New Years Eve and Our Great Demise

New Years Eve

Starting work nice and early at 8am we spent a fast passed new years eve working hard. By the time I got home… I had worked until 6:10pm and was completely nackered! I was suppose to finish at 4:30pm, so initially worked 10 hours!! My first thing was to lay down and do nothing. My thoughts honestly were on bed, I had a 10am start on new years day, so partying was the furthest thing! But then Bonnie and the girls came in to say hi and not too long after I was drink drink drinking in a skirt and crop top --- getting my summer clothes out in negative weather!

We started our night off in the empty common room with a giant table playing Kings of Cups! If you have never played this before, you should!! You need a deck of cards, loads of alcohol and a spare cup in the centre of the table. Spread the cards out around the cup in a mixed like fashion. The rules we played were as followed:

Ace - Waterfall (the person to pull the card starts drinking and everyone has to drink with him until he/she stops.
2 - Two for you! Nominate two people to drink or one person to drink twice.
3 - Three for me! Drink three times!
4 - Four for Whores!! All ladies drink.
5 - I have never! Everyone holds up three fingers, we go around the table playing I have never, until the first person has all three fingers down -- they drink three times.
6 - Six for dicks! All boys drink!
7 - Seven heaven, the person who pulls this card can hold their hand up at any time and the last person to catch on and puts their hand up drinks.
8 - Pick a mate! Pick one person, every time you drink for the rest of the game - they need to as well.
9 - Bust a rhyme! Say a word and everyone needs to rhyme to it but no repeats or slow comers. Drink!
10 - Categories. Pick a specific category, go around the table saying a word that relates to the category. You have10 seconds to pick yours! Slowest, repeat or not correct needs to drink.
Jack - Make a rule!! My favourite! You can make rules around the table that everyone needs to abide to or they drink! No names, stand up and turn around before picking a card, pinky up when drinking, etc.
Queen - Question master - who ever holds this card can ask anyone a question for the whole game, if you answer it you have to drink but if you say "Fuck you Question Master" they have to drink.
King - Pour a quarter of your drink into the centre cup, the last king to be drawn, they need to drink the centre cup and the game ends.

We played this twice! It was hella awesome though! I then started going around the room chatting away to friends, dancing a little, watching beer pong and air hockey … and drinking! It was an awesome New Years Eve night! So relaxed and chilled, just a bunch of great people hanging out! I swear there was probably more than 100 people in the common room for NYE.

My main goal was to make it to midnight without passing out from exhaustion! I made it! We all ran around the room kissing each other on the cheek and welcoming in 2014!

Dave, Colin and I came back into our apartment around 1am, the boys were still up and about but I needed sleep. Colin did come to bed with me. He got up at something like 2am - I thought he was going to the bathroom - I just went back to sleep. But then I woke up to yelling in our apartment! I was in a bit of a drunken daze but from what I could tell, someone had set off a firework from the third floor balcony. If you're unaware.. its illegal in a national park!

New Years Day

In the morning I asked Colin what he remembered and if it was him who set off the firework but he unfortunately didn't remember at all. I really didn't think too much of it but I told him what I heard in the middle of the night. And that it sounded like he had set off a firework. We later heard that Colin may have been the person who did it, so he went down to housing to talk to the head of housing to find out what happened and to apologise for the mistake if it had been him.

Apparently going down was a bad idea. But what was to come was inevitable. Colin was honest in telling him that he didn't remember anything but remembered going to bed with me at 1am. The head of housing then told Colin that one of his security guards was hit by one of the fireworks that bumped off a tree. The security guard was in no way injured or hurt or even scared but because it happened, they had to write up a incident report. ----- Which made it a big deal.

The head of housing interviewed Colin about the night and told him that Dave would be interviewed and there would be a meeting about it. On a good note though, the hill was totally dead for our new years day!

Our Great Demise

It was my third week working 6 days straight plus overtime!! Busy period and all so it was expected! I was lucky enough to have Colin and Scott who picked me up from work Thursday night and drove to Banff to see Anchorman 2! Such a good funny movie! Loved the first one and the second was very much like it!

My day off was laying in bed! Friday we honestly couldn't do too much with the flu and being over worked. So it was really nice to just watch movies in bed and sleep in. Loved every second! We did get up eventually though and go iceskating with the lifties! Sarah and Michelle are amazing girls and managed to talk me into going on the ice nice and slow. I feel really amazing for that!! Silly I know! I am so unbalanced and scared of ice but Colin held my hands and got me use to it until I felt comfortable doing it on my own! I was so so so so so happy to actually get onto the ice and make magic happen by facing a fear! First time ice skating ---- amazing moments!

Everyone was talking about how angry Colin's boss was to hear about the firework. We knew something bad was coming from it.. like Colin being sent to the carpets for the rest of the season or being evicted from housing. We know people have set off fireworks before and thats the worst it got to.  And we were hoping if it was bad, that's all it would get to.

