The Roman Philosopher Seneca said that “Travel and Change of Place Impart new Vigour to the Mind”.
And so it was over Christmas we had the pleasure of visiting Canada in its winter. It was a world of beauty and extremes. After a spectacular drive through the Rocky Mountains we arrived at the beautiful Fairmont Chateau positioned on the foreshore of the now frozen Lake Louise in the province of Alberta.
The next day we embarked on a trek across the frozen lake. My boyhood mind allowed me to play in a fantasy world of an Arctic explorer, to be the first man to reach the North Pole (or the South Pole for that matter). Yet mine was a small adventure of no consequence in complete safety with the warmth and luxury of our five star Hotel always with in eyesight – even if it was minus 18 degrees! Unlike the early Arctic explorers, I didn’t have to concern myself with the unknown which lay in front of me, the reality of potentially freezing or starving to death with no modern communications, never to be heard of again.
As we approached the farthest end of the lake we came across a frozen ice flow. A spectacularly huge frozen water fall, like a translucent silk gown it hung draped over the sheer cliff face. We looked up to notice a small spec of a man, so high, climbing this frozen aqua formation using ice picks and spiked boots and hopefully some form of a safety harness!
My first thoughts were ” He has to be crazy!” or maybe, just maybe I was watching a modern day Sir Edmund Hillary honing his skills before taking the challenge of being the first man to climb Mount Everest!
Now if you would allow me to step back a couple of years?
Around eighteen months ago we visited Bruny Island which is just off the south east coast of the Australian island state of Tasmania. We stopped to take in the sights at a lovely bay called “Two Tree Bay “. It was there I discovered a plague telling me about an early explorer and sailor by the name of Captain James Cook who had anchored in the bay in the ship “Resolution” in 1777. I’d only been familiar with Captain Cook’s voyage aboard the “Endeavour” in his discovery of the great southern land of Australia in 1770. I had no idea that after returning to England, at the request of the King, he had then embarked on another voyage across the far reaching and hostile southern oceans in the tall ship – “HMS Resolution”.
Ok so if you’re still with me – if you please, let’s go back to Canada.
In the week following our trek across the frozen lake, we would visit the beautiful city of Victoria which is situated on Vancouver Island. Once again we stayed in the luxury of the Fairmont Express situated on the waterfront of this fabulous location. With the excitement of another day dawning in an unfamiliar town, we headed off on our next expedition of discovery.
Just across the way from the Fairmont stands the statue of a famous sailor and explorer. Yes, here he was again – Captain James Cook, who in 1778 arrived in what is now the port of Victoria in HMS Resolution in his search of a suspected northern passage. Looking at the monument, I said to myself “Captain Cook sir, we meet again!”
I reckon there’s a little bit of the adventurer calling out in all of us. We may not have the prized grandeur or the accolades of being the first person in history to reach the North Pole, climb Mount Everest or chart the unknown oceans; but today the world is a lot smaller than back then. It’s nothing to jump on a plane and be anywhere in the world in a day’s travel. We live in an extraordinary time. So easily, we can all experience a foreign place, its culture and its people. It’s within all our reach. The discoveries you make are sometimes just as much about learning more about yourself as is experiencing the different environment. It’s exciting and invigorating! We always return from our travels feeling like we made our own defining discoveries.
I can’t wait till we head off on our next adventure. Wherever that maybe. I might just run into my old mate again – Captain James Cook.
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