It's still only staff week!?

The last week has been fantastic! Very very busy. Not much time to get on the net, or relax. But that’s good, because I don’t get the chance to get homesick or lonely. So getting back from the instructors training course, the next day was immediately followed by a bronze medallion training course for 1.5 days. It was raining and cold when we had to swim 500m in less than 15 minutes. Not too tough, everyone passed, even my newfound Irish friend Neily Poo made it 5 seconds inside the 15minutes.

That night we had a ho-down barn dance, dressed up in our jeans and ‘plad’ (checkered) shirts. It was great to meet new people, dancing with strangers haha. Got quite a sweat on! There was an old couple running it, and the lady was so cute and quaint walking around and winking at you when you did the dance right. Or maybe she just liked me. And the old man running it was singing/talking at the same time which when you stopped to listen to was quite funny.

Next day we did a bit of work in the boathouse, opening up new wakeboards, skis, lifejackets, tubes, surfers… you name it, they had the brand spanking new version of it. I swear there are about 50 wakeboards in the boatshed, all of which are new!!! Nuts! It felt like Christmas opening up all these new ‘toys’. Had a fair bit of free time in the afternoon to visit the rock climbing centre, where we did some bouldering.

That night we had games in the auditorium – basketball (I was very rusty), indoor soccer (rolled my ankle on thin air), dodgeball (good fun even though I was one of the first few people out) and volleyball, which I have improved on over the last week.

Work projects the next day found me cleaning up the hangar where they have gymnastics and concerts/church. Spent some more time at the boathouse. That night, a few of us watched Get smart later on.

On Thursday morning, we had to move all of our gear up to Gwitmoc – which is right up the top, a 5-10 minute walk to the cafeteria and hub. We are staying in trailers which aren’t too bad, having more space, airconditioning and shelves. The worst thing is that there is no internet connection so it has been tough to get the time to get online. And the walk is a pain in the bum! We had the afternoon/night off so Mark, Blake, Jon, Kiwi Kev, Neily Poo and myself headed into the quaint town of Bracebridge, which was really pretty. We hit up the Laundromat (I was on my last pair of undies), Walmart for some supplies and then went to the sports bar to meet up with the girls from camp which a couple of the boys are on the tune with. That night, went with Sonny Shoker (a british Hip Hop rapper working at camp) and the others down the road to crossroads – a local bar/restaurant where I was desi. Got to drive for the first time in Canada! Woop woop! Saw a family of foxes frolicking on the road as well!

Friday was the day that all the other staff arrived in the afternoon. If I were to arrive at the same time as them, I would be so overwhelmed by seeing sooooo many people. I think 350 in total. After staff signups and dinner, there was a welcome bash/games at different stations which was good fun – we were assigned into teams according to different animals. That night there was a welcome campfire show thingy. They had games, skits, icebreakers, songs; it was really cool. Shattered I haven’t had my camera for all of this because there have been so many awesome opportunities for photos! Got to meet a plenty of new people which was great.

Saturday involved church which was fairly different style but pretty cool. We had a few staff sessions like spirituality etc. We got to split up into sections and play different games – good fun. And then went with my core wakeboard waterski staff and spent time with them, which was really great!

After dinner we played four way capture the flag out on the grass which was massive, and because the ground was so wet everyone was slipping over and getting muddy. We were all dressed up into either pirates, sailors (me), castaways or seamonsters. I muddied up my freshly washed white (not ribbed kellie) shirt but all in good fun. After that we had campfires and snacks on the beach, mingling was good. Another thing I have noticed about Canada is that they always have ‘snacks’ at night after dinner, around 9 – 930 which is different, but hey, I aint complaining with 4 meals a day.

Sunday involved a lot more sessions about safety, values, expectations etc. Area time for 3 hours was great. Finally got to take the boats out!! We broke our team up into 3 groups and had a competition to see who could make the best boat out of cardboard and duct tape. I was the person to ride our cardboard boat behind the nautique, and was the first to fall off, the front got wet and soggy and nosedived into the water. Still yet to wakeboard but its going great!

The weather has been pretty miserable and rainy so have been getting pretty muddy, but the forecast is a hot dry summer. Lets hope so! Each day I have been doing a 500m swim with the boys to stay fit. We have also been paying some visits to the gym. Good times!

Meeting heaps of cool people. 4 other aussies at camp, met some really cool kiwis, my good irish mate neilly poo, as well as plenty of awesome Canadians!

Let me know what you are all up to!!! I’m missing hearing from everyone elses adventures!

So I met the irish chaplain PK at the yorkdale mall, followed by a 22yearold south African guy Blake from Durbin. The drive to camp was really enjoyable, getting to know the guys both of which are really nice and friendly. The scenery on the drive was incredible, so many beautiful rocks, trees and many many lakes and channels.

