Our New Life

Good evening folks!

You’re witnessing a blog entry from one dedicated Gary. Gary promised Judith he would write our next blog entry by the end of tonight, but Gary forgot that the second day of the Ashes was on.. Good one Gaz!

Wow. It’s hard to even know where to start since our last post. Everyone always says; “so much has happened in that time”.. but seriously, it has. Gary commenced his enduring training to be qualified as a full time Whistler Blackcomb Lift Operator, or as he likes to put it, an Uphill Transportation Specialist. I was pretty guttered when I found out that we had to pass an exam in order to get the job, seeing as though leaving university and study was one of the biggest reasons I left home in the first place! By the way, Sir Bradley Haddin just tonned up, you bloody beauty! Anyway, Gaz passed with flying colours, as did his other good mates. During this time, Judith had also been training a fair bit for her position as a Ticket Validator and Salesperson. We were both so keen to finally see some money entering our bank accounts, as we were unwillingly getting used to seeing it just disappear. Living in Whistler is extremely expensive, especially when you’re earning peanuts per hour! Although, you find out pretty quickly that no one complains about their job due to the incredible place we work in, and the impeccable ‘office views’ we are fortunate enough to be provided with. Further to this, being a ‘Lifty’ means that you work 4 x 10 hour consecutive days, however you have the benefit of having 3 days off in a row. This has proven to be very dangerous for Gary, as he fancies the nightlife here in Whistler. On that note.. Gary seems to be making more and more appearances these days, as does Judith.. Must be something in the Whistler air, aye?

After we had ‘pimped’ out our apartment, it seemed to develop into a halfway house/drop in centre. Some more Beaumaris individuals decided to greet us with their presence, with Jared Evans, Renae Doherty and Tori Cameron popping in for a few nights. Evo has provided us with ongoing entertainment since that visit. After we all come home pretty sauced one night, he decided to hide about 50 photos in mischievous places all around our apartment. We are still discovering these to this date.

A few weeks later, Hayley’s abnormally tall friend Jayden Post arrived and stayed 3 nights with us. It was an honour witnessing a man that is 6’8” sleep on a very narrow, and deceptive 3 seater couch. Beers, baileys and shots flowed, as Gaz, Deano, Jayden and Brad dragged Jayden along for a Whistler boys night christening. There were some sore heads the next morning.

As our visitors departed, the day had finally arrived. Whistler Blackcomb was officially open for business as of the 16^th of November. Although Gary wasn’t allowed to snowboard, it was still an epic sight witnessing the swarms of people migrate towards this incredible place. No wonder this is considered one of the world’s most prestigious skiing resorts on the planet. Judith was in fine form again, staying by Gary’s side as he drowned his sorrows due to his inability to join the fun on the mountain. Some people call this FOMO – fear of missing out.. I personally think that’s pretty gay.

As we hadn’t started our full time schedules for work as of yet, Gary and Judith made an executive decision after a 15cm snow dumping overnight that we would go and try to make some turns. As I was instructed by my knee specialist to wait until Christmas to do so, Judith was uneasy on this decision. Gaz whacked his big Forrest Gump knee braces on, and journeyed up on the ‘Village Gondola”. As I was strapping in to my snowboard, Gaz took a deep breath, and took in his surroundings. Trying to describe the view at the top of the mountain is literally impossible, it is just breathtaking. I still find that photos are incapable of doing it justice, all you lazy sods just need to get off your bums and get over here to experience it! Coming down the mountain was an amazing experience, feeling no pain in my knee was the equivalent feeling of a 1500kg rhinoceros jumping off my shoulders.

Weeks and days fly by here, it’s crazy. Before we knew it, American Thanksgiving had arrived. Although Canada have their own thanksgiving, we missed it, I guess that’s another case of that FOMO shit.. The kickers put on an incredible spread in our staff housing common room, followed by table tennis championships and foozeball competitions. We also decided to put an Australian twist on the night, making it compulsory for all attendees to wear a flanny.

The effects of full time work snuck up on us both pretty quickly, especially with the introduction of an arctic front hitting the whistler village. Temperatures have plummeted to less than -20 degrees, which is seriously confronting for us sun-loving Aussies. It has also been strange adjusting to the reality that over here, days don’t really mean anything. With our work schedules, my Friday is now a Monday, as my days off start on a Tuesday.

Relationships have continued to blossom, especially the one between Gaz and his pal Deano. It has reached the status of a bromance, and we do all we can in order to enhance this bromance. Nights out with Deano and Gaz don’t always end that well. For example, one Tuesday night involved singing “Party In The USA” by Miley Cyrus, with Deano deciding to twerk at the same time, in front of a decent 200 people. We did the old girl proud. Friendships amongst ‘the kickers’ become stronger every day. It’s really nice to have a solid group of friends that we can rely on over here, they have ultimately become our family away from home.

