A Chucktown Christmas!

Christmas has been going for weeks! There has been a marvellous Christmas tree in the Lodge of Ten Peaks, carols on repeat and constant packages arriving from home! We have seen Christmas lights all bright and shiny along Banff's streets and we have done some Christmassy shenanigans like drinking eggnog, doing Secret Santa and wrapping fake gifts to random apartments haha.

I am already missing the cheer of Christmas! We had Santa and his Elves with us for 3 days!! Colin and I both had to work on Christmas eve and day! That wasn't so fun as such but it had to be done.. Surprisingly enough, Christmas day wasn't busy at all. We got home nice and early and started drinking! Colin has already started covering some mini hams in a delicious honey maple glaze as well. We went to apartment 204 for the best dinner ever!! We had 3 chefs and one Canadian rocking out the food! We had a massive ham, duck, turkey, sauces, candy bacon, salads, breads, some amazing eggplant thing… oh my God!! This dinner was more epic and stupendous than I could of ever dreamed!

I am use to a massive family dinner down the coast with my amazing Grandmother and my dad's side of the family! It's always filled with people, love, chocolate, huge amounts of amazing food, acoustic music, wine and sun! I really really miss that! My fondest memories of Christmas is always because of the company I am with. My amazing friends, my gorgeous girls, my beautiful sisters and my ginormous family.. sorry ---- a little home sick.

So we ate! We ate amazing food by amazing people!!! I was SOOOOOO full! I filled up on really sweet and cheap cider… that was also probably the main cause of my drunkeness.. We went to the common room to play beer pong and socialise with our Lake Louise family! It was so perfect! We really had a lot of fun and had a very chilled night for our first Christmas as fiancés! I am so glad we could spend it with all the perfect friends we have made!!

Boxing day, was our day off!! And it was the perfect day for a sleep in and to see the magical ice castle together …. and then the Hobbit (AMAZING MOVIE!!).

I hope everyone out there had a very very Merry Christmas!
xx

You win some. You lose some

This blog post is just about the past few weeks that have had some highlights and then some differences. Firstly, I want to talk about house mates. Its no secret that some house mates are better than others and it sucks that we can’t pick and choose who we want to live with – but that’s just the way the cookie crumbles. Our house is actually pretty good, we get along, clean after ourselves and we live with Scott who came with us from Aus!! There is just one house mate who isn’t really a team player or a nice person. It wasn’t so bad until his girlfriend decided to move in as well (not really allowed) and now we have two negative people in the house who are loud and not do any basic chores. But hey, we just need to keep our fingers crossed that they decide to get a couple room and will move the hell out!!!!

I think we really lucked out with everyone else though!! We have Dave who is just so chilled, likes being social, always fun and positive and really is great for a good or stupid conversation! He also conducts funny little experiments that always turn out awesome. One, for example, was wrapping a warm can of beer or soft drink/pop in a paper towel, running it under water and putting it in the freezer, 5 minutes later, it’s at that perfect cold temperature to drink. Ironically, putting the can outside in this -30 degree cold would probably do the same thing. But yes Dave is heaps awesome, not to mention he also put up with and did not correct Colin when he was calling him Matt for a couple of days.

We also had Alan, our Canadian. He is definitely one of a kind! He was always fun to have around  the house to talk to and go out with. I think you have probably noticed the past tense. Well Alan was with us for just over a month I think, and then the smart cookie was promoted into an accounting position! GO ALAN!!! So he’s been moved to a single room to the apartment below us. Its lucky for us that we still get to hang with him in our group of friends.

And so, we now have a new house mate!! You see, we are at max capacity at Charleston and the late starting staff are at the Great Divide Lodge or the Stables which is hard on them! Less buses, further away and cramped. I was a bit nervous to see who it was, I am the only girl in a house full of men, so I really didn’t want some ass hole to move in. I was over the moon when I found out it was Archie! I met Archie in the common room a week or so ago, we had a random drunken conversation about art. The best thing is, he’s a kiwi!!! The gorgeous New Zealand accent will always make me smile but Archie is also such a fun loving, care free, relaxed kind of person!!! Makes me so happy to have such a lovely person living with us!

