After our trip up from Vancouver we arrived in Whistler. This part of Canada seems so untouched. The forests are exactly as you would imagine, tall trees, thick dense cover that you can barely see into. There is wildlife everywhere you look, we have seen plenty of squirrels but no bears yet. Whistler is made up of lots of estates tucked away up in the hills, there is a mix of old and new houses, mainly built out of huge wooden beams and styled as you'd expect in a northern hemispehre mountain resort. The town is the same as the rest of Canada with the majority of the cars being trucks, suv's and wagons. I've never seen so many Ford F 150,250,350's, Dodge Rams and other big fuel guzzlers. There are trucks cruising around with snow mobiles on the back everywhere. The main centre of town is pretty big and very modern, it has a couple of banks, KFC, Maccas, lots of restaurants, ski shops, bars, pubs, lots of souvenier shops, a couple of small supermarkets and basically everything else you need. The main town is based at the bottom of two huge ski hills, Whistler on the right and Blackcomb on the left. From town you can only see the front face of each hill and they are huge, so I can only imagine how big they are when you actually get up there. It is an awesome sight from town. At the moment the hills are being used for Mountain biking and there are lots of people lining up at the lifts and gondolas and heading up the mountain. The town is pretty quiet at the moment, with mainly locals round and a the odd person heading up from Vancouver to go out or to mountain bike. We have all scored jobs and vey easily and start work soon. Ele is working at Rogers Chocolates a small but expensive chocolate shop in the centre of town. She met her boss and was given chocolates to take home and try for homework. They are big on sending you home with products to study over here. Laura who has travelled to Whistler with us got a job straight away in a Bathbomb, fragrance, ladies product type shop called lush. She also has been given products to take, study and try. I will be working at a hotel called the Westin Resort and spa as a valet, which will involve greeting people, helping with there gear and then parking there cars.. which will hopefully lead to me getting lots of tips. The wages here are very low, with the average being $10 an hour. Thats why everybody relies on tips and expects you to tip them for there service. Our house is located in one of the closest suburbs to the main village and ski lifts. It is an 8 - 10 minute walk for us to get into town, which is good. The house is 3 levels, 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms with everything we need. The hotel I'm working at is on the way to town, about 5 minutes from home so getting towrk will be easy. The hard part will be going outside when its -5 or colder in the mornings..
