We struggled with our spraydecks and lifejackets, squeezed into the cockpits, and went for an ungainly zigzag around the sunlit bay.The evening saw us gathered around a cedarwood fire. Grant and Meg, the junior guide, performed their first miracle with the propane stove. After a steaming pasta feast, they presented us with a freshly baked lemon and poppyseed cake.That night, only the reckless scamperings of a hungry racoon and the distant thunder of an ancient tree crashing to the ground broke the gentle rhythm of the sea. We were woken at dawn with fresh coffee, French toast and maple syrup. After a chilling wash, we set off for a gentle eight-hour paddle Bag Harbour, a remote inlet, boasts a small river.
We moved upstream for a few hours, awed by 200ft trees and the exuberant moss hanging from branches, and carpeting the ground, accompanied by the primeval croak of ravens.Meg, a biology student, found licorice ferns to nibble And she offered Eric a glistening orange slug to lick A true Californian, he accepted. “Like an unripe persimmon,” he murmured thoughtfully before his tongue went numb.In the next few days, we paddled ever deeper into the wonderland, struggled through wind and waves, explored dark forests, hooked and cooked fighting salmon, watched black-tailed deer amble gregariously past our campfire, kept watch for bears, gazed at pink sunsets over unruffled water, and wandered with the ever-popular Bob in the intertidal zone, seeking red anemones, green and blue starfish, giant moon snails and spider crabs.We reached our destination, a tiny island in the open Pacific called Skung Gwaii, one sunny morning. We walked through the dim forest to a small cove where a few old apple trees stood guarding the giant remains of a longhouse and a few dozen haunting, intricately carved totem poles. The village, Ninstints, was abandoned after the apocalyptic smallpox epidemic of 1863.
The Queen Charlotte Islands’ real name is Haida Gwaii – “the place of the Haida”. Like many First Nation people, the Haida were virtually wiped out by the Europeans, after 7,000 years of living in harmony with forest and sea.Now Ninstints serves as a reminder of what little is left of Haida culture. Unesco declared Skung Gwaii a World Heritage Site in 1981.Our expedition was blessed. It rained for only two hours in the whole week, the winds and tide were in our favour, and nobody capsized Bob gave us all a helping hand He’s a little waterproof bag with loo paper and a trowel. Not exactly luxury, but the engagement is still on.Fact FileMARK LUNN paid US$1,340 (around pounds 840) for an eight-day kayaking trip with Tofino Expeditions (001 206 517 5244). British Airways has a current fare of pounds 352 return from London Heathrow to Vancouver (Quest Worldwide, 0181-546 6000).
From there, bus and ferry connections to the Queen Charlotte Islands, take 30 hours. Flights there on Canadian Airlines (0345 616767) cost pounds 212 one-way.Mark Schatzker paid pounds 502 for a return flight from London Heathrow to Toronto on Air Canada (0990 247226), but discounted fares are available from Quest Worldwide (0181-546 6000). Cottage and lodge companies include: Cottages Unlimited (001 613 284 0400) and the Cottage Country Travel Service (001 905 470 0385) Expect to pay between pounds 110 and pounds 520 per week.. You can’t beat the excitement of an arrival: the new smells, faces, and images And Jakarta airport was no exception. Sleek and bright last May, it bore little evidence of the economic chaos or impending civil unrest. Two miles out from the centre of the city, though, there was hardly any electricity.
Later I learnt there was a similar shortage of fresh water and waste disposal. After a couple of days of breathing smog, enduring traffic and shuttling from ministry to ministry, it was time to leave the capital and its problems behind. It was time finally to head to my real destination, Borobudur – the lost temple of Java.
The journey – in 1815 an arduous 400-mile, two-week slog for Thomas Stamford Raffles – took just an hour’s flying time. I had flown to Yogyakarta, the cultural capital of Java, and Indonesia The contrast with Jakarta was extraordinary The air was crisp and clean The traffic moved.