All the gear and no idea

As most of you will be aware before I left Perth I had already leased my apartment for the season at Big White. The owner of my apartment (Cory) has been very helpful from the first email exchange offering helpful tips for getting to the hill and offering insights to working there through his job as the marketing guy for Big White and Silver Star Resorts in Vancouver and Seattle.

One such piece of advise was where to buy my snowboard and associated equipment and also not to actually buy the gear myself but rather identify what it is I wanted and then have him contact the store manager to make sure I get an appropriate discount.

So I spent two whole days in three stores (I know this sounds crazy but its a huge process) trying on innumerable combinations of boots, boards and bindings till I found a good set up at the right price. I also quickly learned that the 2009 ranges had just been released but a lot of 2008 stock was still available at heavily reduced prices as it was out of fashion...Consequently, I bought a lot of 2008 gear.

All good advice I had received was that when I buy my gear not to hold back on the boots - buy whatever pair of boots fits the best regardless of price. You spend a lot of time in them and they need to be comfortable. Following that, spend what you want to on a board and lastly get some bindings with what was left over...oh and then buy some pants, a jacket, goggles and a helmet...this was always going to be an expensive day!!

After nearly six hours of trying on boots in the stores I finally settled on these:

2008 Burton Shaun White Boots (Size 10)

I decided my stick would look like this:

2009 Nitro Team Board 157cm

And that I would join the two together using these:

2008 Rome Arsenal Bindings

At the end of the process including my jacket, pants and goggles I saved a consdiderable sum thanks to Cory and got a reasonable set up that I should not outgrow through the season. The only down side is that none of it really matches so there is no fear of me being one of the cool kids on the hill. Not that the danger of that was ever very high!

North Vancouver - Gateway to the Mountains

A friend at work back home put me in contact with a friend of his here in Vancouver - Tim. An old Perth boy, Tim has been in Vancouver for a number of years and works for a large engineering firm here.

Tim on Mt Fromme

We met on my first Sunday in Vancouver and went for a beer and Tim kindly offered for me to stay at his apartment in North Vancouver to save me some hosteling fees and generally be a little more comfortable. So last Thursday I hauled all my worldly possessions from Burnaby St, down Davie St and through the CBD to Tim's office to pick up his keys.

From his office it is a short walk to the Sea Bus terminal which is the public transport link between downtown and North Vancouver and Tim lives only a few blocks from the Sea Bus terminal on the North side. It is a perfect location, a nice distance from downtown and still central to everything.



Cars make the trip to the North Shore (as it is affectionately known) via either the Lions Gate or Second Narrows Bridges. The Second Narrows Bridge being also known as the Iron Workers Memorial Bridge given the name following and unfortunate collapse during its construction nearly 50 years ago.



Tim has been super kind letting me crash on his sofa bed, eat from his fridge and tap into his wireless Internet. I try to cook in the evening so he comes home to a meal to pay my way. The fun thing is I ride the Sea Bus everyday back into the city to whatever adventure I have planned the night before. As it is Autumn (Fall) here at the moment the weather changes throughout the day and the Sea Bus ride is always different.



The morning trip is full of the city scape with large cargo ships waiting to be unloaded or being towed from their berths having just been loaded.




The trip home is full of mountains - its a great city!!

It's called a Gaybourhood

Ice Hockey is a great game. It's fast, easy to understand and brutal to watch. It is entirely within the rules to fight on the ice and players are encouraged to slam each other into the walls. The season has just started here and the Vancouver Canucks are the local team.

I watched my first game over dinner in a busy sports bar on Granville St, a main street in downtown Vancouver. It was great night and the game tied at 4-4 at the end of the third period causing 5 minutes of golden goal extra time. Vancouver got up 5-4 and the pub erupted!

On Wednesday I wandered to the Fountainhead Pub to try to find a game to watch (they play on both weekends and mid-week). From the outside it looked like a pretty normal sports bar and was a little away from the main action. The pub was offering a $10 dinner special which included a beer - it was too good to refuse.

Alarm bells should have been ringing when instead of broadcasting the game every screen in the pub was showing "So You Think You Can Dance Canada". But I took my place at the bar and ordered dinner...maybe the game had not started yet.

I was clearly the odd one out. The only person sitting alone in a pub full of even numbered groups of men glued to the screens. When the kitchen hand tapped the barman on the bum I was sold...I was in the gayest pub in the gaybourhood.

The four men immediately to my right then broke the ice by saying hello and at the sound of my accent broke into hysteria and wavered there hands..."Oh a little Aussie Boy how adorable".

It was too late I was committed - I had already ordered and was sitting with a full pint!

What happened next was almost too much - an man in his forties moved alongside me, placed his jacket on the other side of me and struck up a conversation about the dancing and asking me all about Australia. I ate my meal in a flash, gave off as many "I'm not gay" vibes as I could muster and asked the barman for the bill.

When the barman returned with a full pint I looked at him in disbelief..."I asked for the bill" - I repeated myself. "Oh I know what you asked, for came the response, but we needed to work out a way to keep you here - this one is on me - I'll just get your bill"

I signed it in seconds, sank the free pint as fast as I could without appearing to scull it and made a beeline for the door...I was of course on Davie Street!!

Running parallel to Burnaby Street is Davie Street which by the distinctive rainbow flags (which are not obvious at night) is heavily influenced by the local gay and lesbian population. Vancouver is a modern city and Davie Street is its Gaybourhood.

