Well, helloooooooo there blog followers!!
Sorry about the seemingly camp introduction to this blog entry but i guess if you read the first sentence in a gruff voice, it sounds OK. So, i have been back in the UK for around six months now and thought i had better update the old status. Since arriving back, life has had its fair share of ups and downs. The ups have all been friend and family related and the downs have mostly been work related. I am still struggling my way through work but it sometimes seems there is a huge chasm in my knowledge of all the crazy high risk, life threatening chaos that i endure on what seems to be a daily basis. The first few months back at work were awesome. I hit the ground running and slotted straight back into doing one of the things i think i do best which is supporting women in labour. I had some amazing experiences which only went on to reinforce the fact that i believe midwifery is my calling. I had some amazing births, enlightened my colleagues and influenced their practise for the good. I knew it was very much a honeymoon period though and suspected it was the calm before the storm. Little did i knew it was a storm of Hurricane Katrina like proportions.
I won't stress you with all the gory details but imagine your worst ever day at work, then multiply it by a thousand, stir in some sleep deprivation and sprinkle with a tablespoon of the worst luck you could possibly have and you might get a rough idea of just how shit the whole 6 weeks (yes, 6 weeks!!) of the end of August/whole of September was for me.
I think i totally jinxed myself though. I knew that the honeymoon period would be over soon so i applied for a few jobs at local hospitals in preparation. I got offered posts and actually accepted a job at the nearest hospital to me, Frimley Park. I then had a bit of a bad week at work but felt unbelievably supported by my colleagues and after much reflection and thought decided to actually stay loyal to the only ever maternity unit i have worked at and stay. Since making that choice though work has been relentless!! I have managed to fluke my way through 3 years of nurse training, 18 months of midwifery training and 8 years of midwifery practice where it was always deemed "quiet." Never too manic, always fairly chilled and relaxed. Yes the odd busy day here and there but that's the nature of my work. You are either fairly busy or fairly quiet. The days were you are at a constant are probably more rare. Well, since my decision to stay at Queen Charlottes Hospital, it has gone completely mental!! Something i have never seen before and naturally struggled to deal with. My 90 minute commute to and from work had been a breeze up until then but suddenly seemed a massive encumbrance at the beginning and end of my 13 hour shifts. At times it seemed like as soon as i got home after a long day and my head hit the pillow, my alarm would go off and i had to do it all again. I was exhausted, which meant my days off were spent lounging around not wanting to move too far from the couch. It frustrated me, especially since i had just spent the previous 15 months being so active and enthusiastic with a real thirst for life. Now i just wanted the days to pass until i could spend the day in bed. I was lucky enough to recognise this though and realign my priorities. I started planning. I find planning an amazing way of obviously giving yourself something to look forward to, some goals, some ambition.
I changed my diet. I planned an exercise regime. I started trying to get out there a bit more. Not just outside, but out there more socially. It worked as well as up until now i have lost over 30 pounds in weight and for a time felt re energised and rejuvenated. Work it seems though, is the exact anti remedy to feeling upbeat. The relentless grind of 15 hour days on my feet, stressed out of my head soon crept up and the last fortnight have been a real struggle. The exercise regime has ceased, the healthy foods long gone and the feeling of life has eeked away. Every morning is a struggle to hoist myself out of bed and drag my sorry hide into work. But there is light at the end of this gloomy tunnel.
Firstly, my sisters wedding in Florida next week. I have been counting down the shifts until i have my nearly 3 week break. Amazingly after 15 months away travelling, i almost see 2 weeks in Florida as like a weekend away. It will be the lightest weight i have been in America since i was 14! That might not sound like a big deal but bear in mind that nearly all the clothes i posses have been purchased there and you get some idea of how i excited i am the be going. I love the laid back fashion of the 4 S's, as i call them (Skiing, Skateboarding, Surfing and Snowboarding) and of course America has so many shops where i can find such attire. In the past i have relished the fact that America has quite an obesity problem so all the shops stocked large sizes which suited my ample build. Now though, as i sit here in my medium sized t-shirt with something close to resembling a waistline, i can go for a few more of the trendier styles. Don't get me wrong, you will never see me in a pair of skinny jeans and a huge baseball cap but i no longer have to hide my tubby girth under a huge hoodie.
So Florida will be off the chain. I then have 2 skiing trips in January to look forward too. Both have given me a focus to get myself back into my fitness regime as from personal experience, skiing is a lot easier when you have a modicum of fitness. I'm super psyched to be getting back on the snow too.
But the biggy is that i might be potentially heading back to NZ!! One of the factors in making my decision to stay at Queen Charlottes was the money. Now, i know i will never be a millionaire working as a midwife but if i do decide to head back it will be nice if we can get our savings back into the respectable shape they were in before we embarked on our travels. We are not too far from that and the extra money i make from working in London will help us get back to that point a lot quicker. That is if i don't go mad in Florida and spend it all on jeans!! We have sent our details off to an emigration agency who have assessed us and want to meet for a consultation which will be cool. Just to hear what their thoughts are and what advice they can give.
In my eyes its a no brainer going back there. I haven't been THAT happy since i was in my late teens, before the onus of college and a career took me. Yeah, it will be hard saying goodbye to my family but to be honest it hasn't been the same since we got back. My sister has been very occupied with her wedding but we have still managed to stay close and see each other all the time. I have seen more of my sister Kes as she comes down to Hampshire a fair bit and have seen all my Hampshire crowd regularly. My mum has been very distant though which i am really surprised about. I heard from her more while i was away (mainly through this blog, lol) then i have since i got back. Initially it was great but recently it has been none existent. I know relationships are a two way street and can't put all the blame on her but if she only knew the drama i have been through these last few months.........................I guess i don't want to further burden her with my problems as i know she has enough on her plate as it is. I feel my sisters wedding has caused her to distance herself from us and i don't know why. When i got married it brought us all closer together but i know my mum is in a very different situation to back then. She just seems a lot less motivated this time, a fact my sister has picked up on big time. It's a shame really as all we need to do is talk and yet none of us want to, or are too busy doing mundane things. Maybe she will find her way on to my blog again soon and see this post and take the hint, ahem! Or maybe i will just call her. She doesn't do that thing that most mums do and complain that i never call, but maybe she should. Or maybe she should just call us. I think once the wedding is out of the way, and my sister has stopped hounding her for money, passports and what not, she will relax and get back into her old ways. I mean, jeez mum i haven't even had an email from you for ages!! LOL.
So, in summary:
Work = shite
Friends = awesome
Family = room for improvement
Travel = awesome
Life = hopefully on the up
Yeah, we will just have to see what goes down over the next few months. Christmas is gonna be a clincher. It's my favourite time of year, I'll be with my family, I'll be dripping in fresh new American clothes, I'll be excited about skiing in January and hopefully work won't dampen any of that! Fat chance.
Peace Y'all
D
XXXX
Monday, 18 October 2010
Monday, 12 April 2010
Home at last
So, the only travelling i will be doing over the next X amount of months will probably be to work. Sigh. No, it feels amazing to be home. Almost like i never left. Which felt very very weird.
Our flight home was extremely pleasant due to me pre booking some bulk head seats so we had extra leg room. Kates dad met us at the airport which was quite emotional. When i got back to Kates house we dumped our gear and headed straight out to get some new mobile phones. I finally got my iphone (which i have been waiting to get since they came out ages ago!) We then braved the London traffic to venture over to my mums. Wow, i hadn't realised just how much i hate driving in London. Seeing my mum and my little sister was amazing but after a few minutes we were back to our usual chats and again it felt as if i hadn't seen them in just a few days not over 14 months.
