backtracking a little September 29th a hike in the middle of Muskoka

Donovan one of the Kitchen guys I hung around with had grown up in the Muskoka area and took me and Clayton (bakery) on a little random hike outside of his hometown Gravenhurst. I put on my runners and got in the car. He laughed at me..

"Look at you in your nice white pants..."
"what? I can roll them up to my knees"
"Yea thats not going to help"

I probably should have believed him..

We got stoned first another not so good idea. Donovan has a very short attention span and knew the area better then me he took off with clayton not far behind. If you know me at all you know that I am a hugely paranoid person, I am scared of everything. So being out in the middle of bear country having no idea where I was let alone the two guys I was hiking with were and the extra added paranoia of being horribly stoned I was literally going insane imagining countless things. Not only that I am also claustrophobic. We had to cross this one swamp which I think took me about a half hour, there was no crossing and it was thick with trees. I couldn't move I was surrounded by trees... I felt them closing in on me. I had no choice but to cross the swamp however so I ended up just pushing with all my force on the trees, my arms were so sore the next day from the exertion. I tried to walk on the trees but fell in the swamp anyway which was about a foot deep.

We also crossed three huge rivers by taking beaver dams across - cool yes but dangerous? This was the middle of fall, it was freezing. The dams were soft on the sides and it was easy to accidentally slip and fall in the river.

Anyway pictures of the hike are here despite everything it was an amazing hike with beautiful scenery and I would not hesitate to do it again. However I would do a few things differently I would wear pants that were not white, my actual waterproof hiking boots and not have any pot beforehand.

Muskoka so far....

I have been in Muskoka, Ontario for a little over a month now working in Minett at Clevelands house. I work as a bartender which is actually quite fun but the bar I work for is a little slow right now, shitty weather and economy issues not helping. Still I might just try and bartend when I move on back west for the winter!

I'm not going to lie the whole adventure has been a little trying for me. The resort is primarily a college resort with the average age group 19/20. There is so much drugs, sex & alcohol my mind is a little bent from it all. Perhaps if I had known I would have steered clear but I'm a fighter and determined to make the most of my summer.

The people here are nice enough I am yet to find someone I dislike I just don't relate well to the college crowd and therefore tend to keep my distance. Still I party with the best of them (occasionally) and have managed to find a few I would consider life-long friends. Summer is on the verge of ending and what do I have to show for it but a few drunken nights. I haven't even gone swimming in the lake yet!

Maybe what's sadder is this is my first entry since being here. Heh... well the sun is out today.

Bye bye Banff, Hello Muskoka!

So now everything is official. I have given notice at work, told my flatmate.

I am moving to Muskoka, Ontario for a summer job in Clevelands House Resort . I applied for the job on a whim about a month ago when I was fretting about what to do with myself when Brendan left. I applied for a front desk position. I was told there were no vacancies and thought no more of it.

suddenly a month later in my email was a job offer as a bartender! I rang HR and informed them I had no bar experiance but they said no problems they prefer it and want to train me how they want me to be. So my wage is a piddly $9.50 an hour. Pretty low compared to Australian wages but Canada is a tip run country which should bring my wage up quite considerably. It is also a high-end resort so I'll be expecting the rich & famous to be tipping me in $50 notes. (one can dream right)

I leave Banff on June 1st and will be driving across the US of A. Taking in the sights and sounds for two weeks of adventure!

It all came out of the blue and I'm totally excited for what the future will bring me. Gosh it was a hard secret to keep :D