It all started with the going away party we had back at home which resulted in a serious lack of sleep the night before leaving. My overnight flight the next day put me in to an even worse state!

I was greeted at Auckland airport by Haidi, one of the lasses that i met over in Beijing during my internship, from there we went back to her house and she went off for work. I took this opportunity to catch up on a bit of sleep and slept through the morning before heading in to town. A quick look around town confirmed the rumours about Auckland, not all that exciting! Fortunately, once Haidi finished work, we met up with a couple of her friends and drove out to one of their beach houses in the Coromandels where we met a few others for the weekend. A relatively short walk to Cooks beach was amazing, although i was rather ambitious and undertook the half hour hike barefoot over a very rocky path.. silly! Amazing views but very cold water. Nights were filled with drinks and stories as per usual. This was about all that happened in NZ, short visit but glad i did it.

Next up was the 12 hour flight, i met a very attractive girl on the shuttle bus to the airport and thought i might get lucky and check in with her, until she told me she was flying business class! Either way it was good to have someone to chat to at the airport. Fortunately for me i managed to sleep the majority of the flight over so arrived rather fresh.

Los Angeles,.. first point on the agenda, pick up the Convertible Mustang and then on to meet Kieran and Quentin at the hotel. Naturally we had to go for a bit of a cruise, adjusting to driving on the other side of the road really wasn't all that hard, although learning that you can turn right on a red light took a bit of abuse at the lights to get in to my head! Met up with Charlie for a quick drink that night, he's doing well and loving LA, looking a lot like Rod and is just how i pictured him to be (considering it has been >10 years since i've seen him. An early night in bed before a trip out to Vegas the next day.

About a 4.5 hour drive through the desert, the highways were huge and the scenery far more interesting than Australia's. It was rather cold at points, but we were probably at fault, obviously, having a convertible we felt it necessary to drive with the top down the entire way....

Vegas... looked exactly like the pictures, bright lights everywhere! Checked in at Caesars Palace before heading over to the Venetian where the other boys had the penthouse suite, over the top, but amazing!. Being in Vegas with all the boys, undoubtedly the drinks were a flowing. A few cheeky bets here and there to make sure we felt like we were in Vegas. Went to a few night clubs each night, far better than anything in Perth but nights were left in a bit of a haze by the next day. Booked a table at Tao nightclub, private table with our own waitress and an assortment of drinks on the table.

The nights were heavy and the days spent hungover exploring the city. Everything in the States is cheeeeeap. It's hard to walk past $20 pairs of shoes and cheap clothes. Not to mention alcohol prices! Being midweek and winter Vegas wasn't too busy but we partied hard nonetheless... You'll be glad to hear that, in our best efforts, our Vegas adventure was nothing like that off the Hangover. We managed to get out and visit the Hoover Dam while we were there which was quite a site. Unfortunately we didnt make it to the Grand Canyon, Leo and I are leaving that for our way back through. FYI, my gambling efforts in Vegas would have put me about 300-400 up over the few days which was a pleasant surprise!.

From here was the drive back to LA, which was far more demanding than the drive out, maybe due to the build up of hangovers, or the traffic around LA on a Friday night!. We stayed at a cheap hotel in Marina Del Rey, had a great dinner including Lobster, Steaks, Prawns etc, for about $20. The next day we changed to Venice Beach Cotel right down on Venice Beach. We then had to drop the car off. Venice Beach itself is very strange... pretty much a freak show on the strip along the beach front. Unfortunately the weather was a bit cold so we didn't manage to get out for a paddle, instead we spent a lot of time watching the local skaters at what i believe is the best skate park i have ever seen... on the beach. We then went around to Charlie's for a few drinks before heading out for a big night on the town with him and some of his friends. First stop was the Piano bar, awesome little jazz club where we had a few drinks. We then went to a club where we had VIP/ Backstage passes organized for us by Charlie's friend.

The next day was a struggle but spent most of it chilling out around the beach, Leo arrived back from Vegas so we went out for another decent dinner before crashing for the night. An early rise led us back to LAX where we boarded our flight bound for Vancouver.

