Staff Christmas Party and Our first trip up the Mountain!

Aaron and I had a day off together on Wednesday and we finally decided to brave it up the mountain! We walked from Staff Accom to the Silver Platter (the run that is for kids that we have been practising on), we caught the Pomers up to the top. Pomers are interesting.. skiiers tuck the little plug between their legs where as snowboarders have to put it under their arm so for 5mins you're hanging on for dear life and your forearms burn an your quads burn from keeping your legs bent and trying not to fall over! I will have to get a photo of Aaron or I on it for you. Then we snowboarded down the Magic Carpet which is another beginner run then we caught the Mile One Quad chair lift up to Show Off and Horse Shoe. I didn't fall off =) These are supposed to be the 'easier' runs... We went down Show Off first and it was so steep! I went down the whole way braking.. I know there is a term for it but it is when you dig your heels in so you dont go fast. Definitely a beginner. There were skiiers zooming passed me and people in the chair lift going over me. SO intimidating! When we FINALLY got to the bottom I had had enough but Aaron wanted to go again. So we went down Horseshoe this time which we needed to go down to connect back to the Silver Platter to go home. This was just as steep and had heaps of bumps in it so people could do jumps and tricks. So I fell over lots.. super fun.. NOT!

I fell over seven times in total and winded myself twice.. I had to stop and rest a few times because my thighs were on fire from squating and pushing my heels in the whole way down. Definitely booking in for some lessons. Just need the confidence because whenever I pick up speed I freak out then fall over. Or whenever I try to go onto my toes I fall backwards which made up for the majority of my stacks.. Aaron fell over twice... damn him.. I think we might stick to the Silver Platter a bit longer..

We had our Staff Christmas Party that night in the Great Hall and we got a free buffet meal and two free drinks! The them was 'Ugly Sweater' but do you think we could find any ugly sweaters at the second hand store??? NO! So I bought Aaron an I Santa hats and tree skirts!!! So unattractive but it was in the spirit! We had roast pork, beef and turkey with some salads, mash and yummy desserts to choose from. Quite a good feast. They gave away heaps of prizes including two Heli Ski rides!!! Which is where you go up in a helicopter and they drop you of at the top of the mountain and you board/ski down! Crazy hey?! I am kind of glad I didnt win that one..

Work is going good. Aaron is really busy as the snow has picked up again as it got a bit warm and even got to 2 degrees! He has been staying back an hour here and there and even got called in on his weekend (Thursday) to do a full day.. Not happy..

My work has been amazingly quiet. I have had five shifts so far and have been sent home early from all except one! It is supposed to pick up during the week though because it is getting closer to Christmas so we will see. I served my first table last night! And I got a $15 tip yeehar!

We are both working Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.. I wonder if we get paid extra?? Aaron works 7am-3pm and me 4:30pm-10pm so we will see each other for the tiny gap in between our shifts because we are both asleep when we start/finish. Oh well..

Working at Wildfire

Aaron in his Maintenance uniform

Finally started work! It has been a long 3 weeks of waiting!

 I am the hostess so I greet the guests when they walk in the restaurant, grab some menus and show them to their seat. I then "Mis En Place" the table depending on if there are kids or not (taking away wine glasses, getting crayons and colouring in paper) then I introduce them to their server. I screwed up a few times because I am supposed to seat guests in particular sections of the restaurant and I kept getting the sections wrong so not all servers were getting tables... woops! But I got it by the end of the night. I thought it was crazy busy last night as we had just under 20 tables come in through the night but the girls were saying that is quiet and it will be crazy around Christmas time... Great! I am freaking out slightly...

