Life is Amazing

Carl and I have scored an awesome job together in France for next Winter (Aus summer). We'll be hosting a chalet in Samoens, about an hour from Geneva.

Looking forward to a European winter and working and playing hard.
But hoping the sun will soon begin to shine consistently here in Banff for possibly our last summer (but i'm not limiting myself like that)!
Along with Living the dream, we've lately been practising our dishes for the menu we created, and also looking at flights and our money situation as we're hoping to have about 8 weeks holiday before starting in France. (10 days Canada road trip, 5 weeks in South East Asia and then a couple of weeks on Europe - any one want to join?)

celebration of jobs dinner (above) and breakfast (below)

I'm so excited to be living so close to Lucerne, Switzerland, as some amazing friends I made In Lombok, Indonesia in 2009 will be studying there at the same time as we are in France. Very exited to catch up with you guys Michael and Jenna!!

sun, snow, happiness

Here's some pictures of our new place. Its really nice, a nice sunny place to come home to and a great kitchen!

Thats the hotel where Carl works on the corner there

This month has absolutely flown by. With a mixture of working loads of hours, snowboarding as much as possible, and saying a few goodbyes to people who have moved on from Banff.

In between we have made time to see Vampire Weekend perform in Calgary -that was an amazing gig. We visited the over-hyped, not very natural Banff hot springs the other day after a HUGE hike in deep snow. The warm water was good for the sore muscles and the view was amazing but it was just like being in an outdoor pool, nothing like the hot springs Corinne and I visited in Argentina last year. 

So....the hike, Maree, Lil, Carl and I were planning to go riding at Lake Louise the other day just for something different, we have the pass for it but it never seems to be worth going to as Sunshine Village is so reliable with snow and we know the runs really well. So we woke up to find another 6cm at Sunshine and 0cm at Lake Louise on the snow conditions. So we decided to go to Sunshine and try really different runs or ones that we rarely do. This was a great idea as whenever someopne suggested one we felt we had to say yes, which pushed us a bit on some of the runs. The last one for the day was off  the back of the Wawa chairlift. Instead of riding down, we decided to hike further up the mountain to the ridge as it would be amazing fresh tracks. There was already a little bit of a track from when two people had been up there earlier but it was still such hard work After a while we realised it was easier to crawl for most of the way. I found it so tiring as my legs kept falling deep in and i would literally have to get moth hands and pull my leg from hip deep in snow out then put it forward only for the same thing to happen AGAIN! but we made it after 40mins and it was worth it just to have a bit of the mountain to ourselves and for amazing views and the POWDER on the run down (which lasted about 30seconds!).

All worth it. would i do it again? YES!

We've obviously moved house. I've planned my upcoming trip to California and Nevada and HOME! yep, i booked a flight home for a week at the end of April. Next week annah arrives so there's that to look forward to first, then Coachella music festival in the desert! Karleigh and I are renting a jeep and driving there from LA then on to the Grand Canyon and Vegas. good times ahead!

feburary 2010

Busy month here in Banff. I still work no where near as much as i ever have previously while living overseas but time is filled with days of snowboarding and trips into Calgary or Canmore to fix our car. Successfully however, this month we have managed to fix all the little things with the '91 Honda civic, and are safe and legal on Canadian roads now! Wooohoo!One trip to Calgary this month was most triumphant, with a visit to a 'real' thrift store/Op shop. Carl and I picked up some RIDICULOUS bargains; including a hoover vaccuum for $5, a Hamilton Beach blender looks like brand new - $5! and ski racks for the car! I also got a brown 100% leather jacket for $4!!! woohoo

This month we have found a new place to move which will be amazing for the summer weather as it has full views nearly 360' of the mountains around town. It is a brand new bulding with a big balcony and we move in at the end of this month so now we have to say bye bye to this apartment which has been perfect for the winter. An oversized basement apartment with lots of character :(

fresh

I've just treated myself to a coffee grinder. Now I can indulge in fresh Central American coffee any time, thanks to a little package i received in the mail all the way from Panama...thanks Anna! yum yum!My new Burton Blender. It's a 141 and is a pleasure to ride. Best way to spend a ridiculous amount of money ever!

New year, new things

With the start of a new year, I have decided to post updates and photos on here from my travels and fun times as it seems I am not planning to come back to the land of Oz any time soon. Life is amazing here in Banff, AB, Canada. Four or five times per week I will go snowboarding with Karleigh as we perfect the art of jumping, which obviously results in a lot less bruises on a powdery day. I'm working in a hotel bar 5 nights per week. It is wierd working for tips, but I seem to do okay so money's nto a big issue. The rest of my time is spent cooking up some amazing feasts, keeping an eye on expedia.com, my Bible for cheap holidays! and sampling the joys of living in a snow filled winter -ice skating, toboganning, attempting skiing and hopefully to come - ICE FISHING!!! Last year was amazing and crazy. I lived in the small island of Lombok, Indonesia for two months, got the warm spring snowboarding in at the end of the Canadian winter, followed by a beautiful summer in the Rockies, in amongst that was a trip to Argentina to hang out with Corinne and fill up on Malbec and steak, a trip to visit Anna and Dynn in Nicaragua where we stuffed ourselves with delicious coconut bread and flor di Cana rum and risk life on a microlite plane which required not only our bags, but us as well, to be weighed before boarding the plane to ensure it was safe enough for take off (which definitly wasn't, but we made it there luckily!). Hollie and Keegan's wedding in Vegas was another highlight as they were wed by Elvis and the six of us (Hollie, Keegan, Luke, Adam, Carl and myself) tested out margarita thresholds which proved exceptionally high. With a great 2009 behind, I feel this year will be even better and who knows what it holds?