Ben has been busy updating his blog today. I've been standing next to Ben most of the week so for an update on me, check his blog. (The link is to the right of this post).
There are rumors going around that they might be opening the mountain this weekend! Fingers crossed. It's been raining heaps in the village but snowing heaps up there.

G'day,
I'll make this a quick one as internet here is 20c a minute (plus 7% PST and 7% GST... they don't include that in the ticket price of anything. So annoying!)
We took the 9am Greyhound from Vancouver to Whistler on Wednesday. Everyone who has done this trip has told me how beautiful it is but you really have to see it to understand. The highway follows the coast line the whole way and there are hundreds of little islands off the coast. It is spectacular.
We arrived at Whistler and headed straight up to the staff housing office to organise our room. We have a two bedroom (2 single beds in each room) unit at Brio, which is a 5 minute walk into the village. The place is absolutely filthy. I actually took a photo of our damage checklist because it was like a comedy script. I'll post it when I get a chance. We'll give the place a good clean up when we are sure we are staying. Apart from being dirty, the place is actually quite nice. A good living room/dining room area. Plenty of floor space for would be visitors. My room mate's name is David. He is a Kiwi who has been living in London for about a year, but he sounds like a pom. He's a good bloke and we get along well.
We had the first of our two job interviews on Thursday. It was a company fit interview, basically are you a crack head or not. My second interview was on Friday with the head of rentals for the mountain. He was a French guy called Phill. I didn't really know how to take him. I don't understand French humor. I think the interview went well. Stupid questions like "If you could be an animal, what would it be" and "If you could take three items to a desert island, what would they be". He gave me the impression that I would be working on top of the mountain greeting guests and storing their skis and jackets while they use the restaurant. He said you get to ride a bit so it sounds ok. We'll see.
I actually went for a job at the top restaurant here a few hours ago to see if I could get a few nights a week extra work as a Service Assistant. Araxi restaurant if you want to look it up. Apparently they have a web site. They are looking for full timers though so the manager said she would keep my resume on file. I'm pretty much just going for jobs to get out of the house at this stage. It's better than sitting at home staring at the wall.
Have met plenty of Aussies already. David said there are more Aussies here than in Earl's Court, which he assures me is a lot.
Not much else to report at this stage. Hope you are all well.

Does a bear shit in the woods?
Saturday was a beautiful sunny morning, apparently very rare in Vancouver this time of year. I took this opportunity to head down town to catch the Sea Bus over to the north shore so that I could take the 236 bus to the base of Grouse Mountain. I had been told by Conor (the crazy Irishman) and Rea (my Canadian dancing friend) that when in Vancouver, you must conquer the Grouse Grind. I found out why they call it "Mother Nature's Stairmaster". I took a few photos, but they turned out blurry because I was puffing and panting so much. They don't even come close to displaying how steep the hike actually is. After 61 minutes and 2.9Kms of hiking, my vertical ascent had gained 853 meters. I really wanted to beat the 1 hour mark, but I stopped to take some photos of a friendly squirrel.



The view from the top was breath taking.



I used to think that the above question was rhetorical. Well I'll have you know that a bear does not shit in the woods! There are two orphan Grizzly Bears at the top. Apparently, these two are special because they are the first Grizzly Bears that have been successfully raised in captivity without their mothers. I met a few guys from Perth who are living and working in Vancouver and had a good chat with them. We went over to have a look at the bears and they were pretty inactive. We went up a bit further to see a few white wolves that also live atop the mountain. When we came back down, one of the bears decided to go for a walk. He strolled down and around a little pond in the enclosure, right down in front of about 20 eager on lookers. He then proceeded to take two careful steps backwards towards the pond and dropped the kids off at the pool, if you know what I mean. It was so funny.



There were some amazing wood carvings around as well.


(Josh, Me, Rich)

We decided that we had had enough exercise for one day and took the cable car down the mountain. It was $30 for a return trip, but only $5 for the trip down. An incentive to urge people away from falling head first down the Grind.
I had dinner with Rich and Josh at a Mongolian restaurant in Davies St. $10 all you can eat. Great meal. You choose your meats, veges and sauces and hand them to this guy...

who cooks it up for you. Quite entertaining to watch.

Big day, so I had an early night.

I went for a walk on Sunday morning to find some fruit. The scurvy was taking hold so I thought it was time for a dose of vitamins. When I returned to the hostel, I asked at the front desk whether Ben and Bron had checked in yet. The girl said "Are you Justin from 401? They were just here looking for you." I went up to their room and there they were.

They were a bit hungry, so I took them down to Davies St for some Mongolian. Yum. We wondered around town a bit and got a coffee at a Blenz cafe. There are about 50 Star Bucks cafes in the down town area but we thought we'd be different and try their competitor. They have free wireless internet in their shops which is handy because Ben's laptop has a wireless card. From Ben's room, we can get a signal from the shop across the road. I am sitting in the lounge in the backpacker's though, as they have free cable internet which is lightening quick.

We sorted out our SIN (tax file number) yesterday and tried to get a Canadian drivers license. Unfortunately they won't just give us one as we had hoped. We have to sit a written test and then do a practical test. I still have trouble looking left at intersections so I'm not sure how well I'd go behind the weel. I think If I am going to do the test, I will do it somewhere a little less busy than downtown Vancouver.