The next few days entailed busying ourselves looking at flats and cars before my sister Jodie throwing us a big family party at her house. It was awesome seeing all our lot and catching up. It was another late night for us talking into the wee hours and drinking and eating way too much. We are staying at my sisters until we sort ourselves a place to live at. Which wasn't very long as we were lucky enough to find an amazing flat in a really nice area. We were the first to look at it and snapped it up. I also finally bought a car which i pick up tomorrow. Good thing too as Kates car broke down the day after we got home and has spent the last few days in repair. A combination of Kates dad, my sister and my cousin have been ferrying us around while sort everything out.
We have decided to rent for now as don't want to commit ourselves to staying. I imagine it won't be long before the clean crisp mountain vistas of Qtown start to yearn to me. My sister Jodie is planning to get married in Florida in October so we are definitely gonna be here until then. After signing all these year long leases and contracts though i imagine we'll be here a while. I still have tons to do so have to keep this blog short. I'm hoping to create a nice epilogue at some point. Will keep you posted.
Peace
D
XXXX
Our flight home was extremely pleasant due to me pre booking some bulk head seats so we had extra leg room. Kates dad met us at the airport which was quite emotional. When i got back to Kates house we dumped our gear and headed straight out to get some new mobile phones. I finally got my iphone (which i have been waiting to get since they came out ages ago!) We then braved the London traffic to venture over to my mums. Wow, i hadn't realised just how much i hate driving in London. Seeing my mum and my little sister was amazing but after a few minutes we were back to our usual chats and again it felt as if i hadn't seen them in just a few days not over 14 months.
The next few days entailed busying ourselves looking at flats and cars before my sister Jodie throwing us a big family party at her house. It was awesome seeing all our lot and catching up. It was another late night for us talking into the wee hours and drinking and eating way too much. We are staying at my sisters until we sort ourselves a place to live at. Which wasn't very long as we were lucky enough to find an amazing flat in a really nice area. We were the first to look at it and snapped it up. I also finally bought a car which i pick up tomorrow. Good thing too as Kates car broke down the day after we got home and has spent the last few days in repair. A combination of Kates dad, my sister and my cousin have been ferrying us around while sort everything out.
We have decided to rent for now as don't want to commit ourselves to staying. I imagine it won't be long before the clean crisp mountain vistas of Qtown start to yearn to me. My sister Jodie is planning to get married in Florida in October so we are definitely gonna be here until then. After signing all these year long leases and contracts though i imagine we'll be here a while. I still have tons to do so have to keep this blog short. I'm hoping to create a nice epilogue at some point. Will keep you posted.
Peace
D
XXXX
Tuesday, 6 April 2010
Home time
Today is finally the day i go home. I'm sad, naturally, but also really really excited to see my family again. I'm gonna be super busy over the next few weeks which will be a good distraction i suppose as i have to sort out like everything! Car, phone, internet and of course, somewhere to live. I'd like to have it all done before i start back at work too. My sister is throwing us a big party at hers this weekend but i also have loads of others wanting to see us before then. Understandable but i just hope I'm not too jet lagged when i get back to blighty. I've been running on around 6 hours sleep since we left NZ so hopefully a little shut eye on the plane will suffice.
Since my last blog entry we haven't really done much except travel about. Whilst in Banff we decided to explore the local penis themed lakes. They have Lake Minnewanka and Lake Johnson just outside the town. Both were really pretty and had already started there spring thaw. We also drove up to Lake Louise which, although being still really frozen, was stunning with it's sheer dramatic mountains rising from the waters edge. I had seen it before on a miserable drizzly day but this time it was far more impressive. People were venturing out onto the ice but i decided to stay on land. We also explored the bow valley parkway which i guess was the original road from Calgary to Lake louise. It was very twisty and windy but nice and quiet and still had a feel of being off the beaten track. We saw a few deer and i think i saw a wolf but Kates bear watch was unfruitful. She was very optimistic as a large male grizzly bear was seen there a few days before. The males are all awake now and desperate for food so they hug the train tracks as a lot of trains leak grain. A local told us a story of a bear that hoped onto a slow moving train but couldn't get off and rode it all the way to Manitoba. Imagine the train workers in Manitoba when that train stopped. Apparently it caused a bit of havoc in the city. Cool huh?
We left Banff on the Easter Saturday. The town population had swelled somewhat for the Easter weekend but it was still cool to have one last shop. The coolest thing about Banff for me was that not only is it a stunning place but it snowed every day we were there. I do love Banff but could never live there. They make it near impossible to move there as it's in the national park and they have a shed load of restrictions. It'll still be a desirable holiday spot for me though. We also saw pop legend Pete Waterman there.
From Banff we headed out of the rockies to Calgary. It marked the end of Kates bear watch once and for all. It was pretty sad as we passed the last mountain and she said "ah well, that's the end of bearwatch." Number of hours spent looking for a bear? Hundreds. Bears seen? Zero. I told her we needed to be there later in the year and the fact that we saw a crap load of other animals made up for it. After being in Banff, Calgary and Edmonton were pretty much after thoughts. They were only really places to stay in to kill a little time until we flew home. I was keen to go back to them to just create some new positive memories about them. Calgary is very similar to most north American cities. It is famous for the Stampede which is a huge cowboy related festival that happens later in the year. Other than that there isn't a lot more else to see or do. It has a really pretty island park in the middle of the city but it is over populated with eager joggers all hours of the day. There are a few remote spots where you can relax and feel serene though with the huge city scape over looking you. It is a very clean and modern city. It has it's fair share of trendy areas and shopping havens but if you ever go there over an Easter weekend, bear in mind most of it will be closed.
So i now sit in my Edmonton hotel. I thought i was gonna be here a little longer than we are so had arranged to meet a friend who lives here and also to meet a friend who lived just outside the city in a town called Leduc. Either way i had to message them and tell them i had cocked up but I'm sure they will be fine with it. So Edmonton is a pretty nice city if you like shopping, like we do. It has the WEM (West Edmonton Mall) as well as other huge shopping areas. We got into town a little early yesterday so decided to check out the WEM. I think it was at one point the largest shopping mall in the world and due to the horrendous winters they have here it caters a lot more than just shops. It has an ice rink, mini golf, cinema, theme park, pirate ship complete with sea lion show and a huge indoor waterpark. You could quite easily spend a whole day there. We had a quick whizz around the shops not really looking for anything in particular and had a nice lunch. We then checked into our hotel, played a little online poker then decided to finally go to the Keg. We have often looked at menus and adverts for the huge steakhouses that have been scattered along our route on the Canadian leg of our trip. We have always decided it looked over priced but as it was our last night we thought we'd finally have one. Oh my god it was such a nice meal! We sat at the bar while our table was prepared, had a nice glass of wine and felt quite civilised for the first time in a long time. Our food was amazing! Kate had a baseball topped sirloin, a steak so thick they can only cook it medium rare! Perfect as any steak cooked more than that is a waste in my eyes. I had a huge slab of tender prime rib. Ah man it was so good - drools on keyboard. I still have a food baby from it! I'm gonna be digesting that for weeks! It was a good way to sign off from our trip for sure.
And now it is all coming to a head. All i have to do now is load up the car, drop it at the airport and wait til our flight. I checked in online last night which was genius as we got to choose our seats. I of course nabbed the ones with the leg room but we will see as i know it's not guaranteed. It has been such a weird few days. Sometimes i just feel all the energy leave me and a monumental sigh leaves my body but then a few minutes later i am giddy with excitement. It is a real roller coaster of emotion. I am super amped about seeing all my kin though and can't wait. I am of course a little down about this all coming to an end and the prospect of reality and responsibility.
I have always loved Canada and it was always the the first place i saw myself emigrating to but this time my opinion has changed. Yes, the skiing was awesome considering the low snowfall they have had, and yes the people are amazing but it just doesn't feel as homely, as spectacular as it once was. It isn't New Zealand. It just isn't Queenstown. I think we lucked out so much with that place and i find it really difficult to find reasons not to go back. I think i will have to think long and hard about it. Before all that though i want to go home and see my family and to do all the things i have missed so much on this trip. I always wondered how i would cope with all this travelling. It was simple really. Yes the last week or so has been an effort in comparison but before that it was effortless. Yes, we didn't quite take the traditional backpackers route. We didn't stay in too many hostels or live off pot noodles but we are successful 30 year olds and didn't need to. In a way i am glad we waited until now to travel. It allowed us luxuries we probably wouldn't have had if we had tried the same trip 10 years ago. It certainly enhanced our experience. I think a lot of reflection will occur over the next few weeks, some of it to guide future decisions but most of it to try and reinforce the memories of a really special time in my life. I will let you know how i get on, as ever.
