Matt's Ski Trip

Nearly home

2006-01-20T16:44:00.000+11:00

Back in Vancouver now. Flying out to Sydney tomorrow evening. Just wanted to put in a couple of quick updates...

Spent a day at the San Francisco Zoo earlier in the week. Pretty good setup, next to the ocean. Most interesting for me was the big pussy cat enclosures. They use a moat instead of bars to keep the punters safe. So I was able to get some photos of a Lion lounging around waiting for his dinner... will post them when I get my website back up and running.

Also had a look at the Golden Gate bridge and took some snaps.

Next day was the Monterey Bay Aquarium which is very impressive. It's like walking around an enormous lounge room with two story high fish tanks! No pics to speak of though.

Yesterday, Rob and I had a day out with the cameras so we went to SF again and spent the day shooting the touristy sites. Golden Gate from the other side, SF trolley cars, Alcatraz and we also stopped at a little place called Pacifica just south of SF. Had a bit of fun runnign around the middle of the road trying to get just the right angle, looking down the hill with trolley car in the foreground and Alcatraz in the background.

I also got a bit of a thing going where I would try to fit in the ubiquitous American Flag with all my photo subjects. Wasn't too hard, the yanks are a patriotic lot!

Hmm, that's it for now. Next stop is Sydney and I'm going to sleep for a few days I think!

Computer History Museum

2006-01-15T16:46:00.000+11:00

Today we checked out the Computer History Museum. Pretty interesting stuff. Had a tour around the "archive" where they had all sorts of stuff from the dawn of computing, starting with the abacus, all the way up to the machine that beat Kasparov at a chess tournament. Some highlights included a US automated missile defence computer console (complete with built-in ashtray and lighter!) and the flight control computer from an Apollo lunar module.

During the tour, the guide kept mentioning that a group of volunteers were refurbishing an original IBM 4201 computer. (We're talking 50's or 60's vintage here...) After the tour Rob and I went to find these guys. When we walked into their lab they couldn't wait to tell us about what they were up to! It was actually great fun. These guys were in the 70's at least. One of them had been working on this stuff since WWII. The older guy was working on a card reader (he'd pulled it to bits to find all the broken parts and was in the process of putting it back together). They all joked that they hoped he got it back together before he died! He actually showed us the faulty components - a couple of steel shafts where the bearings had worn out so they wouldn't turn properly!!! (They don't make 'em like that anymore!) They actually had the 4201 CPU mostly running (i.e. it could add and subtract) so that it was doing 20 or so of it's 35 instructions properly. Multiplication and division was an optional extra (no joke!).

Some other highlights were the original Apple 1 computer (You had to provide your own keyboard, screen and power supply) and a prototype for the Palm Pilot.

Welcome to the Hotel California...

2006-01-15T16:31:00.000+11:00

Hello from downtown Sunnyvale, CA

Hanging out with Rob and his tribe in Silicon Valley (or pretty close to it).

I'm having a tourist experience here. Yesterday we went to the NASA Ames research museum. They had all sorts of good stuff there. The best being a real live Mercury spacecraft on display. This one was an early unmanned version, but they used them for manned missions later on the program. These things are nothing but tin cans! Seriously! There are no hatches, the astronauts were bolted into the thing! Next to the tin can (err, sorry, "spacecraft") were a couple of space suits. The ones use for the Mercury missions came complete with silver spray-painted Doc Martens as well. Another suit was supposedly used for the Gemini missions where the astronauts did a spacewalk! They must be making this stuff up! There's no way anyone would wear this get-up in the vacuum of space, surely? They orbited the Earth in this stuff??!!?!?!??

Leaving Whistler

2006-01-08T09:09:00.000+11:00

Last day in Whistler today. Dropped into the physio this morning with a little present and a card for them. Had to thank them for putting me back together in time for the level 2.

Bags all packed and now killing time before heading back to Vancouver.

Made some good friends here. Did a deal with one of the instructors (the guy who set me up with the custom fitted boots) that I'd come back next year and he can teach me to ski bumps properly! We also have an appointment with a double black run called "The Cirque" that I will need properly functioning knees for!

