VanCity and the Heavenly slopes of Big White

A sad sad day having to say goodbye to "Observation," our floating home from the past three weeks. It was even sadder having to say bye to Simon, my awesome uncle who made all this possible for us. Once again, at the International Airport in Marsh Harbour we lugged our bags out  to the plane and sat for the last time in the beautiful Caribbean sun. 
Another day of travelling and we finally got to Vancouver via Miami and Houston. Ok...so....we had organised to stay with Kat's cousin. We knew her name, and her address. But turning up on a strangers doorstep at 2 o'clock in the morning is a slight challenge. She opened the door and looked from me to Kat and asked which one actually was her cousin. But in reality...they aren't even cousins. Something about Kat's great Aunt's is her Grandmother. Work that one out. 

Anyway...we got to 169 E King Edward Avenue and instantly fell in love with the city and the lifestyle and due to the lovely people in the house, we instantly felt at home. 

Initially we only thought we would be there for a day or two. But due to the Christmas period our ski bags took a fair while longer to arrive than we thought they would. Luckily....we were living in a house full of awesome, fun people so it was actually pretty awesome. After a week of chatting, drinking, christmas carol sing-a-longs, How I met your Mother, ice skating, Big Bang Theory, wandering aimlessly through Vancouver City, being introduced to 'Japadogs,' getting used to the chill, sorting out phones and finally making the trek over to DHL to get our bags we were ready to catch the Greyhound to Big White. The fresh power mountain that instigated this whole trip in the first place. 

The House in Vancouver

 

Carrying a hiking pack is one thing, now add a 30kg, 1.8m long ski bag to the equation. It's a fair haul. But we were so happy to finally be reunited with our skis and boards that it didn't really matter. Like the cool kids that we are, we made our way to the back of the bus. Probably a terrible, terrible, terrible decision. All the people looked quite friendly around us (one was pretty attractive) so we were content with our seats. The problems started when the carols started. The guy next to us saw it as an invitation to start talking to me. Why did I get aisle seat. Why?!? He then kept talking at any opportunity. Which was every 2 minutes. He didn't really seem to get the hint when I turned my back on him and put my headphones on. He would still tap me on the shoulder and ask me to take my headphones out so he could make some comment about something completely insignificant and irrelevant. And then...he took it to a whole new level. He stood up, I though he was just stretching but to our horror he took his guitar down from the shelf above. He wasn't actually too bad on the guitar. But oh my goodness he could not sing. And he would not stop. And then he started dedicating songs to me about his penis. I put my headphones back in but he kept playing and just amped the volume a bit. We pretty much told him to shut up in the nicest way possible but he just wouldn't get the hint. And then we told him in a slightly less polite way so he moved forward a row and started playing for the couple in front of us. A bit too eager to please I do believe. 

K-Town


Ok, so I imagined a town like Mansfield. One road of shops with a Subway, a Macdonald's and a couple of ski shops. But no.... it's pretty much a city. It was dark and cold so we didn't really look around much but still. It wasn't what I expected. It was going to cost the same amount to stay in a hostel and then catch the shuttle up the next day as it was to catch a taxi up to the mountain so we decided to do that instead. It was so weird watching our surroundings slowly becoming white. The houses all looked like cute gingerbread houses and the horses in the paddocks had snow on their backs. The countryside was beautiful. Our excitement was growing as we were finally nearing our home for the next 4 months. The taxi driver wasn't very chatty but was very eager to 'give us a very good deal.'




We arrived at Central Reservations and realised that we didn't even know the name to the place we were staying, after a bit of deliberation we established that it was called Chalet New Hampshire and was a three minute walk from Village centre. Arriving at the front door, we once again found ourselves in the same situation as when we were in Vancouver. Wondering if we were in the right place and how to introduce ourselves. We knocked and the door was opened for us. We decided that the best way to start would be "Um....we think we live here." It worked because we were shown to our room (it's a cupboard) and introduced to everyone. After being there for about half an hour we decided to go out and see Tristan (friend from home) and went to one of the two bars on the mountain called Raakel's. We quickly fit in with a group of like minded people and decided that it was going to be an amazing 4 months living here. 


