Click on a photo to enlarge it.
On Monday, we parked Winnie where he would be staying for the next three months whilst we are in Alaska and tried to
make him "mouse proof". We used a lot of duct tape to try and seal all the places we could think of where mice could
possibly get into the inside of Winnie, put all dry food into containers, and basically moved everything possible so
that it was out of reach just in case we did get any unwanted visitors!!
We also used our 2 tarpaulin sheets to cover Winnie's roof to try and prevent water damage but still placed bowls
strategically, just in case. (Canadian) Kirsten said she would keep an eye on Winnie for us (for which we were very
grateful) but we still wanted to do everything possible to prevent any problems.
That afternoon we went for a thrilling buggy ride around the huge grounds, through rough terrain and through lots of
bushes - literally!!
It rained throughout the night so we got the chance to test our "tarp roof"! We finished all the last minute jobs and
packing and then got a lift to the bus station where we caught the 12 o'clock bus down to Victoria. We arrived just
after 5pm and went to the backpackers that we had booked last Wednesday. Then they wanted $8 more for the room -
apparently we had been given the wrong price! We complained but it didn't get us anywhere, so we ended up with a
really small room that cost $3 more than the price we were quoted.
Needless to say we weren't very pleased and decided we wouldn't stay on our return journey. Helen did the laundry
which involved walking up and down 4 flights of stairs 6 times!!! Then we went out for a meal.
On Wednesday we got up at 5-30am and caught the bus to Victoria airport for the very short flight across to Vancouver.
Then we got really confused because we had to go through US customs which were at Vancouver airport, but we would
have to collect our luggage AFTER going through customs. A weird system. The problem was that we didn't have much
time between flights. The queues for US customs and immigration were long and extremely slow moving, because everyone
had to give fingerprints and eye photos!!
The "eye" camera was the size and shape of a tennis ball which the customs officer picked up and zapped in front of
our faces without telling us what he was doing and without us even realising what was going on!! Well - you
automatically blink when something comes close to your face so how can you get a shot of the iris???
Anyway, it took us over 20 minutes to explain our situation. We had only been out of the US for a week and he told
us that normally he would refuse us re-entry because we should be out of the US for at least 6 weeks before we are
allowed back in. Fortunately we had all the stamps in our passports to prove that we were travelling between 3
different countries and it was only because he believed us when we said that we owned a motor home and that we didn't
want to drive it all the way up to Alaska, that he gave us another 90 day visa. Phew!!!!
Then we picked up our luggage and only just had enough time to get our flight to Anchorage. Then we found out that
there was no food on the 3.5 hour flight!! You could buy small items for large prices!! We were starving as we hadn't
had anything since 6-30am and by the time we got to Alaska it would be 8 hours later! Fortunately, we had some sweets
and snacks with us - not exactly a healthy diet!
Once we got to Anchorage, we hopped on a bus and found a Burger King! We had to wait a while for our next flight and
ended up sitting in the lounge for the wrong airline! Kirsten went to the toilet and walked back to the correct
airline lounge, only to find that Helen wasn't there of course! In the mean time, Helen had realised our mistake but
had to wait for Kirsten!! What a mix up!
We managed to find each other again and got onto a small aircraft and got great views of glaciers as we flew across
wilderness. We finally got to our destination and got picked up at the airport.
We got to the Lodge where we would be helping out for the next 3 months at 8pm (Alaska is 1 hour behind the west
coast of America) and sat down to eat with everyone.
Our home for the next three months was going to be a German owned salmon fishing lodge. There are 6 cabins for guests
but most of the guests would be flying out to 2 houseboats for the salmon fishing. Then on the last night of their
trip, they would fly back to the lodge and stay in the cabins for one night and then fly home after breakfast the
following morning.
We would be helping out with the cleaning in the main lodge (four bedrooms and a bathroom downstairs, large lounge,
kitchen and bathroom upstairs), cleaning the cabins, showers, toilets and guest kitchen outside, where we would also
serve the guests breakfast before they flew home. When we arrived we met two chefs who would be working there. One
would be the chef on the houseboats (Alex) and the other was there to fillet and smoke the fish at the lodge and at
a new smoke house that was still being built (Uwe). It seemed that, despite there being two chefs present, we would
be doing the cooking in the lodge.
When we found out that we would be helping out at the lodge we weren't exactly told what we would be doing. The only
thing we had found out was that it would entail between 8 to 9 hour days, with a lot of free time and some days off.
It didn't work out that way!!!
We got a room in the main lodge where all the employees were also sleeping. So it was pretty crowded and we all had
to share one bathroom. The first problem we encountered was that it did not go dark at night. The sun was still
shining late at night and even in the early hours it never really got dark.
When we went to bed, Helen would say "Can you turn the light off please?" and Kirsten would answer "It's not switched
on!" The curtains didn't block out any light at all so we didn't get much sleep. We finally found some different
curtains about 2 weeks later for our bedroom, but it was still not dark enough.
The number of mosquitoes, black flies and no-see-ums was another problem. You could not go outside without getting
surrounded within seconds. It was really uncomfortable and so, every time we went outside, we had to put our "widow"
nets on.
Of course, one of the first jobs we had to do was to plant bulbs and flowers in the numerous plant pots outside.
Thank goodness we brought our nets with us. We had to use them every day when we went out to water the plants. Helen
also managed to soak herself when she tried to water the hanging baskets which were just a little too high for her to
reach with the watering can - she lost her grip on the can and sent a waterfall over her head!
