A New Zealand man says he threw himself “into the deep end” when he started a trip paddling across Canada in a canoe — especially since he’d never canoed before.
Tom Hudson, who found himself in northern Manitoba Wednesday, told 680 CJOB’s The Start that he’s a frequent traveller, with a day job as a sailboat captain, and a solo trip across the Great White North was a bucket list item.
“It was always just this idea that I had in my mind, I thought it would be a cool thing to do … and then the next thing you know, I was actually organizing it.
“Then bought a canoe, and I had no excuse.”
Hudson said his trip started in the Rocky Mountains and he’s progressing east, with the goal of making it at least to Montreal, if not farther.
Get daily National news
Although there were some physical challenges at first — and an incident where his canoe capsized — as well as frustrating weather, he said the biggest challenge to date has been mental.
“The first week was the physical aspect and since then was the mental aspect — every day setting up camp, packing up camp, getting out there and paddling again for another six to 10 hours … and I’m on my own, so the isolation is a challenge,” he said.
“Everyone else is at home having meals around the dinner table, and I’ve pushed my canoe into some reeds and I’m sitting here with the insects, thinking, what am I doing?”
On his journey to see a side of Canada that many Canadians will never experience in a lifetime, Hudson said he’s experienced a number of firsts — such as spotting his first bear and his first moose — as well as getting past a steep learning curve with the canoe itself, but the highlight, as cliche as it sounds, has been the people he’s met along the way.
“I think what’s made the trip what it is, is the Canadian people,” he said.
“The weather’s been horrible, there’s been challenges, but what pulls me out is the hospitality of Canadians. The friendliest people in the world are all for some reason here in Canada.”
Hudson, who is documenting his journey on his YouTube channel, What in the World, next heads to Lake Winnipeg, which he said he’s heard can be “quite the feat” to traverse.
Comments