The training for Wildfire was great! We did menu tasting and my favourite was the rack of ribs. The meat just slid off the bone it was AMAZING! They also have haddock which tastes like snapper, rainbow ravioli, risotto, lamb shank (also delicious!), salmon salad and much much more! We also did wine tasting as we are trying to upsell the wines and recommend the best one to compliment the guest's meal. So we tried 16 wines! Which included Cabernet Sauvignon from McLaren Vale (SA), Chardonnay Viognier, Syrah Malbec, Wishing tree Shiraz from Margaret River (WA), No Time Old VInes Garnacha from Spain, Valpolicella Ripasso, Fontella Ghianti, Wine by Joe Pinot Noir, Schug Chardonnay, Wine by Joe Pinot Gris and Canaletto Prosecco. Pretty lucky hey!!



Me in my Wildfire outfit

 I have been working 4pm-10pm which is pretty crap as Aaron works 7am-3pm so we literally pass each other on the road as he comes home and I go to work. And I am asleep when he leaves and he is asleep when I get home. So I have asked the boss if I can have daytime shifts. I have the next three days off so that is good. Aaron and I can finally have dinner together! I am working on Thursday during the day serving!! The manager Scott said he is impressed with my wotk (why wouldnt he be?!) so he is going to have me try serving yippee! Then I am working 5pm-11pm on Friday, Saturday & Sunday.
I also attended a two half day orientation for Panorama which involved a lot of team building exercises like taking your boots off and grabbing some elses and finding that person... Nightmare!! There was like 100 of us and it wasnt very well thought out.. Took forever just to find a matching boot because someone else was looking for the same boot!

We tooked a lot about safety and a guy from maintenance told us of how he had been in an avalanche in the back country and only his fingers were sticking out of the snow. Crazy! No back country for me!!!! I havent even been up on the slopes yet! Am going to go to the ski school and ask if I can book in a lesson..



My Spaghetti Squash concoction



We also talked A LOT about Occupational Health and Safety which was a tad boring but the procedures need to be known.

Aaron and I went down to Invermere a few days ago and stumbled across a shop called Grants. It was amazing! They had grass-fed chemical free meats! We bought some Elk sausage and it was SO dark!! Almost the colour of dark chocolate! I cooked it up last night and made sausage stuffed peppers (capsicum) and they were pretty awesome. Elk tastes like beef and lamb mixed together so pretty tasty!

We also bought some spaghetti squash which they dont have back home and it is like a pumpkin that you stick in the oven and it turns all stringy and you use a fork and empty out the pumpkin and it looks like spaghetti! So we had that for tea two nights ago with a marinara sauce. Yummo!

The elk sausage stuffed into capsicum

Local ice hockey in Invermere

3rd December 2010 Aaron and I went to our first ice hockey game. Columbia Valley Rockies (our team) verse Revelstoke Grizzlies. It was crazy!! I lost count of how many fights there were?! The game is split into 20min thirds and the clock is always stopping like AFL. It is weird watching ice hockey compared to field hockey because they can kick the puk with their skates and they can catch it and put it down on the ground! And SO physical!!! The Rockies ended up losing by I think 7-2.

The game started at 7:30pm so Aaron and I went into town on the 5:15 bus to grab some dinner. We were going to go to Peppi's Pizzeria but could not find it! I asked a local where it was but he believed it was shut and invited us to his local Legion's club, which is the same as an RSL (a club for all the Veterans). His name was Ray and he introduced us to his wife, Anne, who I had met at the Quality Bakery a few days earlier. I love the people here they are so friendly! So they signed us both in and it was only $12.50 for buffet of garlic bread, lasagne, salad and tiramisu. Bargain! And they also had free popcorn as a starter!!  Aaron and I were the youngest by about 20 years and it was so nice and local. We bought some tickets in the meat tray raffle and the 50/50 raffle. We also played some keno and won $15 woohoo! Aaron used it to try some beer (Caribou and Kookanee - the local brew) He liked Kookanee better. Everyone kept coming up and talking to us and asking if we were enjoying ourselves and where we were working in Pano.

We missed out on the Tiramisu because the ice hockey was about to start. So we gave our raffle tickets to Ray and Anne and thanked them for inviting us in. I have to find out if they won anything...

