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Newcomer enjoys Cariboo lifestyle

Arlette Vanstone is spending her first winter in Williams Lake and loving it.
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Arlette Vanstone moved to the lakecity from Vancouver Island last spring and is enjoying the Cariboo lifestyle.

Arlette Vanstone is spending her first winter in Williams Lake and loving it.

She enjoys walking around Scout Island with her dog Bear, has joined a bowling group and is looking forward to ice fishing.

Arlette moved to the lakecity in March and is living with her son Darren Wayling, a forestry engineer.

She has been visiting back and forth between her home in Campbell River and Williams Lake for the past eight years, since Darren moved here from Clearwater.

They both enjoy hunting and she has come to the Cariboo numerous times over the past eight years to hunt with Darren and his buddies.

This year Arlette says she won a draw for a moose in the Cariboo but didn’t get her moose.

“I’ve had moose draws in other years and got my moose,” Arlette adds.

But this year, she was also one of four people lucky enough to win a draw for an elk on northern Vancouver Island Sayward area.

“We drove and hiked every day until we figured out where they were,” Arlette says.

“It was a hard hunt but it was fun and we got our elk on the seventh day.”

They brought their elk to a butcher in Lac La Hache for processing.

“So we have lots of nice meat in the freezer,” Arlette says. “I’ve never eaten elk before but I believe it is better than beef, very mild and not gamey at all.”

Arlette also hunts for deer and grouse with Darren.

“My son lives to fish and hunt,” Arlette adds. “I’m looking forward to doing some ice fishing. You don’t get to do that at the coast.”

Arlette was born and raised on Quadra Island and moved to Campbell River when she was 17.

“I’ve been there ever since,” Arlette says.

She has three children still living on the island, seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren with a seventh grandchild on the way.

One of her granddaughters and her family was evacuated from the wild fire that ripped through Fort McMurray last spring.

“They left with three kids, two cats and their dog,” Arlette says. “They were very lucky that their house was one of the ones that didn’t burn in the fire.”

Arlette says she took her CORE certification about 10 years ago with one of her grandsons who was taking his CORE for a high school credit. She has been hunting ever since then.

Since moving to the lakecity full time she is enjoying getting to know the community.

She joined a seniors bowling group on Friday afternoons this fall and is finding her way into community life.

“I’ve met some really nice people,” Arlette says.

She says the temperatures approaching -30 C kept her housebound for a few days in December, but most days she enjoys getting out and walking with her dog Bear.

“It’s great. I wasn’t cold out there at all,” Arlette says of her walk at Scout Island Wednesday when the temperature hovered around -14 C.

Even when the weather is really cold and she is stuck inside she enjoys the fact that she can look out her window and see blue skies.

“The thing that I like about it here is that you get lots of sunshine,” Arlette says, adding that when it is -10 C at the coast it is a harsher damp cold and the skies are most often grey.