Peace
D
XXXX
Since my last blog entry we haven't really done much except travel about. Whilst in Banff we decided to explore the local penis themed lakes. They have Lake Minnewanka and Lake Johnson just outside the town. Both were really pretty and had already started there spring thaw. We also drove up to Lake Louise which, although being still really frozen, was stunning with it's sheer dramatic mountains rising from the waters edge. I had seen it before on a miserable drizzly day but this time it was far more impressive. People were venturing out onto the ice but i decided to stay on land. We also explored the bow valley parkway which i guess was the original road from Calgary to Lake louise. It was very twisty and windy but nice and quiet and still had a feel of being off the beaten track. We saw a few deer and i think i saw a wolf but Kates bear watch was unfruitful. She was very optimistic as a large male grizzly bear was seen there a few days before. The males are all awake now and desperate for food so they hug the train tracks as a lot of trains leak grain. A local told us a story of a bear that hoped onto a slow moving train but couldn't get off and rode it all the way to Manitoba. Imagine the train workers in Manitoba when that train stopped. Apparently it caused a bit of havoc in the city. Cool huh?
We left Banff on the Easter Saturday. The town population had swelled somewhat for the Easter weekend but it was still cool to have one last shop. The coolest thing about Banff for me was that not only is it a stunning place but it snowed every day we were there. I do love Banff but could never live there. They make it near impossible to move there as it's in the national park and they have a shed load of restrictions. It'll still be a desirable holiday spot for me though. We also saw pop legend Pete Waterman there.
From Banff we headed out of the rockies to Calgary. It marked the end of Kates bear watch once and for all. It was pretty sad as we passed the last mountain and she said "ah well, that's the end of bearwatch." Number of hours spent looking for a bear? Hundreds. Bears seen? Zero. I told her we needed to be there later in the year and the fact that we saw a crap load of other animals made up for it. After being in Banff, Calgary and Edmonton were pretty much after thoughts. They were only really places to stay in to kill a little time until we flew home. I was keen to go back to them to just create some new positive memories about them. Calgary is very similar to most north American cities. It is famous for the Stampede which is a huge cowboy related festival that happens later in the year. Other than that there isn't a lot more else to see or do. It has a really pretty island park in the middle of the city but it is over populated with eager joggers all hours of the day. There are a few remote spots where you can relax and feel serene though with the huge city scape over looking you. It is a very clean and modern city. It has it's fair share of trendy areas and shopping havens but if you ever go there over an Easter weekend, bear in mind most of it will be closed.
So i now sit in my Edmonton hotel. I thought i was gonna be here a little longer than we are so had arranged to meet a friend who lives here and also to meet a friend who lived just outside the city in a town called Leduc. Either way i had to message them and tell them i had cocked up but I'm sure they will be fine with it. So Edmonton is a pretty nice city if you like shopping, like we do. It has the WEM (West Edmonton Mall) as well as other huge shopping areas. We got into town a little early yesterday so decided to check out the WEM. I think it was at one point the largest shopping mall in the world and due to the horrendous winters they have here it caters a lot more than just shops. It has an ice rink, mini golf, cinema, theme park, pirate ship complete with sea lion show and a huge indoor waterpark. You could quite easily spend a whole day there. We had a quick whizz around the shops not really looking for anything in particular and had a nice lunch. We then checked into our hotel, played a little online poker then decided to finally go to the Keg. We have often looked at menus and adverts for the huge steakhouses that have been scattered along our route on the Canadian leg of our trip. We have always decided it looked over priced but as it was our last night we thought we'd finally have one. Oh my god it was such a nice meal! We sat at the bar while our table was prepared, had a nice glass of wine and felt quite civilised for the first time in a long time. Our food was amazing! Kate had a baseball topped sirloin, a steak so thick they can only cook it medium rare! Perfect as any steak cooked more than that is a waste in my eyes. I had a huge slab of tender prime rib. Ah man it was so good - drools on keyboard. I still have a food baby from it! I'm gonna be digesting that for weeks! It was a good way to sign off from our trip for sure.
And now it is all coming to a head. All i have to do now is load up the car, drop it at the airport and wait til our flight. I checked in online last night which was genius as we got to choose our seats. I of course nabbed the ones with the leg room but we will see as i know it's not guaranteed. It has been such a weird few days. Sometimes i just feel all the energy leave me and a monumental sigh leaves my body but then a few minutes later i am giddy with excitement. It is a real roller coaster of emotion. I am super amped about seeing all my kin though and can't wait. I am of course a little down about this all coming to an end and the prospect of reality and responsibility.
I have always loved Canada and it was always the the first place i saw myself emigrating to but this time my opinion has changed. Yes, the skiing was awesome considering the low snowfall they have had, and yes the people are amazing but it just doesn't feel as homely, as spectacular as it once was. It isn't New Zealand. It just isn't Queenstown. I think we lucked out so much with that place and i find it really difficult to find reasons not to go back. I think i will have to think long and hard about it. Before all that though i want to go home and see my family and to do all the things i have missed so much on this trip. I always wondered how i would cope with all this travelling. It was simple really. Yes the last week or so has been an effort in comparison but before that it was effortless. Yes, we didn't quite take the traditional backpackers route. We didn't stay in too many hostels or live off pot noodles but we are successful 30 year olds and didn't need to. In a way i am glad we waited until now to travel. It allowed us luxuries we probably wouldn't have had if we had tried the same trip 10 years ago. It certainly enhanced our experience. I think a lot of reflection will occur over the next few weeks, some of it to guide future decisions but most of it to try and reinforce the memories of a really special time in my life. I will let you know how i get on, as ever.
Peace
D
XXXX
Wednesday, 31 March 2010
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
A pretty eventful week this week. Golden turned out to be quite restful. We managed to get up to Kicking Horse ski resort and although i thought it was a little small and over priced for what it was, i thoroughly enjoyed it. We got chatting to a few locals on the gondola and talked about our travels and all the skifields we'd visited. They asked what i thought of their resort but I'm not sure they liked my response and gave us the silent treatment for the rest of the stupidly slow gondola ride. I was just honest when i said i thought it was small and overpriced. I took Kate down a few quite steep black runs which she did not enjoy one bit. She can ski steep stuff but hates it when they get mogully (not like the jungle book character of the same name). These were easily the steepest runs i had taken her on. She was too tentative and took a couple of spills which ended in long slides on her arse down most of the run. It knocked her confidence a bit and seemed to drain what little energy she usually runs on causing her to want to call it a day pretty early. I got a few more runs out of her and found a sweet little jump over some trees which i nailed and was stoked about.
We also explored the small town and had a little walk along the kicking horse river. We drove out of town to reflection lake but the wind got up which made any reflection impossible. I think Golden would be a nice place to visit in the summer as apart from the skiing, there isn't a great deal else to do. In summer you can paraglide, kayak and go tramping, if you don't mind all the bears. So apart from skiing all we did was relax and play a little online poker. I had a right result as i got my first ever royal flush. Basically it is the highest ranked hand and is unbeatable. The odds of getting a royal flush are 1 in 649,000 so as you can imagine, i was pretty happy. What made it even better was that i had position and just sat back and watched as people kept raising and raising. One guy pushed all in and i gleefully called and won a huge pot. Bahahahahaha - evil cackle. I'm not doing too bad online either. They say a good return is about 12% after 200 games. I'm still about 15 bucks up so not doing too bad.
