Whistler
15th October 2010
It was a cold crisp morning in Vancouver as I jumped on the Greyhound for the 2hr 45min journey up to Whistler, the bus was virtually empty besides a couple of other making the religious journey up to the mountain at this time of the year. The bus ride takes you along the sea to sky highway (HWY 99) and I can see why it has that name as it traverses the steep mountain rising on your right while there are beautiful inlets and coves to your left. Quite a spectacular view and luckily the weather was on my side, not a cloud in the sky. I arrived on schedule in the Whistler Village at noon, now at this stage I was assuming my hostel was located in the "The Village" as it is commonly referred to, as this is where the action is and hostels generally tend to be situated close to the action. This was my first mistake. The hostel was actually a 15-20min bus ride back the way I just came quite a ways out of the Village and no where near the action. So I again jumped on a bus and made my way to where it was. From the bust stop it was another 20min hike uphill to where it was, no easy feat wearing a big winter jacket and carrying three bags. Lets just say I was a bit on the smelly side by the time I arrived. It was at this point a really took in the beauty of the valley and surrounding snow capped peaks and it really is awe inspiring view to say the least.After checking in and a quick tidy up I was straight on the hunt for a permanent place to live for the season, this I thought to be the most important thing to get sorted as I was eve's dropping on quite a few other people staying in the hostel and every conversation seemed to be about how hard it is to find decent accommodation close to the action and relatively affordable. So I contacted the first add I viewed,a bit more than I wanted to pay but seemed in a good location, and to my luck it was still available. So I made the bus ride back to the Village to meet the guy, a German named Oliver, we had a conversation to get to know each other and find more about the room (note the room is a shared room not a private room I really don't know how anyone could afford a private room). Oliver had been working in the Austrian Alps for the past four years and is now in Whistler for his first season, quite a laid back character. He took me to the house, which was only a two minute walk from the Village center and the lifts up the mountain, it is a four bedroom house that I would be sharing with 7 others (two per room) and they were three Germans and four Australians. Nice and cozy with fire place and hot tub. It was only the first place i had seen but instantly wanted to move in, so I went back to the hostel so I could think about it and compare prices with other adds in the area. It took my only 1 hour to decide that I would take it, so I called Oliver hoping it was still available and luckily it was!! Done deal, I am to move in on the 1st November. Next on my list is to find a job and this may be a couple weeks in the works as the next rush on hiring is mid November. Guess I will be living the dream until then.
16th October 2010
I got three new roommates in my dorm room at the HI Hostel, three Aussies of course, and these guys are the some of the loosest guys I have ever met!! There is Jarron from Bunbury, Jono from Perth and Cameron from Perth but he is studying at a University on Vancouver Island at Victoria. Awesome blokes and always keen for a good time, especially Jono and Cameron as they were only here for a few days Jarron is here for the season like me. Anyway so after dinner we all commandeer the pool table for an all night drinking session and shenanigans, unfortunately there is no bar at the hostel so a trip to the liquor store (not Bottle-o) is in order. We came back with a couple of twelve packs and the guys had some captain morgan rum, good night ahead haha. During the night I met so other Australians, Camo & Raquel from the Gold Coast and had been traveling for the last four months through Europe and then there was the token Canadian, Matt who was here from Ontario here to work and board for the season. Its funny in Whistler it seams that Canadians are the foreigners and not the everyone else. Tonnes of Aussies, Poms and Germans running around the place. Anyway the night was pretty big and was up drinking, shooting pool and making new friends until 4am.
17th October 2010
Woke up at 10am a bit dusty from the previous nights antics but feeling pretty good overall, especially after some Vegemite toast yuummmm!! As it was Sunday there wasn't much point on job hunting so I declared it a rest day and the job hunting was going to have to wait until Monday and more like the rest of the next week or two. Spent majority of the day lounging around the hostel and looking up potential places to inquire about jobs so I had a plan of attack the next day, that was until this pommie guy called Dan and a Canadian chick called Ruby started doing tequila shots and playing pool...it didn't take long for my rubber elbow to be convinced to join them for a few shots and games of pool. We polished of the bottle of tequila, Dan and Ruby were plastered and pretty much were passed out by 4 in the arvo. At this point I met a bunch of lads from UK who had just rocked up at the hostel, Harvey, Matt and Luke. These boys told me about a facebook group to join "Whistler Seasonaires", this guy called Andy runs a bunch of social events for anyone new to whistler so you can meet new people and network for houses, jobs ect. The first of these events was tonight at the Longhorn Pub for locals night. So that was the plan for the night. We rocked up around 9pm, pretty sweet cowboy looking pub that reminds you of an old saloon. The majority of the people that turned up for the event were from the hostel, it was looking to be a big night as the free coronas and food starting coming out. Pretty sweet deal join a group on facebook and get free coronas I wasn't going to complain haha. With the coronas flowing, fireball shots (cinnamon rye) and rye and cokes going down easily you can say I was getting wasted and results in me lighting a fire on the dancte floor....Great night out, new friends, lots of free drinks, gorgeous women, dangerous moves on the dance floor and to cap it off a slice of pizza at 1am for the trip back to the hostel.
18th and 19th October 2010
These two days was spent getting resume's and cover letters ready and visiting hotels/resorts in Whistler to inquire about jobs, quite productive two days....