The Aussies have just declared for 570, now it’s time to watch Mo’tchell Johnson tear through those weak little pommies. Goodnight!

Much Love,

Gary. xxx

Impulse thoughts during moments of snow fall…

The impulse to start writing our next blog entry just hit me as we came back inside at about 11:00pm after venturing downstairs to soak up the first real drop of snow since arriving in Whistler. Five of us either made snow angels, threw snow balls at each other or just touched the soft, fluffy, white bits of pure amazing-ness! But overall, we left our mark! THE BABY KICKERS! (No, we don’t really kick babies.. or enjoy kicking babies, in fact, none of us would ever think of kicking a baby. It’s an “in-joke” which I can explain at another time!)

I am also feeling a bit under pressure to write up an entry that comes even close to the standard of Gary’s amazing writing in the previous post! Let’s see if I can be as creative or humorous as Gazza can be! Highly doubt it!

So on Friday 1st November 2013, we made the bus trip up to Whistler Blackcomb from the city of Vancouver. Arriving here was exciting in some ways, yet we were all so exhausted. The thought of carrying our multiple bags – including carry ons, backpacks and a board bag – was sickening! Especially with Gary’s dodgy knee.

Although we loved Vancouver, we COULD NOT WAIT to unpack and settle into our new place. Despite feeling this way, there were some hilarious experiences in our tiny hostel room shared with Brad (Soccer Dad) and Sarah (Megabite), along with our two sets of bunk beds and creaky, wooden floor. Such a cramped, little area, anyone’s patience would be tested, no matter how patient you may be! But we managed to get through the hostel life for a whole five nights. We pulled through when it came to being quiet when others were asleep and showering in a shared bathroom facility (one for girls, one for guys). The disgusting floor of the showers and every other aspect of the unhygienic facilities may have broken me, but I managed to wear my thongs (flip-flops) and get on with it and the positive experiences definitely overtook the not-so-positive!

You know those experiences that are so funny at the time, but aren’t really that funny when you tell the story? We had a few of those in our hostel room. Like when Gaz and Soccer Dad Brad came home at 5:30am after carving a pumpkin and placing the scary thing on the end of my bed. Or how about two nights later, at 2:00am. Gary was in Judith’s bad books. The tension was severe, with Judith on her top bunk and Gary on the bottom. Megabite was awake and very discreet. Soccer Dad Brad quietly walked in after his night out, not expecting to find us all awake. He turned the light on. And shit hit the fan. EVERYTHING was funny. The slightest things would crack us up and we were so loud that we were certain we would be kicked out of the hostel. By 4:00am, Gaz and Mega went to get pizza and things escalated and became funnier. The “Gay Ball” got a run for its money (another story that needs to be explained) and yelling out “gayyyyyyy” in a particular voice was just hilarious.

I guess the point of me sharing this story (even if you didn’t find it funny) is that this is what travel is all about! The four of us knew each other before venturing to Canada however living in each other’s pockets for almost a week made us realise how good a friend we had become to each other. Judith even saved Mega from fainting in the showers on the first morning! Thank God for Gary’s lollies to help her sugar levels. But meeting people and making friends – who have already become like family – is so important to us and it’s already been an amazing experience.

I guess I should get back to our arrival in Whistler… Finding out that we had a one-bedroom apartment together was a huge relief! Never having lived together, let alone out of home, it was anticipated to be different, yet so exciting. We checked in, received our keys for our new place, and were given welcome bags and linen to start us off.

When we walked into our apartment, we were like little kids! A new place to call home, this was OUR OWN home for the next 6 months! Unpacking felt so good, and after just 3 nights, I still have a few bits and pieces that need to find their spot in the apartment. The views from our balcony are awesome!

Saturday saw us hiring two mini vans for fourteen of us, to trek down to Sqaumish – a town that has the famous WALMART! One big trolley filled with things from toilet rolls to canned veggies to coat hangers to fluffy slippers, we were set…. $520 later anyway. It was hilarious packing 7 of us and our items back into the van but we managed to get home in one piece. Soccer Dad and Mega went back to Walmart the next day to buy us and themselves a flat screen TV each. Now we are definitely set!

Whistler Life so far has been a blast. Lots of walking has been done (it takes about 10 minutes to walk to the Village from our staff housing) and being able to establish the apartment into OUR apartment, has probably been the best part. Having 3 other apartments filled with 10 of our closest friends here in Canada on the levels below us is too convenient because we can wear our slippers and drink our alcohol without having to make any impressions! Our great mate Ry even organised a sweep for the Melbourne Cup so we didn’t lose that Australian spirit on one of the nation’s biggest days, even if we are on the other side of the globe.

Tonight, going outside for the 10 minutes we did, just to enjoy the fall of snow, is something neither of us will be able to forget! I guess it’s exciting to think of the fun experiences to be had over the next 6 months.

