Day 201: Sooke doesn't Sooke

So after a slightly traumatizing 3 days in single cell confinement in the Ocean Backpackers, myself, Steph and Alli finally escaped.Steph was making a run for it to the North of the island with Claire her friend from home and the season in Banff, while Alli and I were on the run with Courtney, her mum, her brother, her mum's partner and a dog.Courtney's very cute dog may I add, named Jib.

Alli, Courtney and her brother Kale were going on a road trip pretty much across Canada from Victoria Island to Orillia, Ontario where Courtney lived.Their trip would take them a week - Canada is huge.Courtney had kindly invited me to stay with her, Alli and her family while they picked up a car for their road trip from her mum's place in Sooke, which was a few miles out of Victoria.Never one to turn down an invitation I agreed.

After cramming our luggage with difficulty into the car we went to lunch with her mum, her mum's partner, Dennis and her brother Kale.One thing I neglected to mention in my last update is that Victoria also has its fair share of homeless wandering around.They weren't as numerous as in Vancouver and didn't seem to sport shopping trolleys as much (maybe life on the island required less baggage) but they were just as crazy. Evidence of this came in the form of two homeless folks having a full-on punch up right in front of us as we walked by which ended in a Benny Hill style chase into the car park with the two of them disappearing as they shouted abuse at each other.Just another day in Canada.

After a tasty, cheap Chinese recommended by Courtney's mum, Brenda, we headed back to the people carrier.Now, I didn't vocalise it but what was worrying me at this point was the vast amounts of luggage we all had between us.Courtney had enough to clothe the island, I had a stupidly large pack back, ruck sack, jackets and other bits and bobs, Jib had a basket and bag to be carried in, Kale had a modest suitcase and Alli had two modest holdalls.Her mum's people carrier struggled to squeeze in the people, animals and all their related paraphernalia and the thought crossing my mind was 'how big is this car that they're getting?'.We would find out exactly how big a problem this would be in a couple days.For the moment in blissful ignorance we piled into the car and headed to Sooke.

Courtney's mum's house was a beautiful little cottage surrounded by grass and flowers.Jib expressed his liking of the place by running around wildly the minute he was released.We consumed various forms of alcohol that Courtney had brought with her during the afternoon before Brenda and Dennis presented us with a feast in the evening.This feast culminated in one of the most unusual delightful desserts I've ever tasted.Courtney's mum produced a dish with bits of marshmallows protruding from a kind of cake base, cut into pieces. Each slice had Rice Krispies and marshmallows in a peanut butter base.I suddenly felt about 10 years old.It was awesome.Courtney's mum then gave us more sweet treats.She was spoiling her returning kids rotten and Alli and I were lucky enough to be enjoying the spoils.

The next day we all headed to the beach in the afternoon and Brenda and Dennis took us to an area of rock pools filled with a myriad of strange sea urchins to prod (Courtney not me) and gawp at.It was really cool and I even ended up gaily running along the beach with Jib (not for very long and yes I did say gaily).In the evening Dennis and Brenda cooked fish and chips using locally caught Halibut - Courtney's mum made the classic "Just for the sheer Hal li but" joke - and we stuffed ourselves royally again.Dennis then made a huge bonfire, which we all gathered around and his hilarious King of the Hill type neighbour came and joined us on his little quad bike decked out with stereo and speakers.It was a lovely evening and I went to bed exhausted, peaceful and rested.Little did I know the next morning would be everything but peaceful.

The next morning I woke up at 6am and made sure I was packed and ready to go as soon as possible.We started loading the car, named Levi, and things weren't looking too bad.Then as we went back and forth into the house to get more and more stuff it became apparent pretty quickly that there was too much baggage and too many people.Something was going to have to give.

We loaded the car with baggage and people for a test run (a test run may I add that did not include me or my luggage.I had faced the harsh realisation by this point that I would have to make my own way back to Vancouver).Alli was drowning in the back of the car under bags, the back of the car dragged worryingly close to the ground and the car tyres sagged under the weight.After the test run was complete Brenda and Dennis decided that the weight of the car had to be reduced, starting with Courtney's luggage.Tempers were fraught and the air was tense.We were all worried for different reasons and we had a ferry to catch.Just at this moment Jib decided to completely disappear.We spent the next 20 minutes calling out his name, squeaking his favourite toy and whistling.I then remembered a hole he'd escaped through the day before and we eventually found him next door playing with King of the Hill's dogs.Courtney scolded him severely.

We then spent the next 2 hours repacking bags and the car with a lot of things getting left behind.Luckily I wasn't one of the things left behind with the reshuffle and eventually we set off to the ferry.

I'd had a fantastic couple of days and it had been really nice to spend time in a proper family home, eating wholesome food and Brenda and Dennis had been so funny, warm and friendly I almost wanted to stay (uninvited, of course).

On the ferry I bid, Alli, Kale and Courtney farewell as I headed back to Vancouver and they embarked on their epic journey.I would be spending the next month in Vancouver alone for the first time and I had no idea where I would be staying.