Lazy days

August 1

It seems like the last week since I got back from my wax removal in Yellowknife has been uncommonly slack. Other than the spa night, each crew got a full day in camp to catch up on their mapping and sample data entry. And the day before that we ended up finishing our traverse at around 1pm and because the radio antenna was being moved, we couldn't reach camp for a pick up. This meant that Heather and I spent the afternoon on a gravelly beach beside a lake napping and gossiping- not exactly roughing it in the tundra, eh? The same thing happened today, but luckily we were able to reach camp and got back around noon and had our maps plotted by late afternoon. Since we are temporarily without a camp cook, we volunteered to help with supper (frozen pizza and salad, so not exactly labour-intensive). Tomorrow will be the only full day until Sunday, which is always a half day. Total slackness! I think I if I ever went back to a 5 day a week job, 9 to 5, I would feel like quite the lazy bugger, indeed. Weekends? Who needs 'em!

In other news, I have started poking around for jobs in Australia. I saw one that offered 90k per year plus an 8k signing bonus. Yikes! Oz is looking mighty tempting after I calculated my student loan costs tonight. For the price of my degree I could have gotten a fully loaded 4x4 Toyota Tundra, plus a full tank of gas. A mighty expensive piece of paper if I do say so myself. Hopefully the work visa won't be too complicated to figure out- I am hoping to get a job where the employer will sponsor me for a temporary work visa so I don't have to jump through all the hoops on my own.

I will miss the caribou when I go though. A whole herd showed up about 200m from camp and a bunch of us went and checked it out. Those fellas aren't very scared of anything. A little calf came within 50m of me without blinking an eye.

I know I said I would load some pictures tonight but I can't find the relevant cable so I promise I will do so as soon as technically possible. Hope everyone enjoys their August long weekend while I slave away on the tundra :P. Have a beer for me!

-A.