Our dear deer friends

Over the last week we have had many visits from the local deers. It all started the other morning when we sat down for breakfast and there was a huge deer right at our window watching us! Now there are several and they seem to be hanging around at every meal time waiting for food.

You can just see in the distance another one over at a window waiting for food.

I was determined not to feed them because I don’t want them to rely on humans for food and stop eating what nature intended (at the moment they are still munching away on the grass buried under the snow), but,one afternoon me and some of the other girls decided we wanted to feed one that was being very persistant, just once. 

She was very tame and ate straight out of our hands, reminded me of a dog, gobbling up the food and immediately looking up for more. She even tried to eat my finger! I’m guessing she will be back, but we are not going to feed her again.

I think we should call her Bambi, what do you think?

Seasonal Home (The Manor)

(14/11/14)

Last Friday we moved into our new home for the season - Manor 88. The manor was built for the 1988 Winter Olympics which were held at Nakiska. The manor has 88 rooms over 9 suites. Each suite has 8 – 10 rooms.

Matt and I have our own (separate) rooms which are connected with a bathroom that we share between the two of us. It is a little odd having separate rooms after 4 years of sharing.. but, it is nice having my own space and it’s not like he’s very far away.

We share a kitchen and tv room with the rest of the people in our suite – who are 90% Australians. There is Matt and I, a couple from Spain, 1 girl from New Zealand and the rest are all Australians who came together on the working holiday program (which means they paid a company to find jobs and accommodation for them).

We had to buy all our own bedding which was fine by me, but we didn’t realise until we got to the manor that we would also have to buy kitchen utensils and appliances as our kitchen had next to nothing! So we went into town on the first day we got here with some of the girls and managed to go in together to buy things like a toaster, a set of plates and some good knives. We were hoping the other group of girls would buy the kettle and some cutlery…. But not yet… so we are sharing about 3 spoons, a fork and 10 butter knives….

Matt's Birthday Night 11/11/14

Hi All, sorry I havn’t posted in a while, we have just moved into the staff accommodation (more about that later) and there hasn’t been any internet.

As you know, last Tuesday was Matt’s birthday.

We went out for a nice dinner with our roommates from the hostel, Sophie, Joel and Miki. We went to the Magpie and Stump which is a great Mexican place in Banff that we had been to before. It was $2.50 Taco and $6 Bulldog night (Joel and Miki can’t cook so they find the best deals around town and go out every night) anyway, we had some tacos to start and a meal each (I had Nachos, which were amazing!!) the boys took advantage of the cheap drinks (A bulldog is a lime margarita with an upside down Carona in it) and Sophie and I had some Sangria which was also so amazing.

After our amazing dinner (I’m really hoping to go back there next time we are in Banff) we went to ‘Wild Bills Saloon’ a country western themed pub which have Kareoke and a Mechanical Bull every Tuesday. We didn’t sing but we all had a go of the bull – it was very fun and harder than it looks.

 This is Matt on the bucking bull :)

Seeing there was a 30min wait for the bus, we decided to walk home… UP the hill, IN the snow, -20 degrees…. It was not a fun time, but I guess it’s something I had to experience.

Poppies and Birthdays..

November 11 2014

Today is Remembrance Day. It is also Matt's 23rd birthday.

Since we got here, there has been a sea of red poppies for remembrance day. The day is even more in the hearts and minds of the Canadians this year, after the recent shooting in Ottawa.
We went along this morning to watch the parade in the main street of Banff and the ceremony at the Elementary School.

It was a cold and miserable snowy morning but the sun was shining after the ceremony had finished so we spent some time in town.

Because it is Matt's birthday, (and because we are moving to the snow fields at the end of the week) we decided to treat ourselves.... we bought snowboards (and boots, and bindings, and goggles).

Aren't they pretty.........

His                                                                          Hers

                   

Do you want to build a snowman?

This morning (Sunday 9th Nov)  we woke up and it was snowing! It had been snowing all night and everything was covered in a thick layer of snow (just like in the movies!).

We decided we would go down into town for a walk despite the fact that we are both sick. I slipped over on my bum on the icy road when we were walking down to the bus stop.

Town was beautiful covered in snow! But it was very cold and windy and we were not feeling the best so we checked out a couple of snowboard shops (matt needs proper boots, bindings, goggles and gloves for his new job) then went to ‘Boston Pizza” which is a little sports bar. We had wings and pizza and Matt enjoyed watching the American Football with a beer while I watched the snow falling over the town.