Which reminds me, not long now and I'll be back home looking for a "real job" so I can earn some "real money"!

CSIA Level 2: in the bag!

2006-01-07T20:25:00.000+11:00

Woo-hoo! I'm a very happy boy tonight - ace'd the skiing technical demos and got some good marks on the teaching assessment too.

Not bad for an old guy with dodgy knees!

The pic shows some of my fellow skiing gurus going through their teaching assessment. I had already finished so was able to relax and smell the roses so to speak. The big dude in the red and white is our course conductor. He's a level 4 uber-skier, and never misses a photo-op! My skis in the foreground - just in case you think I'm making all this up ;-)

CSIA Level 2: Last day tomorrow!

2006-01-06T14:42:00.000+11:00

Well, I've made it this far. One more day of ski technique demos and teaching a lesson and it's all over.

I'm working on the theory that if the coaches haven't pointed out anything really bad then I'm still in with a chance. We will see...

I am looking forward to a beer or six tomorrow night!

More Snow!

2006-01-04T14:31:00.000+11:00

This ones for you Staggy!

30cm overnight yesterday, 4cm this morning. It's snowing outside right now and the forecast is for around 30cm again tonight.

By the way, does everyone know that the 2010 Winter Olympics are being held in Canada? Whistler is hosting the Men's Downhill events and they are building a bobsled track as well. If you want to come I suggest you book now...

CSIA Level 2: two days in...

2006-01-04T14:25:00.000+11:00

The knee is holding up OK so far. This is good.

My skiing was total rubbish on Monday. Very disappointing. Today was a fair bit better in the morning and by the afternoon I was getting back in the swing of it. Hopefully I've done enough to make the course coaches happy.

Two days of teaching and then a final assessment on Friday. We get homework to do in the evenings too...

The fortune cookie that I got with lunch today read: "The best teacher is also a good student." Very profound!

CSIA Level 2

2006-01-02T09:39:00.000+11:00

Well, tomorrow is the big test... either my knee is going to hold out for 5 days or this blog is going to get stale fast...

Stay tuned and wish me luck!

Happy New Year 2006!

2006-01-02T09:27:00.000+11:00

New Year's Eve, Whistler style was pretty big. Managed to get into a pub with some of the people in the ski group. The place turned out to be a great pick. Most of the people there we my age, the band played tunes I knew the words to, and the beer was reasonably priced!

Spent the night bopping (yes, I even danced!) and they played Men At Work's "Down Under" and Waltzing Matilda for the Aussies - very sporting! We rang in the New Year to a pretty fair rendition of Led Zeppelin's "Rock 'n Roll". One of the guys brought his Aussie flag with him (is that normal?)... and we got pretty pissed!

Weather was something different too - it snowed like crazy most of the night. They tell me Sydney had 40 degrees this week!

Ice Hockey

2006-01-02T09:22:00.000+11:00

Went to an ice hockey game a few days ago. The match was a friendly between the Blackcomb and Whistler ski instructors. Blackcomb won 7-3. One of the Blackcomb players went home in an ambulance.

Ice hockey is a very fast game. You have to see it live to be able to follow it really. On TV you can't see the puk most of the time!

Weather improves...

2005-12-30T07:39:00.000+11:00

Apparently there has been some good snowfall on the mountain over the last few days. They tell me it's getting nice and soft up there. It snowed heavily in the village yesterday morning. Made a change from a week of rain.

Hopefully I'll be fit for next week and can give you a first hand report!

OK, I'm off to the pub for lunch...

Disaster...

2005-12-30T07:21:00.000+11:00

OK, I've had a few messages from you guys wondering why there have been no updates for a while...

So, the short answer is: I gave my knee a pretty hard smack on the Thursday before Christmas and haven't skiied since.

The snow was a bit weird that day, after being rained on, some fresh snow over the top made conditions quite tricky. You'd be skiing along and the skis would just stop dead. I've lost count of the number of times I've ejected over the front of my skis, but this is the first time in 15 years I've hurt myself. I picked myself up and skied gently down to the lift. By the time I got back to the top I could feel my knee stiffening up. Shit. Download on the gondola and head straight for the physio...

