Thanks for reading

To everyone who has been following my travel blog - Thankyou for sticking with me. I hope i didnt bore you too much with my life overseas including all the unnecessary intricacies such as meals and toilet breaks. Just 37214 words ago I had no idea where my adventure would take me.

On the plane over to Canada I was scared out of my wits - I knew noone and was all by myself - way to be thrown in the deep end! Now I am finding it hard to leave and am planning my next visit to Canada. God has blessed me so much with both friendships and in keeping me (and my family) safe from harm and out of disaster and trouble. So many things went wrong on my trip, yet He always seemed to figure them out no problems. It has certainly confirmed and strengthened my faith in God, and I know He has my back no matter what.

Canadiana Walkabout - I came over here to go on walkabout, to discover who i am, and I found myself, right where i left it. I have learnt a lot, and came to the realisation that I am who I am. When out of my comfort zone and alone in new places and situations it seems I don't have to be someone else who I'm not or put on a charade. I'm the same Rhys - but I wouldnt have known that if i didnt come over here. I am who I am and I'm proud of it. I dont need to change.

Whilst I say that I am the same guy, I have also grown and matured and gained what I feel is a lot of life experience in the past 7 months. I come back home ready to take on new challenges, go new places, and meet new people I probably would not have before.

For those that may be contemplating taking a lengthy overseas adventure like I have, DO IT! You will have a blast, and even if you have a bad time i know that you will come back not regretting it. It's life changing (in a good way). There is something seriously different about living in another country in comparison to holidaying there. I much prefer it. An experience that I will certainly never forget for the rest of my life! And newfound, lifelong friends!

Canada Eh!?

I cant wait to talk to you in person and share more of my adventures. (Maybe even some of the misadventures that were omitted from the blog)

Yours truly,

Rhys Morgen Lee Cameron

Whistler

So the flight to Vancouver went along without any hiccups other than having an overweight bag and having to rearrange my luggage so I didn’t have to pay extra. Watched ‘The Social Network’ on the plane. When I arrived in the late afternoon I waddled through the airport to the skytrain with my four bags. It was very awkward moving about. I made it to downtown and to my hostel – the Cambie Hostel. I met my Aussie roommate and we chatted for a while about our adventures. By the end of the conversation he had applied for Muskoka Woods next summer. For dinner I went to free pasta in the bar downstairs and then went to the best sushi of my life in a downtown Japanese restaurant.

The next day I visited the local mall and just wandered around downtown. In the afternoon I met up with Helene and her friend at a bar and we watched the World Junior Hockey Finals with Canada and Russia. It was an exciting game and Canada ended up losing.

The following day I spent indoors in the morning because the whole time I was in Vancouver it was raining. Boo. At lunchtime I met up with Ella and her friend Jenna. They showed me around town, took me to the sites, we had some pancakes. It was very nice (apart from the rain). On the way back to the hostel I went through Chinatown, which was pretty sick. There were plenty of cheap souvenirs. I bought a pair of fluoro construction pants for 10 dollars. Bargain!

The next morning I caught the bus to whistler. The drive was absolutely spectacular, I couldn’t take my eyes away from the window. It reminded me a lot of New Zealand, with the water and islands/mountains. I met Kelly when I got there and got settled into her place. We spent the afternoon catching up, and then wandered around Whistler Village, did some groceries. That night I went to Kelly’s neighbours house, with a bunch of Aussie guys and a Kiwi guy – Spoon who was very inviting and friendly. We hung out at their boys night and ate some delicious burgers. After that we went back to Kelly’s place for a hot tub…fabulous. Especially when we jumped in the snow and ran back to the spa. It was followed by an intense game of table tennis with Kelly.

