Edmonton - 5 day break between Contracts

Personally, during this break I didnt want to spend too much money paying excessively for hotel rooms and booze but unfortunately for me this is exactly what I did.
I wanted to stay in camp for another night to save on the price of a hotel room but everyone else in my crew wanted to get the hell out of the gravel pit, my arm was pulled and I hopped into Coles car and headed on the 3 hour trip to Edmonton where no reservations were made for any hotel.
Arriving in the city at 1.30am we checked into the Delta hotel in the downtown area; it was nice but even with 5 people in one room still very pricey.
For the majority of the time spent in Edmonton I stayed in the hostel not far from where the others were sharing the hotel room, I did this cause I love the hostel scene where its so easy to meet new people and have a chat sharing stories and fun times. Despite only staying in the hostel for a few days it was refreshing to meet some other travelers and away from my coworkers who were sharing a room with the same people Ive seen everyday for the past two months, – with no disrespect - although I did still go to their fancy hotel to see what they were up to everyday.
Im going to be honest and say that pretty much for the entire time in Edmonton I was pretty much on my way to getting drunk or being drunk from beer and white Russian's I was slamming down (what a great drink) – so much for not spending too much money.
I did however manage to get a few things for free including a meal from a restaurant called the Old Spaghetti Factory where I simply went in for some food to take away and ended staying there for a lock-in where I managed to get the meal , 4 pints and 2 shots for free because the staff were interested in my stories of travelling – I love it when this shit happens to me, I mean free food and free booze, hell yeah!
I also found a neat little secondhand bike shop where I got a bunch of things for next to nothing needed for my touring trip across Canada starting in a month.
Unfortunatelly I was too drunk or too lazy to get my camera out and take pictures so I have none for this time – sorry people.

Going out in the evening to see the nightlife in town turned out to be quite uneventful because of the length of time it took all of us to start and finish predrinking and getting ready. Bars close at 2am and stop letting people in at 1.30am – Arriving at twenty to gave us the only option to run to the liquor store buy more booze and drink in the hotel room, disappointing. One other time we tried going out we got into a couple of bars including a gay bar we were turned around because of one party member was far too drunk, im going to point fingers but * cough * Heli-show (inside joke).
Camille had to leave back to Montreal during our break, im going to this girl, it was a little upsetting to say goodbye but I will see her in her city cool enough – miss you Kermi x!
I met with an old friend I first met in Greece 3 and a half years ago, a  girl named Crys, we had lunch, a beer together and wandered strolled down Whyte Ave where we had fun reminiscing about old times and the new, I had a great (brief) time with her and hope to see her again in the near future.
We all left on Tuesday evening for our new camp near Caroline 3 hours away, this time not in the bush but a proper campsite beside a river which is always nice but at the time of arriving, having to pitch my tent and after 5 days of binge drinking and not having much rest which should be the point of having a break from planting really took its toll and by the end of it all I was absolutely nackard. I cant wait for this contract to be over!

Alberta Contract

In total we spent about a month and a half in what everyone in camp called the gravel pit. It certainly wasn't the nicest place to camp with gravel mounds everywhere that turned to mud when it rained but I got used to it and everyone didn't have a choice. The prices of the contract were not the greatest but we were given fast land meaning our crew was able to plant a good number of trees. It did take a while to get used to this but after a few shifts and getting some tips from Andre (our crews most experienced planter) I knocked it up a notch planting a lot more trees than the same time last year.

Mosquitoes on some blocks were bad, really bad, swarming me and the crew like crazy. The issue with the bugs is the shitest part about planting, well that and the downtime we have whilst waiting for trees and the stupid walkins into the block where we had to plant. Come to think of it, there really isnt much to like about planting but it pays well and enables me to live my lifestyle, a lifestyle that make people quite envious. 

Part of the contract involved getting helicoptered into the block that needed to be planted; as cool as this sounds the novelty wears off rather quickly; getting taken directly to the block on a few occasions gave me some extra planting time.  We did have some shitty weather where it rained quite a lot meaning damp at best clothing with wet boots, socks and feet which led to trenchfoot as you can see in the picture below. My boots were destroyed one evening because I placed them on the plastic rack above the open heater and over the course of the night someone turned it up too high and the rack melted through and one of my boots landed directly on the heater melting all the seals and making it unrecognizable. Our nights off from camp our crew headed to the closest town, Edson where we generally drank a lot and after a few weeks past we were no longer allowed back in one of the cheaper hotels in town. This is because one of our planters got arrested for being too drunk. During this season Camille and Ben (2 people on our crew) hooked up, as a practical joke and with Ben's permission I took his place in their tent covering myself up with a blanket when camille got back from the shower I waited for her to make herself comfortable in bed before frightening the hell out of her. Her scream was heard across camp – it was too funny – got you good Camille :).    

Heli-show in Alberta

Left to Right, Top to Bottom – Me with my $15 Shredded Wal-Mart rain clothes, JF chillin, Ben stuck in Mud, Babbs (Foreman) Quading through sticky Alberta mud, Andre smoking next to the helicopter fuel tank, Our crew at camp Gravel pit.

Some more people at our camp, McFrankenstein that i was made at 3am on a night off in Edson Alberta for $2.50… it consisted of 3 chicken patties, 3 beef patties, lettuce, tomato, swiss and chedder cheese smothered in BBQ sauce – happy days :), close to the end of the contract where camp was hit by a freak storm pretty much destroying camp but giving us a day off.