I had my orientation on the 2nd and 3rd which finally got me out of my room! It was very interesting. We met the Senior Management Team and the CEO, Rick Jensen, who was so funny and passionate. One of the Managers told us about his experience in an avalanche where he was buried in so much snow that only his fingertips were sticking out! SCARY! He was in the back country so I wont be heading that way. I still have to get on the mountain as I am still on the baby run off to the side... A few more rounds and I will be up on the green run (the easiest of them all) however it is still massive and steep considering it is only a green slope! And I am nervous for the chair lift.. I will probably fall off!

I finally have word on my job!!!! I have training Wednesday the 8th December 9-5 and Thursday 9th from 2-10. Not looking forward to the walk home at that hour! We will be covering a whole range of things such as wine tasting, menu tasting (you beauty!), setting up the restaurant, learning the cash register system and lots lots more! Cant wait. I will most likely work all of the weekend after that as Wildfire will be opening. I will have to get photos of Aaron and I in uniform and post them up for you to see :)

Aaron and I also found an ATM where we can withdraw money from!!! It is right here on the mountain so that is a massive relief!

The Kings of Neon party was great by the way. Aaron doesnt remember the end of the night.. Naughty naughty.. Below is a picture of the people Aaron and I share our Loft with. From left: Aaron, Joe (ring in), Blucky, Brianne, Jonathon, Johanna, Tobias, Bluey, Kirk (another ring in) and me!

Snowboarding - Take 2

My day in Invermere was very long! We caught the bus at 7:40 and started with breakfast at Huckleberries. It is so like the movies with the lady in her apron and big frizzy hair bringing the coffee out with her strong accent. I had eggs benedict and the hollandaise sauce was see through and kinda gross but I still devoured it. We managed to chill out there until 10:30 then we made our way up the hill into 'Downtown' which is pretty much one street with everything on it. We made our way down the left side towards the end of the street where Quality Bakery is which is AMAZING! We had lunch there and a nice little treat as well :)

Olivia booked a hair appointment at Bliss so Jane and I made our way to Valley Foods and they bought some meat. We then went to Sobeys and tried to be as slow as possible as the bus was 3 hours away.. Sobeys is where you gt the best deal on fruit and vegies. Olivia met us there and thankfully we bumped into Dwayne and Scott who took us to Pano in their car. Long day!!!

We are also having issues with withdrawing money which is becoming a massive pain in the arse! We have contacted TIO and are waiting for a reply. We have thought of a work around which is transferring money to NAB and then doing an international transfer to our Canadian account. Pain! TIO doesnt do international transfers so we are on a tight budget while we wait for the transfers to go through..

We also had a feast that night when our new roomies arrived (Bluey and Blucky - from Aus, Brianne from Ontario and Johanna ANOTHER SWEDE!) I managed to find 2kg of pork ribs for $10!!!! We had roast vegies and potato salad too. YUM YUM!

Aaron and I went for our second snowboard today with Dane. I managed to stay up for the majority of the time which was exciting!! We hiked further up the Silver Platter this time and I was knackered by the top! We had to rest for a bit before we started! We did three trips down the mountain and that took us an hour. Aaron only fell over about twice but I got one on camera!!!! And I lost count again but it was less than last time! YAY! Massive improvement for a second go. I am working on my turns now as I can stop without falling YIPPEE!

We have a Kings of Neon party downstairs tonight so all us 'loft crew' having matching head pieces and glow sticks. Its going to be awesome!!

Drama at Panorama!

Friday brought many surprises and gossip to Panorama.

I was having lunch at the Picnic Deli with four other girls (Hayley, Emma, Olivia and Jane) we were talking about all sorts of things from work, shopping, weddings to the painful process of learning to snowboard. And then all of a sudden a snowmobile comes flying off the mountain and into the Picnic Deli! Smashing the windows and startling everyone. I panicked because Aaron was just scraping ice off the Deli paths right where the snow mobile crashed but thankfully he and his partner had moved on from there. PHEW!  Amazingly, no one got hurt. The snowmobile crashed into the front counter, narrowly missing a customer and the waitress. The waitress got bumped by one of the falling display cabinets and was hit with shards of glass but was otherwise ok. The snow mobile came all the way down the mountain, through the chair lifts where about 50 ski tournament kids were lining up having just finished lunch, over the pathway, through the trees and didn't hit anyone! A miracle! The driver had been bucked off up the mountain as he turned the snow mobile on and it was locked in full throttle for some bizarre reason.