Then Colin and Dave received letters. Colin's letter asked him to go to the Head of Operations bright and early in the morning. Dave's was about the interview with the head of housing. I was nervous to see the outcome, I didn't know what to expect but since Dave hadn't been interviewed, theres no way it could have been that bad.

Oh how wrong we were! The unfortunate part of all of this is the fact that the "investigation" was open with Dave's interview not been processed yet and NO one saw Colin do it! They saw him in the kitchen moments after it had happened and blamed him. WTF! Also, the busy part of the season is over and rumour has it.. they will be looking for reasons to downsize in staff (ironically the lifts are short staffed at the moment).

Colin walked up to me while I was working and told me his position was terminated. From that moment, I honestly couldn't breath and broke down immediately! There have been moments where I had been home sick but I wasn't ready to leave yet! I love it here, its like being a big kid with a bunch of other kids, just doing what ever the hell you want and having fun!! There is no seriousness here!! I walked to my bosses office and let them know the situation. When I walked back to tell my supervisor, Gill was crying to. Radim thought someone had died! He got really sad to though when he heard.

I worked the next two days. It was really hard but we obviously needed the money. And Colin was fighting the "conviction". It was taken as far as it could, to the top of the top at Lake Louise. Our argument was that no one had seen Colin and the investigation was open and just because he was awake in his apartment and the firework was set outside our apartment, he could not be blamed for it. But in the end, they told us that even though all that is true, there was no one else to "pin it on".

Colin and I have one week here and then we are heading home.

And… I hope the funny drunken photos make the story a bit more happy!

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. 

Natural Beauty

Since arriving in Lake Louise it has been safe to say Jess has worked more than I have. I started off with an entire week off and since the snow has not been falling in abundance we have only been running one of the lifts, and as of yesterday the Gondola also opened. It was a lesson learnt working at Ski Rider back home, don't coup yourself up inside otherwise you will go crazy, so I had to entertain myself some how.

Simple solution, I am in one of the most beautiful places on Earth, The Canadian Rockies! You could walk around for hours and still be amazed by the simplest of things. When we first arrived there wasn't any snow, not good for somebody who is here to ski or snowboard right? Wrong! The beauty of the Rockies isn't the snow covering it, more what the snow covers.








If you remember reading about Jess's birthday which we blogged about, we built a snowman. The snow fell the night before so what would we have done had there been no snow to make a snow man? We would have enjoyed the sunshine, sat by the river and embraced Spring in the Rockies! Oh and we definitely would have made one of these guys, an Inuksuk.

An Inuksuk is a stone monument, traditionally constructed by the Inuits. Most commonly depicting human form in Western interpretation they were rock forms used for marking out the terrain either for navigation or food caches. The one pictured to the left I found on the bank of the Bow River while walking around, something I would have completely missed had it been covered by snow.







Since the first snowfall we awoke to on November 2nd, we have had smaller amounts of snowfall almost daily but still not enough to open the entire mountain for us keen skiers and boarders! So rather than fight the crowds trying to pack it onto the few runs we have open, I have continued to wander around and take in mother nature and her beauty.








In the summer the village is surrounded by walking trails, not very fun though come winter when you have to walk through knee deep snow... This is where I get excited because I am keen to strap on a pair of cross-country skis and enjoy these now 'cross-country ski trails'.





The second reason I am keen to learn how to cross-country ski is because part of the Lake Louise Ski Area's property includes the Skoki Lodge. Skoki lodge is the premium back country lodge of the Rockies, so well known that when Prince William and Kate were honey-mooning they spent a couple of nights there. So if its fit for a Prince and the Future King of England I think it will do for Jess and I.

So as I conclude my post for today, I noticed it was just a load of ramble from me but I hope it was insightful and opened your eyes that we aren't just here to snowboard. We are here to experience Canada, its culture and to embrace our surroundings.
Colin out.

Vancouver to Disaster!

You are probably curious to the title. Let me start at the beginning...

Vancouver was beautiful! We had an awesome easy going trip from Seattle with the Quickshuttle bus services. Our bus was practically empty and our driver was so sweet and helpful! We checked into the Samesun Hostel on Granville St. We did have a little bit of a mix up with our room and was originally put into a 4 share room, this was a nice easy fix though so Colin and I did end up in a private double bed room. Now staying at the Samesun was AWESOME!

We had delicious food and awesome service at "The Beaver" downstairs and met some of our fellow "Working Holiday Club-ers" heading to Lake Louise (some off to different areas). It was so good to have a drink and just get to know everyone! And so far, everyone has been incredibly nice and awesome! It was also a relief to hit it off with so many people, there is always this worry that you might not get on with anyone and the whole adventure will suck but we learnt something ----- HAVE A DRINK! Oh that's right, we are Aussies, all you need to do is have a drink with someone to become their fast friends!

