THE DAILY GRIND

This week we chilled out a bit at home, getting into a routine of research, shopping and hiking.  The shopping is frustrating as you don’t really know the price you are going to pay until you get to the checkout for example:

Toaster advertised at $12.99 so add 12% GST/PST thinking $15.55 but no you have to pay an 80 cent electrical recycle fee or buy a 12 pack of beer and 2 bottles of wine, advertised at $60.17 so add 12% tax but no you have to pay 10% Liquor Tax + 5% GST and then 10 cents deposit fee on all bottles for another $1.40 so real cost $70.60.  Another one is Digby brought new hiking boots so again cost + GST but no add a 20 cent outdoor fund.  So now I know why the locals want the taxes etc on the dockets, it really is to keep the Government honest.

PLACES WE VISITED:

This week we took a trip out to Harrison Mills to try and locate some bald eagles, this town has the largest population of bald eagles (besides the Vancouver tip) and they have a festival every November to celebrate.  Unfortunately, no luck with photographing bald eagles this trip, the salmon run starts in October so hopefully have a little more luck then.

With the Fort Langley Historic Site a major draw card along with the museums, shops, cafes and trails it is a pretty busy little town, well worth another trip to.

HIKES: This week we completed the hikes below, we were following some old BMX Bike tracks and followed one called “Furious George”, it was mostly downhill but then we came to a sheer drop, so Digby went first but because the soil is so compacted and the forest floor damp Digby did the whole sliding down the hill sideways thing, if only I had a camera handy. 

GEOCASHES FOUND: 7

Another town we visited was Fort Langley, this is the original Provisional Colonial Capital

TIP: We have purchased a Parks Canada yearly pass for $135 which allows us access to National Parks, National Marine Conservation areas and National Historic Sites.

WILDLIFE SEEN:  A deer on the main street near our house, 2 x bald eagles in a tree to high up to photograph with my phone.  Oh! and a big arse black bear that just happen to pop into our garden. I was watching TV and looked out the window and saw him walking along our second tier, I said “urr that’s a bear” we both shot up to grab the camera well me the phone to capture him.  He was only 5 metres away from us, he just sat there for a while and looked at us, got up scratched himself on a tree and then ate out of the garden, all up the visit was for 20 minutes, it was pretty exciting to see one up close.