Much love,
Judith xx

The lead up, dramas, and first moments of Gary and Judith’s Canadian adventure..

Hey guys. Gary here.

So I’m writing this blog from the comfort of Judith and Gary’s new humble abode surrounded by the incredible ‘serenity’ Whistler Blackcomb offers. We have spent the last week and a half travelling around British Columbia, making friends, losing our dignity, but most of all, just having a freaking unreal time.

However, the lead up to these new and exciting adventures was no walk in the park. Me, being the fool I am, managed to endure a grade 1 tear of my medial ligament in my left knee, two weeks prior to leaving Australia. Are you wondering how I did it? Well, we all know Gary loves to party, and when this incident occurred, that was no exception. Celebrating our joint birthday in serious fashion by going to see an awesome gig in St. Kilda turned horribly wrong, very quickly. Gary decided to lift one of his female friends up (like a baby), dance around the bar, and then completely lose his footing. Mind you, prior to this, consuming one thousand beers certainly did not help.

This was the least of my worries though. Seeing Judith’s face the next morning as I severely limped out of my bed was just as excruciating as when I had actually done it. I won’t go into too much detail, but the next week of our lives was no doubt one of the longest we had both endured. What had been a realistic dream since January 2013 was now intensely overshadowed with thoughts of disappointment, but more so just emptiness. The seven days after seeing my local GP and waiting for my appointment with the surgeon were filled with self diagnosing on Google, and worrying whether or not I could get on that Air New Zealand flight on Sunday the 27^th of October.

Much to our delight, (I think even Judith was slightly more relieved than Gary) the surgeon informed a miniscule consulting room full with my Dad, Mum, Judith and myself that we were sweet to jump on that flight. Excitement seemed to rush back into our lives even faster than when it had disappeared. A grade 1 tear of my ligament meant that I would miss out on three months of snowboarding, and would need to be seriously careful even just walking around. It also meant that I was $800 poorer after purchasing some badass motocross braces for both knees for my upcoming job. However, at this stage, Gary gave zero hoots.

The two weeks prior to our flight were spent in very differing ways. Judith had finished work, and she was enjoying spending time at home and seeing friends before departing, but Gary was busting his balls studying for his two final exams. Judith managed to pretty much pack up both of our lives into a backpack and two A4 display folders whilst I was studying. Gary is a very, very lucky man.

The fear of saying goodbye to our loved ones was thought about quite a lot, however as we had so much on, it had never really dominated our time. We had an absolutely cracking goodbye party at the Elephant and Wheelbarrow pub in St Kilda, shared with all of our amazing friends on the Friday night before our flight. With some seriously sore heads on the Saturday morning, it was pretty obvious we gave it one last good shake in Melbourne.

Sunday the 27^th of October had finally arrived. Spending some quality time with our individual families the night before was a great way to prepare us for our upcoming adventure. Let’s just say there was a very emotional goodbye to my best pal, my dog Kobi, and too with Hayley and her dogs, Molly and Charlie. With tears swelling up on Gary’s face as I said goodbye to 13 Rosemary Road one last time, I knew it was going to be a tough, but exciting trip to the airport. The Mutton and Gray families met, with hugs and kisses flowing. After checking in our ridiculous amount of luggage, we all took a breath and sat down for a coffee. Writing about this now makes me realise how much of a blur this all was. It all just happened so fast – everything.. Even the 10 gruelling months of saving our bums off!

It was time to say goodbye. Actually no, goodbye’s suck. It was more of a see you later.

Once again, hugs and kisses were flowing, but now tears were pretty much flooding Melbourne’s International Airport. Listening to mum tell me one last time to make sure I eat a muesli bar when I get on the plane (you just couldn’t help yourself could you, mum?) made me realise that nothing ever changes . We both knew that the next time we saw each other, it would be like we had never left. And that really helped.

After walking through those big daunting gates we were greeted by all our fellow friends that were there to embark on our ‘party flight’. Not much partying was done, to be completely honest. We were all pretty emotionally wrecked, but at the same time we were still so amped to get to Auckland. We met even more party goers at Auckland airport before we boarded for our big 14 hour stint at 30,000 ft. Gaz doesn’t sleep very well on planes, so he decided to take 2 sleeping tablets. 4 hours later Gary found himself still bright eyed and very awake – Gary wasn’t happy.

All in all, the trip over was really cruisy, and New Zealand airlines were fantastic with my medical needs. Judith was happy about this too. Gary had found himself brewing a pretty awesome bromance by the time we hit sunny Vancouver, making great friends with Dean and Brad. Although, old Deano had his luggage lost for two days the poor bugger.