Unfortunately it was the only time I did not have my camera on me but I have a photo of afterwards where a plank of wood is now covering the bare wall. Just letting you all know that the Deli connects to my restaurant, Wildfire.

To add to the drama we wandered on down to the General Store to get some chocolate...mmmm! And there was an ambulance and fire truck parked out the front. We walked in and there was a girl lying on the floor in the recovery position with all these people around her. I bumped into Dane who was the guy we caught the Greyhound bus from Calgary with and it was his Mrs, Gina, who had taken a fall in the guttering at the front door! She had broke her tooth and broke her knuckle! Ouch! So slippery here with the snow!

It has started to get warmer with -6 degrees today. So all the snow is losing its fluffiness and turning icey so everyone is falling over. I made the mistake of wacking my boots together to get the snow off and took myself out but I am ok! No broken teeth thank goodness!

The free shuttle to Invermere starts tomorrow and I am SO excited! Now I can go down whenever I want yay! I am a little bored sitting in the loft all day. There isn't much to do until the season starts.. I have to go pick up my work pants which I had taken up. Love being short... I wonder how much that will cost me??

Aaron got the flu Friday night poor bugger. He had hot and cold flushes and had the shakes.. So I bought him some good cold and flu drugs and sent him to bed with some water. Then I played some drinking card games and went out to the T-Bar again! What a good fiance...! He still wasn't feeling very well the next day so took the day off work. Aaron is at work today though. He just text me and has numb toes again but he is going to try the bean bags we bought so hopefully they will warm his feet up for the afternoon.

So I forgot to update you all on my chat with Nicole about joining an ice hockey team. She said that it was more serious than she expected and didn't end up signing up. She recommended waiting for Windermere lake to freeze over and the town organises lots of events down there like ice skating, ice hockey and all sorts. Aaron and I found a second hand shop in town where we can get ice skates so we might just do that!

Snowboarding - Take 1

The slope was open for staff today for 1hr over lunch. This slope was way too steep and scary for my first go so I convinced Aaron to begin on the Silver Platter (very beginner.. probably 30 degree angle)

The first mission was working out how to get my boots on. There are so many straps! After 15mins of squeezing in and working out how to clip all the straps down we were off. The hike there was interesting as the boots go up to the back of your calves and are angled forwards so you cannot straighten your legs. I felt like the boys at Moto X with their boots on.. 10minutes of awkward walking and we were at the Silver Platter. We hooked our boots into our bindings (another mission that Aaron had to assist me with) Finally I was standing! And moving! AAAAAH! How do I stop?! And then I ate snow... lots and lots of snow.. I lost count of the amount of times I fell over but the best one was when I tried to stop which is where you turn your board so you are facing down the mountain and you drive your heels into the snow. I failed at the driving of the heels part and catapoulted into the air like Evel Knievel and landed on my stomach.. Not so fun.. But its ok we bought helmets this morning so we were fine. 40% off for staff so Aaron and I got both our helmets for $160. Bargain! Aaron did well. Fell over a few times but no bruises. My knees copped a beating but thats about it. It was -22 degrees and we managed to get icycles on our eyelashes on the walk home!

Aaron isn't enjoying working in these cold temperatures. His fingers and toes keep going numb and his heel went black yesterday!! But it has returned to its normal colour which is good. We went to Invermere in the afternoon and bought Aaron some quality boots that are graded for -30 degrees. They are also steel capped and we bought nice thick merino wool socks and these heated bean bag things that stay warm in your boots for up to 6hrs so hopefully when he goes back to work on Friday he will feel his toes ALL day long! He has today and tomorrow off so a few days to chill out inside which will be good.

