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!