Let the Contiki Games begin!

DAY 1 DRIVING TO WHISTLER
After making the most of free wifi and a proper bed I woke up extremely excited to meet the 34 people that will be joining me for the next 11 days around Canada. The Contiki group consists of 25 Aussies, 3 Kiwis, 2 german, 1 Italian, 1 Irish, 1 British, 1 Canadian and 1 American. We all met in the foyer of the hotel and made our way to the coach bus that we were going to be travelling on for the whole trip. I sat by myself at first and was still tired from my last tour so wanted to spread out and sleep until the HOTTEST guy ever walked on the bus and sat next to me. It was like a dream come true!! His name is Aaron and he is from Cairns in Australia. He is tanned, good body and really funny, he loved saying YOLO like me and was a ski instructor at Camp America. Anyway.. getting a bit carried away there lol when we all were accounted for we started the roadtrip to Whistler. It was such a scenic drive along the coast and it was my first taste of the Canadian blue waters and awesome scenery. This drive went pretty fast as not only did I have Aaron to talk to but Adam the contiki leader gave us a briefing about the whole trip and how it would run. We also got told that when we got back home from a drunken night to make sure we didn't pay for any tv programs on the tv's in the motel as there is always one guy on each trip that ends up getting porn and only realises when he pays the bill on the final night that it happened haha. We arrived at Whistler and it was AMAZING!!It reminded me of Queenstown. We were staying at what I thought was a huge upgrade from camping. It was a resort with a pool, spa and air con in the center of town. We all got put with one person to room with for the whole trip with the exceptions of a few people who got single rooms. I was roomed with an Australian called Ella who was on exchange too.

My new Husband

Lunch Cocktails in Whistler

Crankworx biking event

Our rooms weren't quite ready yet when we arrived so everyone either did some touring, shopping or got some food before we had to go ziplining for one of our activities. Alex a 26 year old lawyer from New York, Mary 19 year old from Aussie, Ella & Nat 21 year olds from Aussie and Mel who was born in London but has lived in NZ for the last 6 years and I all went to look at the Crankworkx Festival where there were thousands of people mountain biking and bmx racing. It even included little kids. We had lunch really close to the course and where we all were shocked that there was a live dj playing awesome music at this restaurant/bar. It was a really hot day and no clouds in the sky so we got some cocktails including the one in the photo which Alex drank that had a Corona seeping into the cocktail. Some of the girls tried one of the local dishes here in Canada called "Poutine". It is pretty much french fries with gravy and cheese. We then had to head back to the hotel and get ready for Ziplining at Cougar Mountain haha.

Ziplining time!

On our up to zipline

wahooooo!

My zipling group included about 10 of us and I was with the 9 people that had joined our contiki from another contiki around the East Coast of Canada, so all up there trip was a month long. The way it all worked was we got to do 5 lines and you do it in pairs. Bec another kiwi who is doing her masters in Dunedin went with me. The first line was small but fun and then it kept building up to longer, faster and steeper lines from there. Godzilla was the steepest and fastest line which definitely gave me an adrenaline rush thats for sure. On the last line we got to slingshot each other so we could go faster which was awesome.

Bec & I doing the run and jump line

GODZILLA!!!

The walk up to Godzilla

After zip lining our rooms were finally ready so we got time to chill and get ready before we were due at the bar in the hotel for pre drinks and then to have dinner at the spaghetti factory. Adam (the contiki leader) was so good in accommodating my dietary requirements especially since it was a full on pasta restaurant. I had my very own dish of gluten and dairy free spaghetti and meatballs. I was lucky because another person was celiacs and a couple were vegetarian etc so I wasn't the only one wahoo!! After dinner Adam found out there was a fluro party at one of the local well known bars MOJO's. He got us all in for free, drinks were $3, glow sticks were given out and there was fluro face painting for a $1 donation...What a night!! The club was pumping too since crankworx was going on. A new experience was having to have 2 forms of id at the door to get in.

My 5 new best friends!

Me & my YOLO boy Aaron

A shot called- Wet Pussy

This was a pretty wild night, I got rather intoxicated and saw a NZ flag which I "borrowed" for the rest of the night haha I decided to make a game with it.. I got my friend to hole the other side and we lifted it up and down on the dancefloor..if you weren't from NZ you had to walk around it and if you were from NZ you were allowed to go the luxury way..under it :) Seemed a good idea at the time haha. I was there until closing and then everyone followed to Whistler locals to the 4am pizza slice shop. It has every pizza flavor you could think of for $3 and the slices are ridiculously large! Unfortunately for me they didn't have any that were gluten free :(.





DAY 2 WHISTLER
 This morning was a very interesting morning.. I had a pretty bad hangover from all the wet pussy shots I consumed last night courtesy of some Canadian guys. I had to be down in the hotel foyer at 9am ready for my paddle excursion activity on the Lake. I kind've wished I hadn't signed up for it but it was definitely worth it afterwards :) You got the choice of a canoe or a kayak, most of us chose the kayak with one group choosing the Canoe. The River where we were paddling was pretty shallow so the Canoe suffered big time, with the three girls in it getting stuck around every corner haha. We kayaked 6km down a little river with a couple of small rapids in it that caused some serious almost capsizing moment within the group. It was such a nice day for it and the water was refreshing. Half way during the kayak the water temperature dropped as we entered glacier water. We had to get out of our kayaks and walk them 1km because of the water height and then re-enter the water which was a laugh. At the end of the kayak Adam our tour leader and Matt went for a quick dip to prove how tough they were. Adam handled it Matt was shivering when he came out and regretted his decision to go for a swim instantly.

