A dedication to our Whistler Family x

It’s Judith’s turn to write the next entry and I apologise in advance for it’s potential to be of the emotional and corny type.

It’s kind of hard to really explain how I feel right now as I sit on the Greyhound, Vancouver bound, knowing that I have just left my Whistler family behind and that it could be months or years before I see some of you again. Some I may never see again because we live so far apart!

Since that day I left my family and friends on October 27th 2013 at Melbourne Airport, I knew I had made the right decision to embark on an adventure of a lifetime with my bestie, Gary.

As sad as it was to leave my loved ones, this step had to be taken, Judith needed to see the world (especially at the ripe old age of 26!) and wow, what a step this was.

For almost 6 months, I got to know myself – what I liked and didn’t like, what I was good at and not good at, how to make new friends who soon became my family and most of all, how to love life.

Before Whistler, I still lived at home with my parents and brothers so it was a huge move to live in a place of my own let alone in another country!

Gary and I knew we’d be okay to live together – we established an awesome system in room 406. Gary would do most of the cooking while I cleaned and did the washing.

It wasn’t soon after we moved here that 406 became the party place/drop in centre. We could hear people walking up the stairs and Gary and I would look at each other and wait for the knock knock on the door.

Generally it was either:
a) Deano coming up to debrief about the night before with his bowl of meat, veggies and chilli paste.
Or
b) Brad with his environment-friendly bag which consisted of a bottle of Coke, a bottle of Captain Morgan’s, some ice in a container and a lime.

There were so many beer bongs consumed and drinking games played in 406. It got to the point where Gary and I would tell everyone to bring their own plastic bags to put their empties in so they could take them home because our recycling bin was needing to be emptied on a way too regular basis!

The walks home after our nights out are some of my favourite memories. Getting a slice of Fat Tony’s pizza and then talking absolute rubbish was a usual occurrence. There was the time it took us about an hour to walk home because the snow was dumping so much we could just fall into the it and be buried and there was also the time where we sang every AFL theme song in a remix for the whole walk.

This morning, once our bags were packed, Brad and Sarah came and helped us with our luggage. It was so weird to leave 406 for the last time.

That was the first place Gary and I ever lived together. It was our home! My photo wall and my bucket list wall were completely bare. The fridge was bare. There were no bottles of tequila, vodka, malibu or baileys left (although Judith does have a sneaky bottle of malibu in her bag!) and for once, no cans of Wildcat or PBR beers!

It was time to leave this amazing place we called home for the past 5 and a bit months. We were going to miss everything so much….
the village,
the views,
the mountains,
the snow,
the Sunday Funday Family Nights at Longhorns,
the random nights at Buffalo Bills, Tapleys Bingo,
Crystal Tuesdays,
wings for Apres on a Thursday afternoon,
Deano’s face,
Brad and Sair’s truck – “Larry”,
Bexc and Dean constantly bickering at each other (because they’re secretly in love and will be married in the next 7 years),
Kira being such a drunk midget,
Stacey’s bad influence to have drinks before “turning the wheel”,
working with the most amazing people,
and last but not least,
Our Whistler Family.

No one will ever quite understand me when I explain just how much you guys have meant to us. We couldn’t just be friends, we needed to be family, and that’s just how it was. When something went wrong, we’d call on one of you and we hope you have been able to do the same.

My work buddies at Creekside – you have made me capable of getting through those shitty days where it was -20 degrees and when we would nearly get hit in the face with skis every five minutes. I love you all very much!

Saying “see ya later” last night at Longhorns was so very hard. We appreciate you all for coming, so thank you!

Last night was hard, but this morning was harder. Having brad and Sair help us get into our cab was so hard, I’m sorry Sair, I couldn’t even look at you. You two have been our absolute rocks and we love you. Cannot wait for our Greece reunion!

The cab driver was so lovely, his goal was to make me laugh before I got out and he did…. But I was in tears again because Neil was waiting at the bus stop for us! You’re too good a friend Neil.

Since we have sat down on the bus, we’ve barely said a word. I think we just need our emotions to settle down before we realise that we’ve just had the most amazing time in Whistler and we are now going to start a new chapter!

Whistler, you have changed our lives. To everyone we have met here, you have changed our lives even more. We love you and are ever so so grateful to have met you.

Keep up those Sunday Fundays, dance on stools and pool tables, do shots, drink too much beer so you feel shit next Monday and keep having fun. We will see some of you in Europe, if not, back in Aus or NZ.

You all have a place to stay in Melbourne and we’d love to show you that Aussie Rules Football is not rugby or soccer.

Peace out guys.

Judith.

X

Ps: just looked through my camera from last night… It was like the scene from the Hangover movie… Thanks Lewis for showing us that you had a “ball” last night and thanks Brad for being an awesome photographer 🙂