So here we are, on the precipice of a new phase of our nomadic life … we’ll be boarding our Dutch barge in France in mid-June! To tell you the truth, for the last few months we’ve been in a bit of a holding pattern, which is why there haven’t been many posts, but I expect that will change by early July.
As we change our pace, our future posts will likely change in tone too, and we’ll probably incorporate videos in the mix. There are 41,000 kilometres (25,000 miles) of interconnected inland waterways in Europe, so that should keep us busy for a few years.
After our month in New Zealand, we had several weeks to fill before we boarded a cruise from Sydney to Hawaii, which was our way of avoiding the LONG flight back to Canada. We put that time to good use with a quick visit to Tasmania, a short round-trip cruise out of Sydney to visit some South Pacific islands (New Caledonia and Vanuatu), before finishing with a week in Sydney. The pictures in this post are some of the highlights.
Tasmania
Sydney
We have been very fortunate to make some personal connections with fellow travellers during our nomadic lives. We met Karen and Roger in Vietnam back in 2023. They have retained their home base in Sydney, travelling part-time, and were phenomenal travel guides, sharing some of their favourite sites with us.
Cruising
Once the cruise arrived in Hawaii, we flew to Vancouver Island to stay with Whitney’s parents for 6 weeks. During this island time, we applied for (and more importantly received) long-term (6-month) visas for France so we can begin our canal travels, got new British Columbia driver’s licenses, attended my niece’s wedding, and I spent many hours studying for and completing the book-learning component of my captain’s course. I’ll get the practical onboard training in the UK shortly, and Whitney will get crew training so she knows how to help maneuver us through the countless locks in Europe.
When we take possession of our new floating home from Laura & Boyd (Whitney’s step-sister and husband), it will be the first time we’ve seen it since we visited with them in the spring of 2024. At that time, we had no idea we’d own it one day – although we did comment to each other about what a sweet setup they had! Now we get to experience it ourselves while they move on to a bigger boat, while still sticking around to help us settle into this new lifestyle.
Here are a few quotes I came across about this new life we’re starting, all of which have lost the names of their authors to the winds of time:
- A canal boat moves in a slow, rhythmic dance with nature.
- Canal travel is the art of moving slowly enough to see everything.
- On a canal, time is measured in locks, not hours.
- You don’t take a canal trip; a canal trip takes you.
And my favourite, which I think perfectly sums up our Change of Pace philosophy for this phase of nomadic life:
The joy of canal travel is that you cannot hurry, even if you want to.
Follow along on our Calm Canals Instagram, Facebook or YouTube pages.