I was planning to take myself heli-skiing for Christmas but instead I stayed at home, mainly because I could barely walk.

But the good news is that there appears to be no ligament damage. The swelling has come down quite well, so I've got pretty good range of movement and I can walk fine. Weight bearing seems to be OK too. So, touch wood, it will be OK.

The level 2 instructor course starts this Monday and will take up all of my last week in Whistler. So I've decided to give the knee as long to recover as possible and then jump into the L2 course with no training and see how I go.

Nooooo...!

2005-12-21T04:34:00.000+11:00

It's raining at 2000 metres...

Ooooh, that looks steep...

2005-12-20T12:40:00.000+11:00

Been snowing all day today. What a relief! Still snowing outside now (night) so we could be in for a good day tomorrow.

I've been bumped (pun intended ...) up to the experts group so our instructor has been searching out some pretty gnarly runs for us to tackle. Have to admit I am struggling to keep up with these guys but it's all character building I guess...

We laid some fresh tracks in the powder this afternoon which was fantastic. Although one run that looked soft and smooth from the top actually had a bunch of VW beetles parked under the snow. I had a couple of spills on that one...

Whistler Village at Night

2005-12-16T16:57:00.000+11:00

Here's a pic of Whistler Village lit up at night. It's about -7 degrees celsius.

I'm planning to take some decent shots with a real (film) camera this weekend. Will try to get some from the mountains as well. Supposed to be sunny for the weekend... There are rumours of a big snow dump next week. (puhleeeeeease!!!)

YES,Yes, yes...

2005-12-16T16:49:00.000+11:00

Woo Hoo!!!

Passed my Level 1 Instructor exams today. So just for the record, I am now a qualified CSIA Level 1 ski instructor! How good is that?

So now when I get the old "So, what do you do?" when meeting people, I get to say "Oh, I'm a ski instructor."

The (very bad, mobile phone/camera) photo is of my CSIA L1 lapel pin. CSIA stands for Canadian Ski Instructor Alliance.

Now for the level 2 exams...

CSIA Level 1, Day 1

2005-12-13T12:17:00.000+11:00

Started the first of 4 days which comprise my level 1 instructor certification. Got off to a pretty rusty start in the morning but got it together by the afternoon. Got some positive comments from the examiner so that's good.

Snow conditions were pretty bad - rock hard and slippery, as in, ice everywhere. Got a bit of heavy snowfall during the day but it hasn't set in yet. Hopefully the next few days will bring some fresh snow to soften everything up.

I'm off to do my homework assignment now!

Gone fishing...

2005-12-09T12:58:00.000+11:00

I found the creek that gives it's name to the part of the village I am staying in - "Whistler Creekside".

Don't have a fishing rod though...

Spectacular view

2005-12-09T12:53:00.000+11:00

More snowplows today. This ski instructor gig is not all it's cracked up to be! Took this shot on the way to the only serious run we did today. I remembered the name of the peak in the background - it's called "Black Tusk". Much more impressive in real life I can assure you!

Closed!

2005-12-07T16:52:00.000+11:00

When I said we skied out of bounds the other week, I was not quite correct. The Flute Bowl used to be out of bounds, now it is part of the ski area but not open all the time - depending on snow conditions, whether not enough or too much (avalanches). Today it was closed again. The peak in the back ground is a volcanic plug, the name of which escapes me at the moment...

Mountain Pics

2005-12-07T16:40:00.000+11:00

Nice sunny day on the mountain today so I took a few snaps. In order: view from the mountain towards Whistler village; view roughly north from the main mountain restaurant, our group's skis in the foreground; view roughly south from the restaurant, and yes, I've skied down the ridge in the background, through the gap just left of centre.

Had plenty of time in the afternoon because we spent most of it learning how to teach "snow plow" turns. Can't remember the last time I did a snow plow, they are harder than you think, especially when you have to exagerate all your movements so someone watching you can see what is going on!

