The World Is Yours

There we go everyone. after 11 months of travelling instead of the expected 12 , here i am, back in sydney. the trip in the plane has been a pain in the arse with all the luggage and the sore arm, but now its all over. the weather is good and the local surgeon said my arm was making good progress.

looking back i had an amazing year. met some great people along the road, did everything i planned, seen some unbeleivable sceneries and experienced some mind blowing stuff. how could i complain, from china to the canadian snow and through the greatness of south america, this year will be remembered for ever for sure.

so the adventure ends right here. it s now time to get the CV ready and to settle in a more normal life style. and i m actually looking forward to it.

Julien.

So life is still good in the mountains, i m making the most of powder days (i found some good cliffs to drop) and when the snow gets harder i hit the park. i quite enjoy this routine.

i have also met a bunch of good people with the good life: they are called ski bums. basically that means not much work but a lot of riding. good for them.

so as you can see, it has all been smooth sailing so far. only picked up little knocks here and there ( knees, wrists) but nothing major. and as the season goes by, you start to go faster and bigger.... until you run out of luck i guess. and when you ride the hardpack, falls are less forgiving. thats when it all went pearshape for me... on one of the kicker in the park, i launched a good old 540 front. but in the air i lost my balance and basically landed on my outstreched arm.

i felt the crack straight away! and within a second i knew the season was over. as i was lying on the snow, i tried to move my fingers and even tho i could move them, it felt like they were not where they were supoosed to be. safety came, gave me some happy gas to breath and toboganed me down the hill to the local hospital...

ouch....

not a good sight boys! but anyways i have to thank the doctor for doing a good job: he aligned the 2 pieces of bones back together and put a cast around it.

thats it for the season

so what happened is not great but lets see the good side of it: it could have been much worse! no one is dead and what doesnt kill you makes you stronger they say. so here we go. 2 months in the cast, and probably another 2 months of rehab.

now i gotta change my plans: i ll come back to sydney a month earlier than expected and i ll cancel my trip to NY.

Well, the snow is still good. there are a few pretty cold but sunny days tho, and it can get icy on the bottom. but if you know where to go, you ll find good pow.

whistler village

typical buildings

the terrain in whistler is good. people think its huge but there is only 38 lifts covering the 2 mountains. the interesting part is that there is heaps of snow, a lot of backcountry options, and many tree runs. so that makes up a good selection. i m getting to know the area a little bit and most days we find patches a good fresh pow. if not, we hit the park and the kickers. thats when you realise that snowboarding has evolved a lot over the past 10 years or so. there are teams of guys building and maintaining the park constantly. the kickers are well built and some of them are huge. the good average rider now has a very good level. they land cork 7 (thats a double horizontal rotation with a backflip in it) no worries over a 50 foot gap! sick!

i have seen even better guys doing double cork 10 (follow me: triple horizontal rotation with a double backflip in it) over a 25 meter gap. thats pretty insane. just imagine the size of the jump... scary hey. but some of these dudes are pro. there are actually more than 200 pro riders based in whistler. so here my best trick (a simple 5 which is one and a half horizontal rotation over 10 meters or so) is just a warm up trick for others...

anyways, i still have heaps of fun and mixing park and pow is wicked. that one day me and a buddy hiked a bit and the safety dude said it was sweet... just before we were about to go for what seemed to be a sweet powder run, he caught us back and said he had to close off that whole part of the mountain cos an avalanche just set off there.... ooops! lucky no one was there.

a sunny day through trees

the valley

one of my best runs of the month was one through trees: that morning i met a local ski bum and he gave me a few tips as where to go and stuff. so i went and boy it was good. it hadnt snowed for a few days and everything was skied out until me and a mate went where the guy said. it was nuts, we went through trees, great pow and sometimes it would open up to huge snowfield, completely untouched. we shredded it big time with grins reaching both our ears. you cant beat freach pow hey. and it was so unexpected. at the end we reached some sort of path and we had to walk. we seemed so far away from everything hey. we chose to go right... and its only after 8km of walking that we reached the first road. guess who was there with a few of his mates having a beer... the ski bum who picked me up the same morning. he gave me a ride home and told me that i went too far. no wonder i got fresh tracks. that was sweet tho :-))

the other best run was a big powder bowl. i had to hike for 30 minutes or so but it was well worth it. when you get to the top of the peak, you have to drop that one ciff and it opens up on a massive bowl with deep fresh pow. so i dropped it and then went full gun with huge turns all the way down, non stop. i almost couldnt beleive how good the run was. down at the bottom i come across these 2 skiers and they tell me: dude that was sick. i turn around and i can see my track from the ciff to the bottom and i go as if nothing happened: yeah, was pretty good... i actually still cant beleive how good it was... loving it.

shinny moon

go canada go

so thats the life right now in canada. not too much to report as i spend most of my time on the slopes, but it s good and some days are amazing. in that case its hard to describe some feelings and i hardly ever have the camera with me. but some moments will be remembered for ever i m sure.