The lake

                                         

                                                     Getting the kayaks ready

Once we got back from Kayaking Aaron and I decided to check out Whistler and some shops. We went to see the Olympic rings from the winter games in 2010 which was cool. Aaron got some "Poutine" which is a traditional Canadian dish in the photo below. It consists of fries, gravy and cheese.

Olympic Rings!!

Me & a Black Bear

Poutine. Fries, gravy & Cheese

After hanging out with Aaron we had some down time to have a power nap before getting ready to go to dinner at this local Irish Pub where live music was playing. The atmosphere was awesome and even better, they had a GLUTEN FREE MENU!!! The first I had seen since being over here wahooo! We found out at dinner it was 80's themed night at one of the local bars so we tried to find a potential 80's costume out of what we bought over which was almost impossible and headed to the bar. There was a lady doing fluro face paint there so we all got amongst that. It was a crazy night with locals turning up in retro 80's ski suits and pulling out some old school dance moves. There were platforms to dance on and 4 poles around the dance floor that you could go crazy on, which yes of course I did. There was a 65 year old old man with some of his mates trying to find some fresh young meat. He was hilarious, he bought Mel and I cocktails and if everyone thought my laugh was loud this guy takes the cake. He was dancing in a Hawaiian t-shirt and shorts and turned around to show us his bare bum on the middle of the dance floor in which he revealed way too much and we saw the whole package and all. Thank god it was 1:45am at that time and the bar shut at 2am as Mel and I couldn't handle much more. When its closing time for most bars in Whistler it turns into a street party for the next hour before it gets shutdown and then everyone heads to the pizza shop and gets as many $3.50 giant pizza slices for a feed on their way home. That's when it sucked to be gluten free.. OH WHAT A NIGHT!!!

Fluro Glow in the dark face paint!

                                   

                                                Me & the 65 year old party animal!

Shots Shots Shots Shots Shots Shots...Everybody!!!

DAY 3 LAST AM IN WHISTLER THEN KAMLOOPSThis morning was another hard morning to wake up to but when on contiki you just got to keep going as it really is a YOLO experience and one I recommend to everyone and anyone. This morning was a rushed start as we all had to have packed and have our rooms all cleared out and have gone on the Whistler Blackcomb peak to peak Gondola ride before midday. We all dressed for the hot weather as it was a nice day outside and seemed hot but after the first gondola ride up the weather started to drop and we were all freezing. The Peak to Peak had amazing views and the scenery was spectacular, I couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like at winter. Some of the group on contiki had never seen or touched snow so this was an unreal experience for them. We made sure we went to the top which was 7,347 feet up and had a group photo by the statue llanaaq. The statue of llanaaq is the logo of the 2010 winter games that were held in Whistler. It was also used as a navigation tool and as a point of reference for hunting places, fishing, camping grounds etc. Just thought I would throw that
 in so that the rents know I am learning during my adventures in Canada :) hehe. Today was also a day to mark in the baby book of first things I've done/seen...on the way down from the gondola Aaron and I were on the lookout for bears. We saw a black spot in the distance and lost it.. it was a baby black bear. This was the first time I had ever seen a bear and it was the cutest thing ever. It was just in the middle of the green grass directly under where the gondola ride goes. It was awesome!!!

Peak to Peak Gondola

My New favorite animal Yogi the bear!

Group shot at the top in summer clothes freezing our butts off!

Once we came down off the Gondola ride so excited to tell the rest of the crew that we had spotted a bear :) Our buzz soon died down as we now had a 5 hour drive to Kamloops where we were staying the night just for a stop over and it was too far to drive to Jasper in one haul for the bus driver Nath. It was a scenic drive with some of the longest trains you have ever seen, Bec and I counted 155 carriages on ONE TRAIN!

Beaver Dam!!!

The A team!

On the road scenery...

We stopped at a Lilooet a gold mining town on the Fraser River. It had an awesome bakery that we stopped at and yet again no gluten free food :( waaa! Rice crackers until kamloops for me. It did however have 24 soft serve flavors though!

24 SOFT SERVE FLAVORS!

Once we arrived in Kamloops after a long day of travelling we made tracks for our room and freshened up before dinner. We went to Frick and Frack's for dinner and had a typical pub meal with some awesome cocktails. After dinner a few of us headed out to the microbrewery to do some beer tasting and since it was Sam's birthday the boys ordered a bottle of Champagne. As you can imagine things got a little crazy but not as ruthless and unleashed as other nights on the trip yet had been. Kamloops was a pretty quiet place and we were only stopping there for a night so the bus driver got some rest as there is only a certain amount of hours and km's you can travel in Canada legally with no rest.

Frick & Frack's team dinner!

Best Peach/Mango cocktails ever!

DAY 4 KAMLOOPS TO JASPER
After a Denny's breakfast to start the day everyone packed up and jumped on board the bus to begin the 5 hour drive to Jasper. Today was an extra fun day on the bus as we got to play an activity called "the icebreaker" with the whole bus. Everyone had to come up to the front of the bus and answer the questions/ tell their stories using the microphone so that we all could get to know everyone incase we hadn't already.