Part 3. Location, Location and Transportation

So far I have told you about the weather and a little of how we live here. Perhaps the following information should have come first so you can see where we are located.

If you have google earth you can look us up at     51 28'39.02 N   127 39'53.78W

You should see a bay with buildings located on an 'L' shaped string of logs. Our house has a very pale green roof. Our 'old' house is tied at right angles to it. This picture was taken in 2005 but not much has changed since then. The only difference is that during our caretaking months, sept to june, the whole of that 'L' shape is filled with buildings. It is like having our own small town!
Zooming out to get a clearer look at the area, Dawsons Landing is already marked. That is where we go for the post office and general store.
Robins Mum and Dad live in Coopers Cove which is in the next bay so with a little exploring you can get a better look at our surroundings.

It doesn't take long for you to see that there is very little opportunity to get on the land. There are a few beaches but much of the area is very rocky and covered in dense forest.
That leads me to the transportation part of this missive.

To get here is either by boat or sea plane.
Depending on the boat, weather conditions etc you can get here in a little as 3 hours by water.
Our boat, however, is not that fast and so an average trip to Port Hardy, on the tip of Vancouver Island,takes 8 hours!
This may seem like a long time........it is!!  But....we carry all our groceries, fuel and supplies and so do not have to use the freight system saving many dollars.
The sea planes are much faster...but more expensive.
A one-way trip to Port Hardy is $160.   Now they do come right to the front door and you can be there in approx 40 mins.

This image is a DeHavilland Bever
Pacific Coastal are our local airline and run a scheduled flight to the inlet 3 times a week plus charter flight whenever needed.
The Beaver is a very popular plane for bush flying and carries 5 passengers.
These planes were built in the 1940's so are not what you would call modern, but they are a work horse being strong, manouverable and versatile. 

The 'Goose' however is quite the machine.
Built between 1935 to 1945!
They hold 8 passengers and as you can see are an amphibian which means it can land and take off on either land or water. 
Pacific Coastal has the largest fleet of 'goose' in the world and we are very priveledged to be able to fly in them. In fact people come from all over the world just to get a ride in one of these great planes.

Taking off from the strip is just like any other take off, landing however is a shock for those not prepared for the rush of water over the windows. Once in the air they are smooth and only a bit noisy. The pilots do hand out ear plugs an all the flights.

Again they come right to our door. Baggage is loaded in the nose and rear of the plane and then a short taxy out of the bay to open water. Steering is done, on the water, but foot peddles and the engines, so it is  tricky plane to manouver.

Not many people can phone an airline, ask for a pick up and get a plane right to their door!  We know all the pilots by first name and they will even alter their route slightly if whales etc are spotted from the air.
Flying in the this area is part of life. Small planes are heard most days. All are float planes.
Flying is a more expensive option but there are only two to choose from. Long, cheap and rough or short and expensive. You do however, see the country from the air, flying low over mountains, up remote inlets and landing in otherwise inaccessable locations.

Our own fleet of boats will feature in another episode so keep watching!

Part 2 Whether the weather......

Well it snowed ago. About 4 inches, which is not much in the scheme of things, but enough to make life a degree harder. We have had pretty cold temperatures so there was, and still is, a layer of ice on the floats already. This snow is light and perfect snowman/snowball snow.

The problem with snow!..... The heavy stuff causes concern with the weight on the floats. All our property is built on wood floats so any extra weight means they sink a little further into the ocean!  They usually pop back up after the melt, but never quite as far! We don't, however, have a problem with the commute! Work is right here at home.
The boats seem to do fine in the cold weather. Just a little reluctant to start and a cold seat awaits anyone who wishes to go boating.
The bay does ice over so we try to break it up and push the slabs out to be taken away with the tide. It does not get too thick but enough to pose problems. The smaller boats can break through but it doesn't do much for the bottom paint! The ice is caused by the amount of fresh water sitting on the top of the sea water.
We don't get too much snow but we always hope for the light fluffy kind.
In the cold weather the worry is keeping the water running. Our water supply is from a small creek where the water is diverted through a 2 inch pipe. For those of you who worry about water quality, we have a homemade filter on the intake and another under the house before it goes into the holding tank in the roof . The water has a weak tea hue but is very soft and I am told gives a very good shave!

If it looks like we are in for a long, cold spell then we leave a tap running on the outside. That seems to do the trick keeping the flow running from the creek.
 I do however, have problems with my washing machine. It is in a building where there is no heat so we do all laundry using cold water. The pipes going to it tend to freeze so after use we put antifreeze in and spin it through the motor. Yes we do live in the bush and have to improvise!
We do not have a dyer so we use the natural elements such as solar and wind. Freeze dried jeans are always fun!!





The weather normally is wet, windy and chilly in the winter but we do have good summers and often amazing springs. If nothing else the snow is very picturesque and is only here for a short time.

Life on the Inlet Part 1. January 2011

Well isn't this interesting?  I was inspired by some friends who have moved from Rivers Inlet to a remote fishing lodge on the  Queen Charlotte Islands. For those of you who think I live 'away from it all', they only have access by boat or helicoper! There are no schedule services AT ALL and Heather had to do 9 months worth of shopping to begin the job.
We are not that remote. To some it is the ideal location. To others a nightmare of planning and organisation. Not having shops just down the road can have its drawbacks, but we love it and can't quite imagine being anywhere else.
Back to my resons for blogging.
Many people are interested in our life here. We send emails and Christmas letters to bring everyone up to date. It is still hard to explain things in a short one page, end of year misive, so I plan to blog about once a month and include some pictures of 'Life on the Inlet'
Not sure how it will turn out but here goes.

To start 2011 the weather was, and still is cold, snowy and frosty. We also have some sunshine but as we live in Sunshine Bay that is to be expected!
As you can see the wood stove in the house is smoking nicely. Wood is our only form of heat, hot water and cooking so a full wood pile is essensial. During this cold weather the bay does freeze over and the water is in danger of stopping but we keep taps running all the time and that seems to do the trick.
For those of you who are new to where we are I will explain.
We are approx 60 miles north of the tip of Vancouver Island. Rivers Inlet is a fijjord type inlet going inland aprox 30 miles. We are at the mouth of the inlet attached to Ripon Island.
Population during the winter months is 17. Six of those are caretakers and move out during the summer.
We have a local store where our mail goes and they also have food, fuel, post office and liquor store and is the general meeting place.
The rest of the residents are scattered over a large area so we don't get to see each other too often!
Transportation is by boat or sea plane if you want to go 'to town'. There are no roads, electricity (except generators) and one store.
The children are, and have been educated by correspondence. They grow up with a very good sense of independance and maturity. Not much in the way of peer pressure here!

Over the next little while I hope to tell you more about life here, tell some funny stories and post pictures so you can see what I am talking about.

Till next time.

Robins Nest.