A few updates to catch you up on.
First of all - on February 17th, Brent and I were officially knighted with the honours of "Advanced Wilderness First Aid" gurus. :)
Well...not so much gurus - but we have a card that says we know what we're doing (to a certain extent). And finishing up our two weekend course felt great. :) I think we both feel a great deal more confidence with the idea of stepping foot into isolated locations and knowing that we would be able to tend to one another's injuries or even help someone else in need - if necessary (praying that we actually never have to use our skills).
The course was overwhelming. The amount of stuff that this course covered was great (offered by our friends at the Canadian Wilderness Medical Training - www.cwmt.ca). And the "live action scenarios" were helpful with cementing our skills by putting them into practise. I might talk more about the courses when I have a bit more time. Until then, you can all be anxiously awaiting.
Following this course, you have to imagine that I was excited to begin the official packing of our first aid kit. So far, there has been no steps forward with this plan EXCEPT that we now have a case to call our kit. :) From MEC (of course). We will be going through all of our notes to include everything that we will need (or even possibly need) for this trip in the next few weeks. I will be doing a big shop for drugs & supplies come mid-March. This is by far the biggest pack job with the most amount and smallest items. It's a pretty big thing to prepare this kit - not knowing what we will encounter. We have to be prepared for anything (within reason - we still have to carry this every day!).
Our current task has been finding winter gear. Oh my goodness, we missed the boat. It's winter - and a very cold one at the moment in our city. Would you know it by looking at the stores? Not so much. In a two week span, the winter items (hats/gloves) stock at MEC and other outdoor/adventure stores has depleted to a great amount. We went to MEC, EuropeBound Outfitters (King, Front and Queen street locations!) and Coast Mountain Sport on Sunday - and I'm telling you, there's little to pick from unless you are an XL men's size. I thought maybe I could survive with a Men's small (which I still couldn't find) but even Brent was having difficulty fitting the Mediums properly. Oy vay. I did find a pair of Marmot gloves - but I am not prepared to pay 60$ for them!!!
We were advised to check out the St. Lawrence Market on the weekend to see an Alpaca wool vendor - who might still be selling gloves. The warmest of wools - with the right liners overtop - these would be warm and waterproof. We'll see what the weekend brings. Otherwise, we might just have to deal with the fact that we didn't react to this need quick enough.
We begin our backpacking at the end of winter for NZ. Problem with this too is that arriving in NZ and hoping to find winter stock might put us in the same boat - sold out items due to seasonal change.
I did, by chance, find a tuque I liked. :) Brent, nothing. So, he's at square one. Hopefully something good will come our way in terms of store ideas in the next few days. I also need to find fingerless gloves - as I have excema on my hands, and will most likely be wearing protection on my hands on most days (any dry/coldish weather will trigger cracks/bleeds otherwise). I might have to settle for MEC's one option - however, by this weekend...it will probably be gone as well.
ON THE POSITIVE SIDE of things. Brent DID find a fleece for himself at MEC, which is great. Still no jacket, but the inner layer is done and bought. I did not luck out so much in the fleece department. Actually - I failed miserably. The women's xs/s sizes do NOT fit. AND, the kid's clothing did not fit properly, so my plan is not going as well as I had hoped.
You know, one day I'll look back on these days where things don't fit me because I'm too small with nostalgia. For the moment, it is making every step of shopping very difficult (and that all started with even purchasing my backpack).
I DID buy my light base layer - a merino half-zip shirt. I already have a medium strength base layer top and bottom. The merino offers a different type of protection that I wouldn't get with my previous base layers. Both sets will be good to have.
I don't remember if I bought anything else...but I might have.
I still need to place an order with FreshMaps for our microSD map of NZ. Brent and I only turned on our GPS system once...and trust me, it's like a foreign object. I have no idea how to work this thing. We have to decide between a microSD card or a PC based program that you can then load onto a microSD card. I have no idea what is a better option for us - so I might just settle...cause I have no knowledge of what the pros/cons of either of them are. I should be consulting with Clem here!!
What other adventures could I tell you about. I'm into CATSA research - learning all about what we can and cannot bring onto the plane for our trip. I did find out that I can lock my checked bag and that if they wish to search it, they require my permission to do so - that is comforting. It's not that simple - but it's pretty much the protocol.
Brent has never been on a plane before - and I grew up on an airport (backyard = runway of small town Earlton, ON). We come from different walks of life and experience. This should be interesting.
Yup, that's pretty much it. The AWFA course was the big thing for this month (February). Next month will be the bank accounts, our IRDs and mapping out the beginning of the trecking. Oh, and the re-commencement of training. We will be resuming our hikes (one year later) with gear starting at just backpack and sleeping bags and working our way up in terms of weight (including more and more gear with each training hike) as we make progress with our training. We eventually need to purchase a scale to monitor our packs and to ensure we do not overstuff our bags more than the suggested 1/3 of your body weight (in my case, I am assuming that I will easily lose 5lbs and quite possibly 10lbs while walking, so I must pack according to the potential weight loss). We also need to test out our layering system while winter is still around. Although the weather is much milder in NZ (even in their winters), we still need to be ready and assured that we will be able to layer properly.
BOOTS - we're still working on these!
Unfortunately, I must duck away from my blog for the moment - but the next time I update, I will tell you a story of how a simple 28-month planner made its way into my backpack - and how much it means to me. :)
5 months to the day.
I'm getting butterflies just thinking about it!!