So we left Golden and i was quite keen to get back to Banff which was our next stop. I spent a month there a few years back and met some really cool people and had an amazing time. I was looking forward to getting back there especially since this time it'll will be under better circumstances and with far less stress and strain. As soon as i got into town i was in awe of all the amazing dramatic mountains that over look it. Banff is in the Banff national park, which is the oldest in Canada, so they aren't allowed to cut many trees down. It means the town is stunning. The Bow river cuts through the it, it's so fresh and clean because it's illegal to drop litter yet the town is modern and dynamic. It's a total tourist trap with millions of hotels and souvenir shops but it's still such a cool place. What made it that much cooler was that as soon as we got into town it started snowing. Like dumping down! Banff has a proper long winter but just like the rest of Canada it has not snowed as much as previous years. It is so much colder here and i was hopeful we would see some fresh white stuff and mother nature did not disappoint. Sunshine Village which is the local resort got 14cm followed by another 17cm. The last time i was in Banff it was a few weeks later in the year yet it was still crazy cold. One day it was -30 degrees, the snot froze in my nose and then it dumped 60cm of snow in the space of about 10 hours! So, i told Kate to wrap up warm, which turned out to be very good advice. The windchill easily dropped the temperature down to about -15 degrees and the gusts blew so much snow off the trees it made visibility a problem. Sunshine is a big resort and after a few hours in the deep snow, we were knackered. Kate has started to get used to skiing in deeper snow and i have started just trying to jump off everything i can when the snow is that deep. It was a really good day once we got over just how cold and windy it was.
Banff is the first real mountain town we have stayed in. Fernie was a mountain town but is no where near as picturesque as Banff. The great thing about it is that even though it's a small place, it has a throbbing social scene. It reminds me a lot of Qtown in that it has a lot of bars and restaurants. Not as many as Qtown but enough to keep you interested. We earned a few beers so decided to go to an Irish bar for happy hour. What a rip!! It was the most pointless happy hour ever! 2 beers cost $11 during happy hour and $12.50 after!? In my books that's not a happy hour. Still, the beer slid down nicely and after some awesome ribs at Tony Romas we stumbled home through the snow to our hotel.
Another thing we have looked at doing whilst we have been in Canada is dog sledding. There have been a few places that have done it but there has just not been enough snow to warrant it. It's pretty pricey but after all the snow we have had here, we decided to go for it. We drove out to Canmore which is the nearest big town to Banff and signed up for some dog sledding that afternoon. We spent the morning in Canmore, had a nice lunch then explored. The town is just outside the national park so is more developed. It had some amazing houses and little communities on the outskirts of the town. As we explored we came across a huge herd of massive elk which made Kates morning. She is still constantly on bear watch but is always psyched to see any wildlife. So far we have seen elk, deer, mountain goats and sheep, eagles and loads of squirrels. No bears though. Our dog sled guide drove us high up into the mountains for our tour. We stopped by Spray lakes which used to be a collection of lots of small lakes which were all excavated into one huge lake which supplies water for the town. We were the only people on our tour so helped our guide harness the dogs and attach them to the sled. I was all ready to get my "mush" on but instead the command was "up up up up up!" The dogs were so cute and were a husky/greyhound cross bred for speed. They flew as well, even with my fat ass in the sled. We rode about 5k before stopping at the lake for some hot chocolate and a snow ball fight. Well, i threw Kate in the knee deep snow and hit her with some snow balls while she moaned at me. On the way back we both got to be mushers and guide the sled. The dogs were relentless and even pee'd and pooped on the run! They were so cute and if they got tired they just chomped at the snow for a little drink on the run and carried on. One dog in particular, called Dawson took our fancy as he was obviously a bit slow. Not physically but in the mind. He looked like he had some hound in him and spent most of the time running forward but looking back at us in the sled and barking. Our guide reckoned he had an IQ of 30. Bless him. When we got back we fed the dogs and said our goodbyes. It was so cool. Yes, at first i thought it was a little cruel but these dogs are bred to pull sleds and they seem to really enjoy it. Whenever we slowed or stopped they barked and tugged at the reigns to get going again. Kate and I are both dog people too so we were always gonna love it. I highly recommend it as it allows you to see some truly stunning scenery and meet some amazing animals.
We are coming down to it now and it's only a week until we come home. We still have a few hundred more miles to travel and at least one more day of skiing so still a lot to look forward to. I'm looking forward to coming home and seeing my family. Just such a shame i have to go back to work in a couple of weeks. Sigh. I guess I'll just have to think of the money.
Peace
D
XXXX
We also explored the small town and had a little walk along the kicking horse river. We drove out of town to reflection lake but the wind got up which made any reflection impossible. I think Golden would be a nice place to visit in the summer as apart from the skiing, there isn't a great deal else to do. In summer you can paraglide, kayak and go tramping, if you don't mind all the bears. So apart from skiing all we did was relax and play a little online poker. I had a right result as i got my first ever royal flush. Basically it is the highest ranked hand and is unbeatable. The odds of getting a royal flush are 1 in 649,000 so as you can imagine, i was pretty happy. What made it even better was that i had position and just sat back and watched as people kept raising and raising. One guy pushed all in and i gleefully called and won a huge pot. Bahahahahaha - evil cackle. I'm not doing too bad online either. They say a good return is about 12% after 200 games. I'm still about 15 bucks up so not doing too bad.
So we left Golden and i was quite keen to get back to Banff which was our next stop. I spent a month there a few years back and met some really cool people and had an amazing time. I was looking forward to getting back there especially since this time it'll will be under better circumstances and with far less stress and strain. As soon as i got into town i was in awe of all the amazing dramatic mountains that over look it. Banff is in the Banff national park, which is the oldest in Canada, so they aren't allowed to cut many trees down. It means the town is stunning. The Bow river cuts through the it, it's so fresh and clean because it's illegal to drop litter yet the town is modern and dynamic. It's a total tourist trap with millions of hotels and souvenir shops but it's still such a cool place. What made it that much cooler was that as soon as we got into town it started snowing. Like dumping down! Banff has a proper long winter but just like the rest of Canada it has not snowed as much as previous years. It is so much colder here and i was hopeful we would see some fresh white stuff and mother nature did not disappoint. Sunshine Village which is the local resort got 14cm followed by another 17cm. The last time i was in Banff it was a few weeks later in the year yet it was still crazy cold. One day it was -30 degrees, the snot froze in my nose and then it dumped 60cm of snow in the space of about 10 hours! So, i told Kate to wrap up warm, which turned out to be very good advice. The windchill easily dropped the temperature down to about -15 degrees and the gusts blew so much snow off the trees it made visibility a problem. Sunshine is a big resort and after a few hours in the deep snow, we were knackered. Kate has started to get used to skiing in deeper snow and i have started just trying to jump off everything i can when the snow is that deep. It was a really good day once we got over just how cold and windy it was.
Banff is the first real mountain town we have stayed in. Fernie was a mountain town but is no where near as picturesque as Banff. The great thing about it is that even though it's a small place, it has a throbbing social scene. It reminds me a lot of Qtown in that it has a lot of bars and restaurants. Not as many as Qtown but enough to keep you interested. We earned a few beers so decided to go to an Irish bar for happy hour. What a rip!! It was the most pointless happy hour ever! 2 beers cost $11 during happy hour and $12.50 after!? In my books that's not a happy hour. Still, the beer slid down nicely and after some awesome ribs at Tony Romas we stumbled home through the snow to our hotel.
