Yet another week flies by and im still trying to catchup with my blog from before!! I have had the best time in Banff though! I love that place so much and im so so glad that im going to get to come back again because im going to take mum and dad when they get to Canada! On Tuesday (29th April) night i went out with some of the girls that are working/staying at the hostel; Tara and Lauren are from Austaralia - they are sistaers but you cant really tell!! Emma is from the Uk - Gloucster, Lisa (canadian girl) and Karen (austaralian - no longer staying at the hostel - has a job in Banff and used to stay at the hostel!!) We were heading for 'Wild Bills' for karaoke! But we started out in Mel's Steakhouse for $1.75 highballs! The girls are all really nice - none of the guys in the hostel wanted to come out as they were having a pool competition and had a crate of beer in the courtyard at the hostel so were happy staying there! 'Wild Bills' was a great bar - Karaoke was so funny - all the locals were singing west country songs and when people got up dance it was all line dancing! A few drinks later we all got up and did our very own version of line dancing - i seem to remeber hitting my foot a lot obviously thinking i was doing the heel clicking thing - i think i just slapped my leg a lot!!!! haha!

As we'd been walking into Banff that night on the way out - we saw a little family of white tail deer taking a stroll throught the townsite! They are so cute - they were whitetail deer - just like bambi! It was kind of surreal for me because they are wild animals and there are ways to live around them - you are not supposed to go any closer than 30 metres to any wild life that you see out there; but being that close to truly wild animals is one of those things that you see on the tv!! But it was very real! When i arrived in Banff i got a booklet about being in 'bear country' and how to be and what to be aware of. All the bins are 'bear proof' too so as not to attract bears to be near humans otherwise they will become habituated and lose their fear of humans. They have also just woken up from hibernation so they are a little hungry at the moment!! haha! But it was lovely to see the deer - unfortunately i didnt have my camera with me because i couldnt be bothered to carry it in the bars!! serves me right i guess!!

Wedesday (30th) was a placid day! I just did my laundry - it is surprising how exciting that becomes when you are travelling and wearing everything at least 5 times before it is considered dirty!! I also packed because i was going to be leaving on Thursday evening but was going to be out all day Thursday because i had booked a full day snowboarding lesson........

Thursday 1st May

Oh wow! What a day i had! I now totally understand why snowboarding is such an addictive sport! I was up early doors to get a good breakfast and be in time to catch the first bus up to Sunshine village. I also had to check out of the dorm and store my bags in ther locker. i will miss the hostel in Banff it was great. They were really cool too and let me store my baggage locked up all day for free - some of the hostels charge for that! The bus ride up the mouuntain was about 30 minutes. From there i had a 30minute gondola ride up to the lodge and resort where all the skii hills start. i hadnt realised it was so far up the mountain before we even got in the chair lifts to go to the top of the runs. When i got off the gondola i went over to the bar to meet up with my instructor and the rest of the group i was going to be with. i was lucky - because it is so close to the end of the season it is quiet so there was just 4 of us in the lesson - it was perfect - a good number to have a laugh and get plenty of boarding in too!! i was with Robyn, Erin and Bryce (3 aussies working at the community centre in Banff). Our instructor was Juan - he had perfect englich with a perfect canadian accent but is originally from Spain! He has been in Canada for 6 years and has been snowboarding for 10 years! It shows too!!

We started off with going over to the rentals tent to get all the boots and boards etc. I was worried that my duck feet wouldnt fit into the boots - but htey were in fact a perfect fit and were comfy all day! I felt really excited - like alittle kid - but also had going through my head the type of injuries i could get from doing this - for about 2 seconds i wished i wasnt a sports therapist and couldnt have thought like that!! As soon as we went back outside in the sunshine and in the snow - those thoughts of injury subsided and the excitement took over!!! I think bryce thought i was affected!! hahaha! We started off with simple stuff like fastened and unfastening the bindings! also moving about on the snowboard whe not actually snowboarding. So far i was doing ok! We then went up the baby slope to learn how to slide and stop! I couldnt get it at first - i was trying so hard to use my heels and lift my toes up as i was told but it just resulted in me sticking my bum out! I finally though id got it and Juan came to help me a bit - he took my hands and told me to stand up a bit and open my knees - 'thast better' he said 'now keep that postion' as he let go of my hands i felt unbalanced so i straightened up completely and ended up flat on my back!!! Juan laughed ...a lot!!! the others seemed to have picked this bit up but i wasnt quite there!!! A few more tries on my own and i had figured it out - sometimes i think i just need to work it out on my own and once ive got it i am fine. So we could start and stop - the next thing was to move over to the chair lift and learn to get on and off - we could only have verbal instruction of that and then it was time to have a go - it is harder than it sounds to get on and off!! At the top of the lift you just have to jump off and place the back foot on the board and slide -'let it take you' haha! All good! So standing at the top of our first green slope 'Dell Valley'! it suddenly looked quite steep!!!

Sooooooooooooooooooo much fun!! We went down the slope in stages for the first time through so that Juan could see us all and make sure we were doing ok!! I managed to get to the bottom this first time round without really wiping out! Just wobbled a couple of times. By the time we got to the bottom my legs were aching loads - i was sweating...but i had cracked it - i had finally figure out how i needed to shift my weight to control the board and not just be flukey and stay on my feet!! haha!! It was lunchtime! We got to go and sit in the big posh lodge with all the guests taht were paying to be there! Lunch was delicious too - Chicken Teriyaki with rice followed by chocolate fuge brownies and whatever drinks we wanted - no restrictions eventhough lunch was free!! I just had iced water and then Juan mentioned how good the hot chocolate with whipped cream was -s so we all followed his lead and ordered one each!!! Hot chocolate was pretty big too! As that with the chocolate brownies wasnt enough the waitress then came over to the table and said '...last night there was a bannquet at the lodge and we have some of the desserts left.. could you all manage a hot doughnut with your choice of sauces..' erm... yes!!! as we were all backpacking the chance of free food is always accepted!!!! They were very nice too - with chocolate and raspberry sauce!! Its amazing how much energy that snowboarding takes up!! haha!!

We spent the afternoon going up and down the hill learning new 'skills' and practicing. I learnt to turn - it took a while to figure out where i was actually going but i got it!! I wpied out properly twice - once right on my bum - full weight at speed - it was one of those intense pains that you know wont last long but drives you crazy when its there - like when you stubbing your toe! Later on i fell backwards and was going pretty fast - i think i must have decided that i didnt want to land on my bum so stuck both arms right out the back - mistake - i though my right arm had come off my body (drama queen!!) again - the pain soon dissappeared and i was off again! Juan was laughing - but was keeping a check that we werent making mistakes because we were tired - i was just being cockey so i was good to stay out a bit longer and play some more!! haha! We had a few more runs and then that was the end of the day - it went so fast! Erin, Bryce and Robin were staying up near the lodge to have a Beer in the 'madtrappers saloon' but i had to head back so that i could get back to Banff and catch the bus to Vancouver. As i took the gondola back down the mountain i could see loads of experienced snowboarders riding down the mountain below - when i looked further down there were signposts for the townsite - so they must have been Snowboarding all the way back to the very bottom of the mountain in the town!!! wow!!!!

I had the rosy outdoor glow and could feel my cheeks glowing - i had sucha fab day and was very happy... couldnt wait to tell my brother all about it - he would have loved it and i would have loved him to be there - i really missedhim today - we would have had a laugh! I am hoping that we will be able to go together in new zealand and i'll be one step ahead!! haha!!

I love evreyone so much ....