Why Don't You Duck On In?

Now that I feel confident I shall not be running away from this town I think I can do a post. I've been in Fernie for 2 weeks now but it feels like a month because of the multitude of highs and lows. Let's just focus on the highs shall we?

1. I got a job at the Alpine Resort - horray. I'm working in the Ticket Office which is the exact job I wanted. All of my shifts are half days so it always means I have up to 3 or 4 hours to hit the hill even on days that I'm working.

2. I moved into a real house (if I had of had to stay at the hostel one more night I may have stabbed someone). I'm sharing the cutest cottage (the Duck-On Inn) with a girl from Sydney, 2 girls from NZ, 2 Swedish guys and 1 Canadian guy. Let the good times roll.

3. I bought a snowboard. I lasted about a week being a good non-money spending girl but then it started to snow and everyone was tuning there gear getting ready for the opening weekend and I caved. So now I've kitted myself out with various goods and snazzy things which I probably can't afford - but are sooooo worth it.

4. Riding this hill is super awesome. Best time snowboarding I've ever had. It may only be my 4th or so day doing it again but I think I'm getting back into the swing of things. Especially enjoying spending half days doing things - working for half the day then riding the other half. Bliss.

Speaking of which, I should stop wasting time and get ready to go up there. Now that I have a house it's a lot easier to get cosy in a couch drinking tea and surfing the net all morning. But - mountains ahoy!

Updated Lonely Planet Guide to Saskatoon

Sleeping:
CouchSurfing is the way to go. I'm so super glad I got the courage to email a random person on the Internet to crash on their couch. As it turns out I get to crash in a basement that had its own bathroom, kitchen and bedroom so it was really BasementSurfing. Gina, Jacky & Becca were especially awesome for allowing me to bug them with stupid questions and taking me out to experience a Saskatonian good-time. I also ended up with a ride straight to Fernie because of my new connections. Horray for the random.

Shopping:
Saskatoon has about 200,000 people in it so the shopping is probably less than exciting to most. However, how could you pass up these babies...

That's right peoples they are some genuine, furry-lined Crocs. I don't think I could have made that up! I love bagging out these silly Canadians who think Crocs and Ugg boots are the height of fashion. Speaking of Uggs - the proper brand ones that is - they are 300 bucks here! Madness. I should get someone to send over a crate of them and I'll be a millionaire in a week.

Sights:
This is one of the only things LP got right. The river is spectacularly beautiful and kind of reminds me a little of the Brisbane river with its mashup of bridges. After a few days of below 20 the river got all icy. I tried to get a video of the sound that huge pieces of ice floating down a river sound like. Also, the university is something straight out of a movie. Especially when those big, stone buildings are covered in snow.

Sights and Goings on in Saskatoon

Activities & Events:
Every knows I was hitting Saskatoon for Tool, so obviously that deserves a mention. Now, I was speechless at the end of their Big Day Out set, but this concert was nothing like it. It was the Cirque du Soleil of concerts. The ticket should have warned people about the possibility of going into a trance-like state with the amount of lasers and flashing images that were going on. And I only just found out today that they had a terminally ill man come out and play the guitar for "46 and 2" - goes to show how awesome he was because I didn't even notice Jones had left the stage. And Maynard was dancing and chatty the whole way through. Which was very surreal considering from a few reports he spent the entire Calgary gig sitting on a crate with his back to the audience. And I've just filled in more about the concert than anything else in the city. My bad.

SaskaToolaPalooza

Other than Tool, for those not in Canada it will be news to you that the Saskatchewan Roughriders (yes that's the name of their football team - no joke, Google it) won the Grey Cup (some important football trophy thing) so the Provence spent the whole time I was there wearing green and drinking and hooting about it. Although I unfortunately didn't get the riot I was hoping for like the last time the team won in 1989.

Also, I got to attend my first hockey match for this extended stay in this Frozen Wonderland. Australians over here are well known for enjoying this Canadian pass-time because of its promise of constant violence. Unknown to me however, there is an actual rule where if one player challenges another (by throwing down his stick and gloves) and the other responds accordingly - the rink is cleared and the 2 players duke it out with proper fisty cuffs until one of them falls down or starts to bleed. Totally barbaric and highly entertaining. Obviously.

Fisty Cuffs on Ice

Why Saskatoon? Who's Tool?

I thought Tool being one of the greatest rock acts this side of the Universe was pretty common knowledge. So far I've only met 3 people who actually know who they are so therefore people think I'm mad coming all the way to Saskatoon for some band they've never heard of. However, conveniently the brother of one of the girls I'm staying with is coming up with a couple of friends to go so I have some Tool buddies. Horray.

So I made it to Saskatoon in one piece a couple of days ago and lucky me made it in time for the first snowfall of the season. It may have only been 2cm but it was still pretty damn exciting for me. So far I've just been hanging out with my Couchsurfing Hosts shopping, putting up the Christmas tree and attending friend's parties. But tomorrow when the rest of Saskatoon comes back to life and everyone goes off to their uni classes I'm going to venture Downtown.

I guess the only real difference to me at the moment (other than the snow) is getting hit up to speak in my "awesome" accent and get scoffed at in jest when I pronounce things funny or called things by Australian names. So I've spent all this money to see snow and be a couple of Canadians' novelty act. Yeay!