Small aircraft but fortunately we all had two seats to ourselves. Slept most of the flight, only to arrive to a cheeky 2 degree Vancouver.. COLD!. We met Owen at the airport and got in our flash transfer vehicle where we ended up at SameSun backpackers, downtown Vancouver. Mainly full of Australian's who had also been through Global Work and Travel to find a job. It didn't take long before we realised that it wasn't only us that had issues with the company, seems as though everyone had issues. In my opinion, spread the word not to ever use them! We had a big night to welcome Owen on to the tour. Day times have been spent shopping for warm clothes, snowboard gear for the guys, and eating heeeeaps!.. We clearly cannot walk past the insane food deals... for example.. 25c chicken wings.. getting big meals with a beer for no more than $10.. it's great!. We've been looking at cars to purchase, and had one in mind that we looked, a 1995 Ford Explorer, great condition for $1400 between the four of us, big car so it would be convenient. Unforutunately we didn't have the required documents on us to purchase the car so we missed that opportunity. The next night was taken easy, the guys are asleep in their beds next to me and i am about to join them as we have a day full of organising bank accounts and Social ID's etc tomorrow.. did i mention it was COLD! We finally got to meet the team at Global Work and Travel and honestly, we were not at all impressed, hardly did anything they promised, instead just pointed us to where we had to go. Bank accounts and SIN numbers were organised by us before heading back to the hostel for some fresh ones.

Rest of our time in Vancouver was spent looking for a car. We managed to pick up a GMC Jimmy for $1200. Drove to Big White which took about 5 hours where we were hoping to get a cheeky afternoon board in, but the lifts were closing early so it wasn't worth it. Instead we started getting boozy at the hostel. Playing cards with some other lads there who were also from Perth. Big night out at Sam's Bar which left me in a serious state the next day. Left the driving for Leo the next day. We stopped in at Walmart in Kelowna to purchase some work clothes, ended up leaving the store with ice hockey sticks and an air rifle. Finally made it to Golden where we stayed at the small hostel which was very chilled. Took the opportunity to test the car on the ice by committing some burnouts on in an open area, whilst shooting cans with the rifle off to the side. Feel that after that experience our level of expertise regarding driving on snow/ice has increased ten fold, not to mention the crack shot on the rifle! Monday 12th… we thought it was the 13th so started our drive out to Kicking Horse and the Bellstar resorts, turns out the Jimmy didn't have very good antifreeze and the car kacked it. Got it to the shop and all fixed, been running well since. Made it up to the mountain 2 hours late to find out we weren't starting until the Tuesday. Had a look around the mountain before heading back to Golden and start searching for houses, not so successful. Tuesday came and we made it to work, quick look around the resort and then we were back to the hostel where we met Lara form Melbourne and Richard from Yellowknife. We went to Jigga's for 9c wings and $3 pints (AMAZING). Tihngs esculated in to a big night, resulting in a serious hangover for our first day of work. Battled through and turns out the job isn't too bad. Thursday came and we finally hit the mountain for the first time.. INSANE. So big and so many runs, you could go a different way every time and still have more runs to find! Thursday we moved in to the hotel we are working at. Room 402 at Palliser lodge, 2 story apartment/suite with big kitchen, lounge, several bedrooms and a private hot tub on the balcony. All for $65 a night… between four of us! (cheaper than the hostel), talk about employee benefits. Thursday night took us to the Taps for jam night, got very boozy, Quentin hit the drums before we moved on to the Riverhouse where we boozed on with the two managers of the hostel… Alaina and Codey. The night was loose and ended up suffering for it in the morning. But hey, woke up, walked out the door of the hotel, binded up and boarded down to the gondola. Great day of snowboarding, the skills coming along. Friday night was spent recovering.

So now it's Saturday the 17th December and i have finally got the time to kick this blog off, unfortunately due to some confusion with my SIN number i havent been able to receive my free season lift pass and have decided that after two days of paying i cant afford to pay for another day of passes so i'm stuck in the hotel room along with Owen (who purchased a season midweek pass to make things cheaper), while Leo and Quentin are out on the slopes. Received my final results last night which were good, so i have finally officially passed my degree.. HOOOORAAA!!!!!!!! Surely being a Saturday night we will be having some celebratory drinks tonight.

Until next time..(which hopefully shouldn't be too long)... Toodles!!