I met my manager Scott and he doesn't know when I should start at Wildfire. Initially I was supposed to start 1st December but he said he wont need me then so I will be attending orientation on the 2nd and then I will just have to wait and see about a start date...

We went to T Bar last night for a few drinks to celebrate Charlie's 30th (we actually hadn't met her yet) It was pretty fun. I tried a beer called 'What the Huck' made with huckleberries. It was ok, a sweet beer. We met lots of new people. Our whole room was there, sadly four are leaving next week to their permanent residence above the Jackpine pub (Olivia, Jane, Emmett and Patrick) and we are getting a Canadian girl, a Swedish girl and two Aussie guys who arrive on Tuesday.

Crossfit in winter = SUPER CRAZY!

Yesterday afternoon Aaron and I had this crazy idea to workout in this insane weather.. To warm up we jogged down from our floor (4), then sprinted up then jogged back down... After this the feeling in my fingers and toes started to come back but I was far from warm.. We then went outside to set up the rings for muscle ups (i attempted kipping pull ups but my muscles seemed to fail so I did strict pull ups) Aaron was of coure fine besides the fact he couldnt feel his fingers. We then did 60 double unders however our ropes had frozen so we had to stretch them out and warm them up.. This was VERY hard outside as the cold air was not only forming icycles in my nose but also in my lungs which wore me out very quickly and made me want to curl up in the foetal position by the fire.. We then did 12 box jumps onto a picnic table which warmed me up the slightest bit. Then we jogged up the hill to the gym which took the longest 10 minutes of my life! It was SO cold! My toes had frozen up as I was only wearing my runners, I was wearing my gloves, two shirts, a jumper, long johns, trackie pants, two pairs of socks and ear warmers. We were puffing out icy smoke like chimneys and got tired easily, having to stop several times. We finally got to the heated gym.... mmmm heated... We attempted the Airforce WOD but it was hard as they olympic bar bell was being used and they only had barbells with weights that didnt spin. I ended up finishing in 18:26 and Aaron 19:23. Now that we were nice and sweaty we walked home in the dark (only 5:15pm) so it was even colder.. yippee! Next time we have decided to not bother about going to the gym and just fill up Aaron's aqua bag and doing workouts here. The aqua bag fills up to about 35kg. I am just going to stick with body weights exercises like double unders, push ups, sit ups, handstand push ups, burpees, etc. inside!!! We spent the evening coughing as our lungs defrosted...  There is a ski tournament on here at the moment and there are people going for jogs everywhere! Clearly it is just something that will take some getting used to!

Continuing on cold topics, Aaron's first day at work went well. He got so cold that he had to come home and grab warmer socks! A lady at his work told him it takes approximately 3 weeks to acclimatise to the weather.. HA! I will let you know how that goes. So Aaron spends his days scraping snow off foot paths, shovelling it to the side, scraping snow off roofs and pouring salt on the ground to remove the snow.

I met my boss today, Scott. He said I have the hardest job as hostess... yay! I have to manage the floor pretty much. Seat people as they come in and make sure they are spread out so that the waitresses dont get too many tables at once. A little nervous. I start Monday so I will let you know how my first shift goes.

I also bumped into Nicole who interviewed Aaron and I in Brisbane. I am heading to the resort now to go chat with her about ice hockey. She mentioned in our interview that they play on Sundays and I SO want to give it a go!

Until next time!

(The 1st photo is our warm up area, 2nd and 3rd are of the path from staff accommodation to the resort)

Panorama Mountain Village

It is so beautiful here! We are surrounded by mountains which are covered in snowy pine trees. Our taxi driver Barrie was telling us all about the different type of trees that survive the winter, the fir tree (which are the ones all around us), the sprooce tree (looks similar to the fir tree but lives in swampy areas), the needle tree (which loses its needles during winter but is still very alive) and the pine tree which are dying out due to the pine beetle! Taxi ride here cost $62 but tips are big here and Barrie told us all about the mountain so we gave him $70. He was very grateful.

