Dog Sledding

2 maart 2016 - Algonquin Park, Canada

(I can't react on the reactions, sorry I thought that it was possible)

Dog sledding

After the orientation day we went in the bus for about more than 4 hours. I was sitting next to the a girl from Australia that stayed in the host family where I stay temporary now. She was in the house until Saturday and we were back on Tuesday from the dog sledding trip. At the lunch at the orientation camp I met my host sister from Germany. She is my host sister until the end of my exchange.

Back to dogsledding, the bus drive was long, but fine. After a while we had a stop in Tim Hortons. I was sitting with two exchange students from Austria and Chili and we were also talking in the bus to our hotel. We went to a hotel to get first check in the rooms and after that we had an explanation about the dogsledding. I shared my room with my host sisters. After that we had pizza and then they made the groups for the dogsledding trip. We had three groups. You did the whole trip with your group. We had to choose a partner. I went together with Julia a girl from Switzerland. Our group was very nice!

Then we went to sleep and the next morning the alarm was at 6 o’clock. We had breakfast and had 1 hour bus drive to the dogsledding place. I had to rent boots and a sleeping bag. The place where the dogs lived and where the sled was, was very big. The company had 350 dogsledding dogs. We had to harness or sled and to find our dogs. You had in the sled your own stuff and a box with food and stuff for at the camp. The sled had 6 dogs. We had to remember the names of the dogs, because by the stops we had to give the dogs a place and we had to find them back. Our dogs named: Viper, Piper, Buzz, Moko and the another 2, I don’t remember haha. I started to sit in the sled and Julia was standing behind the sled. It was very cool and beautiful with every were the snow. After a while we stopped for lunch. In the beautiful snow landscape. We had sandwiches and tomato soup. It was a very warm day. We didn’t have our coat on. In this time of the year was it is normaly minus15 degrees or maybe even colder. To do dogsledding was very cool, because you are standing in the sled or standing behind the sled and off course the location is so beautiful.

If you was standing behind then your task was to use the breaks when necessary. You had to use the breaks if you came down a hill, because you went very, very fast. Then your sled wasn’t going in the good way anymore. Also if there were hills and you had to go up the hill, you had to help the dogs. If you was sitting in the sled and if there were hills you had to go out the sled and run next to the sled. After lunch we had a tour again and then after a while we came at the camp. The camp was very cool with a big tent and a smaller tent. There was also space for the dogs and for the sleds. We gave the dogs a place to sleep and got our stuff from the sleds. We feed the dogs food and we had to find wood for a fire in the tents. I was looking for wood and then we had to saw the wood into small pieces. The diner for the day was corn with potatoes and some meat. It was very good. After diner we played a card game and after we went to sleep. Everybody was tired. In the small tent were the boys sleeping and in the big tent the girls were sleeping. There were also two girls from the dog sledding company with us. We had a mat to sleep on. It was hard, but fine and I went to sleep fast.

Early in the morning I wake up, but I find it nice to close my eyes and try to sleep again. Everybody wakes up when the dogs were doing a I don’t know how it called, but a kind a wolf scream haha. In the morning our breakfast was a pancake with a sausage. On the pancake we put the Canadian maple syrup of course haha. When I went out the tent I found the landscape very beautiful, because in the night it had snowed and the trees where full with snow.  Then we had to pack our stuff, put them in the sleds. We had to find your dogs and we went for a tour again. Also this day the weather was  very warm and I didn’t had my coat on again. The tour was beautiful, it was a small tour close to the trees. We had lunch in another camp were to teams could sleep. One team down the hill and one above the hill. We had the one above the hill and the one down the hill was from a children camp. We got hot cocoa with wraps for lunch. Then we had another small tour, because everybody wanted to do another tour. It was also a nice tour with a river next to us. Then the evening things were there again and we gave the dogs a sleeping place, got our stuff. We had to feed the dogs and to find again wood. We made a very big campfire and we were drinking hot cocoa or a kind of warm apple drink. In the evening we had for diner macaroni. We had the change to sleep outside in the open air in the sleds. There were 7 sleds and 8 people wanted to do it. I said it is fine for me to sleep inside, because then there was no problem. I was very tired and still the time feels really weird. It was early dark so for me it was already feeling 12 o’clock pm, but I was still 8 o’clock pm. Before everybody went to sleep there was a goodnight story. I didn’t get very much of it, because It was a very fast story. For me it was difficult to understand. Then we went to sleep. I slept good, but I was also early awake next day.

The next morning everybody wakes up when we heard the dogs wolf screaming. As breakfast we had an English muffin with egg, bacon and cheese. We did the same things what we did yesterday. We cleaned the tent and maked our sled ready. Today we had a tour with very much hills. Some of them were very height and long, so we had to run a lot. It was fine to run, it was exhausting, because there was a lot of snow. It was feeling a little bit if you run on the beach, but then, because there was more snow, it was more tyering. At the end of the tour we sled by a beautiful weather along some nice old houses. When we were at the place from the company, we had to bring the dogs back to their doghouses and to clean the sleds. Then the dog sledding adventure ended. It was a very nice adventure! It was very beautiful! After three days it was enough for me. I also very liked to do the camping things. Saw the wood, sleep in a tent and have a campfire. When everybody was ready to go from YFU we first went to the place where we rent the boots and sleeping bags and had lunch. After that we had to drive for 5 hours back. I was sitting next to Anine from Denmark. It was very nice and we were talking the full 5 hours about everything. Very much about how it was to do exchange so that was very nice to hear. We stopped one time at Tim Hortons and then we went to the place where we have had the orientation day. Some people had to go out the bus. I had to stay, because I had to go to Petrolia, the town where I should live for six month. A lot of the exchange students lives in the area of Petrolia. We arrived in Petrolia city, where I should go to school too. We said goodbye to the exchange students and we were waiting for my host mam, meeting her for the first time.

4 Reacties

  1. Isabel:
    2 maart 2016
    Lieve Bonne , wat een prachtig verhaal !!
  2. Jurrien heevel:
    2 maart 2016
    Hoi Bonne, wat een leuk verhaal! Happy go lucky!
  3. Fleurine:
    6 maart 2016
    Bonnneee, wat een gaaf verhaal! Echt super leuk zeg! Leuk om precies te horen wat je gedaan hebt
  4. Elisabeth:
    10 maart 2016
    Waaaaauw Bonne, ik heb je verhalen verslonden!! Wat ontzettend leuk!! Ik kijk nu al uit naar je volgende verhaal! Geniet en een heeeeele dikke kus!!