Leaving Apex, Santa Monica and Anaheim

As the week progressed the group improved dramatically in their skiing and snow boarding ability.  In the evenings the group were exhausted, but kept entertained with a movie night, a trivia night and a Kris Kringle in which everyone had purchased a gift earlier in the trip.

As all good things do, our time on Apex Mountain eventually came to an end.  We had another 5 hour bus trip back to Vancouver. We stopped for lunch in a town called Hope, where the original Rambo movie was shot.  We then headed to the airport and flew back to LA via Salt Lake City.  After over 16 hours of travel, the group went to bed exhausted.

The next morning we were up early for a trip into Santa Monica.  We spent the morning walking around and shopping and then went to the peer where we hired bikes and rode past Venice Beach to Muscle Beach.  Along the way we saw many people working out along the beach as well as buskers, photo-shoots on the beach, market stalls, skate boarders and pick-up basketball games.

We then boarded the bus to head to Anaheim and Disneyland.  We went for dinner at an Italian restaurant named Tony Roma's and had desert at an ice-cream parlour where the sing if you tip them.

After watching the fire works over Disney from our hotel balcony, we retired to bed early for a big next day.

 Kris Kringle at Apex Mountain

 Out front of the hostel at Apex Mountain

 Bus driver stopped so Erin could shake a snow covered tree.

 Santa Monica

Bike ride from Santa Monica peer alone Venice Beach to Muscle Beach

Trip Movies

Here are some short films from some of the days so far.  We will be adding more here soon, so keep checking back regularly!

Day 12 & 13 - Apex Mountain

Our last two days at Apex have been awesome, unfortunately the fresh snow didn’t arrive until the last day but it did make our last day brilliant. Rather than writing a journal entry we thought we ask each tour member to tell us their favourite moment or highlight of our time at Apex Mountain.

Rachael

Watching Erin fall off the T-bar and slide about 20m down the hill.

Bianca

How nice and helpful our instructors were.

Mitch

The kindness and generosity of the locals.

Sereana

Seeing Jess and Jayme being dragged up the hill by the T-bar and the cute guy from New Zealand in the hire shop.

Tiarnie

Getting hit in the eye with an errant ski pole.

Jess

The hot chocolates and food at the edge café. The consideration of all the other members of the tour group.

Brent

Watching everyone stack. Having to get the room card re-scanned every day.

Trent

Throwing snowballs and being kept awake at night by Jhi and Jack.

Liam

Making the excellent decision to change from snowboard to skis.

Tom Mitchell

Skiing down the mountain bike track.

Beccy

Snowboarding in Canada and playing spoons at night.

Ben

Loved seeing snow for the first time and having Tom Mitchell help me out so much.

Jayme

Sliding down the hill on Woodsy’s Snowboogie board.

Kate

Skiing with all my friends.

Erin

Yelling at Sereana at the dinner table.

Jhi

The skiing conditions on the last day (fresh powder snow).

Jack

Parties in Trent’s room.

Tyler

Skiing with lots of people in large groups of different levels.

Ryan

Seeing ben bury his head in the powder and experiencing temperatures of -24.

Marcel

Skiing in the large group on the last day with all the fresh powder snow.

Rory

Getting up the T-bar without stacking.

Tom Dettman

Riding in powder snow.

Ed

The 50c arcade racing games.

Andy

The mountainous views on the bus ride up the mountain.

Marty

Everyone pulling together and being concerned for the welfare of others throughout the week.

Bowza

Celebrating a white Christmas in our last night at Apex.

Woodsy

Receiving a “My Little Pony” Key Lanyard for Christmas and the fantastic way in which the group has interacted throughout our time at Apex. Their care for each other has been outstanding and they should be incredibly proud of themselves.

Day 9 to 11 - Apex Mountain

Wow..........cold is an understatement. Awoke to a freezing cold day on our first day, -25 degrees and windy so actually even colder. No exposed skin out there today kiddies. Day two was a little better (only -17) and then we encountered a heatwave on day 3, all the way up to -7.

We have all been in our ski and board lessons for a few days and our instructors are awesome and from all over the world, Swiss, French, Canadian and even an Aussie. While there hasn't been any snow since we arrived and there is a limited amount of terrain open due to it being very early in the season, there is plenty to keep us going. Highlights so far have been Ben Pant burying his head in the powder snow when he failed to stop successfully, Jack Craig-Smith having a big stack in the powder snow and Woodsy almost taking himself out in the trees on a narrow little trail. A few bumps and bruises but nothing too serious so we all carry on.

Dinners and breakfasts at the Mountain Inn have been great so far and our lunches at The Edge cafe have been awesome. All the people here are so friendly and go out of their way to make us feel welcome. Everyone here knows who we are and where we are from due to this being Billanook's fifth visit here.

Evening entertainment has been fun with a quiz about all the members of the tour party on the second night here followed by movie night last night. Trivia night tonight which should be fun.

