So after touring for the month of September and then coming back to Calgary to wait to be sent out in the field Shelley starts to run out of money. This of course became a bit stressful and i was extremely lucky that i was able to stay with a couple of Australians that i became friends with at Stampede. Poor Rachel and Tim. When i got back from my travels i was supposed to be going out to the fields within a few days but the job kept getting delayed and i ended up staying there for nearly 3 weeks. I also bought my friend Nathan up from Vancouver to come out to the fields to work with me and he was staying there also. So after staying longer than ever intended due to lack of funds we finally were able to go out to work in the field. Although not before i had another lot of stress fall on me. As i was getting low in funds and i had already been a temp with Wolf Surveying (which is how i came to know about jobs out in the field) the company needed a temp Receptionist again and so agreed to let me work for a few days on the Reception desk for some extra money. So when all of this was happening with the phone calls to the agency to let them know i was working in the office for a few days the agency then realised that i had agreed to take up a position with Wolf and then asked for a fee for me as they introduced me to the company. So suddenly i was faced with the prospect of not being able to go out into the field and work as Wolf would not pay a fee for an unqualified employee. Oh my god. So the company was kind enough to negotiate with the agency for me. This went on for 2 days and to cut a long story short they eventually agreed to waive the fee. So 2 days later we finally get sent out to the field.
My gosh what an experience it has been. So i end up going out to the field one day later than everyone else as i was looking after the Reception desk until Friday so i went on the Saturday instead. So on my first day i get to do Quad training in the most mud i have ever been in in my whole entire life. So then the second day i set off to the fields. I wear my Australian Ecco hiking boots and layers of clothes and set off up the mountain. Well that turned out to be a big mistake wearing the Ecco's. I slipped about 8 times going up the mountain, which was about 800 metre's vertical and about a 55 degree incline, and then kept slipping throughout the day even though the terrain was flatter and then just to top things off we decided to take a short cut home straight down the face of the mountain. It was bloody steep practically straight down and of course i just about went all the way down on my bum. After about the 78th time that i fell i finally burst into tears through sheer frustration and so was made to wear better boots the next day. If it wasn't for two of the Slashers - who are Newfies ( People from Newfoundland for those who don't know what newfies are) i wouldn't have gotten down safely. I had one holding my hand behind me and the other one in front of me to make sure that i didn't fall too far. They looked after me all day. They gave me a dry pair of gloves, they cut me a futon to sit on at the fire that they made at lunchtime, they cooked me weiners on a stick for lunch, and on one of out breaks they cut me a bench to sit on with their chainsaw. Talk about spoilt..... Ya!!! Newfies!!!!
The next day i wore my Canadian bought boots which worked a whole lot better. Not as much falling over but lets just say that i have quite a few battle bruises to show off. Again the next day we had to walk too far up the mountain for me to handle and again we came staight down the side of the mountain and though i did not slip over half as much it still scared me a little. The Newfies stayed with me again, they are such gentlemen... I should bring one home with me, though the only problem with that is that i barely understand their accent making conversation difficult at times. Their accent is very influenced by Irish decendents so mix that with Canadian and i am sure you can figure it out for yourself how hard it would be to understand them.
So after my second day i went to the company and explained that i thought that the terrain was too hard for me and thankfully they understood and are sending me to another part of Canada which is flatter. I still worked the third day which we started in a different area which was flatter than the previous days.
With the work that i am doing in the mountains it is supposed to be that you survey about 1 to 2 km's into the bush and then when that is done you are supposed to be taken to work in a helicopter and fly over the part you have already surveyed and then get out and keep going. The client for this job is tight with money and didn't want to pay the expense of the helicopter and so far haven't supplied one. So on my second day i had to do a 3km walk into the bush survey 1.74 km's and then do a 2 km walk out. So you can imagine my apprehension at completing the job. knowing i was going to have to walk up mountains everyday when i had already had so much trouble staying on my feet. So i completed the third day and then came back to Calgary with someone who was driving come back and am going out to a new job site on Wednesday. This time the terrain is flatter and i may even get to do some quad biking which will be cool fun....
I am just lucky that the company was so understanding about it. so fingers crossed that the next job goes heaps better.
take care all and keep me up to date with news back home...
Shelley
xxxxxx
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