Powell River author and recreational vehicle (RV) adventurer Barb Rees is releasing her latest travel book, one that takes readers along on a cross-country adventure to Newfoundland.
The book, Rees’s fifth since 2003, is called RV Canada: An Exotic Land. It introduces the reader to fascinating Canadian characters, tells her stories while sharing the lessons of travelling on a tight budget, and includes a resource section for fellow adventurers.
She and her partner Dave set out in May 2013 for their fifth tour, one which would take them across the country and back over almost six months, with the goal of spending 30 days in Canada’s most eastern province, Newfoundland.
“It’s wild and extreme and different than everywhere else in Canada,” said Rees.
The size of the island surprised her and they did not make it to Labrador or Saint Pierre and Miquelon as they had planned, she added.
They thought a month would be enough time to explore Newfoundland’s western shores to its eastern ones. “It’s way bigger than people think it is,” she said.
Readers interested in their trip will certainly want to attend Rees’s book launch, but one highlight she shared with the Peak their experience at Cape Saint Mary’s Ecological Reserve located at the Cape Shore on the island’s southwestern Avalon Peninsula.
“It’s called the seabird capital of the world and it really is,” she said.
The reserve is home to more than 100,000 seabirds and about 5,000 pairs of gannets, the largest seabird living in the North Atlantic with wingspans measuring more than six feet.
“They migrate back and forth from Africa each year,” she said.
Surrounded by seabirds, and people taking pictures and filming, Rees said she felt like she “was sitting in the middle of a National Geographic movie.”
The title of the book came to her as the couple were driving their 24-foot RV along one of the island’s coastal highways, high above the sea. Looking down, she spotted a bay with clear blue water and boats. She said the experience started her thinking about why Canadians go to Hawaii looking for exotic, when they can find it in their own country.
“Every single province has something exotic,” she said.
Their travels have taken them north to the Arctic Circle to Tuktoyaktuk and to Churchill, Manitoba to see polar bears—the subject of her last book—among other locales.
Along the way, she and Dave sell books and glass jewellery at farmers’ markets, she said. “It literally helps to pay for the gas sometimes. It’s also a great way to meet people.” She estimates that they have sold their goods in farmers’ markets in all of Canada’s provinces except Quebec.
“People should follow their dreams and not let money get in the way,” she said explaining that they try to make their travels as low cost as possible.
One major expense, besides gas, is the cost of ferries. She said that it cost them about $250 on BC Ferries for their previous RV, a 32-foot motorhome towing their car, but over $1,000 for the ferry from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland.
One strategy that the couple uses to keep costs down is something Rees calls “boon docking,” the practice of spending nights in Walmart parking lots. This is something many RV adventurers have embraced.
“It’s a good way of travelling because you can’t afford $30 to $50 each night for campgrounds,” she said.
Rees said one goal on their last trip was to go from Powell River to Newfoundland without paying for a campground.
“We got to Cape Breton and had a little money and time, so we stayed two nights in a campground there,” she said, “but we boon docked and stayed with friends across Canada.”
Métis travel writer and speaker, Rees has written for Canadian and American magazines. She is passionate about helping others with their writing and speaking skills, inspiring them to be all they can be, to follow their dreams.
“If you’ve got a dream, go for it and don’t put it on hold,” she said. “You’re going to run out of life or your partner is going to get sick or something is going to happen. Go for it while you can.”
A book launch, or travel show called Newfoundland or Bust, will take place at 7 pm, Tuesday, November 4 at Magpie’s Diner (6762 Cranberry Street). Refreshments will be served at 6:30 pm.
For more information about Rees’s travels, readers can visit her website.
