Gravenhurst

Tim Horton's
"Every cup has a story"
Indeed, it is true as it seems every cup does have a story. The story behind this cup involves five ordinary Australians, living in Ontario, Canada on Exchange - finding the fabled glorious knee-deep snow. It was our mission, as such, to travel as far as needed to find a lot of snow.

The talk began on Monday, that week, two Aussies had brought about an idea to see real snow. By real, they meant snow other than the type they seem to get in the most southern point of Canada, in Windsor, Ontario. In Windsor, the snow is a bit different to what Canada is famous for (despite some of that fame being a misrepresentation of the country), in that it may snow heavily overnight, but by midday the next day it is nothing but slush and annoying puddles of water. The temperature in Windsor is so erratic, no snow has the opportunity to stay around for long. Given this, the two aforementioned Aussies decided it was high time to see the snow, at least knee-deep, more than what we naturally get on the Mountains in the Great Dividing Range of Australia.

The murmurs, talks and general rumble of the endeavour spread quickly through the horde of Exchange students here at the University of Windsor. It soon became apparent who were serious about discovering this snow. Not surprisingly, all the Australians on exchange were serious, and very willing to travel as far as necessary to see the snow. Conclusive enough, there were five Australians and five seats in the car...The trip was set. Friday night, after a certain interesting event that took place with some of these Australians (which many of you will learn of upon my return), we were to pick up the car from Windsor International Airport, and begin the journey to Muskoka, in northern Ontario.

All was fine, and unlike many roadtrips before it, there were no issues in hiring the car, no question, and no underage fee. It appears the Australian accent does buy you a few great deals, here and there. However, by the time we were all packed and ready to go, it was already late on Friday night, so we proposed to postpone the departure until bright and early (in fact not so bright, as it would still be dark) Saturday morning. All agreed that this was probably the safest option, given we intended to drive in the snow.

Saturday morning arrived, at 5:00am I find myself struggling to find the will to leave my warm and cosy bed, to shower. Once I convinced myself, I was ready and roaring to go. The road trip began at 6.30am on Saturday. After a long drive of about 7 hours, we found ourselves in Bracebridge, a town of Muskoka. We travelled along Santas' Village Road, next to a lake - through snow, and amazing scenery. The town was picturesque, the exact image that comes to mind when one usually thinks of Canada. We knew we had found what we were looking for, finding what was most likely a car park (we were not totally sure about this, there was much too much snow to really know for sure), we built a snow man, made snow angels, and had a snowball fight.

After frollicking and general frivolty in the car park of what could have been Santa's Village, we decided we would head off for lunch and to secure some accommodation for the evening. Given a slight mishap in our sense of direction, we ended up heading South (back the way we came), and instead of turning back we set our sights on staying, and eating in Gravenhurst, the first town of Muskoka. Finding a quaint pub in the centre of town in Gravenhurst, we ate a very hearty, and fulfilling meal with great, friendly service from a waitress with a truly Canadian accent. Inquiring about accommodation revealed to us that a cheap Hotel was nearby, and after trekking there through the snow we asked about availability. With luck there was one room left with just enough space for all five of us... at a rate of about one person (further proof that the Australian accent gets you a good deal).

After securing accommodation, and taking a siesta, we had a light dinner in the Restaurant attached to the Hotel, and made for some more snow fun. Sliding, skidding, jumping, throwing, angels, snow cones...all too much fun for Australians who have either seen little, or no snow! It was an amazing experience. From a distance, we could see rising out of rather deep snow a sign "Tim Horton's - Always Fresh". We would make that trek next, not really knowing where any of the roads were as they were covered in snow... we hiked our way there through the knee-deep sand of ice.

That was how the cups came into our hands, the cups of a Tim Horton's double-double. With the friendly assistance of the people of Gravenhurst, Muskoka, we had our picture taken as a group. Evidence of the story behind the cup... We came, saw and conquered the knee-deep fables of snow. And that is all that we did, the following morning at 9am...we were back on the road. It appeared to snow everywhere through Ontario that night, so we were very cautious on the road, so timing was not as good. However, we were fortunate enough not to be one of the seven accidents we saw that day.

That is the story of five Australians, finding snow. The story of our Cup.