Snow is predicted for tonight and tomorrowso we are looking forward to some fresh pow tomorrow and Wednesday for our last two days here at Apex.

Apex Village 

Peppers, ripping it up!

Tyler showing his style.

Tom Mitchell shows us his stuff.

Beccy looking like its all a bit easy.

Day 8 - Vancouver to Apex

After an early rise we grabbed a quick breakfast and loaded our bags onto the bus for an 8am departure to Apex Mountain. 

Our bus driver was Dennis, a knowledgeable local, who was originally from Winnipeg.  He was quite informative and we learned that it was abnormally cold for this time of year in Vancouver, and also that real estate was even more expensive than Melbourne in the city centre.

The bus trip was 5 hours in length but the views were spectacular. We went from the city, to the outer suburbs, to rural flat communities surrounded by snow capped mountains in the distance.  Many of the students slept, and woke to beautiful white landscape of snow-covered pines.  As we drove we passed many frozen waterfalls and rivers.

We passed old mining towns and stopped for lunch in a town named Princeton.  We didn’t realise how cold it was going to get until we got off the bus. It was at least -15, and the walk from the bus to the supermarket could not be made without a hat, scarf, gloves and winter coat. It really took your breath away.  After refuelling, we boarded the bus again and completed our final leg of the journey up the mountain to Apex Mountain resort.

IT WAS COLD!

Even the locals commented on how abnormally cold it was. It was -24 and it didn’t take long for someone to comment that the difference in temperatures between here and Melbourne was over 50 degrees!

We are staying in a hostel with communal bathrooms and ‘two to a room’ dorms. The blankets are the warmest I have every experienced, but I guess they have to be in these conditions.

Apex is not one of the biggest ski resorts in the region, but that is its appeal.  All the staff here are lovely and friendly and give you time of day. They also have a regional Canadian accent that makes you smile when you hear it and reminds you of the characters out of the film Fargo.

Ms Bowring Checking out the views with a frozen waterfall on the side of the road.

More frozen waterfalls

Remnants of a mining past still in the hills

Day 7 - Grouse Mountain

Lazy start to the day today as we wandered down to Waterfront Station to catch the Seabus to North Vancouver. From here we caught the bus to the base of Grouse Mountain where we were due to catch the Skyride up to the summit. The Skyride is a huge gondola cable car that carries about 50 people up the side of the mountain. The views were fantastic, we could see the entire city of Vancouver and away to Cypress Mountain to the South. On a clear day you can see as far as Vancouver Island off the coast.

As soon as we arrived, it was straight to the skate hire shack and onto the skating pond. There was lots of unsteady Billanook students and many spills. Rachael Palmer showed us some of her figure skating moves.......NOT! We then headed into the cafe for some warming hot chocolates and a snack. We watched an old christmas movie "Frosty the Snowman" in the Theatre in the Sky before heading down the hill on the Skyride again.

The afternoon was spent sampling all the shopping that Vancouver has to offer with a great many students taking advantage of Canadian store "Roots" and their amazing tracksuit pants. I promise they are the most comfy trackies in the world!!!!!!!!

Dinner at White Spot and then early to bed before the long drive to Apex Mountain tomorrow.

Day 6 - Vancouver Aquarium and Ice Hockey

Today we started by meeting up before 9 to have breakfast at the century plaza, the restaurant was pretty average, we all then realised that there was a nicer little café in the hotel as well and thought that would be better for the next day.
We walked to a bus and caught it to Stanley Park where we took a short walk to the Vancouver Aquarium. We were able to see amazing white Beluga Whales being trained so that their keepers could check their health and ensure that they are well taken care of. The two Beluga’s were a mother and daughter team with the daughter being the first ever bred in captivity. We also saw a show from Pacific White-Sided Dolphins. They were so fast and leapt incredibly high into the air. We also saw many different species of fish that can be found in various parts of Canada, Otters that played with balls and seemed at times to be showing off for anyone watching as well as seals and sea lions.
After the aquarium we caught the bus to the market district of Granville Island where we had lunch and were able to look at local arts and crafts. A short walk from here took us to 4^th Avenue and a number of Ski Outlet Stores where some of us were able to purchase the final pieces of clothing we’ll need at Apex Mountain in a couple of days.

We caught a bus back to our hotel to drop off some bags and then straight back out to a bus to get to the Pacific Coliseum to see the Vancouver Giants take on the Kootenay Ice in a Western Hockey League match-up. The Giants finished up 3 – 2 winners and the crowd left happy. Pretty cold day today so we headed back to the hotel and talked about the next day and what to wear to make sure we were all comfortable and warm. 

Out the front of the Vancouver Aquarium

Trainers checking the body of a Beluga Whale for injuries.

Penguins of the world, including the rare 'Bowser' penguin!

Rory joining the local marine wildlife.

Rink-side seats for the local hockey.