Hey Staggy, I bet you are laughing into your beer right now!

A rest day

2005-12-04T07:36:00.000+11:00

Saturday is a day of rest in Whistler ;-) I've done a little touring around the main village. Found a good shop (intructor recommendation again) that will demo the skis I want to buy. They also seem to have much better prices (more competition in the main vilage I suppose)

Not really much to do here except skiing and drinking. I've had a bit of a chuckle at all the youngsters in the group getting pissed and making fools of themselves. I'm a bit of a lightweight drinker these days, especially after skiing four hours a day. But that's OK ;-)

Got some more pics of the village that I promise (!) I will upload shortly.

I'm a video star!

2005-12-04T07:27:00.000+11:00

Saw myself skiing on video twice ths week. Nice to know I look beter than I feel in the bumps!

Finished up the first week of instruction yesterday (Friday). I was pretty pleased with how I went - starting to fine tune things now which is getting tricky due to information overload. Anyway, I did some runs down the mountain that I wouldn't have attempted before. Steeps: we traversed into the bottom half of a double black run and hooked into some soft but lumpy powder. "Instructor Bob" reckons he's going to take us in from the top before the course is over. Yikes!

Also tackled some bumps (which I hate with a passion) but Instructor Bob assured me I was looking good even if I felt out of balance 90% of the time.

A huge benefit I've got is that my instructor referred me to one of Whistler's legendary boot fitters to fix up my boots and therefore stance. Apparently this guy (who has a black run named after him - "McConkey's") fits all the top racers and instructors and he is a local legend. Anyway, should be money well spent if it fixes my right turns!

Today we ski out of bounds...

2005-11-30T13:24:00.000+11:00

Have been skiing with a group of 5 pommies. Our instuctor is a good bloke and loves to push us a bit out of the comfort zone.

Yesterday we went under the boundary rope in the search for some powder. Pretty exciting, once actually getting down the hill we had to ski through the trees to find the piste again.

Next up was a cliff! (Well it looked that way from above.) I made it down pretty well I thought, so did the next guy, then the crashes started. One guy slid most of the way from top to bottom on his back!

Anyway, my skiing has improved a lot just in the last two days, so it's looking good. Having said that I'm glad of a rest tomorrow!

Whistler

2005-11-30T13:18:00.000+11:00

Got to Whistler on Sat night. Settled into my little abode and when I woke up in the morning it was snowing! Conditions not the best yet but still pelenty of snow and fresh powder to play in some mornings.

I am now the proud owner of a season ski pass to Whistler-Balckcomb resort! Extra bonus is half price food from all the mountain eateries. Makes the food reasonably priced!

The part of the village I am staying in has progressed a lot since I was here last. Most shops are across the road from me so makes it much easier to get everything you need. I have to walk maybe 100 metres to the gondola which is a bit of a stress but there you go ;-)

Saturday

2005-11-27T07:27:00.000+11:00

Sunny in downtown Vancouver this morning. All packed up ready for the bus ride up to Whistler.

There is a great influx of footbal fans this weekend for the Grey Cup. The Canadian Football League's grand final (I think). Everyone is walking around with replica match shirts and all the pubs a geared up for some heavy drinking sessions. Learned a new phrase the other day: "bar hop" which translates almost exactly to "pub crawl".

As everybody knows, the only good thing about American style football is the cheerleaders and they're wandering the streets in packs too! Friendly little things ;-) If you're going to a game, don't forget your binoculars...

The date

2005-11-26T16:42:00.000+11:00

Finally caught up with my new best friend tonight for dinner ;-) A real live Canadian chick no less. Hope she doesn't read this! Nice girl, down to earth. She's moving to Australia around the time I'll be in Whistler!

Now, don't bother leaving any comments for this one OK, 'cause I'll just delete them. Not mentioning any names.. Sue Howell!!!!!!!!!!!!

China town

2005-11-26T16:34:00.000+11:00

Yeah, I know, every big city has a china town. But I've never been to any of them. (Except once when I got lost in Sydney.)

