Happy New Year From Canada!

Happy New Year everyone! If Carlsberg did years… our 2013 would be hard to beat!

New Years Eve topped off an awesome year with some great new friends in Whistler. With the clubs charging $100+ to get in, we ended 2013 in a bar, Dusty’s which was free before 9. Free things are hard to come by in Whistler so safe to say a lot of people go! We got there at 6 to make sure we got in, so 6 hours of drinking before counting the New Year in!

Here are some of my favourite photos from 2013… not a bad year, starting with Bradford City’s historic cup run and ending in Whistler, Canada!

View From the Hotel Room

I’m not one to make New Year resolutions that will be broken by 3rd January so instead here are a few things on my new year to do list:

• Improve snowboarding –  Try steeper runs and attempt jumps (nothing to crazy though!)
• Heli-boarding
• Bungee jump
• Road trip around the States
• Go to Brazil for the World Cup – Get our football fix back!
• Visit Amazon rainforest
• Travel more of South America

New year wish list in Whistler:
– More snow – we really need it!
– Tourists to go away
– At least 3 days a week to snowboard & reach 50 days of riding
– Get Kyle to actually write a blog!

All the best to everyone in 2014!

McDonalds Reunited in Canada For Christmas!

What a week this has been! My mum and dad came over from Bradford and brother from Saskatoon for Christmas. I’ve just had to say another emotional goodbye, but we’ve had such an amazing week in Whistler and few days in Vancouver!

So my mum and dad flew over on Friday, after a hectic day at work I met them at their nice little apartment in Whistler village (courtesy of airbnb – highly recommended!). Straight to the pub for a beer we went, in true McDonald / Whistler fashion!

Luckily we ha a bit of snow the night before they came so Whistler was all pretty and snowy again! I had quite a few shifts at work, so tried to fit showing them around and doing touristy things between that. We went to lost lake and Alta lake which looked very different to how they did a few months ago, with all the snow on top of the now frozen water. Cue pictures…

2 Extreme Sports in Less Than 24 Hours

Hi, my name is Laura and I’m an adrenaline junkie. I’ve been clean for 0 days now…

Okay so it turns out I’m a sucker for the thrill of extreme sports. Yesterday we did the bobsleigh here in Whistler, then not even 24 hours later I’ve just done the skeleton ride too!

Whistler is one of just three places in the world where the public can access the same track that olympic athletes use for the skeleton, bobsleigh and luge AND it’s the fastest & steepest track in the world AND it’s the exact same one that was used in the 2010 Winter Olympics! So yesterday, thanks to a cheap locals offer ending soon, we tried out the bobsleigh.

Cool Runnings has obviously put the sport on the map so to be able to do it in real life is pretty surreal. I was so excited to do it… then we got there and drove up to the start which was when I realised just how steep and long the track was. The nerves obviously kicked in, the driver came over and made some standard jokes about it being his first time driving then we were all set to go. As the smallest I sat in the second seat behind the driver, then Kyle and our friend Gary just behind him. Helmets on, we were good to go…. feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme, get on up it’s bobsled time (we forgot to bring a lucky egg). The first few seconds felt quite timid, then all of a sudden we turned round a corner and picked up pretty fast speeds! The turns on the corners were insane, it’s exactly like you see on the tv with helmets banging everywhere. It was impossible to try see what was happening as as soon as you turned your head to look it would be jolted back the other way. We hit speeds of 126km/h so yup pretty fast!

Our First Hockey Game, Settling into Whistler Life & It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Hello! It’s been a busy few weeks in Whistler. We’re now just over 5 weeks into Whistler life but it feels like we’ve been here so much longer. Time goes so quick here.

Last week we went to our first hockey game, woo! Although it wasn’t to see the Vancouver Canucks (the team we’ve been following since we got here), but the Vancouver Giants, who are in the league below the National Hockey League here. As part of one of the perks of working for the Whistler Blackcomb mountain you can join Club Shred which gives you discounted tickets. So for $20 we got transport to Vancouver, tickets to the game and a $10 food voucher… which was an absolute bargain! We were three rows from the front at the side so had a great view, although it seemed to close a few time when the players barged against the glass I really thought it was going to smash right in front of us!

It was obviously very different to football (sorry, soccer) back home and our beloved Bradford City, but it certainly didn’t disappoint. Within the first few minutes there was a big punch up between two players, seemingly over nothing, but that’s the whole point of the sport! It was just a little hard to keep up with and I lost where the puck was quite a lot. The Giants won 3-2 after scoring a late goal. We will definitely be going again, it’s probably the best $20 we’ve spent since arriving in Whistler. But will still be venturing to watch the Canucks at some point too, once we have a few more spare pennies  cents.

We had to buy some merchandise!

Don’t usually see signs like this at city!

Pretty close (just before a fight!)

Another Week In Whistler – Birthdays, Shredding & Work

Another week in Whistler has flown by. Tomorrow will be a month since we left the UK, seems like forever ago. The ‘Whistler bubble’ has definitely closed in on us and I love it! What have we been up to?! Working, snowboarding/skiing, drinking would pretty much cover it, I could end the blog here but will carry on…

Birthdays

Our flat mate Mike was 30 (that’s pretty old here haha) last Tuesday so we went out for that. The Vancouver Canucks were playing and when they do it’s become in our routine to go to a pub, Crystal Lounge to watch it and enjoy chicken wings for 20 cents – bargain! Tuesday nights are bingo nights so went to that and many shots were consumed… I’ll leave it at that!

