British Columbia Canada

Elk Falls aka Tom Falls 😂

Calm reigns… for the moment!

With a rucksack stash of hard boiled eggs…mini jam pots and herbal tea sachets we checked out of Days Inn Nanaimo and set off for Quadra Island..via Elk Falls Provincial Park…

Two hours on pretty easy roads… Heavy rains cleared as we approached the park and the boys were ‘delighted’ to be welcomed by two awesome compost toilets! Tom was more than a little unsure but bribing him with an extra late bed time did the trick… it turns out he was scared of falling down the hole! 😂 I, on the other hand, was only worried I’d be fishing out a ridiculously expensive Iphone from the bottom of a 10 foot deep hole full of shite! But all good!

The hike down to the falls is stunning, weaving its way through well signed tracks. There are 5 or 6 different vantage points from which you get to experience the crashing power of the falls…firstly from above….

and then ‘up close and personal’ as you snake your way down to the rocks at the bottom.

You hear and feel the roar of the falls way before you see it… you feel it’s spray fall, in warning, upon your face as it ‘steams’ like an ever boiling kettle…reaching its thundering crescendo as you move to ‘front row seats’…at the bottom of the gorge.

The strength of the suspension bridge alongside the falls was well tested by our boys (what possessed them to want to film football tricks half way across I do not know?!) Soon after ‘That Crossin’ Tom decided to ‘test’ the safety railings at the forest edge, losing his footing and finding one leg wedged between the mud and a thin wire fence… shaken but not stirred he harshly blamed the innocent fence until he realised it had saved him from a 20-30 foot catastrophe!

At the bottom of falls is a large warning sign… move forward at your own risk… Places like this are a perfect pepper pot of a chance to ‘people watch’ and see, first hand, how different people view risk differently!

As Matthew stood cautiously behind the ‘gate’ I had no choice but to follow my feet and go in! I tried to be that sensible parent but ‘just a little further’ would surely be fine! As the kids begged me to take them closer I realised I was caught between a rock and a hard place – or, in this case, a rock and a very angry wet place! In the scale of risk there was only one other family closer to disaster than we were. A man with a flashy camera had his young family perched precariously close to the edge. Even by my standards! He seemed hell bent on capturing the exact moment they were sucked into the steaming belly of the caldron … I could imagine then whizzing round, arms flailing, until such time as the falls decided to spit them out and dump them unceremoniously on the jagged rocks!

The boys and I were positioned between Matt and ‘The Kamikazes’. I remembered Longleat when we’d almost divorced when I opened the car window to take a photo of a (distant!) lion… So i stayed safely at the midway point! 😊

Soon it was time to return back to complete the trail…before heading to Campbell River Ferry Terminal.. just in time for our crossing onto Quadra Island …

Let the next adventure begin!

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Sacha Brakenbury

As mum to three sons (and auntie to ten!) Sacha is kept busy trying to keep the kids alive, safe, fed and watered. Having specialised in Child Psychology and Linguistics at the University of Reading, Sacha went on to complete her Postgraduate Certificate in Education before taking up her first teaching post as Head of Boys Sport and Year 6 teacher. After 6 years, Sacha was fortunate enough to awarded a travelling fellowship from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, enabling her to undertake an extensive research project overseas. Sacha has worked with some of the world's top professional sports and educational institutions across Canada, America, Australia and New Zealand - researching ways of engaging young people through the medium of sport and in particular how this can help to reduce drug use and gang membership. After returning to the UK Sacha became Education Director at Ipswich Town Football Club, leading in the government's 'Playing for Success' scheme. She went on to establish three highly respected Study Centres back in the East of England, each of which used sport as a means of motivating children and young people. After successfully completing her National Professional Qualification for Headship in Cambridge, Sacha went on to study for her Masters Degree in Education. With the arrival of her three sons, Sacha decided it was time to 'go it alone.' She set up her own business consultancy, supporting a range of charities and organisations across the UK. Securing funds in excess of £2 million pounds, Sacha was able to 'give wings' to a wide range of charitable causes close to her heart. She continues this today with work specifically for Child First Trust. It was her own kids that were the inspiration behind her establishing Learning Academies (www.learningacademies.co.uk) - a tutoring company that has the simple mission to motivate and encourage its students to become confident and assertive learners who are not afraid to 'take risks' and challenge themselves. As a passionate photographer, Sacha is never more at home than when she's travelling, camera in hand, boys in tow. As a qualified medic with the British Divers Marine Life Rescue, she is able to combine her love the outdoors with her passion for wild animals.

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