Now I know why. There was an over supply of derros here, even for Vancouver. They weren't too fussed about sleeping on the wet concrete either. And that stuf they sell in all the shops? What is it? I need a haircut and could have got one for $7.00, but the barber was asleep in his chair...

Came across a Film Production in progress, well, on lunch break by the looks.

Few blocks away a suspicious black car on the footpath drew the attention of the police. I guess they weren't too happy about it because they strode into the building with hands on their sidearms. I guess they were going to ask the guy to move it?

Matt's restaurant guide

2005-11-26T16:26:00.000+11:00

Being an unemployed bum hasn't put me off my tucker yet so have been looking hard for some good places to eat. A bloke can only handle so many pancakes for breakfast.

Had someone recommend "Cafe Sil Vous Plait". Turned out to be a cafe with a French name that served not especially French food. Run by a little Asian man and they had Men at Work playing "Down Under" on the radio. Nice breakfast. Coffee better than Starbucks.

Lupo's is a block down from the Hotel Vancouver. Best coffee in town. Their lattes are what I would call a flat white (you can't order flat whites over here.) The smallest cup is the size of a soup bowl so one a day does the trick.

There's a place two blocks from my hotel called Centro that has a writeup in the Lonely Planet guide. Went there for dinner. The food and service was outstandng. Tapas is very popular in Vancouver and this place is one of the best. (Says me who has only tried one of them!) Go there, you won't be disappointed.

Where was I?

2005-11-26T16:13:00.000+11:00

Oh yeah, in the pub. So I arranged a date last night via email. Due to unforseen circumstances we didn't catch up. More on that story later.

In the mean time, found a pretty good pub. Bar tender looked after me (as they do when you're tipping) with Kilkenny by the pint. All the beuatiful people were there. Never thought I'd see so many tanned bodies in Vancouver!

Got talking to a dude from Iran, interesting bloke. Everyone's a snow boarder, so might see him in Whistler one weekend.

Some culture

2005-11-25T13:20:00.000+11:00

Got a real cup of coffee into me with lunch and then checked out the Vancouver Art Gallery. They just happened to have a Picasso exhibition on. Being such an art Philistine I didn't really know many of the works. They mainly had some older etchings and drawings. "Weeping Woman" was probably the most well known. It's pretty intense close up. Old Pablo was pretty handy with a pencil, you could take 3 or 4 paces back from some of the pieces and the shading looked like a black and white photo.

He had some dark stuff in there too. A series called "The Rape" is pretty much what it says. Old news to non-philistines I suppose.

No photos allowed of course.

Stanley Park

2005-11-25T13:07:00.000+11:00

Had a little recreational walk in Stanely Park this morning. Helped to clear the jet-lag fuzz out of my head!

The park is huge! Bounded all around by water, with a walk/bike track at the perimeter. It's criss-crossed by internal walking paths through the trees. A lake in the middle is home to plenty of wild birds and duckies. There's three or four restaurants in there too. (In the park, not the lake.)

There is a section telling of the native history, particularly their totem poles. Totem Poles are unique to northern British Columbia and Alaska by the way. (I read the tourist info, so now I'm a ex-spurt!) They are nothing to do with religion but more like a coat of arms, telling a story. Got some pics to post later. Some of the totem poles in the park are the real deal, carved in the 50's and 60's, others are copies of older originals that are in museums.

Got some pics of the Lions Gate bridge. About the size of the Sydney Harbour bridge, but taller and a cable suspension design. The main drag to the mountains from Vancouver uses this bridge to cross the harbour (Burrard Inlet). It seems a busy shipping area and I noticed some big logs (i.e. trees) floating around so the ship's pilots must earn there keep.

Cold today. 5 degrees I suspect. Looking up any major street to the north you can see mountains and snow...

Snow, snow and more snow.

2005-11-24T16:34:00.000+11:00

And some fog.

Delayed arrival into Vancouver due to fog but the view from the air turned out to be quite exceptional. Unfortunately I was to tired to bother taking pictures but basically there was bright blue sky, snow covered mountains stretching to the horizon and a low blanket of fog that looked like a river flowing through the valleys. Very pretty.