It's quite a cool street with lots of shops, cafes and bars. I returned to Davie Street the next day and what had alluded me the following evening was now clearly visible. It's a cool area in downtown Vancouver that is transitioning from a rundown neighbourhood to one of the trendier and more expensive parts of town. Well worth a look but keep your wits about you.

HI Downtown Vancouver

At 1114 Burnaby St Vancouver a brown brick building bears the mark Hosteling International Downtown Vancouver.

It truly is an unremarkable building - so much so I walked past it on Saturday afternoon trying to find the place. After walking six blocks too far down a steep hill I carried my two packs back up the hill to the intersection at which I started.

Inside the building is dimly lit and divided into numerous four bedroom same sex dorms, private rooms and a series of common areas including a TV room, library (with an eclectic collection), Internet room, full kitchen, dining area and a general sitting area with papers etc adjacent to the main reception.

I stayed five nights in Bed 1 (the top bunk) of room 219 which was unfortunately located across the hall from the men's room and we endured the sounds of the many comings and goings of such a room every evening.

The rooms had a musty smell but they were largely clean with a locker for each guest. The bathrooms were cleaned regularly and there was adequate facilities for all guests so there was no waiting periods even in the morning rush. At $28 a night including free breakfast it did the job.

The strangest thing about the place was the guests...the majority of guests were Americans or Europeans similar in age to myself and were good value (this is not the strange bit). The remaining guests were almost all old men...it was really weird - a whole lot of old men...grumpy old men who tended to their daily activities, sat for hours reading books and were only too happy to find a young person sitting still long enough to tell a story to.

I largely stuck to myself in the hostel. At breakfast I sat with a couple of Norwegian girls but my days were filled with odd jobs I needed to attend to having just arrived in the country so I really did not socialise in the hostel.

After 5 nights the kind offer a sofa bed at Tim's place was gladly accepted and I moved all my belongings on Thursday to North Vancouver - more on that later.

Welcome to Canada / Bienvenue au Canada

I landed in Vancouver at the same time as two jumbo jets from Air China and Japan Airlines and found myself at the end of a long queue of organised tour groups and Chinese and Japanese students. The line moved swiftly and I collected my bags and headed to immigration to obtain my Canadian Working Visa.

My internet research led me to believe that this process was a simple as applying online, proving who you are, that you can support yourself and..."Welcome to Canada".

By the time I joined the line 15 student and working visa applicants from the above mentioned planes waited before me. As I reached the beginning of the line it became clear that they were being questioned heavily by the four immigration officials and being made to provide documents proving employment, enrolment in university and receipts for accomodation.

All I had on me was an email containing my Letter of Introduction, a copy of a bank statement and my passport...things got worse when the girl before me was only granted a six month visa as she could only prove she had 4 months of full time work. This wasn't on the internet...it was my turn:

Pablo: "G'day"
Canada: "Australian?"
Pablo: "Yes Sir"
Canada: "Passport?...born on rememberence day?"
Pablo: "Yes Sir"
Canada: "Would you like to stay for two years?"
Pablo: "Yes Sir"
Canada: *Stamp Stamp* "Have a nice day"

As the only person in the line not off the abovementioned aircraft it was a little embarassing walking back past the line of would be applicants. I had been processed in less than a minute when others had taken 15...equality for all?

I did not dwell on it for long - what did i care - my ticket was validated and a whole country stood before me.

Better late than never

My 11:55am flight out of Melbourne on Oct 10 was heavily delayed by “unscheduled maintenance”. By the time they rectified the problem the crew had missed their window to work safely and a whole new crew was required for the plane to leave. It took till 9pm that night for a full crew to be assembled in Melbourne and QF025 was finally on it was way and my trip began in earnest.

Melbourne sunset Oct 10 2008

Our flight took us through Auckland and on to Los Angeles where I was to connect through to Vancouver with Air Alaska. News of the delay in Melbourne saw Qantas move all but three of the passengers due to join us in Auckland to an earlier Air New Zealand flight to LA. When the majority of passengers disembarked in Auckland it quickly became obvious that only a handful of people would be joining me for the second half of the trip to LA. When we finally re-boarded the plane at 3am, 35 of us took a row each on the 747-300 and got comfortable. By this stage it was obvious that I would miss my connecting flight to Vancouver and Qantas were unsure which flight I would be included on.

For me the delay was a blessing in disguise. Not only did it make the flight very comfortable with more than a row each on the plane and as many meals as you could eat (four dinners and a breakfast) it meant I had to spend a night in LA at Qantas’ expense as the only available connecting flight for me was now on Saturday. I was put up in the Hilton for the night. With LA being in the same time zone as Vancouver this proved to be a comfortable place for me to catch up on some sleep and allow my body to adjust in comfort.

By 10am Saturday morning, fresh from the Hilton, I was on my Air Alaska flight to Vancouver and pretty excited to be on the final leg of the trip. We flew out of LA on a perfect blue sky day with the HOLLYWOOD sign visible from the runway and the flight North over the city a great picture of what a huge city LA is. The surrounding landscape of LA is also quite amazing. Again this flight was empty and I enjoyed and exit row to myself - all in all for my $290 I scored a pretty comfortable trip across the world.

Pablo's Path

Welcome to Pablo's Path...a record of my journey to North America and hopefully beyond. I'll try to update the site regularly with posts and photos of where I am and who I've been hanging out with...which so far has included no one but my own thoughts...for nearly five days.