Barrie took us to check in (glad he knows his way around) and Aaron and I got our keys and paperwork and then Barrie took us to our staff housing. They were smaller than I thought considering how many people must be working on the mountain. There were only two building, Paradise and Monument. Aaron and I are in Monument, top floor (level 4). There aren't any lifts so getting up was a mission with our 7 bags! Thankfully Rich from Ledes, England helped us with our stuff. We have another four people in our loft so far - Tobias and Jonathon (the Swedish guys) and Patrick and Emmett (the Irish guys). The Irish guys are moving out as they are waiting for their bathroom to be renovated. I don't know when that will be so we don't know who the other four people are that we will be spending the season with.

We then went to Employee Experience to meet Corinna Wenger and fill out paperwork for our jobs i.e. tax forms, direct deposit forms, SIN details, etc. We also got our ski passes! And turns out we get free lessons which I will definitely be taking advantage of!

We went for a walk around to find out where we will be working and Wildfire restaurant is in the upper part of the mountain along with the T-Bar, Picnic Deli, the gym, the chair lifts, Great Hall and a few other things. We were struggling to find the Maintenance office but a guy from the Snow making team called the team who drove over and picked Aaron up. They wanted him to start right away but we had groceries and more shopping to do in Invermere. So Aaron started today (Sunday) instead of Monday. Started at 7am! with Robert who I think is the team lead? Aaron's responsibilities are shovelling snow off the pathways and stairs, emptying bins and.... i will have to get back to you if he has more duties.. I am glad I will be working in a heated venue that's for sure!

The Christmas festival was on last night down in Invermere which we missed but saw a lot of cars done up for the event. We managed to hitchhike down there! Exciting.. Andrea who helped us set up our bank accounts at Bank of Montreal said its very common that people hitch hike down and the locals are more than happy to pick us up as they know we have had a lot of background checks done to get the jobs on the mountain. We did our groceries, bought some more winter gear and found an AMAZING bakery! We also found a second hand shop, Thrift, where I bought a scarf for $1.50! Bargain! We also got really close to some deer!!

I am going to head up to the resort (we are about a 10-15min walk away) tomorrow to meet the Wildfire coordinator and found out what my shifts are and what I need to be doing. Hopefully she doesn't ask me to start right away like Aaron's crew did!

Making our way to Invermere

To get to Invermere we need to go via Greyhound buses. Invermere is approximately 4hrs from Calgary. On the Greyhound website the bus ride was going to take 14hrs! Turns out there is a 10hr over night stop over in Radium Hot Springs. We called Greyhound to confirm this and ask if there were any other buses that were express to Invermere. They advised no and the only bus left at 630pm.

We caught a taxi to the Greyhound station which cost $20. We bought our tickets which was around $70 with the additional bag (snowboard bag) paid for. The bus was delayed an hour so we ended up leaving at 730. We had some Aussies sitting in front of us and they were going to work at Panorama as well. They told us that there was no overnight stop over at Radium and that we were getting into Invermere at 1030 tonight! Now 1130 because we were late! Why would the call centre tell us different?! Not happy Jan...! So we rang a taxi to pick us up from the Invermere drop off point and take us into town where we could hopefully find a hostel. And I rang Radium Hot Springs hostel to say we werent coming anymore.  I plan on ringing Greyhound and complaining...

So we got dropped off at the Invermere highway traffic lights and waited for 5mins for our taxi.. it was the first time my teeth were chattering since we arrived.. It was so cold! Did i mention it got to -27 degrees today??

We found a hostel that could take us, thank goodness someone was outside having a smoke! He rang the owner who was asleep at his home, who drove in and booked us in for the night $52.

Its now 9am Friday morning and Aaron and I are heading into town to open up a bank account, buy some bed sheets for our accommodation on the mountain and do some laundry. We then have to catch a cab to the mountain before 430 so Aaron can fill in his Employee manual documents ready to start work on Monday!

The Adventure begins!