Finally, we have Scott. I don’t think we have talked about him much in the past on our blog. So Colin went to high school with Scott and has been friends with him for a long time. I have known Scott for about 4 years now. Colin and I had already started planning our trip to Canada when we invited Scott. To take the adventure with us. Its so good having a piece of home with us.

So that’s what’s been going on in apartment 304, but there was another thing I wanted to share. The other week I had the awesome opportunity to decorate Lake Louise Ski Resort for Christmas! We have a giant Christmas tree in the Lodge of Ten Peaks, fairy lights in Whiskey Jack and then bits and pieces of sparkly Christmas spirit everywhere in between. One of the downfalls of my magical day however was my work jacket being stolen along with my phone and my bank card. I would like to clarify that when say stolen, I mean, I took my jacket off, put it near the decorations and my drink on a table, went up a ladder to staple gun decorations up high on an architrave to find my jacket gone when I came down.

My first instinct was to check if one of my colleges had borrowed it, but unfortunately no one did.  I was very thankful to have my manager Ben around, he helped me look everywhere for it, file a ‘missing’ report and asked all the managers of different departments to keep their eyes open for it. After a little cry, all I could do was work. A few days had passed and nothing. I had to cancel my phone and bank card and file a police report. I am really shocked and sad someone decided to nick a jacket with my $800 phone. So yes people, even in the nice town of Lake Louise in the sweet country of Canada, things still get stolen.

So there you have it, you win some and you lose some. Its life though, you always need the bad to make you appreciate the good. I am so lucky to have my amazing man Colin to help me through some of the more stressful times and then also to bitch with haha. I just keep remembering that I am doing something amazing and am living in one of the most beautiful winter wonderlands in the world!

J

CHUCKTOWN: The Centurion Challenge!!

For those of you who don't know, the Centurion Challenge is a drinking game. One where you drink 100 shots of beer in 100 minutes. Every minute on the minute!

I don't actually know who started the idea but it was sure a damn good one! I found out on facey about it, 8pm in the Common Room of Chucktown. There were tables lined up together surrounded by the participants, not everyone had beer, there was also cider and wine being passed around as well. We had a tablet with a timer going off every minute and Gill (liftie) would clang a spoon on a pan for us all to drink.

I have to say, cider was harder than beer! Here it's 7%!! I reached 87 shots before running completely out of alcohol -- memo: take a lot more next time!

It was so much fun though! To have the music pumping, groups coming together and just having awesome fun! Afterwards we celebrated the survivors and those who lost all control of their stomachs. We danced, played pool and drank more with beer pong! Oh yeah - we also had the dance night theme "jocks and cheerleaders" but because the weather has been redonculously cold (-35 degrees) we decided to just dress up for the common room.

All in all, it was an awesome night!!! Congrats to all the newly Centurions!
If you're keen to try the Centurion Challenge heres the website with the rules and timer (remember to drink responsibly!) http://centurioncountdowntimer.com

***Photos taken by the gorgeous Sarah McCaffrey***

The Perks and the Bummers

We have been working in Lake Louise for about a month now!

What all of us have noticed is that each department has different perks. For all those out there who are looking at coming to work here and have ALL those options the Working Holiday Club give you, we would like to make it a little easier for your decision making. Keep in mind that these can definitely change next winter season.

Photo by Chris Moseley

Food & Beverage
Perks

• Free food and drink - if the expiry or best before date is passed, and your manager gives you the ok, you can take them home for yourself. This includes unsold food like pizza, popcorn, steamed milk (coffee/hot chocolate), cookies baked the day prior, muesli bars made the day prior, pastries, etc. 
• The 7am start or a 10am start - The 7 am start means you will finish at 3:30pm, it gives you maybe time for 2-3 runs in the afternoon. If you start at 10, you will finish at 6:30pm but you get a sleep in and you also have a whole hour to play with before you start work. 
• Its SO much fun! We have some awesome managers who realise that our work can be a bit overwhelming and busy, so as long as we are working, we are allowed to chat to each other and have a bit of fun. Gill and I often dance behind our counters - its not only fun for us but the customer sees it as happy employees.

