The Wacky months of Fall in Whistler

---

Well Fall has hit and it's dragging us along for the ride of cold mornings and lots of rainy days, which equals Snow on the Mountain's "yippy". Temperture wise we have been anywhere from -3 - +14's and the long range forecast is saying, lots of cold days coming up with some mixes of Snow and Rain in the Village which is very exciting to. Also with the cold temps means Snow making in the Alpine which will make sure the resort opens on or even ahead of schedule.

As for what I've been up to? The anwser is pretty simple, not much! Seeing the Golf course closed a few weeks ago and the Mountain opens in a couple of weeks, the in between time of now has been pretty uneventful! However it has been the perfect chance for lots of Strength and Conditioning training at the local Gym everyday and lots of walks around the Village and hitting the Supermarket alot to try suss out the bargins that will save a 'jobless bum' a few dollars. Also the subject of Residency has been getting alot of time put towards it. As you can probably amagine like dealing with any Customs or Boarder control the process is lengthy and starting off before even thinking about putting 'pen to paper' there is 41 pages plus a whole internet site to read threw to make sure you do the process in order and properly. So currently I've done all of the above bar filling out the forms which I will do once I get some cash flow come December, so I will be able to lodge the forms in the early New Year. Now for those of you out there thinking "oh no" he is realy serious about not coming back to Australia, yes I WILL be coming back to Aust frequently but just for Holidays for the forseeable future seeing traveling every 6 months to and from Aust is not cheap and also continully setting myself up every 6 months is just a real pain in the butt so this way it will not be such a hassel to come back for holidays when I'm not working seeing my choice of work and the lifestyle that goes with it over here is very appealing.
Seeing we are only 2-3 weeks away from Work and being able to Ski it's realy getting busy with Australian's, English, Kiwis and just about every other countries representation of Workers who are here to find Work for the Winter. Oh yeah we are in Canada so there are some Canadians here aswell but you would'nt know it seeing it feels like Australia over here and it almost feels like the last person leaving Australia soon should "turn the lights out" seeing there are so many of us over here for the next 6 months. Currently most large Employers in town have Job Fairs going on currently too. So as for my job, I start work on the 25th of this month which is opening day of the Mountain and I can't wait to get back into the grove of Teaching and Training for my level 3 exams. Today I went and picked up my Uniform as well as got my locker. The Uniform this season is brand new seeing the last uniform was 3 years old. It's a bright green Jacket and Flease and grey Pants which look pretty nice and feel very thick and warm which is very exciting. On Wed I need to go to WhistlerBlackcomb's HR department so they can get all my documents off me so they can legally pay me, which will be nice and it will probably be like a mini reunion with work colleges aswell which is exciting. I will be picking up my new pair of skis early next month which is very exciting aswell, seeing I'm getting them for a pretty good deal threw work and everyone that has a pair of these particular Skis just raves about how good a ski they are for what I need.
I hope everyone is going well and scoring heaps of runs if your playing for the mighty Mountains Cricket Club this season. Also sorry for more pics of San Francisco and Seattle but I've not been taking many pics on my camera of late seeing the memory card is not full yet.
So until next time, catch you later.

Mark

---

Photos

DSCF0029
Fishermans Whalf

DSCF0055
Looking from Alcataz to Downtown

DSCF0065
The Cell the Famous excape attept happped from on Alcatraz

DSCF0139
Sealions at Fishermans Whalf

DSCF0183
Dry Waterfall in Yosemite

DSCF0235
Model of the Wright Brothers plane