Moving from Saturna

So on Sunday morning we woke up and took the early ferry to Saturna.

The island up ahead is Saturna and there's our moving truck.

They didn't have the right size truck for some reason so they gave us a bigger one at no extra cost. Normally that'd be great, except we had to pay more for the ferry! Also, the back of the truck scrapped the ramp when going on each ferry and the truck was too big to make it up either driveway. On Saturna, the driveway makes a sharp turn and has many trees beside it. We were forced to take loads of stuff down in the van.

Luckily almost everything fit inside the van.
The couch would make a cool new back seat for the van.

Here's their old house on Saturna.We spent the rest of the morning
and all of the afternoon moving loads down to the truck or packing.

While they were packing things into boxes I was carrying more stuff

out of the house and out of the cottage.

The attic of the cottage had a bunch of stuff in it and

walking across these planks is the only way into it.

In the evening we went across the island to their friend's place for a goodbye party. It took place in this shelter which resembled a kitchen and living room with 1 and a half walls. There was plenty of good food people brought and one of the hosts had planned a 5 hole disc golf course. Unfortunately the discs were already on Saltspring, so we played with plastic plates. On hole 3 they kept breaking in half on the trees. I got a very high (bad) score.

After dinner we sat in front of the fire and many people made some speeches about how my parents did some really good things for the island in their 5 years there and everyone is thankful for that and will miss them. Also my dad read some messages my little sisters wanted everyone to hear.

We stayed longer than most people and then got home around 8:30pm. We did some more packing until about 10 and then went to sleep. We kept Triscuit, the cat, inside so that she wouldn't be spooked by the almost empty house and run away. Unfortunately she meowed throughout the night and kept us all from sleeping much.

At 6am Monday we woke up and started more packing. We took one more load down to the van and then went to a friend's house for breakfast. The friend runs the bakery and we ate pancakes, bacon and eggs (fresh from their hens). Then we went right back to packing. Some people came to help including Dave who was driving the truck back to Sidney after. We lugged all the mattresses down the driveway and finished packing the van, while my dad put the kayaks on the car.

We actually got to the ferry dock early for the 10:20am ferry.

We set Triscuit's carrier on a rock by the car and
she kept trying to hide under the blanket.

The ferry showed up almost on time which was a change
from all the other late ferries that weekend.

We left the ferry at Mayne to wait for another ferry to Saltspring which was 45 minutes late. On the 2nd ferry we met my sister Rebecca and my grandma. They squished into the car while my mom and I went in the truck with Dave.

On Saltspring we drove to the new house and Dave walked up the driveway to see if he could turn around at the top of it. After deciding that he could probably do it, he got in the truck, ready to drive forward up it.

Unfortunately the driveway is really steep and Dave did not line up the truck well so when he tried to drive fast from the road one of the wheels missed the driveway. The back of the truck dug into the road with the hitch ball making a big groove across the yellow line.

Then the truck was stuck. It couldn't go forward or backwards. So then we tried unloading everything out of it. We put all the stuff on the side of the road and the side of the driveway. I took a couple turns helping direct traffic since there was only one free lane. After the truck was completely empty it was still stuck. They managed to move it a bit by putting some boards behind the one wheel but in the end they called a tow truck. The tow truck lifted up the back and pulled it back no problem.

After that I helped my dad load the van at the bottom and then unload it at the top a few times. We also moved the really heavy furniture up the stairs and into the house, but then I had to leave. Dave drove the truck to the ferry and I went with him and we caught the quick ferry to Swartz bay. Then I said goodbye and walked onto the big ferry back to the mainland.

It was a pretty ridiculous and tiring weekend. I heard later my sister got a really good workout helping get most stuff into the house before it got really dark. Then they covered the remaining stuff with tarps, which is good because it poured the next day. Also, my parents missed the back to school BBQ they were invited to. I guess there are a lot of worse things that could have happened when moving between islands, like missing the ferry, but it was quite the stressful move. I'm glad it's over and they're all settled into the new place. I'll have to visit them sometime soon.