Bummers

• Its busy - yes your day will go fast but you will have times where you are flat out standing behind the counter for hours. Thats not so bad but it does exhaust you really fast.
• No ride breaks - we don't get any ride breaks. Even if you work at Temple (the cafeteria on top of the mountain) you need to catch a lift up, walk there and catch a lift down. While you're on the clock, you cannot ride -- I will mention that they have reasons for this due to previous staff.
• Long hours and only a half hour break. Every shift you work goes for 8.5 hours. Its not that bad but I do miss split shifts and half day shifts.

Guest Services

Perks

• Indoors and outdoors - You get a bit of everything! You might be mountain greeting, in the switchboard room answering calls or on ticket sales. This changes up a lot so you're not always stuck doing the same ole thing all the time.
• Split shifts - You might get lucky and have a split shift, starting the day as a mountain greeter, getting something like a 2-4 hour break and then having a shift in the switchboard room. So you get a bit more time to ride.
• $10 - for every person you catch "doing the dirty" on the mountain - using someone else's lift ticket, having a youth pass and being over 18, etc, you get $10 for catching them out!

Bummers

• Not always the greatest of fun - I have heard from friends that it can be very boring sometimes, that they are under strict rules (no drinks allowed for example) and that it wasn't what they expected.
• The cold - it is about to get freezing here and for those of you who aren't so keen on the cold, you will be out in it mountain greeting some days--- then again, this could be a huge positive for others who love the cold! Just keep in mind that for 2 months it will get to the -30's.
• The customers - We all get them of course but unfortunately for Guest Services, they get the good customers and the ones that are complaining and aren't so friendly.

Lifties

Perks

• Ride Breaks - Yes, as a liftie you will get ride breaks! You can only ride the green runs but hey, thats better than nothing! You also get longer and more breaks than other departments!
• Fresh air - the air might be brisk but your outside all the time, that can be a huge perk! It is cold though so its not really for the faint hearted, those who smoke heavily or anyone who considers themselves a summer person.
• Good hours - you have early starts or late starts and also on occasion an early finish. The hours are good though, sometimes you can be working 10 hour days ---- lots of money!

Bummers

• Shovelling snow - its forever snowing and someone needs to shovel it. This will tire your entire body and doing it in the cold feels worse. 
• It gets lonely - You are working by yourself a lot of the time and find yourself bored and wanting someone to talk to. 
• No toilets! If you have a weak bladder, you don't want this job. You will be working for hours before having a toilet break! Let's jus say that peeing in bottles is something they allow and take seriously.

Snowmakers

Perks

• Shift work! Four days working, three days off. You will have board time for sure!! Also, working days or nights. If you're on night shift, more time to board in the day.
• Plenty of time to ski or board!
• Guaranteed work at the start of the season!

Bummers

• Night shift in the cold has gotta suck! Frost bite has and will continue to happen.
• Coming home when your friends are off to work - visa versa - going to work when your friends are going out.
• Its a lot of hard work and unfortunately your job ends sooner than others during the season.
• If you're in a relationship, not the best position for you!

Servers

Perks

• Tips - and you get to keep them to! So you make a lot more money on the side!
• Late starts - Because the restaurants don't open till late, you get a bit of a sleep in or first tracks.
• Always kept busy - You will have a lot of fun but also you will be kept busy so your shifts go by quickly.

Bummers

• Late to finish - you will have late nights! That is expected though in a server position.
• It is a serious fast passed industry, it includes serving at weddings and other events, its fun but very rushed.
• Limited transportation - because you finish late you need to call security to drive you home.

Rentals

Perks

• You have free rentals! If you want to learn how to ski or snowboard you have free rentals for YOURSELF (not partners or friends) -- thats pretty awesome!
• Repairs gives you a discount - because you guys are working in close quarters, you make friends quickly and you get a discount on repairs.
• Ride breaks - yes, rentals gets ride breaks to! Again, strictly green runs!
• Its a lot of fun.

Bummers

• Can have some boring moments when its not so busy.
• Messy work scrubbing down boots, skis and boards.

Retail 

Perks

• Indoors and relaxed - it always looks relaxed in the retail shop and you don't need to go outside.

