Well I have left the ridiculous cold of Canada, but not without a huge amount of sadness, I have made so many amazing friends during my travels, I'm going to miss them all, but hopefully I'll get to catch up with them all again.
But first things first, my last few weeks in Canada. Had a couple of major events, the first was Aussie day, this was definatly an experience. Given we were along time behind time wise everyone in banff thought it appropriate to celebrate both on the australian 26th, and the canadian 26th. Kat, Jen, Dan, Sarah and myself arrived up in banff nice and early on the 25th, and went snowboarding/skiing at Lake Louise. This was a first for me, hadn't snowboarded there before, it was pretty icy, but I had probably my best day on the hill, was brimming with confidence, letting myself go on the blue runs, awesome. There wasn't as many jumps on the normal hills there, but got some awesome speed. Well I thought it was :D That night we headed out for a few drinks, its a bit hazy in spots, but a good night was had by all. Next morning we headed out to get some food for the afternoon festivities, while at safeway (coles) Darcy, a friend from calgary won a 26" LCD HD Tv, so cool. From there I managed to find a bottle of Bundy on sale, and the festivities began. We headed to Riannah's place (sorry if thats not the right spelling). Almost everyone had some sort of Aussie merchandise on. Some took it to the extreme, going from mild mannered liftee by night/australia day they became Captain OZ *insert super hero music here*. The boys had also set up a small snowboarding park in the backyard, the back yard being roughly4m x5m in size... but they had boxes and a jump in from the patio. The rest of the details of the night shall remain locked away in the vault of the less sober...
Before I talk about the parts of my farewell party I do remember I would like to make quick mention of a wings place we went to. This place is crazy, it had 40 different types of wings, yep 40. How nuts is that. Some of the flavours included Orange and Ginger, Pineapple curry, Cajun, Caribbean, and heaps more. They also do the same number of flavours in chicken balls. Apparently there is more of the chicken used over here than at home, and they also have wierd chickens :O.
On the 31st I had my farewell party. We started at Murphs, a pub near our place, some of did eventually move onto cowboys which is the bit I don't remember, so can't really tell you what happened there. At murphs I was surprised to see a few people turn up who I definatly wasn't expecting. A few couriers who I had only spoken to in passing if at all turned up, and wished me all the best in my travels. I also had some from work arrive, and then alot of other people I've met along the way.
Finally the day when I was scheduled to head home arrived. I was sad and happy at the same time. I had a couple of things to sort out, change my coin, close the bank account, and send a couple of jackets home. I managed to save $40 on the cost of sending the jackets home, by stuffing them into a plastic bag. I was a little concerned my bags weight would be too high, but I was only a kilo over, so was let through. Kat, Jen, Dan and Sarah all came out to the airport to see me off, I'm going to miss them all heaps, they have been my family in Canada. We all had a finaly drink and dinner at the airport, before I went through security, and prepared to board my plane. There were a couple of tears, and hugs all round. I have no doubt I'll be seeing each of them again.
The flight was good, I had 3 seats to myself, but was still unable to get more than a couple of hours sleep. So I've been having issues in london. Oh well. I'll update one last time before I close off the Canada Blog. So keep checking back here.
Narco out eh.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Sunday, January 14, 2007
My Time here is coming to an end
This will be close to my last post for the Canada leg of my trip. As most of you know I'm heading home for a short holiday, then moving on to Merry 'ol England for a while. But more on that later. Now for some more catch up on what I've been doing in Calgary.
Lets start with ummm, Christmas/Boxing Day. Being my first christmas away from home, there was some homesickness, but thanks to the great friends I've made over here. Twas a great experience, 8 Aussies sitting around having turkey etc. Kat cooked up a storm for us, a veritable feast. I made puddings, they turned out well, one is still hanging in the cupboard, for when I want it. Dan had ordered the cricket on the internet, so we streamed it down, and onto the TV, was great to see Warne get his 700th wicket. Presents were open, and chocolate was also consumed, along with many a brew. We were trying to emulate the aussie temperature, so the heater was turned up, and we were all in our boardshorts, and t's. To try to keep the mood I was having Coconut rum and Pineapple Juice. Very Tropical.