The First Ski
Seven o'clock wake up. Out the door by quarter to eight. Talked to my boss for 15 minutes. Sorted out our season passes and then on first lifts at 8:30. I actually can't describe the snow. If you've seen snow in Australia, just scrap that memory as it doesn't even compare. Doesn't even come close what so ever. It is literally a winter wonderland. The closest we will ever get to heaven, and we're here for 1/4 of the year that we are away!!! It took a couple of runs to get our legs back but we were soon back to our normal selves and enjoying ourselves incredibly. There's no such thing as taking is gently when skiing. 

Since the first Ski
We have been out every day as early as we can manage (depending what goes on the night before, how comfy the sofa is, what, if anything, there is to eat in the fridge). We have been out every night. And we are having the best time ever. We've met some amazing people and the house feels like home and the people feel like family already. Even though we haven't even been here a week. 




Christmas Eve and Christmas Day
Once again, out early for some skiing. About mid morning I got a message from guitar guy from the bus asking whether him and his brother can come and join us. We said yes so we could laugh at him some more (as horrible as that sounds we did get a pretty  good laugh) they weren't bad though. Christmas eve was big. I had work from 4 - 9 and everyone was already plastered by the time I got home. So I had to work to catch up. We went down to Snowshoe Sam's, the other bar on the mountain and got all excited because Kat finally found an ID that works. Things get a bit hazy after that. Kurt bought ten shots of whiskey, we all drunk them. We made a friend in the bathroom called Emily. We danced a bit. We went to Brendan's...and got kicked out 30mins later. So back at the Brown house early christmas morning we all went to bed and awaited for Christmas Day.


Like little children once again, we woke up early to open presents and then went out into the beautiful sunshine to ski away the morning. What more can you ask for on christmas day. Snow, sun, friends (didn't ask for the hangover...but hey!! always a bonus. I actually think we were still drunk in the morning when we went out as the hangover only started about mid day). 
We were out for first chair and had a very exciting morning. We met up with three guys that we met the night before and they took us to a place called powder chair. I think it's safe to say that.....in my whole entire life... and the countless seasons at Buller, Perisher, Falls, Lake Mountain and Baw Baw (may as well include lil' Baw Baw) I have never (ever) seen so much snow. And so many trees. And when still slightly tipsy...the combination of a) alot of snow b) a lot of trees c) not much control generally ends in a bit of a crash into a tree and getting quite stuck up to my waist in the strange, cold, white stuff that kind of holds you in. Took a fair bit of skill to get out....only for it to happen again, exactly the same way, about 3 and a half minutes later. 


Christmas Dinner
Oh my.... when you live with chefs. The food is good. And boy was there a lot of it. We had a very merry evening with traditional christmas dinner, 27 of us around a very very large table with a very large Turkey in the middle. A LOT of punch, secret santa and some drinking games. We then went down to Snowshoe Sam's and drank some beer..... things from here on will remain a secret (and pretty much unknown to anyone, even myself) and only to be known by the creators of this blog (i.e Kat and I). 

So that's us so far. Bye for now.

Our Last week in Paradise

Well...this time a month ago, I was only just 18 and had two exams to go. So much has happened since! We are 16,000km away on a yacht and you know, there isn't much stress.
The weather is starting to move into winter a bit so there hasn't been as much sunbathing but we are still in the mid twenties so it's pretty nice.

Man'o'War
We had a beautiful sail down from Guana to Man'o'War, somewhere we haven't visited yet. An extremely religious island with a no-black policy outside business hours (bit harsh). The people weren't as friendly as some of the other islands but it's still an amazingly beautiful place. We explored the beach and went for a decent walk. And bought some jelly crystals.
We went to Lola's Bakery. A cottage behind a house that surved as a bakery, and devoured a cinnamon roll.
Back on the boat we decided to risk the sharks and dangle our feet over the back. In a stroke of ingeniousness we decided that the making of a hammock was in order. Lets just say......visualisation is one thing.....creation is another. It failed. Miserably.