Arriving at camp, PK took us on a tour around the grounds, which are huge!!! They are in such a beautiful location as well! Words cannot describe the beauty of this region. There was an hour or so till dinner so Blake and I wandered around the grounds to familiarise ourselves. That night after dinner I played volleyball with a few of the other leaders that were at the camp. They are all such amazing athletes, I felt so inadequate haha. After that, there was a worship and prayer at night. It was in a really nice building. The service was really nice. Music was guitar and violin, but very nice…I was amazed that they did about 10 songs which is much more than I am used to! Good songs though. There was a great time for personal reflection and worship/prayer as well as some sharing.

After this I went to one of the guys cabins to watch LA beat the Celtics in the NBA finals. All the staff leaders here are so friendly and nice it was really great getting to know some of them. Have had some great conversations with some really cool people. It is awesome getting to really know new people.

The next day (Friday), woke up early to watch the broncos v panthers on the internet…disappointing game. Then went and checked out the camp gym before breakfast. For most of the day, Blake and I helped the maintenance guys do some landscaping and lay grass. Tough work to start the summer off. Met 5 of the other new Muskoka Woods ski staff and we headed to hockey opportunity camp to learn to teach/coach waterskiing. In our muskoka woods group there is 1 chick (nicknamed mum), and 6 guys. All of them are pretty rad. Camp is pretty boring really. Cabins are cramped, lectures are boring, at least we get boat driving time. Knees bent, arms straight, head up… x 1 billion. But there are 4 other Aussies (who are obviously very cool)at the camp, which is a good reminder of home. Played plenty of games of volleyball in the breaks, and it has become a new favourite of mine.

The food at the cafeterias is fantastic. Salad bar at every meal, plus my own yummy vegetarian meal. Plenty of seconds all the time as well!!! Great food!!! They don’t have any healthy breakfast cereals though!

The wildlife here is great! I saw a raccoon fishing around the garbage my first night at Muskoka Woods. I was such a tourist, busting out my camera while everyone else payed pretty much no attention to it haha. I have seen plenty of chipmunks as well. They are so tiny, like cute mice with fluffy tails. And boy do they move fast. Talking to PK on the drive up here, he said that there are plenty of bears around this country, and there are often bears that wander into the camp grounds and they need to be shot. So I am very excited to see a bear!

John and Mark (Muskoka boys) are already trying to pay out my accent haha, but they always end up ripping me off with a british accent. I don’t think I even sound that different to them! Accent doesn’t seem to be as strong as Americans.

It's amazing the target market we are working for. It is a 'resort', not a camp, and they are 'guests', not campers. All the kids that come are quite the wealthy type. Most people in this region that i talk to, all own 'cottages' on the lake, which are pretty much summer beach houses. So there are a lot of people that own two houses. Its like the beverly hills of canada. Crazy!

Introduction to Muskoka

So I met the irish chaplain PK at the yorkdale mall, followed by a 22yearold south African guy Blake from Durbin. The drive to camp was really enjoyable, getting to know the guys both of which are really nice and friendly. The scenery on the drive was incredible, so many beautiful rocks, trees and many many lakes and channels, blue as blue!.

Arriving at camp, PK took us on a tour around the grounds, which are huge!!! They are in such a beautiful location as well! Words cannot describe the beauty of this region. There was an hour or so till dinner so Blake and I wandered around the grounds to familiarise ourselves. That night after dinner I played volleyball with a few of the other leaders that were at the camp. They are all such amazing athletes, I felt so inadequate haha. After that, there was a worship and prayer at night. It was in a really nice building. The service was really nice. Music was guitar and violin, but very nice…I was amazed that they did about 10 songs which is much more than I am used to! Good songs though. There was a great time for personal reflection and worship/prayer as well as some sharing.

After this I went to one of the guys cabins to watch LA beat the Celtics in the NBA finals. All the staff leaders here are so friendly and nice it was really great getting to know some of them. Have had some great conversations with some really cool people. It is awesome getting to really know new people.

The next day (Friday), woke up early to watch the broncos v panthers on the internet…disappointing game. Then went and checked out the camp gym before breakfast. For most of the day, Blake and I helped the maintenance guys do some landscaping and lay grass. Tough work to start the summer off. Met 5 of the other new Muskoka Woods ski staff and we headed to hockey opportunity camp to learn to teach/coach waterskiing. In our muskoka woods group there is 1 chick (nicknamed mum), and 6 guys. All of them are pretty rad. Camp is pretty boring really. Cabins are cramped, lectures are boring, at least we get boat driving time. Knees bent, arms straight, head up… x 1 billion. But there are 4 other Aussies (who are obviously very cool)at the camp, which is a good reminder of home. Played plenty of games of volleyball in the breaks, and it has become a new favourite of mine.

The food at the cafeterias is fantastic. Salad bar at every meal, plus my own yummy vegetarian meal. Plenty of seconds all the time as well!!! Great food!!! They don’t have any healthy breakfast cereals though!

The wildlife here is great! I saw a raccoon fishing around the garbage my first night at Muskoka Woods. I was such a tourist, busting out my camera while everyone else payed pretty much no attention to it haha. I have seen plenty of chipmunks as well. They are so tiny, like cute mice with fluffy tails. And boy do they move fast. Talking to PK on the drive up here, he said that there are plenty of bears around this country, and there are often bears that wander into the camp grounds and they need to be shot. So I am very excited to see a bear!

