Five Days = Six Hours of Snowboarding!

With five days left and very soon I will need to hand in my staff pass! This means we need to ride our boards for the last time.

I have only ridden a hand full of times since being here, about a month ago I had a nasty stack that scared the bejesus out of me! Plus I was working 6 days a week with one day off, no ride breaks or time to ride, it really meant I wasn't getting any time to snowboard or learn how to ski!

So it was set! Thursday would be our last day of snowboarding! We chose Thursday due to how many friends had the day off and also because Colin doesn't have a free pass anymore so its an $84 lift ticket per day for him. One day is all we needed!

First thing we were up there on the Grizzly Gondola -- I was really nervous! But after that first nice long Deer Run, I had my confidence back and ready to push myself! Up the Glacier lift, down Wiwaxy, up again on the Gondola, down Pika to Temple. A drink break before heading up Ptarmigan, down Deer Run to Whitehorn for lunch with Dave and Scott! Had a little break and a delicious lunch with cocktails and a gorgeous view before riding again. The boys eventually got my confidence up to go to Top of the World! Always fun to have snow thrown on us by Gill coming off Glacier haha (memo to self: still need to get revenge). We were literally in the clouds at Top of the World, it was such a high to be up there! I was lucky to be wearing my low res lenses but I was still struggling to see anything!

Dave and Colin were amazing! They stayed close to me whilst I came down my first blue run at Lake Louise! I was a bit scared because of how high and steep the first part of Home Run was but I did so well! I didn't fall over once on my way down! It was awesome! Unfortunately Summit was closed we got there in the afternoon, it was getting late - I felt bad that Colin didn't get a chance to do it.

For our last run we went down Jerry's Jungle where I went through the trees! It was the most fun and stunning run I have ever done! It was so very beautiful! The trees were so high and full of snow, and because we were alone, it was like we were in a magical land, just the three of us. That led onto Upper Wiwaxy where we just slowly rode down nice and easy - by the time we were at the bottom it was nearly 4:30pm, we were the only ones left on the mountain. A perfect day of 6 hours riding. Something we really needed to do before we depart.

I saw the whole of the mountain and went on all but two lifts. I really wish I could of done more, you really need a few days to do the whole mountain but its good to end my snowboarding on a high note! Feeling amazing and confident on "Lake Louise Blue Runs", linking and snaking my turns and riding switch! I couldn't end it better than that!

My favourite runs of the day were Pika -- a lot of snowboarders say they don't like it because of how "flat" it was - but I found it amazing! It was a run so relaxing and cruisey where I could just snake and link my tuns the entire way down carving nice and slow. If your someone who loves to go fast and just zoom then probably not the right run for you but it was perfect for me! SO much beautiful scenery to view - why would you want to go through Pika fast? Do me a favour if your snowboarding in Lake Louise, stop and look at it all!! Take it all in!!

Jerry's Jungle!! Again -- stunning! It was just the most beautiful thing to ride through the trees. Its also really fun, like a natural half/quarter pipe, it just leads you through. I loved it! It was so so fun!! Definitely one of my favourites - a bit less relaxing and more adventurous.

Overall, it was perfect! Everything I wanted it to be!! I just wish I could of had more time to experience it again and again and more. The best part was, I did it all with Colin! He stayed with me the entire time  we were riding, always made sure I was ok and had fun! I know its corny but my absolute most favourite part of the day was when Colin and I were coming down Wiwaxy and we were both side by side, very close together on the flat of our boards riding in unison! It only lasted a moment of course but it was just so magical to be able to do that together!

A perfect last day of riding!

Seven Days to Go

The end is neigh and there is something we have realised -- we got too comfortable! When you're working 6 days a week with maybe one day off, all you want to do is relax! Its been like that for the past month and now that we are no longer working and planning our trip home - the holiday is really starting all over again!

So here is the beginning!! We have 7 days! We leave next Tuesday and its time to start doing all the things we loved and want to do again and all the things we always wanted to do.. A lot to cram into a week plus packing but here we go!

Snowtubing!!

Something silly but oh so much fun! If you are in Lake Louise, give it a go!! The guys will spin you hard and you just go skyrocketing down the hill and over the jumps! I honestly could not stop laughing - definitely an awesome way to end a gloomy Tuesday morning planning our trip home.

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!

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

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

For our staff Lake Louise Christmas Party, we had a themed party - the good, the bad and the ugly! In Aus, we don't have a white Christmas. Its all beaches, singlets and thongs for us but here its COLD! So ugly Christmas sweaters around this time is the norm. I have never really seen one except for on TV.

When I saw the party invitation, I got super excited to buy a corny Christmas sweater and was curious as to where I'd find one… it wasn't hard. One store in Banff had a stock load full of Ugly Christmas Sweaters and advertised them accordingly!! It was pretty funny. A lot of my friends couldn't justify spending $30 on an ugly sweater though (including Colin) understandably as well. So a lot of people didn't get dressed up for it. My theory was to wear a nice dress and pretty myself up so it balances out.

The night was awesome!! We caught a 5:30pm bus into the Lodge of Ten Peaks. There we received two free drink tickets and a dinner ticket. We found our circle of people and started drinking. The Starbucks was turned into a bar and the cafeteria into a buffet. We filled our plates with so much amazing food!! The chefs of Lake Louise out did themselves!! We had turkey, stuffing, 5 different types of salad (including pasta salad), rice and cranberry, cranberry sauce, gravy and then THREE DIFFERENT DESSERTS!! It was a feast fit for kings! And it was perfectly delicious! We all came out with turkey comas!

After that there was some prize giveaways and a lovely speech from the man himself - Charlie Locke. He is such a kind loving sweet person!! From then on it was drinking and socialising. We continued the party in the common room until closing, beer pong, pool, foosball and dancing was partaken in!

It was good to celebrate Christmas with our new Lake Louise family!! It was very much like most nights in the common room but I guess it was the amazing giant dinner that brought us all closer together!

Thank you to Chef, Charlie Locke, all our managers and everyone who went, for the amazing dinner and amazing memories we will hold forever!

Now to prepare for the upcoming incredibly busy weeks!!!