Back to Hopetown
Another really pleasant sail to Hopetown. After our bit of fail at rope skills the day before we decided to try again. This time we tried to make a trapeze style swing off the back. It was quite successfull really. And very fun. The water was warmer than expected so we decided to give the bottom of the boat a bit of a scrub. Don't think we actually did much to be honest.
Looking out at the lighthouse that night we noticed that the locals had embraced the christmas spirit wholeheartedly and put lights on the lighthouse. It looked amazing.

Marsh Harbour and Snappas
We went into the laundry to find that the power had gone off. And wouldn't be coming back on for about an hour. So we settled down to a game of spit with an audience of two little girls there doing the weekly wash with their mum. Very attentive watchers I have to say. What is a trip into Marsh Harbour without encountering a drunk. A pleasant man named Carlos who's only purpose in the laundry was to pick up women and to entertain the children. Finally the power came back on and we could busy ourselves with our laundry.
We had pizza for dinner. It was pretty cool - they delivered to the dock so we could just hop over and pick it up.
Well.... being a Saturday night and the night before our results came out, we thought that it was an acceptable excuse to go and party. Once again rocking it up Bahamas style, we went ashore to a pub called Snappas. A really nice place with a very good band. Apart from the considerable age gap between ouselves and the others we had a very enjoyable evening. Once again being bought drinks and having people marvel over our accents.

Results Day
We sailed from Marsh Harbour back to Treasure Cay in the morning to avoid the oncoming storm. We were both quite anxious about being somewhere with internet so that come 3 o'clock we could check our results. I think that being woken up at 7 a.m. would have been much better than having to wait until 3:00 in the afternoon. The suspense was crazy! Luckily we were both extremely pleased with our results so it wasn't so bad. Now all we were waiting for was my visa.

VISA VISA VISA!!
Finally arrived!!! Flights were booked and e-mails sent and we are off to Canada tomorrow (15th of December). It has honestly been the best three weeks ever. The best Captain and brilliant company. Couldn't of asked for anything to be done differently!

Guana, Treasure and back to Marsh

Our first 'night out'

After spending a nice morning on the boat, reading and relaxing in the sun we decided to venture to Great Guana Cay and check out 'Nippers,' the place to be in the Bahamas. It was still early, around 2 o'clock, but nevertheless when we arrived there was an array of rather drunk 50-60 year olds dancing away. We decided that we weren't ready to start drinking so early in the day so we made our way down to the white sandy beach. We relaxed in the most uncomfy hammock ever for a while, chatting and taking in the amazing veiws. Then Caroline invited me to play my first ever competetive game of HopScotch, after a breif explanation of the rules and having to draw the grid several times due to the incoming tide, we began the battle of balance, Caroline won.

Having had our fill of 'childhood games' we made our way back up to the bar, drinks on our mind. After seeing even more drunk embarrassments and deciding that if funds are sufficient this is where we are going to retire we took a perch by the bar and over our first slushie we admired the dance moves of one especially drunk woman, we later named her Barbs (it seemed appropriate at the time.)

It didn't take long before, I'm sorry to say, some rather large black Bahemian men offered to buy us a round of drinks, which turned into quite a few. After making friends with and accepting more drinks of Tuna, Malvin, Mark and  Rat, we headed down to the pool, though rather sensibly decided not to go in. When we got back to the bar our free drinks were thinking about leaving for another bar, we happily agreed but soon realised they were leaving the island to go to this 'other bar' so decided to head back to the safety of Nippers. We found a group of Americans to talk to ranging from Tommy, 24 to Jim, 54 and the uncle which we didn't catch the name of. From here on (6.00pm) conversation turned to plans for the future and God, looking back on it I'm not sure what was said but we made some life long friends in those Americans and got invited for a game of poker the next day. Unfortunatley we couldn't remember the directions to their mansion.

