The Luge World Cup (spot the athlete!)
Off to watch a local Ice Hockey game..
Tuesday, 13 December 2011
Life in the mountains - part 3
Bren and Sam arrived last Tuesday, and we're eager to hit the slopes...
Team ski - waiting for the first bus of the day
Sam and Meg after they collided and took a tumble!
Monday, 5 December 2011
Life in the mountains - part 2
December is here and a white Christmas (the thought of which is just glorious!) speedily approaches. Yeh, its strange not to be able to enjoy the sunny December holidays with our families in SA, but we trust Whistler will put on a good show!
Andy's family are coming to the US in a week or two, and we are hoping to meet up with them in New York for a few days. Its tricky to get time off so close to Christmas, so there are negotiations currently taking place with our respective bosses! If we get the thumbs up, then we will be there over Andy's birthday, yes!
The Luge World Cup is taking place at the Whistler Sliding Centre on 9&10 December, and this past week all the Nations have been training at the track. They chose a bad week for us to be assisting out on the track, as it's forecasted to be bitterly cold! At 10am today, it was a chilly -10C'! The crystal blue skies are misleading.
Brendon and Sam arrive tomorrow evening, which is very exciting! It will be great to have some good friends here with us. Andy is off for 3 days this week, so he will showing them the ropes, while his wife brings home the bacon! ;)
We have really been enjoying the mountain - every trip up the mountain leaves us on a bit of high! I am still pretty wary, and am sticking to the green and blue runs for now. Poor Andy has to wait for me at the bottom on each run, where he reminds me to relax my body and stop sticking my bum out! We took the Peak to Peak Gondola for the first time the other day (see pic below) - it is the longest and highest mountain-to-mountain journey in the world. It links the two mountains, Whistler and Blackcomb, which makes the skiing experience just that much better.
The Peak to Peak Gondola views...
Life in the mountains - part 1
The base of the Whistler mountain
This is the best transport by far!
Another pretty village scene
OC2, the retail store where Meg works
Saturday, 26 November 2011
The mountain is open
Having been in Whistler for a little over three weeks now, we thought we would reflect on a few highs and lows of life thus far...
Highlights:
~ Hitting the newly opened ski runs - shredding the 'pow'
~ Our first pay cheque - we are very happy to be able to buy more than just pasta at the grocery store, and we can finally start to sample some of the local brews! Living in Whistler on the ZAR is tough! Less junk food from now..
~ The interesting conversations that we have had with people from all over the world
~ Learning where you can eat cheap and get a discount
~ Our first Canadian church experience – “Church on the Mountain”
~ Trying every coffee shop in the village - Starbucks is certainly overrated and the cosy local coffee houses provide the best prices, festivity and sweet goodies.
~ Being able to walk the streets on your own without a care in the world!
~ Realizing that working here, is not really ‘work’
~ Sharing this amazing experience with each other…
Lowlights:
~ Having to live with the heater on permanently – it turns your skin to biltong (speaking of which… mmm)
~ Trying to explain the political environment in SA
~ Getting stuck in a blizzard at the top of the mountain
~ Having to walk up a REALLY steep, slushy, slippery hill to get to work (now that the slopes are open, we can take the gondola up yay)
All in all, life is pretty sweet right now and things are simple but there are of course a few things that we miss from home..
~ Our familia and friends
~ Being able to speak to someone and they understand you the first time!
~ Woolies rusks, and biltong
~ The warmth of the African Sun!
But there is still much fun to be had in the coming months and much to look forward to..
~ Fresh powder riding at least 3 times a week
~ Starting to plan our post season travels
~ Fresh powder..
~ The Kegels arriving in 10 days!
~ Fresh powder......
Our first few days on the mountain
A 'blue-bird' day
Heading into the blizzard
Highlights:
~ Hitting the newly opened ski runs - shredding the 'pow'
~ Our first pay cheque - we are very happy to be able to buy more than just pasta at the grocery store, and we can finally start to sample some of the local brews! Living in Whistler on the ZAR is tough! Less junk food from now..
~ The interesting conversations that we have had with people from all over the world
~ Learning where you can eat cheap and get a discount
~ Our first Canadian church experience – “Church on the Mountain”
~ Trying every coffee shop in the village - Starbucks is certainly overrated and the cosy local coffee houses provide the best prices, festivity and sweet goodies.
~ Being able to walk the streets on your own without a care in the world!
~ Realizing that working here, is not really ‘work’
~ Sharing this amazing experience with each other…
Lowlights:
~ Having to live with the heater on permanently – it turns your skin to biltong (speaking of which… mmm)
~ Trying to explain the political environment in SA
~ Getting stuck in a blizzard at the top of the mountain
~ Having to walk up a REALLY steep, slushy, slippery hill to get to work (now that the slopes are open, we can take the gondola up yay)
All in all, life is pretty sweet right now and things are simple but there are of course a few things that we miss from home..
~ Our familia and friends
~ Being able to speak to someone and they understand you the first time!
~ Woolies rusks, and biltong
~ The warmth of the African Sun!
But there is still much fun to be had in the coming months and much to look forward to..
~ Fresh powder riding at least 3 times a week
~ Starting to plan our post season travels
~ Fresh powder..
~ The Kegels arriving in 10 days!
~ Fresh powder......
Our first few days on the mountain
A 'blue-bird' day
Heading into the blizzard
Friday, 18 November 2011
Coolrunnings
Today I got to go down the track in a Bobsled! With a professional pilot at the helm, we got up to 125 km/hour, and completed 2/3 of the full Olympic track. It felt much like a roller coaster! I had freaky flashbacks of Coolrunnings .. !! You get knocked around quite a lot in the sled, so it's key to concentrate on keeping your back straight (although gravity defies this with up to 5 G's on the final corner) and your neck stiff.
Our back yard
This area is really beautiful with many trails and lakes. Lost Lake is close to our house, and an awesome place to go if you want to get out. People are very active here, and everyone is obsessed about being 'green'. These trails will soon be turned in Cross Country Skiing tracks. Here are some pics of our back yard...
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