Whistler!

We hopped on the greyhound at 8am (after coming very close to missing it) and ventured on the 3 hours journey to Whistler! The view from the bus was amazing and we could see all the mountains surrounding the city with little snow caps on them. Beautiful.

We got into Whistler with truckloads of luggage and no idea where to go, so jumped in a taxi and made the expensive ride back to the hostel. Although it’s way out of the village, the HI Whistler is the nicest hostel I’ve ever been in – whether it’s only nice because the Olympics were here I’m not sure. But it’s a nice change all the same.

We took the bus back into the village and wandered for a bit. We grabbed our first meal in almost 24 hours (almost entering famine stage) and then went to look at the slopes. It looked so cool up there, but was super packed. People mostly come here to ski and snow board so there are just people everyyyyyywhere!

It looked pretty awesome and got us excited for snowboarding tomorrow!

We cooked our own meal at the hostel and marvelled at just how much money we saved doing so. Oops.

Woke up early (along with the majority of the hostel) to make the most of the day and get on the mountain. We picked up our gear and made the long gondola journey up to the top of Whistler mountain. It was crazy busy up there and took us about an hour to make it all the way down (a few tumbles later) but we got to the lift and rode down again. We found the learning/easy area (the bit we were originally looking for) so mucked around there for a bit, then I fell really bad on my back so had to stop and sit down.

We boarded back to the bottom and my back was in absolute agony, so Jess agreed to stop for a lunch break and then we’d head back up again. Service was suuuuuuuuper slow so we had a good 1.5hr break, headed back up and made it back down no dramas, was feeling confident and hyped to go again BUT...apparently everything closes at 3pm. And it was 3pm. It was a sad moment for us and we definitely got our cranks on after that. We were both expecting to be out there for a good 7 hours or so.

We headed back to the hostel grumpy and tired, cooked dinner, packed and went to bed ready to wake up at 5am to get on the bus to Vancouver airport tomorrow! It’s so crazy that this adventure is all over and in just 2 days we’ll be home. It only just feels like we left!

No more posts after this. Hope you’ve enjoyed them!

Seeyou all back home x

Vancouverrrrr

After being delayed at the airport for 5 hours (they over booked the flight), I finally made it into Vancouver by about 6pm – which felt like 10pm because it was so dark. I quickly checked in, got some dinner, made a call to the mother and then went to bed.

First things first – AUSSIES EVERYEHERE!! Feels like I’m not even in Canada, it’s crazy. And I hate it (just the accents).

New years eve I went on a walking tour of Gas town (this little historic part of town) which was kind of cool, did some shopping and then headed back to the hostel to figure out what on earth I was going to do to bring in the new year.

I ended up talking to two English guys in my room and we all headed to the bar downstairs, there we met some more people (most aussies) and I had a great night, despite only a few hours earlier I had no idea who these people were. We went out into the street because it had been blocked off and there were people everywhere as well as lots of lights and noise and excitement.

Being in Vancouver is strange because it feels so warm (it’s about 7 degrees out). Apparently it’s the “mild” climate in Canada.

The next day everyone got up late and I ventured down to Chinatown where I finally got to see the homeless side of the city (didn’t enjoy it one bit) and Chinatown was exactly like I’d experienced for the past 4 months in Toronto so it wasn’t that great.

On the 2^nd Jess arrived so we headed to Granville Island because I’d heard there are great markets there. Complete lies. Because it was raining (it rains 100 days per year here) it was cold and miserable and hardly anything was open. We played pool that night and went to bed early – exciting people I know.

The next day we headed to Stanley Park, which was pretty cool. Again it rained and was cold, but it was still alright to see. We walked along the waterfront and saw a statue that has been built in the middle of the ocean to represent Vancouver’s reliance on the sea. Strange. We headed to the hostel after a Tim Horton’s visit cold yet satisfied.

We were keen to try out snowboarding (both of us only having done it once before) so made the trek (a ferry and bus ride) up to Vancouver’s Grouse mountain only to be told that the slopes were closed and to come back tomorrow. Bummed we retraced our steps and did some shopping etc to waste the day away (Vancouver doesn’t offer much to do in Winter).

Up early again we didn’t make the same mistake as yesterday and checked the Grouse website before heading to the slopes. It was all clear so we made the trek out again and were told that the beginners slope was closed but intermediate ones were open. Confident (or cocky?) we thought ‘no sweat!’ and headed up.

After renting the gear and heading out, I realised I had absolutely no snowboarding skills what so ever so Jess gave be basic lessons and after a few 100 tumbles I think I improved A LOT by the end of the day. The visibility on the mountain was zero to none so riding into white cloud was hectic. Lucky for us the beginners slope opened up and we got a lot of runs in because it wasn’t too busy. I had a great time but woke up so sore the next day.

Now onto the last stop Whistler!