Our first week was quite relaxed. We were generally doing about 10 hours a day and everyone was nice to us. It didn't
take long for that to change though and we soon found out that mis-information was the name of the game.
We weren't told a lot about what we should be doing but one thing that we were told, was that everyone gets their own
breakfast which was at 7-30am. But there were a number of occasions when we would get up for breakfast and no one sat
down to eat anything until a lot later, sometimes as late as 9am. So we would be hanging around waiting for everyone
to get up before we could put the washing machines on, clean the bathrooms or do anything that was noisy like the
hoovering. Sometimes we couldn't even do anything in the kitchen because there were just too many people around.
The first "cracks" in the relaxed atmosphere started on our 8th day. One of the employees (Andrew) didn't get up for
breakfast until 9-30am and the owner gave him the day off as "punishment". Andrew had real problems with the other
employees who are all German and can't speak much English. The Germans would get really upset with him because he
couldn't understand what they were telling him to do. So, of course, he wouldn't do it correctly and would get it in
the neck because he had done it wrong.
So when he was given the day off, it didn't go down too well with the other employees who would criticise Andrew to
his face and make snide remarks and sarcastic comments. This would all be done in German but he didn't need to
understand the language to realise what was going on!
German was the main language spoken and the non-German speakers would just be ignored. It was very rude and got up
their noses, but even if they said something about it, English would only be spoken for a couple of sentences before
the German started again.
The owner was very chaotic and disorganised and frequently in bad moods which she would take out on us. We would end
up running here and there and everywhere, to do things for the owner and never getting time to finish our own jobs. A
small amount of forward planning could have saved a whole load of problems, but the owner seemed to prefer everything
being left to the last minute and the chaos that inevitably followed.
The first guests were arriving during our second week. There was a print out in the kitchen which had been done by
the German travel agent who books most of the guests. So at least we had something to work with as the owner never
told us until the last minute when guests would be arriving. (Oh no! That would make our jobs easier!!)
Unfortunately, there were some additions to this list that were only in the owners head. Although we had not been
told what to do with the cabins, we just went ahead anyway and started preparing all of them. There were 6 cabins
with a total of 22 beds, 2 bathrooms with toilets, a guests kitchen and another outside toilet.
There was quite a lot of work to be done as they are not used for 8 months of the year. So it was a good job we had
started early - just cleaning the windows took 3 days as they had to be done alongside everything else. It also took
us hours to clean the guests kitchen - some of the first guests were self-caterers who would be staying in one of the
cabins for 2 weeks and did not go out to the houseboat.
Besides the lodge, the owner was also opening up a new shop this season, selling smoked fish, jewellery, T-shirts,
base-ball caps etc, etc. (A really odd combination!) So we also got dragged in to clean out the premises, clean all
the jewellery cases (lots of glass!!!), decorate the shop and bake cakes for the opening day. Hardly anyone knew
about the opening day though, because the owner hadn't told anyone or thought to advertise it!
The owner was also opening a new factory where all the fish would be filleted, washed, vac-packed and boxed up. So
there were a number of times where we would have to go and help pick up and unload hundreds of boxes and other
equipment for the new factory.
If you thought that wasn't enough, the owner was also starting up a new line in Salmon butter which we had to make
in large batches. The butter would be mixed and then put in a large icing bag so that it could be squeezed (with a
lot of effort!) into glass jars and then labelled and boxed.
Salmon butter produktion.
It shouldn't come as a surprise that the hours were getting longer and longer and that in the end we were doing 16
hour days! Two weeks after we arrived, Andrew quit. We couldn't blame him because of the way he was being treated. It
didn't help that he was the son of the owners boyfriend. So more bad moods from the owner!
By our 4th week there were another 2 German employees in the lodge and the owner and her boyfriend were having
frequent goes at each other. Not something we wanted to witness! We had to get more salmon butter made and Helen
got roped in to make sure all the health and hygiene regulations were being adhered to in the new factory along with
all the forms that had to be filled out!
Then Helen had to go to the new factory where she had to wash tons of freshly filleted salmon, put them into bags,
vac-pack them and put them into boxes. This was a full time job, so Kirsten was left to do all the cleaning and
cooking at the lodge.
On the 4th of July there were fireworks at breakfast. Not because it was the American Independence day but because
things came to a head and we quit! After 5 weeks we'd just had enough. It was the same old story as last year - the
females not being treated very well as "cleaning and cooking" do not count as work. In fact, there was quite a large
amount of washing to be done and we had to live with comments like "Well, the washing machines do all the work!"
(Obviously, loading, unloading, folding, and ironing doesn't count at all!!)
The owner even had the cheek to say that Helen was the only one who had done any work because she had been working
in the fish factory for the last few days. Kirsten was working just as many hours but it obviously didn't count.
On one of the days the owner was supposed to bring Helen and the two filleting guys some food down to the factory.
But she only brought food for the guys!! As if Helen didn't even exist!
We knew that they would have problems without us and we didn't make the decision lightly but we just weren't prepared
to be treated like that any more. It just wasn't worth it. Plus Helen was really getting sick and tired of all the
German food - she bought herself some porridge oats so she didn't have to face the same plate of mixed sausage meats
every breakfast. The local handyman even took pity on her and brought around Banana bread (yummy) and Roquefort sauce
which is similar to Gorgonzola so that we could have it with pasta.
The only sad part about leaving was having to say goodbye to the owners little dog who we took out for walks in the
evenings and was a real sweetie. Then we packed our bags in 15 minutes, phoned a taxi and left!
