Click on a photo to enlarge it.
We started our second week here by baking our first cookies for the guests to be served with lunch. They went down
really well - literally! Also, the guests told us that we were the best crew they´d ever had, and they´ve been coming
here twice a year including the first week of the season, for 7 years! They could have told us lots of stories but we
never got around to finding them out. What we did manage to find out was that none of the other staff ever talked to
the guests much but that's the best part about being here - meeting all the new people who are intrigued about our
lifestyle and that we plan to travel around their country (and Canada and Mexico) for so many years. We are also a
lot older and more experienced than the normal "girls" who are usually students.
We certainly weren't perfect, and there was such a lot to remember, that it was inevitable that we forgot things, or
got things mixed up. For example, setting the tables seems, on the face of it, to be a simple task. But each setting
is different depending, not only, on whether its breakfast, lunch or dinner, but also on what is being served at
those meals; e.g. sour cream must be on the tables for the steaks and parmesan cheese for the spaghetti bolognese
- just two examples of what we forgot!! We also had to take a list with us when we cleaned the cabins so that we
didn´t forget to do anything. We also had to remember where everything was in the large, open kitchen (where
the guests can see us cooking!) and
everything has its own place in the large walk-in fridge which is connected by a door to the walk-in freezer (kept
shut by a block of wood which has to be hammered to the side to open or close it!) where everything has to be kept
in its place because its too cold in there to have to go hunting for stuff!
On Tuesday a large propane tanker arrived and we asked if we could get gas for Winnie´s tanks too! Fortunately he had
the right attachment for us. (We had run our tank down thinking Winnie would be parked miles away for the season).
Wednesday, we had to move out of the apartment as all the accommodation was needed for guests and we were very glad
to be back in Winnie - and certainly slept a lot better. Thursday was a disaster day for us! Firstly, Kirsten ruined
a few eggs on the griddle , then we forgot to serve eggs to one of the guests and forgot to give one of the guides a
plate. Then we were told that the two other girls would not be arriving today because there was a mix up with their
bus tickets and so they would not be on the bus. This meant that we would have to cope alone with all the work and
loads more guests were arriving!
The new guests also brought with them special requests for food as they were on diets and one guest was a vegetarian.
Fortunately she had brought her own frozen, microwaveable meals. The only problem was that we don't have a microwave,
and our oven is used to keep food warm that we are about to serve and consequently not turned up high enough to cook
the frozen meals! So we had to compromise and use a small tray with a bit of water in it and place it on the gas ring!
Then the Styrofoam container started to melt and water got into the food! Then Helen cut her hand on a glass that broke
in the washing up. And to top it all, the owner of the lodge decided to go on a diet aswell, so we got more special
requests for food!
Finally on Friday, the two new girls arrived - Jessica and Lisa. The owners wife was not impressed with Lisa´s appearance as she
dresses like a punk rocker with an earring in her lip, and as soon as she saw the new girls she wanted to fire them! But they were a great help and came into the midst of the chaos and did all the washing up for
the evening meal - loads of it!
On Saturday, the two new girls were 45 minutes late for their first morning and we had to prepare the most difficult
breakfast - bacon and eggs. Helen had a disaster on the griddle as for some reason all the eggs were sticking and getting
ruined and all 24 guests were waiting! The owners wife did nothing to help and we just got criticism and sarcastic comments
from her. The day didn´t get any better as the stress level was extremely high and in the evening, Helen forgot the
vegetarian meal in all the chaos, which we were now cooking in our own personal oven from Winnie, and it got burnt! It was
one of the worst days but we managed to relax a bit in the evening and went down to the dock and had a laugh with two of
the guests who were fishing there.
On Sunday, the girls were late again. Neither of them had an alarm clock with them and the owners wife had given them one to use. But it didn't work! We managed to prepare breakfast without them again but afterwards the wife told us that one of the
guides would fetch shore lunch because we could not be trusted! That was the last straw. We threw down our pinnies in disgust
and stormed off to see the husband! But he obviously didn´t listen or understand what the problem was and just told his wife
to stay out of the kitchen. That is definitely not an option because we still haven't been shown how to do everything. We
were fed up with the wife playing hide and seek with information we need to do our job properly as if she is doing everything
to make sure we fail. She also constantly called us "retards" and blamed us for everything that went wrong, including
mistakes that she had made herself. We were working very long hours and trying our hardest to do the best we possibly
could. But you are only as good as you´ve been taught.
We had a chat with the wife afterwards, who was obviously worried that we would just drive off when there were too many
guests for her to cope with. Other people might do something like that, but not us. We decided to stay for the sake of the
guests and for the two new girls, none of whom deserve to suffer because there are 2 less people in the kitchen. But would things get
any better? Well, we decided to stay to the end of May and find out.