We moved towards the bar with promise of more drinks, but sensibly stuck to the water for now, not from lack of trying on their behalf. Caroline fell in love with the Bar tender and we found some people more our age in Christian, 19 and Andrew (black and bahemian) 24 and struck up conversation with them before being offered free shots by the bartender (of a nice something called 'Fire-in-da-Hole, The erotic rum). The bar quickly emptied at the late, late hour of 7.30. After a quick golf cart ride with Andrew and Christian we made our way to the near by beach where we talked and enjoyed the beautiful sounds of the waves crashing on the pier, whilst sobering up before we were picked up by Simon at the late hour of 9.00pm.

Transit to Treasure Cay

The incoming windy weather meant it was a perfect time to practice our sailing skills, so we made our way to Treasure Cay where we were promised turtles and dolphins. Although there were no turtles to be seen as of yet 4 or 5 dolphins did come and play around the boat while we sailed along. The weather really was becoming too windy and it even started to rain so we happily stayed on the boat, baked a chocolate cake and watched some movies, it's crazy to think all this is possible on a yacht in the middle of the Bahamas.

A day in Treasure Cay

We ventured onto Treasure Cay, which is one of the more resort style islands. We lay on the beach, reading our books and laughing at the middle aged man attempting to walk up the beach with his flippers still on. While Caroline read her book, I occupied myself with a volley ball doing keepsy uppies before we made our way back to the boat for lunch. After lunch we ventured back ashore where we read some more in the sun and played volley ball and football, laughing at each others inabilties to play volleyball and Caroline's inability to do anything with it.

Following a Dolphin and our aimless search for Turtles

Knowing that for the next few days the weather forcast wasn't great we decided to take advantage of the sun so we set out on a nice canoe trip around the canals leading from the harbour at Treasure Cay and through the breathtaking houses. Caroline managed to spot a dolphin about 10 feet ahead of us so we set out on our pursuit. After a few minutes of zig-zaged path we finally managed to move in a straight line and we gained on the dolphin before completley losing sight of it. We settled at admiring the houses and searching for turtles, but to no avail. However when we returned to the boat 2 or 3 turtles surrounded the boat so we qucikly readied ourselves for a snorkel. Despite our attempts of silence we managed to scare them away and by the time we got in the water they had vanished. It was still a lovely snorkel that finished with Caroline jumping off the top of the boat and me unable to make the plunge. After lunch we went back ashore and had a nice relaxing swim in the fresh water pool before heading back for dinner and movies.

Back to Marsh Harbour

The next day we set to set sail to Marsh Harbour again, Caroline taking the wheel and me watching as Simon sorted out the sails. The wind was strong and we got up to an impressive 7 knots. Once back in Marsh Harbour we couldn't resist Maxwells and the many workers in which I fell in love with so we went ashore with our bikes for a ride around the island. We spent a gentle 3 hours cycelling around, stopping only to have a look in the few shops dotted around the island.

More drunken men in Marsh Harbour

Caroline and I were left to enjoy more reading and relaxing on the boat while Simon went ashore to sort out some paper work. In his absence we decided to busy ourselves with making some chocolate brownies. On his return we made ourway to 'Lazy days,' a boat that belongs to a friend of his. In inspecting the boat we became very thankful that we had been so lucky to land on such a good boat as 'Observation', although Lazy Days was lovely it wasnt as spacious and didn't have as many luxuries. We decided to make our way ashore again and do some more exploring of the island on our bikes. It was a lovely bike ride and although the lack of road rules scared us at times it was very pleasent. While waiting for Simon to pick us up, true to form, we were approached by a drunken man asking for food and assuring us that his name was 'Thank God I'm Forgiven', his speech became progressvily jumbled and ended with a round of 'goobediboogied blah'... Luckily the homeless drunks on the Abaco Islands, although a little scary, are still friendly.

