Trip to My Eutopia: 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).