It is now day 2 of Aaron and my adventure starting in Canada. First we flew to Sydney with QANTAS for a 6hr stop over then flew to Vancouver with Air Canada which took around 14hrs. We had a two hour stop over in Vancouver where we took 30mins to get through Customs, 20mins to get our luggage (thank goodness it all turned up!) then 40mins waiting in immigration for our work wisas... which led to us missing our flight to Calgary.. Aaron was freaking out but I knew there was a flight that was leaving an hour after ours that we could go on as Steve, who I sat next to on the plane, was catching that flight. He warned me that we were pushing for time with the flight we were originally scheduled for. He was very nice, used to live in Australia but had been living in Canada for 25 years so his accent was funny. He invited us to his place in Saskatoon over the winter and he could take us on his snow mobiles! He has two daughters my age so we might just have to pop over there for a visit!

So eventually we got to Calgary and had to wait outside in line for a taxi and OMG IT WAS -14 DEGREES!!!!!! I knew then that we were in desperate need of more warm clothes! The taxi ride was $40 to our hostel HI Calgary 520 7th Ave (its funny they dont have street names they just number them!)

We went shopping at The Bay where I bought some Ugg boots for $300 but it was so worth it! My toes dont go numb anymore like they did when I was wearing my runners. We went to MEC (Mountain Equipment Corporation) where you have to be a member to buy there. So we signed up for $5 and I bought some more heavy duty gloves, a neck warmer, two beanies, some thick socks for snowboarding and some goggles also for snowboarding.

We then went and applied for our Social Insurance Number which was easier than we thought it was going to be. It was harder finding the place! They will be sending our SIN card in the mail to Panorama in about 2wks time.

It was really hard to find a place to eat but we managed to find a subway for lunch (missed breakfast). I lost count of how many iced coffees Aaron tried... and there was nowhere for tea so we just had a hot chocolate next to the public library then went to bed..

First Snowfall for Panorama Mountain

Looking forward to taking photos for myself but this is a snippet of what is to come!

Aaron and I received an email from Panorama Mountain Village this morning confirming our accommodation. We will be living 'on-hill' in a 4 bedroom loft with 6 other people. Aaron and I will have our own room and our own bathroom (thank goodness!!!) There will be a laundry and shared kitchen facilities. I am so excited! Need to get some CAD but am waiting patiently for the AUD to surpass USD... see how that goes. .9998 at the moment. 8 more days at work! 14 days until we leave! YIPPEE!

I see the light at the end of the tunnel!

17 more days until we fly out! And better yet 10 more days of work!! You beauty!

Aaron and I are house sitting at Brad and Hayleigh's place while they are in Europe for two months. They get back 9 days.. Cant wait. We are looking after their dog Betty. She peed in the bedroom two nights ago.. haha Aaron cant wait to be back home.

Mum and Dad are going to Florida next week to take advantage of the Aussie dollar being almost equal to the USD. Dad is going to buy a boat, Big Kahuna.. So Az and I are looking after little Brad :)

So we are pretty much sorted now. We have paid for our travel insurance and flights. We have packed our snowboard bag and have our winter gear sitting out in our bedroom ready to be stuffed into the backpacks. i dont have ANY warm clothes. I plan on buying them all when we arrive in Canada as then the clothes will be made for their winter.. theres nothing here in Darwin that would be suitable. So I need to get a jacket, boots, goggles, gloves and maybe more just because I can :) We also need to buy sheets and groceries for our accommodation on Panorama Mountain. We are waiting on an email from them advising what we will be staying in, i.e. a one bedroom apartment or a 4 bedroom or something like that. We asked for the four bedroom in our application as we are heading over there to meet people so sharing a place is a great start!

Other than that we are about to apply for our International Driving Permit just to be on the safe side. We plan on driving through America so if we ever get pulled over hopefully we have all the right documentation.

We just had some money changed over a couple weeks ago and it was awesome! We bought 2000 CAD and it cost us 2092 AUD! I am hoping the AUD will surpass the USD before we head off because we want to buy some more money. As we need to prove we both have 4000 AUD each when we arrive in Canada so we get our visa from the port of entry officer.