(These photos are just for you Aunty Chris).

We are now at the hostel sitting by the fireplace, and someone has built a snowman outside :)

We got jobs!

Friday 7th Nov
These are our ‘we just got jobs’ faces!

We went into Canmore today (the next town over & about 30 minute bus ride) for some job interviews. Matt had one at a coffee shop and we both had one at a clothing store. While Matt had his interview at the coffee shop, (I enjoyed a chai late while preparing for my interview later in the day), I received a phone call about a job in the ski fields I had applied for. After a quick phone interview, I had a job! (Matt had an offer from the same resort last week but had not accepted the offer yet). 

Of course we both accepted and promptly called the clothing store to inform them we wouldn't be making our interviews.

We will be working at Nakiska Ski Resort in Kananaskas Country (a 45 min drive from Banff). Matt will be a lift operator and I will be in Food and Beverages (with an opportunity to work in the Daycare later on in the season).

We also have staff accommodation and ski passes, free lessons and lots of other perks, as well as a friend from school who has been working there for 3 years already (and has a car and can come into Banff and get us!) 

We are aloud to move into the “manor” on the 14^th of November (which is also the day our hostel accommodation runs out) – so it really seems that it was meant to be and everything has just fallen into place perfectly.

So since we had the rest of the day off and no longer had jobs and accommodation to think about we caught the bus back into Banff and decided to go up “Sulpher Mountain’ in the gondola.

 

Wow! I thought Tunnel Mountain was big, but it is a baby hill in comparison! (I don’t think you’ll find me hiking up it). It was snowing at the top when we got off the gondola and we got to hike up to the summit, it was windy and freezing! But so worth it! There was also a little hut on the top where back in the old days the weather reporters lived.

That smaller mountain is Tunnel Mountain (the one we climbed the other day)

This is a special bus that can drive on the ice. We didn't get to go in it though.

After our cold adventure, we decided to celebrate our new jobs by going to our new favourite burger place “Eddies Burgers” and ate way too much!

Beautiful Banff

A couple of days after we first arrived in Banff, we did some exploring... here are some photos that I just got off the camera.

 


This is the Box Valley River (I think) that runs through Banff.

We found this recreation park that had a playground, BBQs, a skate park and also this BMX or Mountain Bike trail with jumps and ramps.

These are some more photos from our hike up Tunnel Mountain..

Hot springs and Mountains

Hi all,
Just checking in, been a pretty busy couple of days,

First of all, here is a photo from Halloween.

I think our face paint turned out pretty good considering we didn't really have anything planned. I'm glad we decided to do something though because it really is a huge deal over here. We ended up going to a hostel halloween party with our new room mates, It was really good timing because we got to know everyone really well.

This is our room.. Its not the best photo.. but its pretty much 3 bunk beds and not a lot else... we had to  remove all our stuff today so they could clean so its really tidy now.

We have some really cool room mates - there is Matt and I, 2 guys our age from Perth who are both in the same boat as us (looking for jobs and houses), a Canadian girl (same boat again) and another Aussie girl who has already got a job but no where to live yet. As you can tell, there are a lot of Aussies over here.

We have also seen some cool wild life... the other morning when we got up these Elks were outside the window, really close, they got frightened when they saw us though.. there were heaps of them all over the hill.

We also saw another bunny today, he was just sitting beside the footpath,, not sure if he was someone's pet or a wild one be we did see a wild one in Calgary last week so who knows..

We havn't seen any more squirrels...

On Monday night we went up to the hot springs with our room mates, I'm not really sure what I expected but it was pretty much just a big hot pool at a hotel up in the mountains. It was lovely, but I didn't take any photos. I spent most of the time jumping in and out because I'd get too hot sitting in the pool, then get too cold sitting out..

Yesterday (Tuesday) Matt and I climbed Tunnel Mountain, one of the mountains close by. It was really tough! It took us about an hour to hike to the top, and it was really windy and cold (snowing on top) but the views were absolutely amazing. 

This is about half way up, looking over the town..

 This is on the top looking over the valley on the other side.

The photos don't really do it justice, but it was truely breathtaking,

Bye for now, lots of love from Stef & Matt x