John and Mark (Muskoka boys) are already trying to pay out my accent haha, but they always end up ripping me off with a british accent. I don’t think I even sound that different to them! Accent doesn’t seem to be as strong as Americans.

It's amazing the target market we are working for. It is a 'resort', not a camp, and they are 'guests', not campers. All the kids that come are quite the wealthy type. Most people in this region that i talk to, all own 'cottages' on the lake, which are pretty much summer beach houses. So there are a lot of people that own two houses. Its like the beverly hills of canada. Crazy!

Selfies in the city

So it started off with an all nighter (pretty much) at home with my gorgeous sister Talyse, Rynocerous Harker and Jason Crazy Till, watching the hilarity of We can be heroes. It seemed like a dream leaving my house for the last time for 7 months. Had an eventful start off – forgetting my camera charger gahh – dad had to rush back home while I checked in. When he came back, he had grabbed the wrong one! Double gahh! So they are mailing it over. After an emotional goodbye, I headed onto the plane for my flight down to Sydney beginning my ‘walkabout’ journey, which has been months in the making.

Reading the book mum had made with all your photos and was quite emotional – thanks for so many lovely messages, so many people I am going to miss dearly. The 14 hour flight to Vancouver was a long one, got myself into a routine of sleep

movie sleep movie. In the transfer to Toronto I had to get my work permit…piece of cake. If anyone is looking at coming to Canada, it is so easy to get visa’s and permits. The Yanks on the other hand are on the other ridiculous end of the scale.

Due to the wait for the permit, I only just made it back to

my transferring flight with seconds to go, my vegemite spread the only casualty of the journey through customs. Paw paw made it through, luckily, my wrath would have been at large if that were seized.

Toronto – such warm weather was a pleasant surprise. Bussed it into

the city centre, soaking up the beautiful greeniness that is Canada. Very nice.

Checked in to Canadiana backpackers inn, with a view of the Toronto CN tower from the front door. Stayed in a dorm with a bunch of 4 Pommies outnumbering me the one lone aussie. Went out that night for a wander, grabbed some food….by myself haha table for one please. I also had to ask the waitress how much to tip her…haha I wasn’t sure whether it was 10 or 15%. She told me 15, so please let me know if this is too much and she is pulling a swifty on me.

There are a lot of homeless people around town, begging for money. I felt inspired, and ended up asking one of them to come to dinner with me…but he kindly refused out of courtesy to the restaurant, and he had already eaten. So after a bit of a chat with him, I gave him some change and went back to the hostel, deep in thought.

The next day - Tuesday, after surfing the internet on the free wireless for a while and taking advantage of the free pancake breakfast, headed out wandering the streets like a lost tourist. Opened a bank account, subwayed out of town to the closest Walmart. HUGE! They sell everything which is very radical. The customer service is woeful though. I saw a customer and worker getting into a massive argument due to lack of service. It’s surprisingly obvious that the workers really don’t want to be there. Bought me a prepaid phone, blanket, pillow, sheets.

Taco bell for lunch – not too shabby. (table for one?). After a long walk home carrying all my gear, my feet needed a break so facebooked my good friend martin meerkat rutkowski.

went for a walk down Queen (not that the street name means anything to you) street to Eaton Mall which is a pretty fancy place. H &M is the best store! Great clothings. Apparently it’s a big chain round Europe, unfortunately not Australia. On the way back I stopped for a moment in a very pretty park, with black squirrels wandering around. Took some selfies haha, and read my novel. Its great that the sun is up until 9pm. That night I saw Prince of Persia with a couple of my new roommates – an Aussie guy, Scottish girl and British guy. These Canadians take their movie candy bar to the next level! Extra butter dispensers for your popcorn!!!

Wednesday I woke up eagerly early in the morning to stream the best Origin game I have seen in quite a while! I felt a bit stupid cheering vocally (“Up yours ODonnell!!”), and complaining to the ref in the backpackers lounge by myself. A few people came by to see what the heck was going on. Unfortunately the rain made an appearance in the morning but fined up quickly. Headed out to the markets with my newfound roommate friends Bisrat, Abel, and Andrea. We were out for a good 8-9 hours, walking around town, many many kilometres.

feet were about to drop off!

The food here is the best part… $2.30 powerades come in litre bottles, and vitamin waters are cheaper and bigger as well! Plenty and plenty of yummy snack foods and sweets for cheap – its great!!! It’s better than great!

Tomorrow, I am heading to Muskoka Woods summer camp 2 hours north of

Toronto– very excited!!!

Keep messaging me friends, I love hearing from you, sharing the love.

Nerves!

Hi Everyone,

So its 9pm Sunday the 13th and I leave tomorrow morning at 6:30. Crikee! Talyse my awesome sister has just help me set up this blog for yall to ponder whilst I take my walkabout overseas. See you in Canada!

ps. im freaking out just slightly!