Click on a photo to enlarge it.
We were now starting our fourth week. We were finally getting used to the alarm going off at 5-30 am, except for this
Monday morning when we had to be in the kitchen by 5-30am as it was bacon breakfast and that always takes us a lot
longer to prepare for so many people.
On Tuesday, Lisa got a lesson on the quad bike. We need to be able to drive it
so that we can load up the trailer with all the cool boxes and things needed for shore lunch and drive it down to the
boat. So, out at the back of the kitchen, the owners wife explained a few things to her and then got on the bike and
did a short turn in front of the wood pile where dozens of chopped up logs are stacked. Lisa got on the quad bike and
tried to do exactly the same manoeuvre. She made a classic kangaroo start and we knew she wasn´t going to make the
turn in the space she had. But instead of slowing down as she was aiming for the wood pile, she panicked and accelerated!!
She knocked over the chopping block and drove the front wheels right up onto the wood pile and just kept accelerating even
though the quad bike could not get any further up the wood pile! She was still panicking and accelerating at the same time,
so that it looked as if she was really trying her hardest to get the quad bike right up on top of the wood! We were crying
with laughter and poor old Kirsten missed it all because she was up at the laundry!
She didn´t miss the second lesson though which was taken out at the front of the lodge and well away from the wood pile!
Of course, now that we had our video with us, nothing happened! Afterwards, Kirsten also got a lesson. Later that day,
Helen went down to the dock and drove the quad bike and trailer around the block without a lesson!
Driving lessons.
That evening, Kirsten and Jessica were taken out in the boat for a boat lesson and got back at 9pm. On the way back from
the shower, we saw a large black bear at the pit and a smaller one with it.
On Wednesday, Helen and Lisa got a boat lesson and although Lisa said she had driven a boat before, you would never have
known it! She couldn´t get the boat to drive in a straight line as she kept over steering and, to such an extent that Helen
ended up getting swivelled around 360 degrees in her seat!
On Thursday, Helen and Kirsten drove the loaded up quad and trailer down to the boat and took the boat out to shore lunch.
The boat ride takes about 15 minutes and includes driving through a narrow channel between lakes. We loved taking the boat
out because it was something different and got us away from the main lodge. The drive and the shore lunch spot are in quite
idyllic settings, the blue lake surrounded by forested shores, having to be careful going through the channel and then
managing to get the boat docked on the ramp made of tree logs. Then we had to carry the two cool boxes full of food and
everything needed to prepare lunch, the two barrel containers full of iced tea, two flasks of coffee, a tray full of fried
potatoes and a tray full of pasta salad about 150 yards up a path which is steep at the start, to get to the spot for lunch.
At shore lunch, our first job was to start a fire inside the rusty old barrel on top of which was a grill where the
absolutely massive frying pan would be put. Then we had to lay everything out so that when the fish arrived the guides could
batter it by dipping it in eggs and then breadcrumbs and then fry them in the pan. We then had to serve it to the guests. We
also had to open up tins of beans and put them by the fire to get warm and had to lift them using the can opener and take
them to the table where everything else was served.
We were getting plagued by mosquitoes and black flies so we put our nets on and looked like "the black widows"! But the guests really
appreciated us because we served them their food instead of them having to get it themselves and collected their plates
afterwards - another first, apparently. Then we had to carry everything back to the boat and drive back. Getting the boat
back onto shore was the hardest part because we had to pull the extremely heavy motor up before it gets stuck in the sand.
Then load everything onto the quad bike, drive it back to the kitchen, carry everything inside and wash up and clean
everything! Hard work but at least we get to go out on the lake!
On Friday, one of the guests who was leaving that morning had his 50th birthday. We only found out about it that morning, so
we had to improvise! We got a piece of chocolate cake left from desert last night, decorated it by using icing to write 50 on
it, put a candle in it and took out and sung happy birthday!
On Saturday, just as the shore lunch boxes were packed and ready to go, it was decided that shore lunch would be inside
because the black flies were swarming outside. So we had to unpack them and lay all the tables for lunch. As lunch was being
served, new guests arrived so Kirsten had to make them sandwiches. Then some more guests arrived, so more sandwiches had to
be made and more tables laid. It got quite chaotic trying to serve everybody when the kitchen was so full because the guides
were frying the fish.
By the way, for those who are wondering (and we have had emails asking about it!) the pregnancy test was negative!