Not doing much today. Bus to Whistler tomorrow morning at 8am. Housing interview at 2:30pm. Job interview on Thursday at 9:30am. Everyone at this hostel seems to be heading up to Whistler. It's a bit of a worry. Fingers crossed.

Hi Everyone,
Just a quick note to let you know that I have arrived safely in Vancouver. The flights were fine. I had in flight entertainment from Auckland to San Fran which was great. I had my own LCD screen and could choose from a heap of movies and even play games. I suck at chess. I got my 12 month work visa no problems which was a relief. I'm at the hostel now. I've been out on the town with a guy from my room called Roger. He's 36, from the UK, and has been travelling around the world for the past 6 months. We walked down Granville street and got talking with some religious chick spreading the word of God. She was cute so we didn't tell her to piss off. Don't worry, we weren't converted, but she was a nice girl all the same. So many hobos in Granville St!
Went to a bar on Granville St called ... I have no idea (maybe Lexington???), but we sampled a few Canadian beers including Molson Canada, a crisp, refreshing, lager and a honey brown lager which was a dark, strong flavoured beer with a hint of honey. Definitely no Beez Neez though.
Tomorrow, I think I might walk down town to Stanley Park. I've heard it's nice. Only a few Kms. I'm not sure if I should wait for Ben and Bron to get here before I do the Grouse Grind (hike Grouse Mountain). See what the weather is like. I think it's supposed to rain tomorrow.
Any way, almost out of internet time. Hope everyone is well.
Stay tuned for more exciting news.
Love Teddy.

One more post and I promise I will go and pack!
I said good bye to an old friend tonight. We've been through some good times, and some bad. We've traveled over 120,000Km together over the past 6 years, 40,000 of which took place after a total write off 4 years ago (I was stationary at a pedestrian crossing at Uni and was pole axed by a Toyota Camry who "Didn't see me!"). Dane and I fixed her for $42.50, and spent remaining $3,000 insurance pay out on my last trip to the US.

Dane's little brother Luke has been given the honor of continuing her legacy from this point forward. She's been riced up a bit with the addition of some hot blue racing stripes and custom art work on the bonnet. Be good to her Luke and she won't let you down.

I had dinner with my good friends from Delville St on Thursday night. What a magnificent meal. Thank you Marissa for going to so much trouble. Freshly rolled pasta, cherry tomatos on the vine, with marinated, oven roasted mushrooms (am I close?) followed by chocolate fondue for desert. The evening was topped off by a friendly game of 500, dominated by Drews and myself (better luck next time Dane and Kimbo!).

Sorry about the delay getting the photos up from the party. I've been a bit busy running around like a headless chook this week. Here is a summary of the 400 odd photos from the night. I have some snap happy friends (Thanks guys)! I had better go and pack. My plane leaves in 13 hours!

My going away party was held at mum's place in Victoria Point last night and it was a fantastic night. There were a number of cameras floating around and I will be posting photos when I get a hold of them.

Some of the high lights included Jimmy's famous bucket'a'sangaria again, twice in two weeks! Dane's Harvey Wall Bangers, very refreshing. Jimmy's other trade mark, Fruit Tingles, which became an orangey, purpley, brown, fizzy concoction when mixed with Dane's Harvey Wall Bangers. Heidi's bottle of Jägermeister, which came out at 6:45pm! Some of us peaked a little early .... you know who you are. The inaugural Victoria Point Latin Dancing Congress took place under my mum's pagola. Some of the best dancers Brisbane has to offer put on a show, followed by free private lessons for a few lucky by-standers. I avoided my usual fate and didn't get thrown in the pool. It rained a bit but not enough to douse the party spirit. I didn't burn the snags, thanks to some expert supervision by Arn. Conor the Irishman received the gold star for being the first to arrive. Drews received a special mention for being the last to leave.

Thank you to everyone who came along and made the night memorable. You are all very special to me and I will miss you like the deserts miss the rain. A bigger thank you to my twin sisters for keeping the party on track and cleaning up this morning. I love you both. 5 sleeps!

Tonight we headed out to the Pavillion in West End to shoot some stick and celebrate Trev's birthday (Happy birthday Trev!). It was another terrific night, topped off with a well earned dose of Gelati. 7 more sleeps!

Everyone had a blast at Ben and Bron's going away party last night. "Come dressed as a country or a state". I'll leave you to work out who came as what. I'd like to make special note of Ben and Bron's neighbours, who put up with our antics until 5:30am Sunday morning without one call to police. I wish I had neighbours like that.


The traveling party.


Señior Jimmy mixing his famous Sangria.


It was quite tasty. Made a bit of a mess of the tiles though. Don't worry, nothing a bit of elbow grease couldn't fix in the morning.


Mixing Sangria is hard work!


"Bra"sil... Very clever Ben.


The foosball men will never be the same again.

Well, I just had a lovely dinner at Pago Pago Cafe Restaurant in Manly. Good food, great wine and even better company. Thank you to Kobie for organising such a fantastic night. It's nights like this that I will miss the most.

15 days to go!!!
Thanks for dropping by. This blog will serve as my travel diary while I am away. I'll let you all know how I'm doing and upload photos on a semi-regular basis. I'm excited about hitting the slopes but am sad about leaving all of my friends.