Because we got in a little late, we didn't bother trying to organise any of the important stuff - just strictly chillax time with our new mates. On Thursday morning however, we had to get our serious faces on! We headed straight down to the Sinclair Centre to get our SIN (Social Identification Number). Here we thought it would be a huge hassle, waiting in long lines and signing heaps of paperwork. It actually went by super quick. We were in and out within 30 minutes and everyone was super helpful. From there we went straight to CIBC to organise our Canadian Bank Accounts, this took a lot longer but wasn't bad at all. I think it took long because we were chatting to our Account Manager quite a bit. But wasn't an issue, we got all our accounts all sorted and ready to go!

Afterwards Colin wanted to go on the Samesun group adventure of the day to Grouse Mountain. We were under the impression that we would be catching a cable car to the top for $10. When we got there, it was a 2 hour strenuous hike to the top! We were going to turn back, both of us in jeans and winter clothing. But there was something in us that liked the challenge! It did take us two hours to travel to the top!! AND it was torturous! We did love the views, the nature, the squirrels and the amazing fresh air but the hike itself was horrible!

The top was stunning! We could see Vancouver and all the amazing nature! Just knowing we hiked a mountain together (without fighting or anything) was perfect for us, so we bought Grouse GRIND shirts. We had the opportunity to see some gorgeous Grizzly Bears as well! Loved them so much! If you're keen for an awesome hike with amazing views, you should totally do it! BUT wear appropriate clothing! Tights and a singlet is all you need!

We reached the Beaver around 8pm, incredibly sore, tired and hungry! This is where we met up with a group of awesome people, played trivia (coming in second!), ate burgers and had loads of drinks!! It was definitely an awesome night to end a pretty amazing day! In bed at 1:30am, we needed to get up early to pack, check out, sort out phones, do some shopping and then catch a bus.

All of this went very well to plan! UNTIL the bus!!

We purchased bus tickets at greyhound.com, confirmation and e-tickets both received and printed, ready to go. We headed to the terminal nice and early!

WORD TO THE WISE:
Don't take heaps of bags! We alone had 4 suitcases over 30kg, then 2 carry on bags. The carry on bags weren't allowed as carry on, and had to be added as luggage. Over all we shuffled heaps of things and ended up having to pay $180 for the bags - so make sure you have what you need and also look at the luggage limits on the buses.

We then had the service woman tell us that we are not on the bus! Just to make our night a little more hectic! We had purchased our tickets through greyhound.com, we had them there with us but they did not register to the manifest on the Canada system. We were then told we should have purchased the tickets from greyhound.ca not .com. This just didn't make any sense to me! Why would anyone sell tickets on a website if the tickets weren't going to work?! I mean, what the hell (excuse my French)!! Shouldn't of it redirected us to the correct page or not allowed us to make the purchase if it wasn't going to work?! GAH!!

We had to wait for the midnight bus which would take 16 hours instead of 14! SO HORRIBLE! We ended up going back to the bar for dinner and drinks until 10:30. The nice part was that Greyhound did mind our luggage and we did spend some more time with our mates. It was bloody frustrating though to be told that THEIR system had f**ked up and we were being punished for it. We later found out that another girl had the same issue.

So to all people going anywhere via Greyhound, call up to make sure your tickets are on the manifest a few days before!

That's why we called it "disaster", it just made our lives a lot harder - but I guess it could have been worse!

PS: If you're looking for an awesome desert while in Vancouver, the Tree Cafe lives up to their reputation to having the best cheesecake! Go and indulge!

ONE!!

The 5 piece acrylic on canvas Colin and I made together - way to big to take to Canada!

Has anyone seen that episode of How I Met Your Mother, where Robin has "graduation goggles"?

That's kind of what we have been going through today.

Besides waking up to a hangover from yesterdays 12 hour farewell party, we started seeing everything here at home in a new light with more appreciation. The little things we hate don't seem so bad anymore and some how the sun is shining just that little bit brighter. This whole new outlook of our home town is then juxtaposed with the sadness of leaving. I am not usually this emotional but the realisation that I won't be seeing some of my closest friends or my family for approximately a year is just a tough thought.. especially with everyone crying around us!

Keep in mind, this is the first time I will be over seas for more than a few weeks. Plus starting a new job has got my nerves going.

The worst thing about this experience has been packing, making sure we have everything! I have tried to not be over girly with dresses (knowing its -30 degrees) but there's always that "just in case" thought. We also tried to figure out little nick nacks we will need from home - even harder! I wish I could bring my whole room to Canada! But alas, sacrifices must be made!!

So, here it is! The last night we will spend at home! Trying to stay up as long as possible in hopes of sleeping on the plane for most of the trip. I am definitely going to miss it here!