Boxing day saw us all begin out journey out to Banff for the week. First night in Banff turned out to be a big one. So snowboarding was a little bit late the following morning. The night was interesting, got home around 3:30ish, the details will remain hidden forever locked in the vault. But it was fun none the less. Starting to get the hang of this snowboarding gig. Still got alot more to go. Still having my fair share of falls, I can remember a good one, went over a jump, but forgot to lean forward to so the landing would be smooth. Ended up landing on my back and side, but just before impact, I had that whole slow motion thing, where you just know its going to hurt. It did, not as bad as it could have. The helmet once again paid for itself.
Had a few more nights out while in Banff culminating in a late one for New Years. We all went to Wild Bills for New Years, the girls came up with the idea to all have shirts made with our name etc on them, so we were all dressed in the same thing. Got quite a few looks from others, and quite a few comments. I forgot to mention but we've had quite a few extra's living with us recently. All Kat's and Jen's friends. First to arrive was JC, a mate of theirs from Perth, soon after was Lee another mate of theirs from Perth. John and Phil both came over from London, Jen met them both on her Journey through South America. John is an Aussie who has been living in London for a while, and Phil is born and bred UK, not sure which part though. We also had Todd come up for New Years a friend from in Calgary, and Darcy came up for a couple of days between Christmas and New Years. Anywho back to the story. We all started with dinner at the Old Spagetti Factory, where the waiter took great pains to always refer to us by the name imprinted on our shirts. From here we went to Wild Bills, its a Cowboy bar, seems to be alot of those around this area. Anywho upon entry we all got given hats/hair accessories. The men all got top hat type things, the women head bands with feathers. Very elegant...lol. Anyway I was a bit short on money, so didn't have as many drinks, which turned out to be a good thing. Snowboarding the next morning would have been very interesting if I had have. Anywho to cut a long story short. A great night was had by all, though Lee headed home early.
We were all staying in a hotel in Banff, with a spa, sauna, and outdoor heated swimming pool. Quite comfortable. We also had a GMC Envoy, SUV, managed to fit 7 people with our luggage. and given the price we were all very pleased with it.
I've been going snowboarding a fair bit recently. Almost every weekend up until christmas. Cam and Roudy, who both work at Sunshine have been awesome to me, Roudy letting me crash at his place, and Cam setting me up with Friends of Sunshine passes for the mountain. Both are friends of Jen's from Perth. We all get along well, and have had quite a few big nights out. All the bars/clubs in Banff have drink specials, as low a $1.50 high balls (spirts). Lots of fun, and a bit of mischief. But only harmless I assure you :D Will be going up to see the guys again before I leave, the three of us (Kat, Jen and Myself) are going up for Australia Day, which will be like my last Hurrah in Canada.
Had our work Christmas party on Jan 6th, I know I know, a bit late, but everywhere was booked solid before Christmas. The venue was a pub called Schanks, a golf themed bar, complete with mini golf, virtual golf, pool tables, and video games. An awesome night was had by all, the highlights were catching up with Merideth, doing the Schanks Minature Olympics which consisted of doing 4 events, all while under the influence, and having my arse spanked by a young lady on her Bachelorette party. I had spoken to the group earlier, they were all dressed in prom styled dresses which I thought was a little odd for a golf themed pub. When the bride to be had gone 1 over par on one of the holes, a wheel had to be spun and the punishment dealt out. The punishment was either two shots, or spank someone else in the bar, and I was that lucky/unlucky man, depending on how you look at it. I'm sure the photos they took will be a great lasting memory for them. Definatly something for the wedding album :D.
Anywho thats enough for now. I have put a few pics of my snowboarding adventures on my photo gallery, along with some photos from other parts of my trip...
