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Published: April 1st 2009
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Ascending Knox Mountain
looking towards the north Onto Kelowna now where, we made our way to our hostel, called Samesun where we would be spending five nights. Kelowna, which is affectionately known as K-town, is a city of about 120,000 on Okanagan Lake, a prominent feature of the Okanagan Valley in interior British Columbia. The city's name derives from the native term for 'grizzly bear'. The suburbs and areas surrounding Okanagan Lake are quite picturesque, with any view along the length of the 135km long Okanagan Lake being stunning.
On one particularly nice, warm day we went for a day-hike up to the lookout point of nearby Knox Mountain, which was a short 15 minute walk from our hostel in downtown Kelowna. The entire Knox Mountain forms part of a larger nature reserve area, with plenty of hiking trail, mountain bike tracks, information signs and picnic spots. There are no facilities though for overnight stays. The hike up took roughly two hours, mind you we were taking our time, as we found ourselves a short of breath a lot quicker at this higher altitude. At the summit, we stopped for a picnic lunch, enjoyed the special views and just basked in the pleasant autumn temperatures.
Later
during our K-town visit, we took part in a classic Canadian tradition...a Wednesday wing night and hockey game. Now, its not just attending the hockey game, but also the compulsory Wing night at the local pub beforehand. Wings are as you would imagine, just chicken wings but prepared in a swath of different possible flavours and textures. And they are super cheap...like 25 to 30 cents each, perfect for a travellers budget. I know some people who would eat 30 or more in a sitting, but the most Lauren and I ever managed was 35 between both of us!! That works out at about $7 buck dinner for two. Not bad. The hockey game was really cool too. The league involved is not the mighty NHL as most would presume, it is however a second tier league of Under 21's called the Western Hockey League (WHL), from which young talent is scouted and then drafted into the NHL. The quality of the play is not at all compromised, these young players can really turn it on for the audience. Big hits, fast plays, plenty of fights make for great and entertaining action. That night the home town team - the
Kelowna Rockets played against the Spokane Chiefs, a team from south of the border in Washington State, USA. We had front row seats, right on the glass, allowing us to really see and feel, up close the intensity and physical nature of this great game. I could understand this and did envy the players as I also played ice hockey in my younger days for several years. As a result, I would have to say that hockey must be one of the most fun, involved, dangerous and skillful team games known to mankind. 😊 The Rockets didn't win that night, but we weren't too concerned as we enjoyed the game and had a great night.
At the end of our Kelowna stay we shared a cab up to Big White with some friends we made at the hostel. Big White is roughly a 60km gradual ascent towards the south east from Kelowna. We were super excited to move into our studio apartment in a buliding complex called the 'Whitefoot Lodge'. It is centrally located, with good ski-in ski-out access, an underground heated carpark, a communal hot-tub and more importantly really close to our workplaces. Now a bit about Big
White Ski Resort: It was opened in 1963 with two t-bars. During the 60's and 70's there was constant improvement of the lift infrastructure and construction of new accommodations. In the early 80's it went into receivership and was then bought from the Canadian government by the Schumann family in 1986 for about one million dollars - bargain eh!! The Schumann's previously owned and operated Mount Hotham Mountain Resort and since purchasing Big White have expanded, improved and carefully developed Big White to become Canada's largest ski-in ski-out mountain resort. I think it is a brilliant ski resort with so much variety and perfect terrain for snowboarding.
The pre-season activities prior to the lifts turning included a spot of partying, backcountry hiking to explore our new mountain environment, a small bit of snowboarding and eventually training for our employment. One of the more memorable parties included the halloween party, with everyone getting super invloved and creative. We made lots of new friends that night and enjoyed a sing and dance with some friends we had already made. Then there were plenty of nights out at the local bars - called Snowshoe Sam's and Raakel's Ridge Pub. Yes there are
only two!! I think I prefer Sam's mainly due to its close proximity to our apartment in the Whitefoot Lodge - it is literally a 30 second walk from our door to Sam's door! Cool! Let the party times begin! Yes, alcohol was drunk, some coin was spent, but it was all in good measure, very fun and a memorable experience.
Hiking the back and side-country, exploring the stunning forests on the fringes of the ski-resort and just getting into nature was something I was really looking forward to before coming to Canada. So, the day after we arrived to Big White, on a cold and misty day, I decided to venture out into the forest, not really knowing where I was going. Out somewhere in the middle of it all, I made a nice fire, cooked some pork sausage, warmed some bread and enjoyed my tasty lunch. This is something I have loved doing this sort of thing since I was really young, learning the skills and motivation to do this from my dad, Ladislav. Next time I went for a hike, Lauren also came along. We did something similar to my previous trip just in a different
The Village Centre
Out of frame to the left is the Whitefoot Lodge spot. Such hikes were repeated several times prior to the start of the season with other friends and sometimes alone.
Lauren and I both started our training schedules for our jobs mid-November, Lauren doing condo housekeeping and I was to be a night auditor at one of the hotels - called the Chateau Big White. We completed paid training for roughly two weeks each and were looking forward to gettng busy at work again and most importantly making a little bit of coin. Much to our disappointment, the arrival of the snow was delayed quite a bit, with well below the necessary amount falling during pre-season for the resort to start lift operations on time. So, almost all Big Whte employees including us were laid off work indefinitely, just waiting for more snow! Not having any money coming in was taking its toll on our bank balances very quickly, especially as the Aussie dollar was very weak at the time. But eventually, albeit over 2 weeks late...the big snows arrived and the lifts started turning. Now it was on...like DONKEY KONG!!
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