The next day was the first day of riding. It was incredible! Beautiful weather, snow was amazing – lots of powder spots. I rode Blackcomb with Kelly and two of her friends. In the afternoon, Kelly went to work so I stayed riding with her friends. At around 1:30, when we were doing powder runs, I was following them and then they stopped to wait for me, I rode past them over a hump which turned out to be a vertical drop onto flat ground. I don’t really remember it because I got a concussion. But from reminders I have a bit of an idea. I think I landed on my feet and then somehow got a concussion from the impact. I blacked out and when I woke up I saw them standing over me asking if I was ok. I told them I had tingles all over my body. After that I remember nothing. The next thing I remember I am sitting in the lodge down the bottom with two of the girls eating food. I asked them who they were, what country I was in. I remembered NOTHING for a good 5 minutes. It was such a weird feeling. I don’t know how I got to the chateau from where I hurt myself, and a bunch of events are blank. That night I had to stay awake for 10 hours after the injury so didn’t sleep till midnight.

Sunday we started at 9am and rode till about 3pm on Blackcomb again. Another beautiful day! I took it pretty easy after my injury the day before. My ankle was sore and my neck had a bit of whiplash. I came close to getting a 360, but got a backside 180 which I was happy about. At 4:30 we went to ‘church on the mountain’, which was pretty cool. They held it in a theatre in the village. It was different in that after the sermon, people could share their thoughts concerns and questions to the speaker. After church I met a few cool people and ended up going to dinner with them for one of the girls birthdays.

Monday Kelly was working so I rode with a bunch of people from church on Whistler. It was extremely cold! About -22 degrees plus wind chill. I somehow survived the whole day riding. At night we had another spa and intense table tennis game. Then Kelly, Calvin and I went to the movies and saw Little Fockers. It was hilarious. I also tried Haagen Daas icecream for the first time and I must say there was quite a party in my mouth and my taste buds were getting their boogie on.

Tuesday morning Kelly and I slept in a bit and didn’t get onto the mountain until 10am. We went right across the mountain with two of her friends to a lift called symphony. It was such a great run. There was still plenty of powder around despite the lack of snowfall in the last 4 days. We stayed there all day before doing a couple of terrain park runs to finish off with. Back to the flat for another spa and table tennis game. That night Kelly got a bunch of us tickets to a Comedy show in the village. It was pretty funny. The first two guys were funny, the last 2 guys were way drunk/high and crossed the line with a bunch of jokes. One of the guys looked so much like Allen from the Hangover.

On Wednesday morning I rode with Shane (Kelly’s housemate) in about 30-40cm of fresh powder. To be honest it was too thick in a bunch of places. I got stuck quite a bit and after a couple of hours my back leg was aching like never before from leaning back in the powder. So I had some lunch and went back to the house. After a Jacuzzi I packed up and moved to the HI hostel about 15 minutes down the road. It was where the athletes stayed during the Olympics so it is very new and very nice for a hostel. Get this: in our room there is a Aussie, Kiwi, South African and Scottish. Its like the start of a joke!

The next day I rode with Spooner (a guy from Kelly’s work) and a couple of his mates. It was a really good day. We got some amazing powder runs in. I named that day 360 Thursdays – and I wasn’t going to leave the mountain until I had landed a 360. And I got it! So stoked!That night I went with my new roommates and a couple of other kiwi guys to a fancy restaurant where one of the guys worked. It was the last night the restaurant was open so everything was half price. I got an incredible 3-course meal for only 20 dollars. It was cool hearing their stories as well.

On Friday I rode all day with Kelly and her roommates. To start with we were riding with the Kiwi’s from the hostel as well. At the start of the day the visibility was ridiculously terrible. Powder thick again because it had been snowing non stop for the last 3-4 days. In the afternoon it cleared up nicely though and the sun even came out. After riding I went back to Kelly’s for another hot tub and table tennis. She beat me again in a nailbiter. I spent my night relaxing in the hostel, very much looking forward to my day off after riding seven days straight.

Saturday was spent sleeping in, reading, watching a doco. For lunch I went into the village with my new Irish roommate Andy and had a cool chat with him. Then in the afternoon I hung out with the SFC (Snowboarders for Christ) boys – Calvin and Josh. Time flew we had a really great time! Where we sat was a good location for people watching, and apparently it is a good location for other things such as selling weed. We had 4 people come up to us asking for some weed.

