Nelson, Penticton, Friends & Loads of fresh POWDER!!!

Our roadtrip to Nelson had a little bit of a rocky start.. We originally hired a standard FWD Hyandai Elantra. This was one of the most ridiculous decisions I've ever been a part of.. Pure ignorance with a touch of tight-ass spurred it. After picking it up at 5pm on Sunday and using it to drive down to the Vancouver Hare Krsna temple's Sunday Feast (Awesome), I awoke the next morning to find it had been snowing all night and the roads were covered in ice and snow. This was a blessing as i quickly discovered attempting to stop even at 10 kph meant slipping and sliding all over the place and it was obvious that driving 700km into the BC interior was simply not going to happen in a car like this. So we drove directly to Avis rentals and switched it up for a 4WD Ford Escape with winter tires. Best decision ever.

The drive was amazing. Apart from the snowy overcast conditions we started with, and the experience of learning to drive on the wrong side of the road on ice, the scenery along the way was nothing short of breathtaking. See a couple of photos:

Lani and I overlooking Osoyoos


Lake Christina

Eventually, we arrived at Nelson, where my friend Leah was kind enough to put us up in her livingroom for 3 nights!

Whitewater is an amazing ski area. just 2 lifts it is a modest size, but there is NO ONE there! I didn't have to wait more than 2 or 3 people before loading. My God the powder. I just cannot express how amazing it is to ride on fresh fluffy dry powder. You can do ANYTHING you want and fall as hard as you want and not hurt yourself! (Well most of the time..) Then when you stand up, it is so cold and dry it just falls from you like sand. Two days in a row, talking to locals these happened to be the 2 best days of the season!! Knee-deep in parts I seriously consider riding it to be one of the greatest experiences I've ever had. Backside 180s down pat too ;)

After our first day of riding, we took a short drive to Ainsworth Hot Springs. This is a natural hot spring, sitting at 40degrees that is within the side of a cliff.. It has unfortunately been commericalised but once you're inside you dont care.. We forgot to take the waterproof camera Kathy had so check out this photo i found online:

Sweet as it gets, also there was a plunge pool outside that sat at 1degree.. I jumped in a few times, and yes it was very invigorating ;) Also, it was a full moon and this was the view:

After Nelson, we took mostly the same route back but detoured via Penticton, where Monica, a Canadian friend of mine who I worked with in Melbourne lives. She took us out to dinner and drinks and pool which was great. Mon also informed me of some slow-pitch softball tournaments that i could possibly be a part of over summer :) Penticton is right in the middle of two giant lakes. There is a canal that runs through the town joining them together and in the summer there is a tradition of buying a whole bunch of stuff that floats, tying it all together and cruising from one end of town to the other over 4 hours while drinking out of your floating esky. I'm so in. :)

The next day we took the North route home and witnessed a different sort of scenery. All extremely beautiful with rich colours. Absolutely loved it. Check some Panoramic Photos I took along the way there and back here.

To see the full route we took, click here.

It's really funny, initially I just had in mind, "yeah we're going to see leah and Monica and do some snowboarding, yay!" But it was SO much more than that. The roadtrip itself was just fantastic. I loved every second of it. Cant wait to do another one in Summer! All the way to The Rockies next time!

I have a home!

Well it's now been over week since my arrival, though i have to say it seems more like a month. Not that time has been dragging in the slightest, it's just hard to comprehend how much has happened in such a short period of time!

The first thing to mention is that I have found a place to live!! It's a 3 bedroom apartment in Kitsilano, which is like the equivalent of Middle Park. 10 minutes from the CBD by bus. 2 minutes to the beach by foot (a beach with absolutely majestic views of mountains), surrounded by parks and in a really fun area, right near here. My housemates seem like really laid back guys too, an ex-pat Aussie who spent 15 years in Mexico City and another Mexican guy both who gave me a great vibe.

Just on vibes. Something I've really committed to since coming here is really really focusing and listening to gut feelings. I simply reject anything that doesnt give me a great vibe, and am open to anything that does, without letting pesky conscious thought get in the way too much.. I think we all know what's best for us but the mind can sometimes doubt that and start taking over.

I've been up to the closest local ski area twice now. The first time I cruised up with one of Alana's (sister) housemates (Lucy) in a big van. Lucy and some of her friends volunteer up there once a week doing 'speed control' this gets them free boarding and they also get a guest ticket every 2nd shift!

I went out drinking downtown the other night with Alana, her friend Kathy who's here until they both leave for Europe, and a bunch of Canadians that were mostly linked through this one guy Tommy Alana is friends with. We headed out for some beer at a place called Wino's. Drank from about 8pm until 1am, 8 people ordering jug after jug (Canadian drinking seems to mostly be table service) Total bill? $200 including tip... $25 each?! Oh dear.. I'm Doomed!


Bye for now :)


EDIT: I just realised i actually forgot to post this last week!? ok well it's now the following Tuesday and I'm in Nelson about to go snowboarding. but this will have to be a different post..

An active couple of days!

Ok! Wow so much stuff has happened since arriving it's hard to believe it's only been 4 days!

I underestimated how much the travel would screw me, arriving at 7am after 20 hours of commuting kinda sucked. I was dead tired, but not wanting to let jetlag affect me too much i decided to push through and stay up as late as i could to minimise the impact. I reached about 7pm and slept for nearly 14 hours. was fantastic.

Alana came to her senses and let me stay at her place for the first few nights, which I REALLY appreciated! Her housemates and friends that i've met are really lovely people and i have all intentions of stealing them from her :)

Here are some other notable things from the past few days:

- It snowed first night! Such a beautiful thing to wake up to a light covering of snow over everything :)
- Got my SIN Number (tax file no.)
- Got a canadian mobile number*
- Got a bank acccount
- Witnessed a homeless guy pushing himself down the street on a wheelchair backwards while shoveling spaghetti into his face
- Viewed three potential places to live, two that were terrible, one that was great but too expensive.
- Extremely disapointed at the quality and especially the cost of coffee!

I'm currently in the rec. room at the hostel. I've been sitting here for about 5 hours and it's been quite an experience. People just keep coming and going, i've met so many and nearly all will leave tomorrow. it's pretty crazy having people connect and relate so much having travel as the only thing in common.
This week i'm really going to focus on getting a place to live. I'm gonna keep looking in Kitsilano where Alana lives, it's kinda like middle parkish.. a little more expensive but really relaxed and heaps of sharehousing.

I better go and be a little more social withthe people sitting at this table with me! hehe

Til soon.

Danny



* Mobile phone plans here are unbelievably crap. I'm currently paying $25 a month for 100 minutes to people in my area code which is limited to vancouver. There is no callerId unless you pay $6 a month for it, texting is unlimited but international is extra on top, and the best part, the 100 minutes includes paying TO RECEIVE CALLS!?! so so so lame, they're being completely ripped off and dont even realise it.