Ro Wells Travel

The last few months have gone by in an absolute blur. I was thinking the other day that I hadn’t written a blog post recently, thinking it had maybe been a month since my last one, and was beyond surprised to realise it’s been almost two! For the most part, life has been just floating by in a state of contentment. I am still loving living in Ucluelet. The scenery just doesn’t get old. The campground is located on the harbour, with a backdrop of mountains, or you walk 20 minutes to the beach for uninterrupted views over the Pacific. It really is a uniquely wonderful place. I can’t ever see myself getting sick of it.

The weather has been steadily getting sunnier and warmer over the last couple of months which has been lush. One thing I love about it here is that it never gets too hot. I think the highest temperature we’ve had so far in Ucluelet has been around 24⁰C. Having said that, the heat hits very differently here. Back in the U.K., 16⁰C is very much still jeans and a hoody weather. Here, it’s shorts and t-shirt weather! It’s bonkers how differently the heat can manifest itself. Ucluelet is also known for these big fog banks that come in off the Pacific so we get this weird and wonderful mix of gorgeous sunshine and moody foggy days. For someone like me who really struggles with the heat, it’s pretty much the perfect summer climate.

I went kayaking about a month ago around Ucluelet Harbour and a bit further up the peninsula and saw some beautiful wildlife – blue herons, bald eagles, harbour seals and sea stars (star fish). I also went on a whale watching tour a couple of weeks ago which was utterly magical. We saw four or five humpback whales!!! They are BIG. It sounds obvious, I know whales are big, but it’s a whole different perspective when they’re maybe only fifty metres from the boat. We also got to see harbour seal, sea lions and, my personal favourite, sea otters!! I find it so cute how they just float on their back having a nap and soaking up the sun.

Around a month ago, my friend Malen moved to Ucluelet and is now working at the campground with me too. It’s lovely to have another friend around to get out and do things with. We’ve been making the most of having the beach nearby and go down at least a couple of times a week before work (though I usually end up getting bitten to pieces by whatever annoying little bug lives in the sand there!). We’ve enjoyed sunsets on the beach, playing some beach volleyball and just going for walks along the Wild Pacific Trail. We went to Ukee Days last weeks which is a local festival celebrating the town. Unfortunately I had to work for a most of the festival but made sure to catch the Abba Tribute act which was great fun. She’s also been helping me build the van.

I’ve been working pretty solidly on the van on my days off, before work, and after work and am making very slow progress. There are definitely days where I feel completely overwhelmed by what a mammoth project it’s turning into but I am still enjoying it. I’ve reinstalled the ceiling and given it a new décor, and have installed an entirely new floor in the van too. The next stage is taking the longest – the walls. Because I need to know exactly where all the interior fittings are going to go so I can make sure that I put framing and structural supports in the right places, as well as making sure all the wiring is going to match up to where I think the outlets and appliances are going to be. It is a lot to think about all at once and there are times when I reach a state of paralysis trying to work it out all at once. Luckily I am surrounded by wonderful people, both here in Ucluelet and my friends and family back in the U.K. who are more than willing to talk ideas through with me and offer a helping hand when I need it so I’m hoping the process is going to go a little quicker soon.

I can’t believe we’re already in August. It feels like just last week that I first arrived in Ucluelet and somehow we’re only six weeks away from the end of the summer season and it’s maybe time for me to start having some general musings about how I might want to spend my winter season. I am very undecided at the moment as to what I want to get out of winter. I have a couple of ideas, one in particular is looking more and more likely but I am enjoying not setting anything in stone yet. I know that (money allowing) I want to take a month or so to travel in the van between the end of summer and the start of winter as I’m really missing the ‘travelling’ sensation I had prior to coming to Ucluelet. It’s definitely emphasising that I’m not anywhere near ready to settle in once place again yet. But after that it’s anyone’s guess. And that’s the joy of this experience, I don’t have to have a plan (unless it relates to the interior of the van), I really can just make it up as I go along and I still find that incredibly freeing.