Bummers

• Its another position that can be boring at times.
• Random, but its next to the woman's bathroom and if anything is wrong in there, customers complain to retail.
• Again, no ride breaks.

These are really just a few of the HEAPS of positions available at Lake Louise and are some we have heard about and seen first hand. All the positions here have many positives, I would really like working anywhere here!! But just in case you're looking to work here and if you have no idea of what position to apply for, I really hope this helped. Feel free to comment if you have any questions about the positions and maybe we can find out for you first hand from people who are in the position now. 

If I had to choose though, it would be otherwise Food and Beverage or Rentals. Colin's top choices are Trail Crew or Liftie. 

Hot Tub Time Machine

Hello there bloggers,

I have a lot I want to write about and have been writing a list of topics... sooooo today's blog is a little bit of a mixture from the past few days. My final say at work, before my 2 days off, I was in the worst of emotional states --- home sickness! It was like a triple wammy, my little gorgeous amazing talented sister got into the Australian Institute of Music!!! I am so proud and so so happy for her!! She also just graduated and had her formal in which she looked so incredibly stunning! My mum was telling me all about it and I just really wanted to be there. I wanted to hug my Kathy and tell her how proud I was! I then saw the celebration photos, I wanted to join in with my family having a family dinner and being close with them. Finally, my parents have decided that they can't visit me in Canada, and thats ok, I completely understand but I guess it all kinda hits home rather quickly. I miss my family a lot and even though I am really enjoying myself here, I wish I could just pop home for a few hours.

This thought festered and caused a bad, sad, annoying day of work. I was glad when it was over but it didn't stop me from having a little cry in my room. I am so very lucky to have my Colin Monster with me though! He keeps me sane and I would't know what I'd do without him. That night we watched cartoons and All Ollie Adventures next door and I was really reminded of my amazing family that I do have here with me!

On our first day off, I had a bit of a nasty stack on first tracks, packed groomed snow! It wasn't the nicest! I may have a strained muscle in my outer thigh and bruising to my lower back. Oops! So snowboarding has been out since then. Instead, Colin and I went for an amazing walk along the river and had a bit of play time in the snow!

I can't stress enough how absolutely beautiful Lake Louise is! It is almost mind blowing! The bright blue sky in contrast with the soft white snow. My favourite part of our walk was watching the teal coloured water run fluidly over rocks and suddenly become still as it washes underneath the bright crystallised ice. Although I am excited to see the rivers and lakes when they are completely frozen over, seeing it in a state of transformation blew me away.

Colin also has a fascination with kicking trees! I have to say, the moment that came in as a close second was when Colin kicked a tree, pulled me in close and we watched and felt the soft, light snowflakes pour down around us. A little corny and romantic --- I know, but its a memory that will last forever.

When we reached our apartment we baked a birthday cake for the beautiful Gill! And went for our first hot tub time machine experience. We had James, Gill, Daniel, Darcy, Sarah, Ollie, Chelsea, John, Colin and I in a giant hot tub soaking in the amazing warm water! If you are ever in the snow for a long extended period of time, this feeling is just exquisite! The heat from the hot tub is juxtaposed to the coolness of your skin. In Australian summer we would say "no the pool is too cold still", and ease into the pool slowly. It was the same but in reverse, our bodies were just not use to being that warm that fast! Note: take a bottle of water!!

 After our hot tub trip through time, we had a giant family spaggetti bolognese dinner to celebrate our gorgeous girl Gill turning 24! Happy Birthday Gill! I consider you one of my close girl friends and am so happy I will be your next door neighbour and dancing F&B colleague for the next 5 months!! Colin and I love you!!

JUICY MEATBALLS!

Will be writing again very soon.
x

Arriving to Lake Louise

It has been a couple of days and now that we are finally settled in, I can finally write a post about whats been happening!

So the bus trip wasn't that bad! 16 hours sounds like a really long time but because it's overnight, it went super quick! We slept most of the way and I only needed to watch one movie before we crashing out again and waking up in Lake Louise!! Again... PACK LIGHTER THAN US! I can't stress this enough! We felt a bit lost and with both phones down, I walked the 5 minutes to Charleston Residence (also known as Chuck-town). I had to pull two huge suit cases behind me! So 5 minutes was more like 30 for me. When I finally arrived, I walked back to help Colin with the rest of the bags.