20th October 2010
I awoke early and made my way into the village as I wanted to get some more job hunting done before 2pm as the Whistler Seasonaire's was holding a cricket match in the afternoon and then onto to Buffalo Bills pub for more drinks and socialising. Very proactive day on the job hunt so I was quite satisfied with myself, 12 beers in hand and off to play cricket against those stinking poms. They took the first test match which I missed now it was time for redemption, the match was being played at Whistler Creek near Alta Lake, a beautiful piece of green grass for a cricket match. However, it wasn't looking good for the Aussies as only three of us turned up compared to about 10 poms. So we had some of the poms on the Aussie side and as you can imagine we weren't going to win with those odds. The poms are a bunch of cheating, no good ball chuckers haha...nah jokes aside it was a fair match but the poms wiped the floor with the Aussies. My form with the bat and ball were both appalling. Poms up 2-0 in the test series, shit! Guess only one thing to do was to drown my sorrows at Buffalo Bills tonight....and that I did. Had a good night drinking with the Whistler Seasonaire crew, coronas and fireball shots again, ended up busting dangerous moves on the dance floor and dancing in a cage with a hot Canadian chick...goooood times! Ended up heading home around 1am and to my surprise a bunch of people were still awake at the hostel, Matt the Canadian had the guitar out and the inevitable good old sing-a-long was on the cards. As everyone returned from the night out they joined in so it ended up around 20 people in the hostel common room singing tunes. Bedtime 3am....
21st October 2010
Today was spent getting resume's and cover letters ready and
visiting hotels/resorts in Whistler to inquire about jobs, quite
productive day and took some landscape photos of the views from the hostel. Great view of the mountain peaks and fresh snow on its peaks....then a quite night back at the hostel.
22nd October 2010
Woke up early and headed for the bus stop into the village to do the job thing again..sitting at the bus stop headphones in and daydreaming of snowboarding through fresh snow..I was waken from this daydream by a Canadian dude sitting next to me. He pointed across the road to a bear that had just popped out of the forest, I was like ohhhh how cool, that thought quickly turned to concern as the bear sprinted across the road directly towards the bus shelter where me and three others were sitting. Now the bus stops in Whistler are all enclosed in glass to protect from the elements and with only one entry/exit, and the bear was running directly for that opening. I was thinking shit there is going to be trouble if I get cornered in this bus shelter with a bear...luckily as the first two people began fleeing from the bus shelter the bear realised there was people inside the shelter and it wasn't a good place to get out of the weather. The bear swiftly changed direction and ran around the bus shelter and disappeared into the forest behind. Exciting and concerning at the same time, but awesome I got to see a bear before they head for hibernation in a few weeks. Anyway, made my way into town to do the job hunt thing again, had a great day lined up a couple of job interviews one at Whistler Blackcomb mountain as a Guest Service Agent (hope I get that one as you get a season ski pass), Fairmont Chateau Hotel front desk position and Roots clothing store as a sales assistant. Also more good news I sold my car back in OZ, more money in the bank. Thank you parents for help with that one. Good day over and it was time to head back to the hostel for dinner and a few beers. Had a quite night playing pool and fooseball (played against these two welsh sisters and they were unbelievable at it) and talking shit. Bring on the weekend....
23rd October 2010
The day began fairly late as I enjoyed a nice sleep in and a very quite day was on the cards. Washing, eating, a bit of light reading and I decided to hike around the area and take some photos of the view from the hostel towards the snow capped mountains. A spectacular sunset view!! The evening consisted of a couple of beers, watching the Toronto Maple Leafs loose in ice hockey. No going out tonight as I decided three times in one week is plenty and the regular Sunday session at the Longhorns will be a huge event.
24th October 2010
Today only one thing is going to happen....Sunday Session at the Longhorn Pub!! This is a great locals night and we get free food and free Coronas at the start of the night!! Its going to get messy haha. Not a very productive day just updated my resume and printed more out for the job hunt next week. I started getting on the gas around 2ish in the hostel common room, nothing crazy just a few warm up beers before heading to Longhorns. We headed on in at 8pm for the fun to begin. Once again the Whistler Seasonaire group has arranged free entry for everyone and the food this time is Mexican wraps, nachos and good old chicken wings. Being on a budget this is now my dinner haha. Surely enough the free coronas start coming out the same as last week but this time we got twice as many...6 quick beers later I'm on my way to being smashed. Can't beat getting hammered for free every Sunday, I think this is going to become a regular event....well until the snow starts. In the end great night out with my new friends and really cheap one at that..
25th October 2010
Ouch...head is hurting from the night before, Ive decided that those three fireball shots followed by a jager bomb at the end night was a bad choice. Oh well it was a great night!! Up early today on the job hunt this week, I really need to get myself sorted in that area before the hordes of people arrive next week and snap up the jobs on offer. Got into the village fairly early so I could drop of as many as possible and I had an interview with the Roots store that afternoon. The resume dropping wasn't too successful the standard response is "we are not hiring just yet but you can fill out an application and we will keep your CV on file", I'm thinking that is just the polite way of saying that your CV is going straight to the incinerator thanks for your interest though!! Haha. Anyway my interview at the Roots store went super well and got on with the store manager (JM) really easily. This is the most positive response to a job that I have got so far and I actually wouldn't mind working there even if its minimum wage. The manager is so chilled out and relaxed, the sell awesome clothes, its a Canadian owned company and best of all hot girls work there. Cha ching!! We just have to see though as he will give me a call back if he is interested...no drinking tonight need an early night to catch up on much needed sleep. Zzzzz's
26th October 2010
