Dor Goes West: The Dream House

Well, today I have officially been in Whistler for a whole week. It feels about four times that long I’ve been doing so much, but I’m finally settled in. Nick and I found a house – in fact, THE house – to live in. We christened it the Dream House, and although it’s a touch more expensive than most in the area, it also has a hot tub, a trampoline and a heated boot room. The hot tub and boot room will be perfect after a long day riding (as we have been told to call boarding). Throwing off all my gear and jumping in the hot tub whilst the snow falls around, before heading back onto the slopes with nice dry gear the next day is something that won’t get old, I’m sure.

The house hunt took us a couple of days, during which we stayed in a hostel in Whistler. I say in Whistler, it was about an hour’s walk away, and that’s when you don’t take a wrong turn and end up walking in the opposite direction. That wouldn’t have been so bad – I need the exercise, to be honest – except we left the hostel at about six o’clock, when the mountains start to get dark. There were no streetlights on this road, and you can’t walk more than five metres in Whistler without seeing signs warning what to do if bears attack. We managed not to get eaten though, and found our way to Tapley’s sports bar, which has swiftly become our local.

Whistler is fairly dead during the day at the moment, and the job hunt has not gone too well because people aren’t hiring for another couple of weeks. The nightlife is completely the opposite though, if you know where to go. After a fun but uneventful night at Longhorns on Sunday, we headed to Buffalo Bill’s on Wednesday on the advice of Nick’s mate Simon. Wednesday is local’s night, and if you can prove you live in Whistler, you can get in free. They don’t require much proof though – I’m pretty sure if you just said a random street name from the Whistler A-Z they’d give you the locals sticker.

Anyway, in Bill’s we met Brent, a guy from South Africa who I’d spoken to on Facebook a couple of times, and Tif, a BC (British Columbia – the province Whistler is in) native who’d been in Whistler for four months already. After throwing some incredible shapes to some pretty poor AC/DC remixes and having an impromptu reunion with some of the BUNAC crew, we headed to the bus stop. Buses are great over here – they run til three in the morning, and any journey costs two dollars. Naturally, I didn’t have two dollars, so pulled the old switcheroo with Tif’s day pass.

The highlight of the night was a little Filipino Aussie, who seemed to be pissed off at everything. He refused to believe I had Scottish relatives, and was pretty keen on rounding everyone up by nationality. In my drunken state though, I somehow managed to crack the line of the night. Whilst squaring up to anyone he could find, little Fil told us all that he was always looking for a challenge. I asked him if he’d ever tried the Travelator, which did the unthinkable and shut him up for a few seconds.

This week has been pretty hectic, especially as the Dream House’s owners Chris and Maria have been here doing the place up. They left last night though, and Nick and I pretty much have the place to ourselves for the next month or so. Party? Party.

Oh, and here are some photos as proof that I’m not at home in a tent in my back garden. Today’s wisdom: Don’t say things about serving girls in bars whilst they’re still in earshot.