Lobster, Lobster Lobster

Another relaxing day on the boat meant more reading and enjoying the sun. Simon impressively managed to catch 10 lobsters in which we later enjoyed for dinner, but not before extracting the meat and playing with their remains.







Our second, less eventful, trip to Nippers

Our awesome captain

The Epic breakfast made by Caroline of apple and cinnamon pancakes got us ready for another pleassent and speedy sail back to Great Guana Cay. Again, we ventured towards Nippers. Being a monday afternoon, the bar was almost empty only with a few old and rough looking men sitting around sipping their beer. So we made our way to the beach where we had a very lovely chat as we made our way to the end of the beach where we clambered onto the rocks and took the traditional tourist photos of us looking and pointing into the distance. after making our way back to the boat we continued the Crow tradition of Meatball Mondays.

A town of Hope and a Ride to Remember

In the last couple of days we have done so many things that have completely blown us away, we have experienced so many things that we will never forget due to the sheer beauty behind the things we have seen.

We wake up in the middle of the ocean on a beautiful boat surronded by the bluest water either of us have ever seen, and decide it's time to venture out in the canoe. We didn't really have a destination and we were both simply interested in getting as close to the amazing houses as possible in hope we can catch someones eye and score an invite for thanksgiving breakfast. After much procastination and the final realisation that we weren't getting any such invite we decided to venture back to the boat.

Simon then took us for a closer look at the "world famous" Hopetown lighthouse built in 1864 and still with its original clockwork mechanisms. After climbing the 101 steps, and insisting on counting every single one on the way up, we were able to see for miles in all directions across the Atlantic Ocean. The views were truely breathtaking, and we were able to get a near birds eye veiw of the island, Elbow Cay.

An island that we later cycled the length of on some borrowed bikes that Simon managed to acquire for us. The bike ride, although gentle, was very exhilerating and allowed us to get an even closer look at the quaint pastel coloured village and the larger than necessary mansions of the rich and famous.

After about an hour of cycling we found ourselves on Tahiti Beach where we had been canoeing that morning and where we anchored the night before. We went for a paddle in the warm water and once again settled for a breif sunbathe, before cycling back towards the dinghy dock. All the way following signs to the Sugar Shack, which  turned out to be a very momentous event, for both us and the shop, as we became the first EVER customers to take on the challenge of the triple decker waffle cone icecream. A challenge I am happy to say we both dominated with ease. Although after a very strong rum and fruit punch served to us by the very friendly bartender, Gary, we began to feel the large amount of ice cream settling in our stomachs. However, nothing a gentle cycle down to the dinghy dock, where Simon collected us to return us to our floating home, could sort out.

 

 Another day in paradise...

A leisurely start (6a.m) and a slow morning we eventually surfaced and once again made our way into the picturesque Hopetown where we quickly found our spot next to the fresh water pool. We enjoyed the serenity there until early afternoon and then cycled up the road a bit and wandered down to the beautiful, vast, empty beach. The bright turquoise ocean lapped at our feet and enticed us, against our will into the gentle swell. The Bohemian ocean is obviously too intense for a little olympus camera as it managed to break the indestructable thing that has been around the world a couple of times. Luckily the chip is fine.

 

True to form a day couldn't go by without encountering a strange homeless drunk. While waiting for Simon to pick us up from Dinghy Dock we were happily basking in the sunshine when a leather faced drunk stumbled towards us with the assistance of his walking stick and a beer in his hand. After questioning us on our names he decided to go get us something and demanded we waited for his return. Unsure on whether to run away or sit it out we watched as he abandoned his walking stick and dissapeared up the lane. on his return he handed us flowers and called us beautiful, although flattered, we were both still scared and ran away at the next opportunity.  

So the day of relaxation was over and it was time to get back to the real work. Well, you could say that, or you could just say we cooked dinner for the first time since arriving. A very exciting event as it meant we got to use the epic BBQ on the back of the boat. a very successful dinner of Lamb chops, vegtables and potatoes.


