“Looks like we’re the only ones here,” Drea Gibson says, switching off the engine of her 1994 Mitsubishi Delica turbo-diesel Spacegear L400. As the dogs clamour for the doors, we three passengers grab our daypacks and tumble out behind. We’re standing in a rough cul-de-sac carved off the side of a logging road a half-hour’s ... Read More
A life-long love of tea has taken me to some of my favourite exotic landscapes: the Zomba plateau (Malawi); the lush interior hills of Sri Lanka (Ceylon); south India’s Western Ghats; and the misty Himalayan foothills of Darjeeling. While it’s the exact same plant (Camellia sinensis) that blankets these and so many other hills from ... Read More
One of the best things about living in Victoria is easy access to the southern Gulf Islands. From Swartz Bay, you can hop on a wee ferry and be on Salt Spring Island in just 35 minutes. (Pssst, if you haven’t been there before, going to Salt Spring is basically like visiting The Shire. Think: ... Read More
If you haven’t explored the coastal forest in search of fungi yet, you’re missing out. Our west coast is famous for growing some of the world’s best mushrooms. I’m not a mushroom whisperer by any means, but most weekends this fall I’ve gotten out into the woods for some soul-soothing foraging. What I can tell ... Read More
Looking for an awesome hike within an hour’s drive of Victoria? Skip Thetis Lake, drive right by clogged Witty’s Lagoon and head toward Sooke for Matheson Lake Park. Set in a thick rainforest at the base of steep Mount Matheson, Matheson Lake has a lot to offer for the perennial hiker and nature-lover: a stunning ... Read More
It doesn’t matter where I’ve been or how jetlagged I am — I can never wipe the silly grin off my face when I step off an airplane and onto the tarmac at YYJ. It’s the bracingly fresh ocean air, the wild greenery, the sparkle of it all. That’s why I decided to start The ... Read More
