Travel, Nature & Us

Now it was time to really test our metal and have three nights off grid in Strathcona provincial park in the centre of Vancouver Island. After a long and tiring windy bumpy drive into the park we were rewarded with a beautiful pitch deep in the forest. Once set up, which takes us about an hour, it was time to relax and be at one with nature…..turns out we were about to experience being at one with nature in a way we had not expected!

We had done a lot of research about all the animals we might encounter on our travels through Canada; bears, cougars, lynx, wolves, coyotes, moose, elk and more big animals. We’d watched videos, read endless information on how to behave during an encounter with any big animal and bought bear spray, we still felt nervous but at least we were prepared. However what we had not researched we were about to experience…

After a relaxing evening (well apart from Warwick leaping several feet in the air from his chair after a squirrel stroked his toes!) and a good meal with a couple of glasses of red wine we went to bed (in what is a surprisingly comfortable bed) and went to sleep to be later woken by the interior security light in the stairwell turning on and off, strange we thought and distracting but we’ll survive. Then the noises began, scurrying and scratching and I was convinced “something” was inside Delta with us, Warwick wasn’t convinced until the rustling began and we got up to see a shopping bag moving! We had a mouse inside with us! After eventually catching said mouse and releasing him we went back to bed only to be woken minutes later by the same noises! Was it the same mouse or his friend? Let’s say friends! It turns out mice like long grass and we were surrounded by long grass, and mice it turns out, can get through a vent/cable hole the size of a pencil so every night we entertained Morris and his Minors between the hours of dusk and dawn which meant no sleep for us for 3 nights straight.

Our stay in Strathcona park was tiring to say the least but it was a beautiful forest setting, but most importantly we proved to ourselves that we could comfortably live off grid for three nights. We learnt water saving techniques (our shower has a water saving switch and to not run any tap for longer than absolutely necessary), to let the solar panels charge up the battery and utilise that power, and to minimise how much waste water we put into our black and grey tanks. It was a great trial run and prepared us for future off grid living.