Another thing we have looked at doing whilst we have been in Canada is dog sledding. There have been a few places that have done it but there has just not been enough snow to warrant it. It's pretty pricey but after all the snow we have had here, we decided to go for it. We drove out to Canmore which is the nearest big town to Banff and signed up for some dog sledding that afternoon. We spent the morning in Canmore, had a nice lunch then explored. The town is just outside the national park so is more developed. It had some amazing houses and little communities on the outskirts of the town. As we explored we came across a huge herd of massive elk which made Kates morning. She is still constantly on bear watch but is always psyched to see any wildlife. So far we have seen elk, deer, mountain goats and sheep, eagles and loads of squirrels. No bears though. Our dog sled guide drove us high up into the mountains for our tour. We stopped by Spray lakes which used to be a collection of lots of small lakes which were all excavated into one huge lake which supplies water for the town. We were the only people on our tour so helped our guide harness the dogs and attach them to the sled. I was all ready to get my "mush" on but instead the command was "up up up up up!" The dogs were so cute and were a husky/greyhound cross bred for speed. They flew as well, even with my fat ass in the sled. We rode about 5k before stopping at the lake for some hot chocolate and a snow ball fight. Well, i threw Kate in the knee deep snow and hit her with some snow balls while she moaned at me. On the way back we both got to be mushers and guide the sled. The dogs were relentless and even pee'd and pooped on the run! They were so cute and if they got tired they just chomped at the snow for a little drink on the run and carried on. One dog in particular, called Dawson took our fancy as he was obviously a bit slow. Not physically but in the mind. He looked like he had some hound in him and spent most of the time running forward but looking back at us in the sled and barking. Our guide reckoned he had an IQ of 30. Bless him. When we got back we fed the dogs and said our goodbyes. It was so cool. Yes, at first i thought it was a little cruel but these dogs are bred to pull sleds and they seem to really enjoy it. Whenever we slowed or stopped they barked and tugged at the reigns to get going again. Kate and I are both dog people too so we were always gonna love it. I highly recommend it as it allows you to see some truly stunning scenery and meet some amazing animals.
We are coming down to it now and it's only a week until we come home. We still have a few hundred more miles to travel and at least one more day of skiing so still a lot to look forward to. I'm looking forward to coming home and seeing my family. Just such a shame i have to go back to work in a couple of weeks. Sigh. I guess I'll just have to think of the money.
Peace
D
XXXX
Wednesday, 24 March 2010
Golden showers and the Cockhouse
All i have to say about Montana is WOW! I decided long ago (never to walk in anyones shadow!?!) that living in the USA was completely out of the question. I mean, for one Americans can be pretty dumb and xenophobic but i was more worried about all the guns. So many Americans stockpile weapons, for what i'm not sure, and you can walk into any hunting shop, fill out a form and in a few weeks you are entrusted with a lethal weapon. I know the UK was having a lot of problems with knife crime in London before we left but here it's all about shootings. I watched a programme about teenage gun crime where kids as young as 13 were taking guns to school and going mental. So as i said, America was always gonna be a place high on the visit list but was never going to be considered as a place to settle. Well, that was until we hit Montana. It was such a beautiful place with a real laid back cowboy feel. The town of Whitefish was awesome! I doubt it has changed much a lot in the last 50 years. The walk down main street reminded me of a town from the old west with it's saloon style bars and shops. My nan would absolutely love it too as every other shop sold cowboy hats and native American artifacts. She loves all that crap. It was crazy cheap too. Food, skiing and lodging all way cheaper than the rest of north America. We looked at the local real estate as well and that was also super cheap. Saw a nice 3 bedroom house on a few acres for next to nothing. It's pretty remote though and is still a long way from any large city.
The ski resort of Whitefish was probably the friendliest hill i have ever been to. All but one person on the chairlifts spoke to us. The snow was awesome too which turned the day into a monumental one. It hadn't snowed there for a while and was quite hard and crusty in the morning but as the spring sunshine warmed the hill the snow softened and it was epic! The hill is surprisingly big with lots of small runs which allowed us to settle in before hitting the main longer runs. All for only $60 too which is well cheap. I don't quite understand just why skiing in the USA is so much cheaper than in Canada. The resorts in Canada have been a little bigger than the average American resorts but I'm not sure that justifies them being around $15 more per day! It was certainly a welcome break to the wallet which is continuously being strained while we are away. Still, we have the money and this is a once in a life time type deal so I'm not too bothered. I'd like to have a little bit left though for when i get home.
Montana also seemed to have way more wildlife. Since we left Vancouver we had seen a grand total of 4 crows on the roads on Canada. As soon as we crossed the border, which was amazingly smooth considering the border patrol had never seen the type of visa we had to get into the USA, we were surrounded by elk, deer and golden and bald eagles. Like proper surrounded too. I had to stop the car to allow a family of elk to cross the road whilst 2 massive eagles sat by the side of the road eating some unfortunate road kill. This will change though as we head north and east through Canada. Last time i was in that part of the world i saw bears and shared a bus stop with a very tame elk. Kate is permanently on bear watch when we drive. It is the perfect time of year for them to be coming out of hibernation and due to the unusually warm weather, i imagine they are already "oot and aboot" as they say in these parts.
From Whitefish we headed back up to Canada and settled in Cranbrook. A pretty dull town which we just used to break up the long drive and also to go to the small resort of Kimberley. We drove there but when we got to the bottom of the hill it looked pretty bare with not much snow. The website called it "Spring conditions" which looks like translates as "No snow." There were a few runs open and some people skiing but we both decided it wasn't going to be worth the price of a lift ticket. Especially since the next few ski fields are the most expensive we will visit. So we decided to save our pennies and head back to Cranbrook.
I was quite glad to leave Cranbrook as it was a pretty boring place but I really enjoyed the drive to our next stop, Golden. I have been to Golden a few times but only as a stop on road trips from Banff to Revelstoke. Last time i was here i found it hilarious as there was a RV park which had this huge billboard by the freeway advertising its showers. The way it was worded though made it look like it was advertising Golden showers, eww!! I also noticed a place called the Grizzly Grill cookhouse but the sign had faded so it looked like the Grizzly Grill cockhouse! I ate there but there was no penis on the menu.
Golden is a really pretty place with the Kicking horse river cutting through the town and the ski resort, of the same name, overlooking us from the mountain. We plan to head up to Kicking Horse tomorrow for a bit of a ski. Usually we would come back and have a nice long soak in the tub but our hotel is the first one we have had without a bath. Looks like I'll be having a Golden shower after all eh?
We are here for a few days before heading back to my favourite place in Canada, Banff. I am so looking forward to getting back to the quiet little mountain town but also because as most ski resorts are getting ready to close up for the season, Sunshine Village in Banff is still getting good snow and will still be open for another 6 weeks!! I can't wait.
Peace
D
XXXX
The ski resort of Whitefish was probably the friendliest hill i have ever been to. All but one person on the chairlifts spoke to us. The snow was awesome too which turned the day into a monumental one. It hadn't snowed there for a while and was quite hard and crusty in the morning but as the spring sunshine warmed the hill the snow softened and it was epic! The hill is surprisingly big with lots of small runs which allowed us to settle in before hitting the main longer runs. All for only $60 too which is well cheap. I don't quite understand just why skiing in the USA is so much cheaper than in Canada. The resorts in Canada have been a little bigger than the average American resorts but I'm not sure that justifies them being around $15 more per day! It was certainly a welcome break to the wallet which is continuously being strained while we are away. Still, we have the money and this is a once in a life time type deal so I'm not too bothered. I'd like to have a little bit left though for when i get home.
Montana also seemed to have way more wildlife. Since we left Vancouver we had seen a grand total of 4 crows on the roads on Canada. As soon as we crossed the border, which was amazingly smooth considering the border patrol had never seen the type of visa we had to get into the USA, we were surrounded by elk, deer and golden and bald eagles. Like proper surrounded too. I had to stop the car to allow a family of elk to cross the road whilst 2 massive eagles sat by the side of the road eating some unfortunate road kill. This will change though as we head north and east through Canada. Last time i was in that part of the world i saw bears and shared a bus stop with a very tame elk. Kate is permanently on bear watch when we drive. It is the perfect time of year for them to be coming out of hibernation and due to the unusually warm weather, i imagine they are already "oot and aboot" as they say in these parts.
