(5) Chilliwack

Joan, Christian and Jonus at Cultus Lake



As i have stayed in touch with BJ and Dom from my Contiki tour in Europe in 2002 and she's Canadian (actually French-Canadian) she kindly volunteered her parents to have me for a weekend. So on the 24th of March i head to 'Chilliwack'. (Pronounced Chillawack)

Joan (BJ's mum) and Yves (BJ's Dad). Joan works in the deli department at save on foods and Yves is a prison guard. He had some pretty interesting stories from his days working in the prison. Yves is french canadian and Joan is native Indian. She has gorgeous colored skin.

One of my bosses from work happens to live in Chilliwack so he was kind enough to offer to drive me to Bj's parensts place. This was interesting as there was plenty of time for me to talk his ear off about Australia. There is also a sign hanging over the road that says 'Bare' and so i ask what this means. He proceeds to tell me that it means that there are bear's crossing for the next little while. I believed him and he let me go for about 10 minutes until he stared laughing and told me that it means bare conditions on the road - Stupid me!!! Anyway we get to chilliwack and go to the Hockey first because BJ's mum works there and that no one was at home yet. It happens to be the last Hockey game ever for that league in Chilliwack and the poor buggers lost. So Graham drives me back to BJ's mum's house as she doens't have the car there and hitches a ride with someone else. So we finally get to the street where they live after driving around for a bit and then we can't find the house. We had the number, but it was hidden behind the bushes and the street numbers and it's dark. So we are driving around looking at every single houses number and after a while i start laughing as Graham is asking me if there is some instructions that i should have remembered about the directions to the house but i couldn't remember what it was. Actually i should have remembered that their house is next door to the duplex, but hey i can't remember everything. So anyway we get there and he drops me off and it's so good to be in my own room. BJ's bed was so comfortable. The first night i sat in the lounge and talked to BJ's mum, Joan and BJ's nephew Jonus. It was so good to relax in a lounge room. Joan and I had a drink and then it was off to bed. I had the best nights sleep that i had had in a long time. On the saturday we went for a drive so that i could do my banking (Because the banks over here will open some branches on a saturday) and then we collected 3 grand children and went to wal-mart and then we drove out to Cultus Lake. Cultus Lake was really pretty. There is a jetty set up in a square like formation so the kids don't get run over by boats. The lake is over looked by heaps of houses and the Canadian Pine trees. I played tag with the kids and got out run by them. Not as fit as i used to be. So saturday night i go off to BJ's sisters place, Victoria, and we have bangers and mash for dinner. Man it was good to have a meal that resembled home. We watched some episodes of a soap called Corner Gas. They were pretty funny so it was back to Joan and Yves place for the night and then up late again the next day. Joan did a cook up for breakfast which was chopped up potato's, eggs, onion, capsicum and chopped up sausage. That left me pretty full for the rest of the day. The rest of the time we relaxed and watched and then it was time to go to work on Monday and do the 1 1/2 hour drive back. I spent most of the time silent as i was tired from getting up early. As for describing Chilliwack it was good to get away from the City into a much smaller place. Though it's a handy little place as there is absoluely everything that you need, every dept store and fast food place. It smells like cow shit at night because it's farming land. So it's back to work and going home.

Thanks to Joan and Yves for having me for the weekend!!!