Our new apartment is just what we hoped for! We had 3 room mates when we arrived, Stuart, Dave and Zero. They are the nicest guys and are really tidy which makes life easier for everyone! There is this basic understanding to wash dishes straight after use, to clean messes as soon as they are made, etc. We even have a recycle box for cans, the box is taken for return and we get the tax back, so we use the money each week for communal things like dirty dishes detergent and toilet paper, etc. That's just a nice handy tip for anyone who's living in a Canadian National Park!

So far, its been pretty awesome! Colin and I are getting a small chest of draws for our room so I won't post a photo of it until we are finished making it our own - a couple more days. The weather is definitely colder, its probably hitting the negatives more and more. The other day at 4pm it was -8 degrees! Trying hard to get use to it but I love the warmth so damn much! I had orientation yesterday, it was 7 hours of absorbing information but it was fun! The National Park speakers were really engaging and funny - I actually learnt a lot about the area! I actually really enjoyed orientation, I would like to thank all the National Park Representatives who came in to speak! The video below is one they showed us about Parks Canada - I love it!!!

We also had a lot of safety talks about avalanches, kind of scared the bejeezus out of me! But over all, an awesome first day. Today was actually my second! We spent the day in our sections, mine being a food and beverage cashier. We met our amazing hilarious manager Adrian and we had a nice tour of the lodge. I am actually pretty excited to start work (believe it or not!) The managers seem so nice and comfortable with their staff, we are asked to work hard and be friendly to the guests but that doesn't mean we can't chat to each other whilst working. Also, they try to accommodate days off for couples! This was something I was really worried about because I want to spend the holiday part of my working holiday with my perfect amazing man Colin! Who wouldn't? Happy to hear I will at least get one full day with him!

We finished early today and walked back to Charleston to meet up with Chelsea and Ollie! We all went for a nice long walk to Lake Louise, which is actually quite a bit more up hill than I expected! It took an hour to get there, we were just in total awe of the amazing-ness! The aqua blue of the water is actually caused by the constant friction of the mountains crushing against each other. The dust mixes with the glacier and runs into the lake, thats what causes the great colour! So if you took a glass, it would be clear on the inside - you need the dust to make the magic happen!

We have made heaps of friends! We met Daniel back in Vancouver, he was travelling with Darcy, James and Gill. I am doing food and beverage with Dan and Gill (two awesome peoples). We then have Chelsea, Ollie and April. We hung out with these guys in Vancouver as well, had a family dinner night with them tonight - Chelsea makes an amazing soup! Have become really great fast friends with them and can't wait to hang out with them more! We also met Allen, Bonnie and a couple of others. Allen lives with us in our apartment and Bonnie is working with me in F & B! She also makes the best pastas!! Loving family dinner nights here! Last night we all had pasta and played kings -- ended up being one where we sung our national anthems outside, ran around trying to find the little green man and playing games of I have never. Definitely an awesome night to get to know and just chillax with some really awesome people!

How to do San Francisco in a Day

Before we could reach beautiful San Francisco, we had to say good bye to our new friends at Pod Share (check us out on their site: http://thepodshare.com/2013/1635-1636-collin-jessica/) and walk down to see the Hollywood sign one last time. We may have stopped off at Santa Monica Pier along the way as well.

Six long hours later Colin and I found ourselves in an abundance of traffic coming over the Bay Bridge. Turns out the Bay Area Rail Transportation were on strike, so traffic wasn't so fun. Tired, hungry and frustrated, we slowly made our way to our destination. The roads remind me of a maze, and thats exactly how it felt trying to find Hostel's International on Mason Street. We had to park two blocks away from our hostel and to add to our frustration, the weather was a lot colder than what we packed for. The valet rushed us out with only summery warm clothes to walk back to our hostel. By the time we finally reached our room, I was ready to call it! I was so excited to come to the beautiful San Francisco and I just felt deflated and disappointed. Luckily though, I have the amazing Colin with me. He was in a better frame of mind and pulled me out of bed to find somewhere to eat. Now this is where everything turned around! We ate at Lori's Diner just up the street! Best burger, salad and milkshakes ever! It was our first diner experience and everything was delicious! It definitely set the mood for the next day.