Kyle turned 27 yesterday and we both had the day off, so we got up early for breakfast at the top of the mountain at the Roundhouse restaurant (where Kyle works). After forcing ourselves to move after eating too much food, we got a couple of runs in then back down for a birthday drink.

Not a bad place to have a birthday breakfast!

There was a brownie there, not just fire!

Apres ski had to be cut shorter than usual, as I’d booked Kyle to do the Skeleton at the Whistler Sliding Centre. For those who don’t know what the Skeleton is, it’s pretty much like a sledge that you throw yourself on and go up to 100km an hour! The Whistler Sliding centre opens up the same track that was used at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics to the public every day. Only 3 tracks in the world let the public ride on it, so it’s pretty unique experience! After hearing the safety brief, I started to regret buying Kyle such a dangerous birthday present but he loved it. He reached a speed of 96.9km an hour (60mph), so yeah pretty quick. Was pretty difficult taking a video of it…

Opening Weekend At Whistler Blackcomb 2013

Whistler Blackcomb opened for the season on Saturday, two weeks earlier than expected. Luckily I wasn’t scheduled to work on Saturday so I could go snowboarding for the first time in two years woo (Kyle wasn’t so lucky and had to work). So exciting to hear opening was sooner than we had all expected, although I wasn’t quite as keen to get up there as the people who had queued 24 hours to make sure they were first up the mountain.

I wasn’t expecting too much of the conditions as had heard it was pretty icy and not that much snow up at the top, plus only a couple of lifts and runs were open…how wrong I was! There was quite a bit of snow overnight and the sun was shining, what could be better than powder and a bluebird day for the opening day of the season?!

The conditions were great… my snowboarding not so good! After two years of not getting on a board and only having done a week anyway it was safe to say I was a little rusty. Nevertheless it was so good to be on the mountain, despite all the falls and many bruises! Roll on the rest of the season 🙂

I had to work on Sunday and had my first shift as a Ticket Validator at Creekside Gondola (where most of the locals live) so no snowboarding for me. A pretty easy job and it was quiet for most of the day, apart from a few keen people queuing from 7.30 to hit the pow. It snowed pretty much the whole day so was pretty jealous of all the people I was letting up the mountain, better get used to it I guess!

Our First 10 Days in Whistler!

How time flies when you’re having fun, eh? Can’t believe we’ve been in Whistler for 10 days now, it’s been a pretty hectic few weeks but are now settled into our staff accommodation and generally loving life so far! Here’s what our first few weeks have entailed:

Moved into Our Flat

We decided to live in the staff accommodation Whistler Blackcomb provide and really glad we did. We’ve moved into Brio which was meant to be the quieter flats a bit further out of the village. Was expecting a pretty basic, uni hall type accommodation and was pleasantly surprised. The flat was a lot bigger and nicer than expected, we had more pots and pans than I thought we would, and it’s only a five minute walk into the village. There is a table tennis table in the common room too, which isn’t good for mine and Kyle’s competitiveness!

Brio Staff Housing

First Week At Work

I started my training for my job as a Ticket Seller and Validation Host for Whistler Blackcomb last Monday. Pretty standard first week at a new job really, apart from everyone else is new too! The job seems like it’s going to be pretty good, always going to be busy so the days will go quick even when we’re starting at 6.30/7! I’ve got my first proper shift on Sunday for the second day the mountain is open, actually looking forward to it.

My new uniform!

Hello Canada!

We’ve now been in Canada for 5 days… I’m already rubbish with keeping up with this blog but it’s been a mad few days and Vancouver is amazing!

Vancouver is the nicest city I’ve ever visited (in my small life to date but it will be hard to beat!). It’s got everything in one place: skyscrapers, shopping markets, sea, beach, mountains. So far we:

– Went on a bike ride around Stanley park (not just a park, see pictures!)
– Went to the Capilano suspension bridge
– Done all the grown up things like opening a bank account, get our national insurance numbers and got a Canadian number
– Bought all my snowboard gear
– Drank lots of beer
– Spent Halloween in Vancouver. It is mad here bigger than New Years.
-Tried Poutine (chips, gravy, cheese curd – a strange Canadian thing)

This is it! Canada Here We Come!

After months of planning, a couple of weeks of stressing, a week of emotional goodbyes – the day we fly out to Canada has finally arrived. I can’t even describe how excited I am!!

Really bad storms are forecast for throughout the UK and Europe tomorrow, most flights from Gatwick have already been delayed and trains cancelled so really hoping our flight is not cancelled. I can deal with a few hour delays, but really hoping we can still fly out tomorrow…. fingers crossed!

Hopefully the next blog I’ll write will be from Canada baby…. stay tuned!

In 10 Days Time…

In 10 days time I’ll be…

– Jobless (just until I start at Whistler Blackcomb)
– Flat-less
– Car-less (though have been for a month!)
– Sat in the airport bar with fellow Working Holiday Clubbers heading to Vancouver
– Stressing that I’ve forgot something but not caring as much as usual as I’m going to Canada baby!
– In disbelief that we’ve actually taken the plunge to do this

Can’t believe how quickly the last few weeks have gone. I feel like I’ve wrote a still to do list loads of times and still not completed it. Here we go again… Still to do:

– Finish packing up our flat
– Finish packing our lives into 2 suitcases and hand luggage (actually started now, go me!)
– Finish at work (4 and a half days working days left!)
– Print all documents
– Check into flight