From Whitefish we headed back up to Canada and settled in Cranbrook. A pretty dull town which we just used to break up the long drive and also to go to the small resort of Kimberley. We drove there but when we got to the bottom of the hill it looked pretty bare with not much snow. The website called it "Spring conditions" which looks like translates as "No snow." There were a few runs open and some people skiing but we both decided it wasn't going to be worth the price of a lift ticket. Especially since the next few ski fields are the most expensive we will visit. So we decided to save our pennies and head back to Cranbrook.
I was quite glad to leave Cranbrook as it was a pretty boring place but I really enjoyed the drive to our next stop, Golden. I have been to Golden a few times but only as a stop on road trips from Banff to Revelstoke. Last time i was here i found it hilarious as there was a RV park which had this huge billboard by the freeway advertising its showers. The way it was worded though made it look like it was advertising Golden showers, eww!! I also noticed a place called the Grizzly Grill cookhouse but the sign had faded so it looked like the Grizzly Grill cockhouse! I ate there but there was no penis on the menu.
Golden is a really pretty place with the Kicking horse river cutting through the town and the ski resort, of the same name, overlooking us from the mountain. We plan to head up to Kicking Horse tomorrow for a bit of a ski. Usually we would come back and have a nice long soak in the tub but our hotel is the first one we have had without a bath. Looks like I'll be having a Golden shower after all eh?
We are here for a few days before heading back to my favourite place in Canada, Banff. I am so looking forward to getting back to the quiet little mountain town but also because as most ski resorts are getting ready to close up for the season, Sunshine Village in Banff is still getting good snow and will still be open for another 6 weeks!! I can't wait.
Peace
D
XXXX
Friday, 19 March 2010
Weekend in the USA
All the talk of global warming has got a bit tedious but i am certainly seeing the effects here. I know we have come to Canada in spring but i expected much colder harsher conditions than we have been experiencing. There are pros and cons to this other than the imminent rising of the seas and the dilution of the gulf stream which will plunge the UK into a permanent winter. Here it has meant that snow levels are even lower than last years disastrous levels. That said we are still enjoying our skiing. It isn't as nearly as epic as i had hoped but compared to NZ it is still pretty special. The lack of snow though has produced a massive advantage. That being that the roads are so clear. As we drove out of Vancouver with our little nissan laden with skis and suitcases we had to drive quite a way until we saw the inevitable "carry chains or have good winter tires" road sign. We don't have either and i was obviously a little concerned as we have planned to head off into the Rockies. We have been lucky though and the only icy/snowy roads we have encountered were on our way up to Big White. Luckily they had just had an 18cm dump of fresh okanagan powder. The drive up was a little slick but we made it up no problem. The resorts here are so much more money than the hills we skied in Utah but when people offer you tickets in the parking lot and save you $50, it really helps! So with our scalped tickets we headed off into the fresh powder. I skied like a man possessed with the fear off falling or hurting myself pushed right to the back of my mind. Such soft fresh snow is like skiing while wrapped in cotton wool. I flung myself off anything that resembled a jump or ledge and shit myself on a huge jump which i thought was a lot smaller. I nailed the landing though and rode off whooping and hollering with delight. Kate had never skied in such new snow and was way too tentative. In deeper snow you have to let yourself go and trust your technique. The fresh grippy snow slows you down but you have to work harder to turn. She struggled on our first run and said she didn't like it. I laughed and told her to just go for it. Kate tends to almost hockey stop each turn to control her speed which is near impossible in deep snow but once i got her carving a bit more she was away! We had such a good day and even my crash into a tree couldn't dampen my spirits. It was pure comedy as i flew over this ridge and landed on a steep which shot me forward at, quite literally, break neck speed. I tried to slow myself but knew a hockey stop in the deep snow would just shot my head first down the hill, so i traversed the slope pointing my skis more uphill. Gravity wasn't my friend in this instance though as i ran out of piste and clattered into the branches of a pine tree by the side of the slope. I collapsed into the deep snow which cushioned me nicely. As Kate cleared the ledge a woman who had seen my spectacular stack asked her if we were together and that she should check up on me but when i emerged from the tree pissing myself laughing, she knew i was OK. Her concern was further extinguished when she skied up to me and noticed a piece of tree sticking out of my goggles like some sort of pine mono brow.
Big White was amazing. Great snow but a bit crowded by Canadian standards. It is spring break here though so that explains it (screams "SPRING BREAK!!" and throws an egg from my car at a passer by - just like what happened to my mother in law in Florida. It left a nasty bruise!). Brighton is still our number one place with Big White now a very close second.
The icy conditions on the roads continued as we left Big White and headed straight over to Rossland. It is a tiny little town sunk down in a snow filled valley just north of the USA border. Not exactly Kelowna in its glamour but still pretty quaint. They have a ski field there called Red Mountain which is famous for it's gladed tree runs. We suffered the next few days though from our exploits at Big White and although the lift passes were free, we never made it up the hill. We had only planned to stay a day there before heading off to Fernie but ended up spending that day in our room aching, popping pain killers and muscle relaxants. In a quiet moment in Kelowna i had joined an internet poker site so Kate also joined and we spent the whole day playing poker. I managed to double my $30 bankroll in about 20 minutes in a cash game so was well pleased but have since lost most of it and decided to just stick to sit and go tournaments. You can win a lot of money playing cash games but you an also lose a lot. Having not played online, other than Facebook (where i have over $6 million in fake chips), i need a bit more practice i think. I came second in a sit and go and won $16 but other than that i have only had a few cashes. Kate has started to do well and has also had a few cashes. We are sticking to very small stakes at the moment so anything we win isn't exactly gonna allow us to run out and buy a new porsche!
So we headed to Fernie and settled into our last hostel of this trip. It's all hotels after that. Now i'm not a snob, i lived in van for a year for Christs sake, but the hostel we stayed in in Fernie was a bit rough. No, it was actually OK but i think our room was above the sauna! Man it was baking in our room all the time. I opened the window one night but had to close it when it started snowing on our gear. The heat was a problem at night but what was worst was the constant stench of ganja! I know that Canada has quite relaxed laws and opinions on marijuanna use but it was relentless. I'm sure it had an effect on my eating habits too as every night i lay in bed craving brownies.
Fernie was our first real mountain town and the ski resort is was only a few miles from the town centre. It was a pretty little town with the usual ski and snowboard shops. I took the opportunity to demo some skis i have had my eye on for a while. Back when i bought my skis in Canada a few years ago i looked at some Volkl Gotamas. They were out of my price range but since then they have been redisgned. Skis are actually cheaper in the UK than in Canada but back home we have a distinct lack of ski resorts so i thought I'd give them a try. We headed up the hill after 4cm of new snow but the conditions were terrible. The lower half of the mountain was an ice rink but once we kept above the mid mountain it was pretty good. The demo skis worked well but I'm not sure i want to part with the money just yet. Plus I'd wait til i was home anyway as they're cheaper but they would just sit in the shed til next winter. No point.
We were woken this morning by a knock on our room door informing us we hadn't checked out of our room yet. We looked at each other both thinking we still had another night. After a quick check of our trip planner on the laptop though we discovered that we should already be on the road to Montana. Oops. We hastily got dressed and packed and left. To be honest i was pretty glad to leave our hostel, especially since it smelt like a Amsterdam coffee shop.
So we have now arrived in Whitefish in Montana. The drive here was the most stunning scenery we have passed through yet since leaving Aoteroa (NZ). Huge glacial lakes, big pine forests and the odd deer crossing the road. Pretty sweet. We are just here for the weekend before heading back up to Canada to Cranbrook. Hopefully there will be a few end of season dumps of snow over our last few weeks here. Well, if the snow does start to thaw we can always play online poker. It's a win win situation either way.