Did you get that Staggy? I said "snow covered mountains as far as the eye can see!!!"

Supposed to be 5 degrees here today. I was comfy in a t-shirt and jacket. Probably a different story when the sun's not out.

Vancouver is similar to Sydney. Lot's to see and do, and tomorrow after some sleep I will be reporting on some of it! Pub next to my hotel has Kilkenny on tap and serves reasonable food so we are off to a good start.

too tired must... get... sleep...

A slight change of plan

2005-11-24T16:29:00.000+11:00

Long story but I had to fly through LA to Vancouver. So added countless hours onto the trip. Got talking to a NZ guy while waiting. He was OK for a snowboarder ;-) Reminded me of Sue Dias' good friend "the Tonester".

Got to Vancouver a few hours ago so am back on track.

Ever onward

2005-11-23T12:57:00.000+11:00

OK, that's it for now. Got a few hours to kill before jumping on the plane for Vancouver. Get ready for a climate change!

The beach

2005-11-23T12:50:00.000+11:00

Made a quick dash for the beach after brekky. Went past this shop which is next to the Waikiki Police Station. Hmmm...

But the police station is right on the beach so they got some things right!

Weather is not too good. Rain and wind seems to have followed me from Tassie. Probably a blessing in disguise as the temperature is staying down at bearable levels.

Made a slight tactical error - only have one pair of shorts, which I swam in. So I had to walk around for a few hours while they dried on me! Picture makes more sense now eh? I could tell I wasn't going to fit in here when I saw people getting out of the water with snorkel, flippers and ... a metal detector.

Feed me!

2005-11-23T12:47:00.000+11:00

Now here's a challenge - finding a heathy breakfast in the land of the greasy hamburger. I thought I did pretty well with eggs, bacon and pancakes (with cream). There's a business opportunity in this town for anyone who wants to set up a cafe that makes actual proper espresso...

Two friends of mine in Mountain River will get a chuckle from this picture!

Honolulu

2005-11-23T12:44:00.000+11:00

The customs computers were down for an hour or so when I landed. So made lot's of new friends while standing/sitting in line. As the saying goes, you learn something new every day. Today I learned that taxi's in Hawaii charge extra to carry luggage...

Maybe after some sleep things will improve!

Time travel

2005-11-23T12:42:00.000+11:00

Since we were flying backwards in time, the sun set at about 4:00 Syndey time. Please excuse the crappy mobile phone camera. You'll be seeing a lot more of them so get used to it!

Sir, please remove your shoes...

2005-11-23T12:37:00.000+11:00

Getting out of Sydney was an experience. Luggages is subject to inspection even before you check in these days. Thought I was safe once I got through customs but no - They had three security people at the gate lounge. Checked everything in my bag. Gave me the once over with the metal detector. Then the third huy wanted my shoes. Serious. I'm just glad they didn't see a need for the vaseline...

Last minute supplies

2005-11-20T19:01:00.000+11:00

This morning's mission was to procure a new ski bag - one with wheels! Managed to find a bargain at Inski and ended up with two bags for the price of one. Woo hoo! Now I've got all my gear in two wheelie bags and a small backpack. Should make getting to and from airports a lot less stressing.

Wongy and Rachel are being fantastic hosts as usual. Dinner is roast lamb and veggies. More wine anyone?

Sydney

2005-11-19T17:01:00.000+11:00

OK, arrived in Sydney. Wongy fed me Tim Tams and coffee.

Dinner at the Spanish Tapas bar in Crows Nest was great as always. Being semi regular customers they even gave me a little going away gift! Anyway, the trick with eating tapas is to break the meal into at least two courses. That way three of us managed to get through ten dishes plus the obligatory churros with icecream and chocky topping for dessert :-)

Into the wild blue yonder...

2005-11-19T09:24:00.000+11:00

Left Devonport early to catch a Launceston to Sydney direct flight. Hobbes was devastated to see me go. So he decided to catch up on some sleep...