A day on the boat
Having enjoyed two lovely days in Hopetown we set to set sail towards Fishers Bay in Great Guana Cay, not without stopping on a lovely reef to do some snorkelling where we saw some lovely fish and enjoyed the 26degree waters.

 After swimming amongst the fish we then proceeded to kill two for dinner. Our first catch of the trip. As one of us held the rod the other wound it in. we were happy to see a healthy sized mutten snapper hanging from its torn lips. Perfect for dinner.

Caroline couldn't help but take a picture of this mans squatting position.

On the way into Hopetown

Kat being attacked by a wave

Caroline being attacked by a wave

Cycling to Tahiti beach

Looking out into the vast ocean

View from the lighthouse

Land Mermaids and Cruising the Islands

After three days of travelling and sleeping on airport floors we finally made it to Observation, a rather large, beautiful sailing yacht. We spent the first half the day sleeping, only waking up in time for dinner and half of School Of Rock.

 

Today however has been amazing. We both woke up nice and early (6.30ish) due to our 14 hour sleep the day before (but it's ok waking up early on a yacht). Breakfast was typically American, Cheerios and raspberry iced poptarts.

We then got ferried into the bustling city of Marsh Harbour, well we wouldn't quite call it that, more a clam town. Although calm, it was not uneventful.

Our first experience with the locals:

We were happily walking down the street to Maxwells, the local supermarket, (which I do have to say we were both impressed by the vast variety of food, especially 7up cakes and cheese in a can) when a black Bahemian man was swaggering towards us and as he passed swiftly turned to join us on our voyage. We didn't really know what to think, and when he started talking the confusion grew with every word. Statements such as; 'When I saw you I thought I saw mermaids on land' and 'I can't breathe' follwed by 'I dont know what I just said,' he led us to assume he was rather drunk at 10.00...am. We continued walking in silence, unsure what to do or say.

Our second experience with the locals:

We were rather nervously walking along the road being tailed by a mysterious sweet talker who was NOT making sense, when a car pulled over infront of us. Sorry Mum, as we are about to break the first rule you ever taught to us when entering the big wide world. We clambered into the safety of the car after the kind lady offered to save us from the big scary man. After our many thanks, she stated that she thought we needed saving as she could see us slowly inching our way into the middle of the road away from the scary man. She safely dropped us off at Maxwells and wished us luck on our walk home.

Our third experience with the locals:

We were both completely in awe of the various workers of Maxwells, all of which were tall dark and handsome (well not quite but you get the picture.) While doing the typical tourist thing of taking a photo of eachother in the isle with a thousand different types of juice, one of the men noticed our camera and pointed out that we shouldn't take photos of strangers. We smiled laughed at his not so-funny-jokes and walked on. However that was not the end, as true to new found tradition the man followed us to the end of the isle and struck up conversation casually asking when we think we will next be dropping in. As if we roam the supermarket to pick up.

So all in all the locals are very friendly, perhaps too friendly at times, but we will reserve our judgements till we have explored other roads, cars and supermarkets.

Back on the boat for a few seconds, Simon then took us to pick up some bikes for exploring the many Abacos Islands that we are soon to encounter.

We are set to set Sail

Anchors up and motor's running we make our way to the first of many snorkelling spots, Mermaid reef (quite appropriate, maybe the big scary black man was right), after much deliberation as the water was rather chillier than desired (we are just wimps as it was actually about 22 degrees C) we jumped in with the camera in one hand and a bag of cheerios in the other, we gently swam over to the reef. It was beautiful. The fish were amazing, so many different kinds in one small area, each seemingly with a very strong passion for the crunch of our favourite breakfast cerial.

After lunch, the sails went up and we are now anchored in Tahiti Beach surrounded by the most luxurious mansions and about to have fresh lobster for dinner (be jealous Mimi).

Off to see a lighthouse tomorrow and to put those bikes to use.

Bye for now.