Peace
D
XXXX
Big White was amazing. Great snow but a bit crowded by Canadian standards. It is spring break here though so that explains it (screams "SPRING BREAK!!" and throws an egg from my car at a passer by - just like what happened to my mother in law in Florida. It left a nasty bruise!). Brighton is still our number one place with Big White now a very close second.
The icy conditions on the roads continued as we left Big White and headed straight over to Rossland. It is a tiny little town sunk down in a snow filled valley just north of the USA border. Not exactly Kelowna in its glamour but still pretty quaint. They have a ski field there called Red Mountain which is famous for it's gladed tree runs. We suffered the next few days though from our exploits at Big White and although the lift passes were free, we never made it up the hill. We had only planned to stay a day there before heading off to Fernie but ended up spending that day in our room aching, popping pain killers and muscle relaxants. In a quiet moment in Kelowna i had joined an internet poker site so Kate also joined and we spent the whole day playing poker. I managed to double my $30 bankroll in about 20 minutes in a cash game so was well pleased but have since lost most of it and decided to just stick to sit and go tournaments. You can win a lot of money playing cash games but you an also lose a lot. Having not played online, other than Facebook (where i have over $6 million in fake chips), i need a bit more practice i think. I came second in a sit and go and won $16 but other than that i have only had a few cashes. Kate has started to do well and has also had a few cashes. We are sticking to very small stakes at the moment so anything we win isn't exactly gonna allow us to run out and buy a new porsche!
So we headed to Fernie and settled into our last hostel of this trip. It's all hotels after that. Now i'm not a snob, i lived in van for a year for Christs sake, but the hostel we stayed in in Fernie was a bit rough. No, it was actually OK but i think our room was above the sauna! Man it was baking in our room all the time. I opened the window one night but had to close it when it started snowing on our gear. The heat was a problem at night but what was worst was the constant stench of ganja! I know that Canada has quite relaxed laws and opinions on marijuanna use but it was relentless. I'm sure it had an effect on my eating habits too as every night i lay in bed craving brownies.
Fernie was our first real mountain town and the ski resort is was only a few miles from the town centre. It was a pretty little town with the usual ski and snowboard shops. I took the opportunity to demo some skis i have had my eye on for a while. Back when i bought my skis in Canada a few years ago i looked at some Volkl Gotamas. They were out of my price range but since then they have been redisgned. Skis are actually cheaper in the UK than in Canada but back home we have a distinct lack of ski resorts so i thought I'd give them a try. We headed up the hill after 4cm of new snow but the conditions were terrible. The lower half of the mountain was an ice rink but once we kept above the mid mountain it was pretty good. The demo skis worked well but I'm not sure i want to part with the money just yet. Plus I'd wait til i was home anyway as they're cheaper but they would just sit in the shed til next winter. No point.
We were woken this morning by a knock on our room door informing us we hadn't checked out of our room yet. We looked at each other both thinking we still had another night. After a quick check of our trip planner on the laptop though we discovered that we should already be on the road to Montana. Oops. We hastily got dressed and packed and left. To be honest i was pretty glad to leave our hostel, especially since it smelt like a Amsterdam coffee shop.
So we have now arrived in Whitefish in Montana. The drive here was the most stunning scenery we have passed through yet since leaving Aoteroa (NZ). Huge glacial lakes, big pine forests and the odd deer crossing the road. Pretty sweet. We are just here for the weekend before heading back up to Canada to Cranbrook. Hopefully there will be a few end of season dumps of snow over our last few weeks here. Well, if the snow does start to thaw we can always play online poker. It's a win win situation either way.
Peace
D
XXXX
Thursday, 11 March 2010
March at 'leventh
Today is my sisters birthday. It is the second birthday of hers i have missed while i have been away. I feel bad as out of my vast family, she is the one person i miss the most. I doubt any brother has the same sort of relationship with their sister as i do with mine. You could say i am a protective big brother but not in the traditional sense. I don't lord it over her and shield her from harm but i would gladly give my life if it meant she never felt an ounce of pain. We have been through so much together and there is no bigger sanctuary for me then in my sisters arms. She supports me without even realising. Yes she has her flaws, as does everyone but other than her addiction to catalogue shopping, pinot grigio and a penchant for rough sex (i saw that bruise on your bum!!), in my eyes she is truly amazing. When i think back to the things that i miss whilst i am on this huge adventure it's amazing to me just how many of them involve my little sister in some sort of way. It's simple things like just chatting in her kitchen, or watching her kids play football in the rain, or the numerous meals my soon to be brother in law cooks for us. Whether it's barbeque's in the sunshine with a cold beer or just rushed cups of tea, i love just being around my sister and her family. Since i moved to Northolt when Jodie lived near Charville, we have not really been more than a few miles apart. Considering that between the ages of 8 - 15 i hardly ever saw her. Those first few years though cemented a bond between us that is difficult to explain. All i know is that i am not afraid to say that i love my sister so much and i miss her all the time. I am so sorry sis that i have missed another birthday but i am sending you tons of love from the other side of the world and soon I'll be living in Harry Jacks room and you won't be able to get rid of me! XXXX
Right well, back to the issue of this blog thing. Vancouver produced some very unseasonable weather for us and it felt good to stroll around without a coat on. I met up with a friend from Queenstown too called Rob. He worked with me at Coronet Peak and we were on the same dodgeball team. I remember making him feel really bad when he accidentally hurled a dodgeball into the face of one of our female opponents. I knew he didn't mean it but i enjoyed winding him up. He left Qtown before the end of the season to get a jump start on his Canada trip and has been here for the last 5 months. As he missed the end of the season i had loads of gossip for him. I think Rob had only intended a quick drink and a catch up but we ended up getting quite a bit drunk. After he left me and Kate got down to the proper drinking back in our hotel bar. I woke the next day with a crushing headache! I had forgotten just how strong Canadian beer is. I have become accustomed to NZs smoother less powerful beers, which i prefer. We spent most of the day in bed but when we did eventually venture out to get some food we randomly bumped into Rob in our hotel lobby! He was there cashing a cheque as he had been working in the bar next door for the Olympics. He invited us out for another beer but we gracefully declined. He was quite interested in our travels across Canada as he is keen to get out on his snowboard. I emailed where we will be and when and left it up to him if he wants to meet anywhere. It was good seeing him again as he is a really nice guy.
We spent one of our last days there by going shopping. We travelled out to the Metrotown Mall on the train were i encountered a peculiar sign about pick pockets. I stated that you should beware as Vancouver has the best pick pockets in the world. A bold claim i thought. What, did they have some sort of college? The Artful dodger school of dipping? Or the Fagan institute? Have they not seen Oliver? London practically invented dipping!!
Oh another thing i have learnt to my peril - Never trust google! That website fucked me over so much in Vancouver. Lets say i fancied a burger king. I'd google it to find the nearest shop, get directions by google map, commit it to memory, walk miles to get there to find no frickin burger king! It fucked me over at least twice! Either that or Vancouver keeps changing and relocating stuff to keep one step ahead of them. Annoying.
So we left Vancouver and it's vast sprawl. It is such an amazing place. The downtown area is quite compact and some of the neighbouring districts are stunning. We drove through west and north vancouver on the other side of the harbour and those places have an amazing view and sunset out across the bay. From Vancouver we picked up our car for the next month and headed to Kamloops. Kamloops, according to numerous travel guides, has nowhere of any interest except the ski resort Sun Peaks. They are not lying! What a strange place. Driving from Vancouver you pass through valleys and mountains and huge pine forests which are beautiful before you get to the browny grey hole in the ground that is Kamloops. The hills and mountains would ordinarily be pretty impressive if you hadn't just drove through some stunning scenery. It's quite a small industrial town too so chimneys pop out all over the place and spew smoke up into the clean mountain air. The only reason we stopped there was for Sun Peaks and it didn't disappoint. The resort was huge, the second biggest in British Columbia to Whistler. It had just had a light dusting of snow and our first few runs of the day on the middle mountain were awesome. We then ventured over to the bigger mountain which had a bit more steeper terrain and had seemed to have missed the new snow. It was much icier too so we went back to the middle mountain before checking out the third mountain they have there. Yes, three mountains. The third mountain was good because no one was there and the fresh snow lay pretty much untouched. We had a really good day but it wasn't as good as the day we had back in Brighton in Utah. A close second.
