watched a bit of TV before Kim went back to working for the rest of the evening.
Mr & Mrs Hale 