Photo Albums
Narco out
Lets start with ummm, Christmas/Boxing Day. Being my first christmas away from home, there was some homesickness, but thanks to the great friends I've made over here. Twas a great experience, 8 Aussies sitting around having turkey etc. Kat cooked up a storm for us, a veritable feast. I made puddings, they turned out well, one is still hanging in the cupboard, for when I want it. Dan had ordered the cricket on the internet, so we streamed it down, and onto the TV, was great to see Warne get his 700th wicket. Presents were open, and chocolate was also consumed, along with many a brew. We were trying to emulate the aussie temperature, so the heater was turned up, and we were all in our boardshorts, and t's. To try to keep the mood I was having Coconut rum and Pineapple Juice. Very Tropical.
Boxing day saw us all begin out journey out to Banff for the week. First night in Banff turned out to be a big one. So snowboarding was a little bit late the following morning. The night was interesting, got home around 3:30ish, the details will remain hidden forever locked in the vault. But it was fun none the less. Starting to get the hang of this snowboarding gig. Still got alot more to go. Still having my fair share of falls, I can remember a good one, went over a jump, but forgot to lean forward to so the landing would be smooth. Ended up landing on my back and side, but just before impact, I had that whole slow motion thing, where you just know its going to hurt. It did, not as bad as it could have. The helmet once again paid for itself.
Had a few more nights out while in Banff culminating in a late one for New Years. We all went to Wild Bills for New Years, the girls came up with the idea to all have shirts made with our name etc on them, so we were all dressed in the same thing. Got quite a few looks from others, and quite a few comments. I forgot to mention but we've had quite a few extra's living with us recently. All Kat's and Jen's friends. First to arrive was JC, a mate of theirs from Perth, soon after was Lee another mate of theirs from Perth. John and Phil both came over from London, Jen met them both on her Journey through South America. John is an Aussie who has been living in London for a while, and Phil is born and bred UK, not sure which part though. We also had Todd come up for New Years a friend from in Calgary, and Darcy came up for a couple of days between Christmas and New Years. Anywho back to the story. We all started with dinner at the Old Spagetti Factory, where the waiter took great pains to always refer to us by the name imprinted on our shirts. From here we went to Wild Bills, its a Cowboy bar, seems to be alot of those around this area. Anywho upon entry we all got given hats/hair accessories. The men all got top hat type things, the women head bands with feathers. Very elegant...lol. Anyway I was a bit short on money, so didn't have as many drinks, which turned out to be a good thing. Snowboarding the next morning would have been very interesting if I had have. Anywho to cut a long story short. A great night was had by all, though Lee headed home early.
We were all staying in a hotel in Banff, with a spa, sauna, and outdoor heated swimming pool. Quite comfortable. We also had a GMC Envoy, SUV, managed to fit 7 people with our luggage. and given the price we were all very pleased with it.
I've been going snowboarding a fair bit recently. Almost every weekend up until christmas. Cam and Roudy, who both work at Sunshine have been awesome to me, Roudy letting me crash at his place, and Cam setting me up with Friends of Sunshine passes for the mountain. Both are friends of Jen's from Perth. We all get along well, and have had quite a few big nights out. All the bars/clubs in Banff have drink specials, as low a $1.50 high balls (spirts). Lots of fun, and a bit of mischief. But only harmless I assure you :D Will be going up to see the guys again before I leave, the three of us (Kat, Jen and Myself) are going up for Australia Day, which will be like my last Hurrah in Canada.
Had our work Christmas party on Jan 6th, I know I know, a bit late, but everywhere was booked solid before Christmas. The venue was a pub called Schanks, a golf themed bar, complete with mini golf, virtual golf, pool tables, and video games. An awesome night was had by all, the highlights were catching up with Merideth, doing the Schanks Minature Olympics which consisted of doing 4 events, all while under the influence, and having my arse spanked by a young lady on her Bachelorette party. I had spoken to the group earlier, they were all dressed in prom styled dresses which I thought was a little odd for a golf themed pub. When the bride to be had gone 1 over par on one of the holes, a wheel had to be spun and the punishment dealt out. The punishment was either two shots, or spank someone else in the bar, and I was that lucky/unlucky man, depending on how you look at it. I'm sure the photos they took will be a great lasting memory for them. Definatly something for the wedding album :D.
Anywho thats enough for now. I have put a few pics of my snowboarding adventures on my photo gallery, along with some photos from other parts of my trip...
Photo Albums
Narco out
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