We were quite keen to leave the grey brown Kamloops and head to our next stop, Kelowna. On the way we stopped for an afternoon at Silver Star which is another ski resort. We were a bit sketchy about the fact they hadn't had snow for over a week but this is Canada and they still had over 2 metres to ski on. It was a much smaller resort and we pretty much covered it all in just a few hours. It was surprisingly good considering the lack of fresh snow and was our first taste of Okanagan powder. The Okanagan Valley has world famous snow called champagne powder. It's some of the driest, lightest, fluffiest snow in the world and i have been waiting to get here for years. The snow was good but without fresh stuff it just felt like normal snow. The other resort in the Okanagen valley is Big White, which is just down the road from our Kelowna hotel. As i look out of my hotel window up to the hills it is dumping snow up there and I can't wait til tomorrow when we'll get up there.
Kelowna is called Canadas California. I can kind of see why. It sits low in the Okanagen valley and straddles both side of the long thin Okanagan Lake. The lake has beaches and the town has an active winter and summer season. There are beach volley ball and basketball courts dotted along the lake front. The town is over looked by snow capped hills and mountains and is the closest looking place we have seen to Qtown. Not as dramatic but close. It is one of the largest growing communities in Canada and with the gorgeous scenery, lake and ski resorts, it's easy to see why. It might help that Lake Okanagan has a loch ness type monster too, apparently. Don't know many facts and other than the loch ness monster statue down by the lakefront, it's not exactly a massively publicised thing. Not a souvenir shop in sight. I always imagine Loch Ness to have "Nessy" based souvenir shops and tourist havens everywhere. But hey, this is Canada after all. They are so modest here it's ridiculous. I guess when your nearest neighbours are brash, loud, smug Americans it's not difficult to see why though.
So far i have really liked Kelowna. I knew i would just because of it's similarities to Qtown but i am really looking forward to some okanagen powder tomorrow. Wow, that sounds a bit like a drug reference eh? We've only planned to stay a few days before heading southeast down to Rossland but i really wish we had planned a longer stay. I'll let you know how we get on.
Happy Birthday sis. I love and miss you millions. I hope you have an awesome birthday.
Peace
D
XXXX
Right well, back to the issue of this blog thing. Vancouver produced some very unseasonable weather for us and it felt good to stroll around without a coat on. I met up with a friend from Queenstown too called Rob. He worked with me at Coronet Peak and we were on the same dodgeball team. I remember making him feel really bad when he accidentally hurled a dodgeball into the face of one of our female opponents. I knew he didn't mean it but i enjoyed winding him up. He left Qtown before the end of the season to get a jump start on his Canada trip and has been here for the last 5 months. As he missed the end of the season i had loads of gossip for him. I think Rob had only intended a quick drink and a catch up but we ended up getting quite a bit drunk. After he left me and Kate got down to the proper drinking back in our hotel bar. I woke the next day with a crushing headache! I had forgotten just how strong Canadian beer is. I have become accustomed to NZs smoother less powerful beers, which i prefer. We spent most of the day in bed but when we did eventually venture out to get some food we randomly bumped into Rob in our hotel lobby! He was there cashing a cheque as he had been working in the bar next door for the Olympics. He invited us out for another beer but we gracefully declined. He was quite interested in our travels across Canada as he is keen to get out on his snowboard. I emailed where we will be and when and left it up to him if he wants to meet anywhere. It was good seeing him again as he is a really nice guy.
We spent one of our last days there by going shopping. We travelled out to the Metrotown Mall on the train were i encountered a peculiar sign about pick pockets. I stated that you should beware as Vancouver has the best pick pockets in the world. A bold claim i thought. What, did they have some sort of college? The Artful dodger school of dipping? Or the Fagan institute? Have they not seen Oliver? London practically invented dipping!!
Oh another thing i have learnt to my peril - Never trust google! That website fucked me over so much in Vancouver. Lets say i fancied a burger king. I'd google it to find the nearest shop, get directions by google map, commit it to memory, walk miles to get there to find no frickin burger king! It fucked me over at least twice! Either that or Vancouver keeps changing and relocating stuff to keep one step ahead of them. Annoying.
So we left Vancouver and it's vast sprawl. It is such an amazing place. The downtown area is quite compact and some of the neighbouring districts are stunning. We drove through west and north vancouver on the other side of the harbour and those places have an amazing view and sunset out across the bay. From Vancouver we picked up our car for the next month and headed to Kamloops. Kamloops, according to numerous travel guides, has nowhere of any interest except the ski resort Sun Peaks. They are not lying! What a strange place. Driving from Vancouver you pass through valleys and mountains and huge pine forests which are beautiful before you get to the browny grey hole in the ground that is Kamloops. The hills and mountains would ordinarily be pretty impressive if you hadn't just drove through some stunning scenery. It's quite a small industrial town too so chimneys pop out all over the place and spew smoke up into the clean mountain air. The only reason we stopped there was for Sun Peaks and it didn't disappoint. The resort was huge, the second biggest in British Columbia to Whistler. It had just had a light dusting of snow and our first few runs of the day on the middle mountain were awesome. We then ventured over to the bigger mountain which had a bit more steeper terrain and had seemed to have missed the new snow. It was much icier too so we went back to the middle mountain before checking out the third mountain they have there. Yes, three mountains. The third mountain was good because no one was there and the fresh snow lay pretty much untouched. We had a really good day but it wasn't as good as the day we had back in Brighton in Utah. A close second.
We were quite keen to leave the grey brown Kamloops and head to our next stop, Kelowna. On the way we stopped for an afternoon at Silver Star which is another ski resort. We were a bit sketchy about the fact they hadn't had snow for over a week but this is Canada and they still had over 2 metres to ski on. It was a much smaller resort and we pretty much covered it all in just a few hours. It was surprisingly good considering the lack of fresh snow and was our first taste of Okanagan powder. The Okanagan Valley has world famous snow called champagne powder. It's some of the driest, lightest, fluffiest snow in the world and i have been waiting to get here for years. The snow was good but without fresh stuff it just felt like normal snow. The other resort in the Okanagen valley is Big White, which is just down the road from our Kelowna hotel. As i look out of my hotel window up to the hills it is dumping snow up there and I can't wait til tomorrow when we'll get up there.
Kelowna is called Canadas California. I can kind of see why. It sits low in the Okanagen valley and straddles both side of the long thin Okanagan Lake. The lake has beaches and the town has an active winter and summer season. There are beach volley ball and basketball courts dotted along the lake front. The town is over looked by snow capped hills and mountains and is the closest looking place we have seen to Qtown. Not as dramatic but close. It is one of the largest growing communities in Canada and with the gorgeous scenery, lake and ski resorts, it's easy to see why. It might help that Lake Okanagan has a loch ness type monster too, apparently. Don't know many facts and other than the loch ness monster statue down by the lakefront, it's not exactly a massively publicised thing. Not a souvenir shop in sight. I always imagine Loch Ness to have "Nessy" based souvenir shops and tourist havens everywhere. But hey, this is Canada after all. They are so modest here it's ridiculous. I guess when your nearest neighbours are brash, loud, smug Americans it's not difficult to see why though.
So far i have really liked Kelowna. I knew i would just because of it's similarities to Qtown but i am really looking forward to some okanagen powder tomorrow. Wow, that sounds a bit like a drug reference eh? We've only planned to stay a few days before heading southeast down to Rossland but i really wish we had planned a longer stay. I'll let you know how we get on.
Happy Birthday sis. I love and miss you millions. I hope you have an awesome birthday.
Peace
D
XXXX
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