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.

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!

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!