Halloween

Colin here! Since last time you heard from me not much has really happened for me. It has been a hectic couple of days for Jess, but for me I have been bored out of my mind. It took 30 days of not working to send me insane..

Jess started work on Monday, I am yet to start so have been doing my best to not spend money, kill time and stay sane. Luckily on Wednesday a group of us had the day off so we decided to rent a minivan and go on a road trip to Calgary. We were all on a mission, our target destination IKEA!

I volunteered to drive as I had the most experience driving on the right hand side of the road and we were off. The company was great, by my side I had Jess (Mum) and in the back was Ollie, Dan and Bonnie (The Kids). There wasn't any real quiet moments during the drive, ohh except for the awkward silences when we made somebody feel awkward..

Once we hit IKEA we were in and out with what we needed, and many other things that we found along the way. After IKEA we had some lunch and we were on the hunt for a Thrift shop (Op Shop) so we could piece together our Halloween costumes. Everything started to go downhill from here..

Somehow we all got this idea into our head to go in drag, as old ladies and gentleman. Jess was the not so gentlemanly gentleman, and played it a bit too well for some people to feel comfortable about it. The party started in room 107 aka The Beast, all rooms in Chucktown are nicknamed after a ski run. Next move was to the Common room for the party, which would ultimately become to pre-party party.  Following the common room we were all drunk enough to walk down the road to continue this party. It gets a little hazy from there but all in all it was an amazing night to celebrate our first Halloween!

Today was nothing too crazy, Jess received an abundance of Happy Birthday messages even though its not her Canadian birthday. That comes tomorrow!

The Warm Up

So how did we get here? What has the last 4 months held for us? What did we do to save money and pass the time smiling while waiting for our big adventure to begin?

Ghostbusters - What you want to be when you grow up!

When we had Colin's cut off date from Qantas, that's when we started applying for work in the Snowy Mountains. We figured that working a winter season in Aus would be our "Warm Up" for Canada. And so we applied for many many jobs! We both had many interviews, my first choice was Thredbo and Colin's was being a lifty for Perisher. All the resorts were having their interviews on the same week, We had Ski Rider on the Thursday, Perisher on the Saturday and Thredbo on the Monday. It turns out we only needed the one interview.

Circus - Staff of Ski Rider

We met Roxanne and Jodie in the interview. We were really lucky for the opportunity! They had a massive number of returning staff, 300 applicants and only 15 positions available! Afterwards I was feeling pretty confident for us. We were told that we should hear something in 2 weeks, BUT we had a call the next day offering us positions, accommodation and meals - the absolute best deal on the mountain!

Vegas!! - Caesar and a Show Girl

From that moment - we didn't even attempt the other positions. We knew that Ski Rider offered us the most and would benefit us the most in the long run. And it was the greatest decision we could of made!

Paintball!! - Ski Rider Staff

Our experience at Ski Rider was all we hoped for! We made a tone of friends, saved a lot of money and snowboarded. I am a beginner snowboarded but have built a real confidence about it now. We also had a lot of random fun a long the way! There were dress up parties - circus and what I want to be when I grow up, paint ball, tandem bicycle riding, horse riding, vegas party, picnics, bushwalking and a possum that likes to break into our room!

Tandem Bicycle Riding!

We had the time of our lives and last Saturday we were really sad to have to say goodbye.

Horse Riding!!

We recommend everybody to try a working holiday in Australia first! It is a great warm up for what is coming and if you're in a couple, you can see how you go living and working together. Even I had some concerns at first but now all those worries are gone and I am super excited to start our adventure over seas together!! I heard that some jobs like ones in Perisher don't really give a lot of opportunity to save, make sure you go for the best deal for you and to ALWAYS budget!

Finally, have fun with it!
Jess