Have Addiction to Internet...Traveling Anyway

Auckland welcomed me with rain and rain-clouds and chill. Not that I expected much else. But it still looks super green under all this rain.

I know I should be browsing the duty free before my flight to Vancouver but I couldn't help doing a post containing the predictable.

Sorry to anyone I didn't see before I left and thank you to everyone who gave me little gifts (highly unexpected - I felt like people actually might think I'm ok). Now that I'm officially off I'll do my best to make this worth my while - so obviously if I start to sound weepy you have my permission to tell me to toughen up.

Next time you hear from me I may be speaking Canadian so hopefully you can understand me. Probably just remove the ey's and boot's and you should do alright.

Transit lounge ahoy!

Today's Date is What!?

So here it is. The obligatory "it's the final countdown" post. 14 days, 14 hours and counting.

Apparently October didn't exist this year. I expected to have all 4 of its weeks to calmly prepare for my dive into the abyss. Calm probably isn't something I've been for the last week. Frazzled is perhaps a better description.

Although it's mostly unfounded come to think of it. I've packed up all my gear right on schedule for my move onto my sister's futon, I've booked everything I need for my first fortnight in a strange land, I've told people where and when I will be drinking and being merry in a farewell fashion, and I'm no longer employed on Australian soil.

Perhaps I'm physically and materially ready ... but I think emotionally I'm still a wreak.

A Slight Detour

I started planning a firm and sensible itinerary for the first leg of my trip this week. Things like dates for accommodation, flights to Calgary, bus tickets to Fernie etc. This evening, after discovering some new information on my usual interweb journeys, I basically lit my original plan on fire and stomped on the ashes. The cause? A spontaneous decision over a band - obviously.

I have been reckless before when it comes to live music. I once flew to Melbourne on a whim on my own for four days to catch "the Australian gig of a lifetime". This time however I've stepped things up a notch or two. I'm flying across three Canadian Provinces after getting off my 19 hour trans-Pacific flight, putting my "get a job on a ski hill" plan back by about 10 days but obviously all the while reveling in the fact that I'm going to make good on something I've regretted not doing all year. If I hadn't of been a sook I would have trekked to Melbourne or Sydney to see Tool in January after Big Day Out. Obviously, I was a sook and have spent all year being ashamed of myself.

So now I have an equally firm, highly unreasonable, but ever so exciting itinerary. Fly into Vancouver, fly out of Vancouver to Saskatoon via Calgary. Stay in Saskatoon and surroundings for 10 days, after 10 days - see Tool. Leave Saskatoon in total and fulfilled bliss only rivaled perhaps by Buddha himself, fly back to Calgary, get on a bus, arrive in Fernie 6 days late however, as I said, totally blissful.

I'm hoping this trend of doing things spontaneously simply because it makes me ridiculously happy and excited to be alive doesn't stop any time soon.

Now I'm Going, Now I'm Not

The countdown has begun and true to my form I've been having mini-anxiety attacks all over the place. My biggest problem is coming to accept I'm leaving this place and all the people I've met. All the things I've taken for granted for six years just won't be accessible to me anymore. I was even upset the other day that I wouldn't be able to just go around Pat's house and play Wii whenever I wanted. How odd is that?

Surely living on the side of a snow covered mountain makes anything in Brisbane pale in comparison. But now the sky has begun to get that summer blue colour to it and the Jacarandas have begun to bloom and I'm getting all home sick before I've even left. One minute I'm excited about leaving, the next I'm in tears and I don't want to go.

So don't hate me if I start to get a bit clingy during my last month here, it's just my way of soaking up as much Brisbane as I can before I leave.

Compulsive Consumer

The lead up to this trip has been a giant emotional and problematic learning curve. One I choose to believe I'm failing at, mostly due to my solution to most problems I'm fretting over is overspending.

I spend weeks fretting over what bag I should take, then I decide to buy a new one, freak out over which one I should buy, end up putting one on layby that is 100 bucks over my "budget". I decided firmly that I will not need to buy any snow gear over here before I go. Then there's a 30% off sale at the snow shop. I fret for an hour over wanting this jacket and convincing myself that I'll "need" it. More pre-trip monies gone. My new hard and firm decision is not to buy a laptop, mp3 player or phone before I leave. I don't question "if" I need a laptop, new mp3 player or new phone, just "when" I'll buy them and "what" model they will be. Tragic.

Your WHP Visa Has Been Approved

To borrow words from the brilliant writers who script Andrew G and that other guy, this is the beginning of my "journey" (I'll insert a rant later about how that word is now somehow uttered 17 times per minute on National television and how it sickens me).

In 10 weeks time I shall be (finally) proving everyone wrong and actually getting on that plane and leaving for the land of maple leaves, hockey, beavers and bears. Oh and snow. I've heard it's slightly colder in British Columbia than Brisbane. It's probably just a rumour though.

To my loved ones who are worried about me, please don't be - I suspect as long as I don't encounter any Americans I'll be safe. To my peers who are confused at why in the span of 6 months I quit 2 full-time (decent) jobs to sell round plastic discs on weekends again, don't fret - surprisingly this has somehow increased my mental stability. And to anyone else, try not to pay me out for having this blog.