Things I love about Canada

Morning sunrises like this....


Watching the snow fall

Warming up in front of a fire

Cable TV – sooo much Family Guy and Criminal Minds

The Fernie Library. I must have chowed through at least 15 books by now, I can’t get enough.

Nice snugly days at home knitting and reading and staying warm

Ribs cooked on the BBQ by master BBQ-er Zane

Lucky Lager (most delicious cheap beer we’ve tried yet)

Being in another country

My awesome job

Getting tips! I’ve accumulated $900 so far! It’s not the minimum $150 a night that some lucky servers or bartenders make, but I’m happy to get the tips I get for doing a job that I really enjoy

Our new friends

$10 Beer and Burger and Bingo Tuesdays

Hockey games

Winter activities... skiing/snowboarding, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, ice skating (ok so I haven’t actually done many of these, just skiing and one half-day of snowboarding but there’s still time!)

Things I miss about Australia

Friends and family

Pure Blonde beer

Getting ready and leaving the house within 15 minutes of waking up (impossible over here due to the amount of clothing and accessories required to prevent frostbite)

Walking on the beach

Shopping

Going for a run outside (a near impossibility over here, again due to chances of frostbite)

My teapot

Sushi

Being paid decent $$$

Things I am looking forward to

Summertime – widely reputed to be more enjoyable than Winter over here and THAT is saying something. I am looking forward to going camping and road-tripping and biking and hiking and enjoying the long days and warm weather.

Getting a car and having the freedom to explore the wide expanse that is Canada. Since arriving in Fernie we haven’t really left, which is fine, but it’ll be nice to go camping and whatnot in the Summer and check out some other mountains next Winter.

Our big South America travels. At this stage we are thinking of staying in Canada until the end of the 2011/2012 Winter season. After that, we will head down to South America for some exploring. I am so excited to travel through and spend a few months absorbing the culture and lifestyle.

All the ice melting so I don’t have to live in fear of slipping over on my ass. It happened the other night and I now have a sore buttock.

On Valentine's Day Zane and I went to the Old Elevator Restaurant, which is pretty much one of the fanciest restaurants in Fernie and it was awesome.


The highlight was definitely the dessert platter. We didn't think we'd be able to eat it all but we managed! The platter had little serves of cheesecake, berry freeform tart, chocolate brownie with chocolate sauce, chocolate semifreddo and FIVE scoops of ice cream! EPIC!

It was nice to get all dressed up and enjoy a romantical evening together.

Lots of Valentine's love, T and Z.

Snowboarding, Polar Peak and Drinkopoly

On Tuesday I thought I'd give snowboarding a go. I had always resisted the urge, partly because I didn't want to spend a day of precious snowtime falling on my ass, and partly because I was worried I would enjoy it more than skiing. I had no reason to fear. It was fun and all, and the first couple of times I fell over Zane and I laughed but after more falls Zane was still laughing but my giggles were turning into tears. So after being very stubborn and continuously getting up only to fall over again I had a tantrum and we went in for a coffee.

While warming up and calming down we ran into some friends that were planning to hike up Polar Peak, which is the highest point on the mountain (7000ft) and can be reached when the weather is nice. So quick as a flash I swapped the snowboard for my beloved skis and we started the hike up. First you catch the Timber Chair, which takes you up to Lost Boy's and then you ski down to the White Pass Chair which takes you up to the top of Currie Bowl. From there you traverse along as far as you can go and then begin the hike. It took the four of us about 45 minutes to hike the incline and it was grueling. It was a beautiful sunny day, but the wind was roaring and it was hovering around the -25 Celsius point. The air continued to get thinner and our breaths started to get shorter and my lungs felt like they were freezing from the inside out.

But it was worth it for the view. Only once we'd finally got to the top and I'd had a little lie down to catch my breath could I fully appreciate the view. From the top of Polar Peak we could see all the mountains that completely surrounded us and the sweeping valleys and plains. Unfortunately we had only taken the one photo on the way up before the camera died but luckily Zane managed to get some photos and a video on his phone.

The ski down was pretty good as well, and we even stopped halfway down for a celebratory beer. To top off the day we headed to the Grizz Bar for a Jug of beer and a Taco Salad, we'd sure worked up an appetite!

We managed to get one photo before our camera battery died. Lucky it was a good'un!


The view from Polar Peak!














So I think I will definitely give snowboarding another go, but only on crappy days. We had 15cms of snow last night so there was no way I was going to waste the day falling over and having tantrums! It was skis on and over to snake ridge this morning and it was awesome. Zane and I are trying to ski/board the whole mountain by the end of the season. We've got quite a few to conquer (mainly blacks and double diamonds) but I think we will be able to do it! We ticked off a few today, some good, and some that had Zane cursing and swearing that he'd never go there again but you can't win all the time. He did have a rather spectacular fall off a cliff and is now sporting a large bruise on his arm but he'll heal. I, however, had possibly one of the best runs of the season so far and can't wait to go back, possibly dragging Zane kicking and screaming.

One of the girls I work with has decided to leave Fernie and go back to Sydney to go to uni. I think she decided this on a whim, during one of our rainy days, as when we were skiing fresh pow together on a beautiful day last week she kept wailing "whhhyyy am I leaving???"

Despite my continued efforts to make her change her mind and stay forever like me, my skiing buddy left on Saturday. To farewell her, we had a nice morning tea at work and many drunken nights out on the town.

Working hard at Lost Boy's


Rach and Perchin' Percy


On one of these drunken nights, we played Drinkopoly. This version of Monopoly was created by Belgium, who used to work at Lost Boy's before a groin injury had him relocated to the base of the mountain. Instead of British landmarks, you can buy Fernie drinking establishments, not with money but with certain amounts of drinks consumed. Landing on someone else's establishment incurs a drinking fine on that person. There are also drink cards instead of Chance and Community Chest cards which instruct the player to do any number of shots in various ways, or instructs players to do silly things like create a rule which everyone must obey, or remove one item of clothing. We do have some photographic evidence of the last thing occurring (luckily not to us) but I don't think it's blog-able.

Drinkopoly!


Various drinking methods included ingesting a whole can in one go...


Drinking upside down...


Look no hands!


And it also increased the potential for group hugs