We got to the Samesun Hostel in Vancouver, where we stayed for a total of 5 nights. We shared a four bed room with another couple, Sarah and Brad, who are now known as Megabite and Soccer Dad Brad, or Arvo. It was really cool to become close to another couple who have the same interests and ideas about the whole Canadian experience. Shortly after arriving at the hostel, we somehow ended up at the bar downstairs, the Beaver (get your minds out of the gutter). We were stoked to see cheap food and beer on the menu, but after sinking a few froffies we all hit a wall after a long day of travelling.

On the Monday, which was our second day in Vancouver, we decided to get shit done. We got up early, went and organised our social insurance numbers, and organised our mobile phone numbers. Judith and I were then ecstatic to see an old friend in Renae Doherty waiting for us at the Hostel when we returned. Can you guess what happened then? Yep. Beers, wine, and more beer and wine. Catching up on over a years worth of stories and experiences was swell. It was this night Gary became solidified as Dan’s drunken alter ego. I actually feel like I am two different people after continuously being called Gary, Gaz, or Gazza. Dan seems like a distant memory. It is really funny when nicknames stick, even Judith is being called Judith on the reg.

The following day we did an amazing bike round around the Stanley Park Sea Wall where we saw sea lions and squirrels.

The next night involved a huge group of us going to see the Vancouver Canucks versus the Detroit Red Wings  in an NHL ice hockey game. Over here, calling the sport ice hockey is quite offensive. It is virtually the same as us calling football, field football. This was a pretty cool experience. Although the Canucks lost, we still had a heap of fun wearing our jerseys and other typical ‘traveller’s’ merchandise.

Then there was Halloween. Wow, what a night. Judith dressed up as a dead red fox, and Gary went as a dead cow – charming, hey? It was cool to see just how much the Canadians embrace the Halloween spirit – it’s really contagious. The night unfolded with many drinks consumed, and Gary was out and about pretty early. We then decided to organise a limousine to drive us around for an hour – for shits and giggles I suppose. A common theme started to begin in Vancouver, which became pretty damn dangerous. Pizza shops are open virtually all night in Van, which is a deadly trap after a big night. Virtually every night we would get a slice of pizza on the way back to our hostel, and this is where Megabite got her nickname. It wasn’t very creative, but it was effective, and justified. It was the name of her favourite pizza shop. We all woke up pretty fresh because the thought of spending a 2 hour bus trip up a ridiculously windy road to Whistler hungover was pretty scary.

 

We made it here, alive, and healthy. Stay tuned for the most recent adventures of Judith and Gary in Whistler – oh shit.

How It Happened…

Welcome to “Gary and Judith Abroad”… the travel journals about Gary (Daniel Gray) and Judith (Hayley Mutton) exploring life abroad for a little while!

It was in October 2012 when we seriously considered moving out and buying a house. Then Gary said to Judith, “we aren’t going to be able to go overseas and travel and work and live if we have a house…” And then the tide changed. We both agreed to go on our USA/Mexico holiday first and see what it would be like travelling with each other before making any big decisions about living and working abroad.

A month in the USA and Mexico was epic. Once we arrived home in December 2012, we began pondering about moving, working and living overseas…Maybe we could live in London? Or Germany? And then, the light bulb switched on for us when Gary’s sister Mel suggested that we do a snow season in Canada.

We haven’t looked back.

Research began. Phone calls to working holiday programs were made. And then we found our match.

The Working Holiday Club. A program that is designed to help you to arrange your Working VISA, to get you a job and a season lift pass (for 6 months that is!) and most importantly, make some amazing friends – which we are already doing!

The months of January, February and March were all about Skype interviews, filling out forms, working out what mountain we want to work at and what job we would want to do and with utmost excitement, booking a ONE WAY flight to Vancouver!

April and May were spent preparing for our job interviews and then the time came in June to have our interviews! July was spent anxiously waiting for our job offers and finally, Gary was offered a lifty position and Judith a ticket salesperson position!

The countdown has been on since receiving our employment offers and we have since bought a backpack to pack our lives into and had several drink-ups with our fellow travellers. We also, very sadly (for some anyway), quit our jobs in August.

Today, being the first day of October, means we leave for our adventure THIS MONTH.  Just days left of work, and weeks left until we leave, the feelings of excitement, anxiety, happiness and sadness are mounting.

We fly to Vancouver via Auckland on Sunday 27/10 and spend five nights at a hostel where we will meet new friends, attend a hockey game and celebrate Halloween before heading up to Whistler on Friday 01/11.

Whistler will become our home until April 2014 and we will then venture to Vegas for more partying before commencing our Europe adventure in Istanbul, Turkey for ANZAC Day.

We hope you enjoy our blog and take pleasure in knowing what we are doing on the other side of the world!

Gary and Judith.

xx

IT’S ALREADY SNOWING AT WHISTLER!

http://theworkingholidayclub.com/