On Saturday night I was going to go to a dinner party with Kel and her friends but that was cancelled so after watching a bit of a rail demo at the base of the hill, I paid a visit to Helene my favourite Kiwi in Canada. She had just moved into a house with her friend and 12 other people! Big house but still very cramped. Hung out with her and some of her friends that night. I went to catch the bus at 1030 but just missed it so had to wait till 11, but then that one was full so then had to wait in the freezing cold for the 1130 one. It was alright though because time passed pretty quickly when I got to watch drunk people walking around and slipping over on the ice hahaha.

Sunday I rode with Kelly but it was very miserable weather rainy and with bad light, so Kelly ditched after 2 runs. I decided to stick to the small terrain park and get my frontside 360 by the end of the day. It was so mentally exhausting, more so than physically. I got the point where every time I did the jump I would unstrap and walk up the hill so I could not waste time on the chairlift. After 3 hours of trying and failing frustratingly and at times painfully I finally landed it and called it a day. It was good to head back to Kel’s and have a spa and table tennis – which I won this time!!!

Monday I slept in a little bit and then went riding with Josh from SFC and two of his mates. It was a good day, little bit icy at some spots but found some powder up top which was nice. Went in a bit early and spooner hooked me up with his mate who gave me a 20 dollar full board tune up for the next season. Then I went to Kelly’s for one final swim/pingpong battle. She took the title. That night we went to Longhorns pub for hangout and trivia night, and Josh came along as well. Had some goodtimes. I didn’t know any of the trivia because the theme was 80’s. Kel and I convinced Josh to apply for Muskoka woods (I should get paid for all this recruiting) and we sealed it with a spit shake (disgusting but it had to be done). Josh was trying to convince me to stay at whistler for the rest of the season, but i couldnt do it, I am too ready for home.

On Tuesday I slept in, packed up, watched a doco about war (why we fight), caught the bus to the airport. So sitting here at the airport about to head home I have mixed feelings, definitely favoured in one direction. I am SO pumped to be going home and seeing the family and friends and everything Australian, its gonna be great! But at the same time sending all these farewell txts and messages to all my Canadian friends makes me sad to leave all that I have been blessed with over here.

What an adventure!

A very Frenchy Canadian New Years

So on Tuesday Jon and I went to get a new BOA lace from the snowboard shop. Then we met up with the latest MW hot couple – Rachel and Steve Burns. We met at the rock climbing centre where we did some bouldering on the sizeable bouldering wall. It was great fun but ridiculously tiring trying to climb some of those tougher walls. My fingers/arms fatigued quite quickly. After climbing we went back to Rachel’s and had a night of eating a great meal, and playing Settlers of Catan. Jon even played and enjoyed it! Steve loved it as well. We played two games. When we went back home, Jon and I played the new halo game until 2 in the morning.

The next day we travelled 10 hours to get to Montreal. A bus, go train, subway, bus, bus and car. It went surprisingly quickly which was good though. When we arrived in Montreal, we went walking downtown and compared a couple of Shawarma places. We stayed at Lucas’ house – one of Jon’s familiy friends. The next morning we relaxed in Montreal before meeting up with Dids, Lucas’ brother. We with Dids to Bromont for some night skiing but the main lift was closed and the lines for the other lifts were about an hour long. Instead we went back to Dids’ parents vineyard. We drove on his ATV, built a jump in the snow bank with the tractor and towed into it with the 4 wheeler. It was scary but fun. The jump would have been about 40 foot long! We rode till about midnight. After doing the jump we trekked up the hill at the vineyard and did a powder run with about 2 foot of powder. Slept in the basement that night.

In the morning we went to Sutton mountain for half a day of boarding. The weather became much warmer and so the snow was turning into slush. Still it was very fun boarding with Jon and Dids. There were plenty of tree runs which were quite fun and challenging. Had a few interesting moments of my own with a tree or two. At one point my board became lodged between two trees and my body went down the hill into the powder. That made me stuck for a tough few minutes. We even took the chance to hit up the triple black diamond run which had a few testy moments in the thick trees. Had a couple of attempts at a 360, which were unsuccessful.