We had been planning our San Francisco day based on an article by Josh Quittner - 10 things to do in San Francisco. We stuck to most of his plan:

6am - wake up and prep yourself for the day ahead! We caught the 6:53am cable car, get it done early (gets super busy later!) Jumping off at Bay Street, we started the walking part of our day to Pier 39. Here we saw the funny sea lions playing and barking at each other on their own little pier. We were also lucky enough to see the sun rise over the Bay Bridge in a bright glowing gold that leaked and flowed in with the water.

7:50am - Time for breakfast! We read and researched so much about Mama's that our minds were set on going there!! They opened at 8am, so getting there 10 minutes early would be fine right? WRONG! Turns out Mama's is THE BEST! It's where people line up and wait hours for their glorious breakfast food! The line we started in was pretty long, and thats with the restaurant already full and open. But our hearts and stomachs were set on having only the best of San Francisco to start our day. And I can tell you now, the wait is well worth it! We waited a total of 1 hour and 30 minutes before we were seated and ordered our food. I had the vegetarian eggs Benedict and Colin had pancakes with bacon and maple syrup! In a way to describe how good the food is, as you take the first bite and the flavour melts onto your tongue, I guarantee you will have a "the hills are alive with the sound of music" moment. You won't be disappointed!

10am - Head to Lombard Street! WARNING! This is where we realised that the map of San Francisco was completely inaccurate in showing the hills that make the city! We probably walked for 30 minutes, all up hill to the famous Lombard St! Full of tourists of course, so we didn't spend too much time there. We turned around and started walking down hill and back up again until we finally reached (puffed and red faced) Coit Tower. It is only $7 per person to go to the top and if you want a really good 360 look on the city, it's well worth it!!

11:30am - From Coit Tower, walk down the 400 steps of Telegraph Hill! Keep your eyes out for beautiful birds in the amazing flora as well! Everything there is so lush and green, its well worth it after walking up so many hills. At the bottom we then made our way to the Embarcadero to catch a bus/trolly to Castros!

12pm - Have a giant black penis for lunch! If your Aussie, it tastes like a giant lamington!! Hot Cookie is amazing for its yummy desserts and is famous on Castro St! It right by the trolly stop as well so you won't need to walk far! We bought a penis, cookie and pair of nickers! From there its a nice long walk up hill to Haight and Ashbury!

1:30pm - Your calfs and feet are probably feeling the burn now. But here you are in hippie central! It's a really groovy area with lots of cafes and cool little bizarre shops to go in. We were pretty buggered so we continued all the way to the very end at Golden Gate Park!

2:30pm - Golden Gates! There's so many beautiful things to do here, we only saw a few! Hippie Hill was a must as well as the carousel and the flower conservatorium. Here we found a nice spot to relax in the sun and eat our delicious cookies! We would have liked to have gone to the very end and of seen the windmills, but we were nackered! We had seen everything we had set out to in San Francisco.

We caught the trolly to Union Square where we stopped at Ghirardelli Chocolate Shop! for $25 you can fill a tin with the amazing chocolate!! We walked through the shops and finally got back to our room for a break at 4:40pm! I even napped for an hour from how tired I was! Colin and I decided to see a movie in the city before ending our night. We saw the new adaptation of Carrie! If you have read the book, you will (hopefully, like me) enjoy it thoroughly! It was really well done compared to the older version. I may be a little bias because I love Chloë Grace Moretz! She is so beautiful and such an amazing upcoming actress! We had minnie cupcakes for dessert and then headed to sleep.

We loved loved loved San Francisco! The European homes, the food, the history... just perfect. We were however shocked at the amount of homeless people in San Francisco. We aren't use to being begged for money at every turn, it was sad and even a little scary at night. I hope that doesn't come across wrong, one man even yelled at us for not having change and blamed our skin tone. We wish we could have given more change but unfortunately we ourselves didn't have that much to give. I guess here I am just saying be prepared for the shock.

Off to Portland!! 10 hours of driving .... not looking forward to it haha.