4 months in..

4 months in and I cannot believe how fast time has flown! This has been the most incredible journey so far and I cant even think about going home yet. We have had 2 weeks of solid pow and some nice warm weather to back it up on these last few days. Working some crazy amount of hours (crazy for me) and I am stoked to have some days off.

In a couple of short months I will be out of a job, possibly homeless, friends will be on the decline and ready to start an entire new season again. Already starting to frantically search for jobs and a house to live in, I just cant get over how quickly this season has come to an end. I am lucky enough to have a good chunk of friends still staying on for the summer so that transition will not be as excruciating.

So for all of you back home that may be wondering what my next steps are, I will be staying in Canada for at least the summer season (yes another 6 months). Here I hope to soak um some well needed rays of sunlight as I am looking mighty pasty. I also attempt to live a chilled few months by a lake, drinking cold bevvies and living with some of my closest pals. The idea is to work a little harder and try my very best to save some dollars for my next adventure. I really have no plans after that, I dont plan to stay in Whistler forever. As much as I do love it, the case of bubble blues continues to rise. I am hoping to travel some of canada in the next couple of months if we get our act together and make it happen which would be a tonne of fun. So thats my short term plan..looks like I might make it at least a full year away from home (scary thought).

I love you all dearly and no pictures for you because I am lazy and still in bed contemplating getting up the mountain.

pow wow

Hands down one of the best weeks I have had here in Whis. We have finally got what we all came here for, some decent snow! To try and understand what whistler was like before it snowed imagine green tree tops, dodging rocks on every run, attempting to catch an edge when hitting an ice patch and seeing out of bounds ropes off simple blues. Over this last week we have seen a whopping 108cm with much more in the beautiful forecast! I have finally conquered skiing in fresh untouched powder and I was totally blown away. Falling over in powder although fun can be such a struggle when your skis have come off. I have been privileged enough to have been taken down some challenging spots by my trusty snowboarding friends who are always lovely enough to wait for this overly cautious one.

This sensational pow has put my whole body to work and now I understand what people mean when they talk about getting your ski legs ready! After each day I am in more pain than the last but it is so totally worth it when you get to float through the fresh stuff.  We are hoping for more dumping and all the crowds to leave after this weekend so we dont have to wait in 2 hour long lines!

I also realise that these photos are a poor attempt at demonstrating just what I get to live and play amongst every day and for that I do apologise. To be fair though who has time for photos when you get only a certain amount of hours each day to shred. I will do my best next time for all you photo lovers. 

If you want to get amongst this next season check these guys out, they have made my Whistler experience unforgettable! Please feel free to comment or ask any questions I am more than happy to make you all jealous about my home away from home. 

a week of sickness

sickness you can take in both contexts. This week has been a crazy one! Let me break it down for you all. After our big Australia day we thought a couple nights in would be totally reasonable. Work organised for us all to go ziptrekking and that was a tonne of fun. I faced my fear of heights and now I totally think I can brave the world by going bungee jumping! Just so you are all aware there was no way I was even considering doing such a thing before very recently. So that is now on my to do list so stay tuned.

petrified!

Oh and check out this vid of Julia and I

A very last minute decision to head out with the work gang weds night made for a very slow next day and a nasty cold arising yet again. 

After that it was all downhill from there with my nasty flu coming back yet again. Ains and I have both been sick for the last few days now which hasn't made for some great times. We did however manage to go for dinner to Mongolie grill which was the yummiest meal I have had in Whistler by far. Basically its a stirfry by filling up your bowl with any ingredients you like and they cook it in front of you- so amazing.

So there has been some rather fun and far from fun times this week but so glad I have a friend from home here for a couple of weeks, it is always nice to see a friendly face. Time to get back to my 2nd box of tissues in 2 days and my trusty friend netflix.

Whistralia day

Today marks the aftermath of Australia day in Whistler and boy was it a big one. Saturday night Ainsley arrived so we didn't get to go out to listen to the top 100 but it was for sure made up for the following day. Regretfully didn't make it up the mountain during the day but we got ains sorted with her tickets, rentals and some groceries.

Started drinking extremely early in my books and day drinking makes for some fun times indeed. At about 3 pals started rolling in with some sexy looking outfits to go along. After about 3 hours of preloading we headed down to longhorns to wait in a not so appealing cue. Such an odd experience cueing for an overly packed bar at 7pm. Was a super fun and long night- one of the better Australia days I have had. It still amazes me just how many Aussies flock to Whistler and even greater to see friends from other parts of the world celebrating with us.

   going to miss you brentos

roomie love

As much as I am loving being here, Australia Day for sure reminded me of some things that I truly miss. 

1. Sunshine

2. Our beautiful beaches

3. Meat pies

4. Cheese and bacon roles

5. BBQ

6. Aussie beer

7. Wearing my havianas absolutely everywhere

8.The bay run

9. Swimming 

10. Having somewhat of a tan

I hope you all lovely people celebrated Aussie day with a bang. Would love to hear what you all did wherever you are in the world :) Oh and if you wanna check out this article that made the front page on sydney morning herald then that speaks for itself about Australia day in Whistler

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/blogs/the-backpacker/australia-day-overseas-the-locals-shudder-20140128-31jnq.html

let it burn

so whilst sitting for days contemplating about what on earth to post this week (I swear blog time comes way too fast) I am staring out at my gorgeous view from my home away from home. What an awesome place to live and I sometimes need to remind myself of that, when I am having a rather unflattering day.

anyway on to more pressing topics of this week's events, I will start by mentioning the epic dump of fresh pow we had last weekend. Of course it had to come on a saturday and the lines to get in any of that action was enough for me to throw my hands up and wait until after the weekend. Yes I did get criticised to no end but who wants to wait in 40min lines to get up a chair lift with a billion layers, heavy skis and not-so-comfty ski boots?

So when I did finally get my lazy self up for a day of skiing, wow did I have a fantastic day. Went up with some of my buddies Claire, Liam, Matt, Matty and Mark over to Harmony and Symphony. I think some of us smashed close to 8 runs of harmony and not just the pretty groomed runs. I managed to get myself down the little whistler (part of the bowl at harmony) which was hard work but so much fun. Was such a beautifully clear day and we really did find some great snow. By that afternoon my entire body was burning and aching just in time for another kegger night with the fairmont gang.

I trekked it out again the following day on the best bluebird day I have seen yet! Oh and let me tell you, it was crazy warm up top with a whopping 6 degrees it seemed more like spring riding. Did a few runs and had some embarrassing trouble with my skis. Let's just say I had to hike it back up to put one of them back on and then throwing in the towel to a pair of very appreciative legs. That night followed with farewelling one of my first friends made in canadian town Brent who sadly has to venture back home early. Twas a messy night at garfs which followed with some horrible hangovers by some members of 403. 

Today also marks 1 week until ainseeee gets here..words cannot describe how excited I am!

It's been a super fun week and really loving every minute that I get to spend here. If you want to stop seeing all my posts and see it if for yourself then shoot The Working Holiday Club an email at jake@theworkingholidayclub.com