That night was new years eve. We went to Dids’ friends cottage. Dids’ is a professional trampolinist and has done some shows for circe du soleil. His friends that we were at were also professional trampolinists and most of them have transferred to aerial ski jumping. Crazy! The evening I must say was awkward a lot of the time because Jon and I were the only English speaking people and most of the conversations were in French. After hanging around at the cottage everyone decided to head into the town. We partied at a bistro which was converted into a club for the night. It was pretty small. The room was full, the dj was playing, the drinks were pouring. A true club - where most people were speaking french. We didnt leave till 3:00 in the morning. Since I was the only sobre one I got to drive the Mazda 6 back – probably the highlight of my night – although I did have some killer dance moves on the floor. Dids’ friends had a plethora of beds at their cottage, enough for all of us.

On new years day, we lounged around the house all day in the rainy weather. Left the house at 5 to go visit Mark and his brother Tom at a local ski hill. On the drive there in the pouring rain, Dids’ car’s muffler came off in the middle of the highway. Half an hour later, a tow truck came, and took us to a local service station. Half an hour later we had zip tied the muffler back on and headed off to the mountain. The muffler came off again just as we reached the mountain. So we bid Dids good luck and went skiing with Mark and Tom. It was raining but the mountain was empty. Jon and I didn’t even buy lift tickets because they weren’t checking for them. The boys all pulled some flips off the jump which was insane! I myself was unsuccessful with my 360 venture again. Tweaked my shoulder again which was quite a bummer.

Then we drove back to Montreal in the fancy Suburban 4WD that Mark and Tom’s rich friend Alex had hired for them. We stayed at a fancy hotel in a fancy suite, with Alex paying for everything, including everything from the minibar. We ate Shawarma’s yet again and then taxied back to the hotel for the night. When Alex came back more room service was ordered with a huge assortment of food as well as drinks for all the boys that wanted them. I went to bed before all the others. I cant say early because it was around 230.

In the morning, Mark (of course) woke us up bright and early to drive to tremblant for a day of snowboarding. Alex didn’t come because he was doing some ‘errands’ that day. 2 hours of driving later, as well as a Timmies stop of course, we arrived at the beautiful village of tremblant. The weather was warmer than usual, and it had begun raining. Because of these terrible conditions, only 9 runs on the whole mountain were open, and the terrain park was closed. So naturally the boys didn’t want to go if there wasn’t a terrain park. Instead we went back to Saint Souvere where we skied the night before. The conditions were very icy unfortunately. But we made the most of it. Spent most of the time at the terrain park. I managed to do a couple of rails which was progress. My shoulder was really sore from the night before. Looks like this injury that began at camp could be the bane of my existence for quite a few years.

After boarding, we drove back to montreal to the hotel. We saw Alex and hung out for a bit. Had the best shower of the year! Such a good shower. Jon and I were planning to stay with Genevieve that night, but she was flying back so we were just biding the time to hear from her when she got off her flight. So Mark Jon and I went to Subway for dinner, then Starbucks. We had some good laughs, and on the way back I was wrestling Mark and his pants ripped right at the crotch - hilarious.

So we went back to the hotel restaurant to hang out with Tom and Alex who had finished a fancy meal. Then the drinks started. The night was so ridiculous and hilarious and such a splurge. I certainly will not forget it. I’ll try and create a visual for you. One of the fanciest restaurants you have ever seen – then add a bunch of guys singing at the top of their lungs. Anyway about 900 dollars later we retired to the hotel room. Ordered some more room service which was delicious, and even more drinks for the others. Wrestling on the king sized bed. The guys shaved my chest haha. So it was a late crazy night – around 3am again when I got to sleep. Didn’t end up going to Genevieve’s house. So much money wasted it was ridiculous! A night I won’t forget. Especially when I have some funny video evidence.

In the morning Jon and I got dropped off at the bus station where we caught the bus to Ottawa. Met up with a lady friend of Jon’s and we went out to lunch and walked around the city. I loved being third wheel there haha. Bused back to Toronto where we were picked up by Jon’s dad. Back at Jon’s house I packed up all my possessions and got them sorted for the flight in the morning to Vancouver. A very memorable trip to Montreal, nearly staying at a different house every night. Good times – now I am one step closer to going home and seeing my muchly missed familiy and friends. EXCITING!