Cant wait! Next update will most likely be when we are packing or when we arrive in Canada!

PS i checked the weather and it was -5 degrees on our mountain! And there is still one month before winter actually starts!!!!! BBBRRRR!!!!!!!

10 weeks to go!!

Flights are booked!!! We leave Darwin November 17th and fly to Sydney, then straight to Vancouver for a one hour stop over then off to Calgary! And we arrive on the morning of the 17th! So weird going back in time..

We received our contracts from Panorama Mountain and they changed Aaron's start date to November 9th! DILEMMA! Aaron sent an email advising them we didnt fly in until a week later and they were happy to change his start date to November 22nd thank goodness! So we wont get to travel around for two weeks as planned... well Aaron wont but I will =)

The exchange program includes one nights accomodation in Calgary so we will spend our first night there and then make our way to Panorama on the 18th. I think it takes around 4 hours? There are bus shuttles that run to Banff and then to Invermere so see how we go.

As soon as we arrive we need to set up bank accounts to be paid into so we will be doing that in Calgary. We've been told to apply for a Social Insurance Number as well but I think we need to wait until we arrive so we can apply.. so many things to do! Might ask IEP about that one..

I need to buy some snow boots when we get there as well because I am going to freeze! I checked out the weather and in November they have maximum temperatures of -3C!!!!!

Oh and my leave without pay wasn't approved at work so I will be taking all of my rec leave (unfortunately my 9wks sick leave goes down the gurgler) and then resigning. I am taking my leave at half pay so I will get about 3months paid leave so at least we will have some money as back up as we arent getting paid much ($8.73 per hr for me and Aaron is on like $10 or something) CANT WAIT!

Here we come Canada!

We did it! Aaron was offered the grounds keeper position at Panorama Village and I was offered a hostess role at Wildfire restaurant on the mountain. We are due to start December 1st but are planning on heading over two weeks earlier to do a bit of the touristy stuff.

We interviewed with Nicole who was very friendly. Turns out she used to play field hockey and told me they have come and try ice hockey on Sundays in the nearby township. We are so checking that out! There is also volunteer fire fighting as well which Aaron is keen on doing for a bit of life experience as he plans on joining the firies eventually.

Nicole will contact us in September to let us know if there is staff accommodation available as the staff that worked during the Summer and are staying on for the Winter get first preference. Hopefully we get to live on the mountain, it would be amazing waking up in the morning and going oitside straight onto the mountain for a snowboard.

Panorama Village is located 30mins out of Invermere in the Rockies which is south west of Calgary.

Interview Jitters

So we are in Brisbane and it is freezing! Our interviews are tomorrow in the city. Mine are at 0900 with Grouse Mountain and at 0940 with Panorama Village which is our first preference. Aaron's interviewing with the same employers but has Panorama at 0900 instead. Very nervous as we are trying to get jobs on the same moutain so fingers crossed!

What are us crazy kids doing?!

Well where do I begin? Aaron and I got engaged in September 2008 and decided we both wanted to see the world so here we are July 2010 getting ready to disembark in November!

First stop is Canada! We plan to work there (hopefully on a mountain) for 6 months. If we LOVE it, who knows, we might stay longer... watch this space :)

We decided to go through International Exchange Program (IEP) who have been so helpful! IEP helped us organise our visas, insurance and are even hooking us up with interviews before we head off. And since Aaron and I were the first to sign up to the program we have the first interviews in Australia (in August)!!! We decided to use the program so we would have jobs and a place to live organised before we arrived in Canada. That way we would bypass all the other travellers who are rocking up at Canada's doorstep in search of jobs. Pricey but hopefully worth it..

When we finally decide to leave Canada we will be driving through America for about 2 months then we will make our way over to the UK for a few months then to parts of Europe. Obviously nothing is set in concrete yet but we have a sketchy idea. Can't wait! Have to prepare for the interviews now!