Welcome to Fall, the Season Where Nothing Ever Dries

Hey team

Yes so first off apologies for not writing in like... a month... whoops.

Anyway so Fall is definitely well under way, in fact, we only have 2 groups left until the whole thing is done and dusted. I can't believe its coming on 6 months working at camp. I've been here for so long I can't fully imagine how its going to be not being here.

So quite a few things have happened since I last wrote at the very beginning of Fall. The vast majority of these things is work. Fall has been quite literally jam packed full of kids! We saw the same number of kids in the first 2 weeks of Fall that we saw in the entire Summer.

Oh and just quickly I'll point out that I have not forgotten that it is indeed called 'Autumn'. However, as I am in a country where things do quite literally fall from the sky (mainly leaves and snow) I feel that particular moniker a rather appropriate one.

On that note of things falling from the sky, the landscape really has taken on some amazingly dramatic changes in the last few weeks. Trees are now nearly bare, their leaves in massive piles of brown and yellow. I raked my first pile of leaves and then jumped into it. Actually I pretended to die into it... Emily shot me... so to speak.

And speaking of shooting, yesterday we had the day off and so Tyler, Crumbles and I put it to good use. We found some foam dart guns under the house, loaded up and spent a good 6 hours running around in the forest pretending to be members of a rebel guerilla force fighting against a coup that had overthrown Parky (he was out of town for the weekend). The militia were the kids onsite and the other staff, we couldn't let them see us. We barely even fired any darts, it was all in our heads, creeping through the bush, seeing parts of camp for the first time, building a giant fort from trees and moss. It was such an awesome day, we stormed the kitchen (it was actually a terrorist base) and stormed Eddie as he cleaned the Lodge bathroom (he was actually using chemicals to make a bomb to take out the fort). It was a truly brilliant day.

So just before Fall began, we had a few days off, which I mentioned in the last post. We were undecided as of what to do so we headed down to Vancouver for a few days to see what would happen. Quite a few interesting things did happen, some of which involved going to airports... being kicked out of them for asking about hotel rooms in silly accents... walking... lots and lots of walking... some poor map reading... more walking... some sidewalk napping and finally a well earned coffee and muffin the following morning. Eddie took us to the cultural hub of Granville Island, before I met up with Alex. It was awesome to see her again after so long, we were pretty stoked. It's funny, Crumbles reckoned we talked exactly the same. Perhaps Perth has an accent? I ended up taking a ferry with Al over to the Island to meet up with George. It was awesome to all meet up, it was like we had never left, but at the same time we were all completely different people with all new friends, stories and experiences. It was so weird to all hang out, it felt like we were right back at the beginning of our trip, even though we had all been living in Canada for 5 months.

Other fun things have happened this Fall, such as our whole staff trip to a Vancouver Giants vs. Emmerton Silvertips ice hockey game. It was a Western Hockey League match (like the WAFL) so all the players were like 16-19 years old and busting their butts to make the big league. Good quality hockey, aggression-wise and lots of fights. The best type of hockey, or so I'm told. I had to sit next to Emily so she could explain to me what was going on.

Fall is now rapidly coming to a close, after leaving camp I'm going to head to Arizona to visit Spud and Vicki, and maybe even Mum. Then 2 weeks maybe touring some of Eastern Canada (Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City, Ottawa) before heading to New York then on to London. If it all works out should be a real party.

Anyway I better head off, I'm missing the mad action of Pauly Shore and 'In the Army Now'. Great film. Hopefully will post again after my very first Thanksgiving (next weekend) but no guarantees there will be one before I leave camp, so this may be the last Summit blog!!! Hope its satisfactory.

Here are a few pictures from the Fall:

George and I looking awesome? on the streets of Victoria


Alex and I dancing down the streets of Victoria.... because we can?

The Perth Reunion on Vancouver Island at Alex's Aunt Roberta and Uncle Fred's house


The Vancouver Giants ice hockey game we went to as a staff. The guy on the right is a Storm Trooper from a bachelor party that was sitting next to us.


Crumbles, Luke and Emily getting angry at the game

Nothing like a good old Canadian hockey fight


Bouldering at the base of the Chief

Pancakes and an omelette for dinner? Gotta love IHOP.


Great Wall of China? Bay of Fundy? The Pyramids? Nah, IHOP in Vancouver, definitely the greatest place the Summit flag has ever been.