I arrived in whistler on the 1st of january. there is heaps of snow which is good news, but the first priority is to move into this little backpacker that is located a little bit outside of town. there is more space there and it is more quiet too. whistler village can a bit of a zoo at times.

the hostel

the mountains surrounding the village a pretty awesome. it is a huge range, and while the lifts operate only on 2 of these mountains, there are litterally tens of other peaks around mainly dedicated to heliboarding or snowmobiling. the snowmobiles are super popular here and every other local has one. they use it to get to secluded spots in the backcountry, away from the crowd. it is forbidden in france i think but here its a big thing.

view from the hostel

my dorm for the next 3 months

so thats it, now that i m installed, the routine can get started. there is a short hitch-hiking ride to get to the slopes, and then its up to you to make the best out of your season pass. i usually go riding with a few of the guys from the hostel, or sometimes i go alone.

the first 2 weeks of january have been real good. it looks like we are on course for a breaking record year regarding snowfalls. i guess i wont complain, even if that means that i havent seen the sun yet...

car parked in snow

to give you an idea, the second week of january, we got 125cm of fresh pow. that means fresh tracks every day eh eh. see if it keeps coming at that rate...

after a fairly long trip in the plane (starting in rio de janeiro) i eventually made it to vancouver. first impression: the board shorts and my t-shirt wont be enough to bear the canadian cold. so i pull a jumper from my bag (that is the warmest piece of clothing i have right now) and i head into town in shorts, under the snow...

i find a cool hostel in the center and i try to get organised for the next few days. i have a few things to do and the most important are to check out the city and find myself a place to live in the mountains as soon as posible.

van (as they say) is a very nice town. after all it has the status of being the nicest city in the world. and true there are parks, space, its clean, modern, seems rich, its by the sea and it is surrounded by mountains. the only problem is that during the winter the weather is rubbish! there is no sun and it is rainning all the time. however the temperature barely gets below 0 degrees. so if you arent into skiing and wanna come and visit, come in the summer when it is supposed to be much nicer.

right. this said, it is time time to walk around town to see this city.

modern vancouver

the old town

narrown building

vancouver is very cosmopolitan. 40% of the people here are not of canadian origin and the striking thing when you walk around is the number of asians here: more than 20%.

chinatown gate

the main sport in canada is ice hockey. and i must say that is quite a nice sport and i went to a few games. the atmosphere in the stadium is american style: pop corn, big screens and a few MCs get the crowd going. pretty fun.

ice rink, 20,000 spectators

singing the hymn, with the beer in the hand of course

the best rule in ice hockey is that when 2 players disagree (or just when they feel like it really), they can challenge each other for a proper bear nuckle fight on the ice. and it happens all the time: they drop their stick, the gloves and usually the helmet and they can punch each other until they fall on the ice or until a KO. meanwhile the ref and the team mates just stay around and watch. and the crowd goes nuts :-)) then the 2 players are sent into jail for 2 minutes.

one of the numerous fights, gloves and sticks on the ice and punches in the face

so after only one game, i sort of became a fan of ice hockey.

one of the nicest part of town is stanley park, surrounded by water and with snowy mountains in the background. very cool place to hang out. i rented a bike and cycled through it one afternoon.

view of the city center from stanley park s harbour

collector...

north of van, with snow capped mountains

from granville bridge

so as you can see, van is beautiful and on a good and sunny day, it feels good to live here. i spent about a week there as i had to wait for my accomodation in whistler to become vacant on the first of january. this week also gave me enough time to shop at the right places (and after xmas) for a couple new snowboards, bindings and stuff like that. so now that i m all geared up for the season, lets take the bus for 2h up north and settle down in whistler.

come and hit the slopes with me...

Merry xmas everyone. 

i hope the turkey was good and that you got loads of presents.

on my end, i can say that i m stoked. i just realised a dream: extensive backpacking through south america. my last 7 months have been a blast. everything i have done has been sweet: the surfing on the coast of brazil, the amazon, the machupichu in peru, the wyuna potosi or the salar de uyuni in bolivia, easter island of course and the torres del paine in chile, patagonia or the pampa in argentina, until floripa and SP in brazil.

plus everything in between. i have had an amazing time, saw a lot of things and met some really cool people. if i had to do it again i would do it the same way cos it was perfect. my only regret is that i did not have time to go to colombia but i ll leave that for another trip.

i am now in vancouver, canada and i m just about to fulfil one of my other dreams: a season snowboarding with a lot of pow pow eheh. its coming and i m ready for it big time. see you in a few days for a little update chaps.

until then, keep it real

peace out

Ilha grande is located just south of Rio and is a popular getaway for the cariocas. its not very big but walking all around it would take a few days. its very green and has a couple of peaks that reach 1000m high. not bad. most beaches are unspoilt and uncrowded. there are lots of trekking opportunities in the island and the vegetation is very tropical. very nice!

houses hidden in the forrest

little village on the atlantic side

the schedule was pretty light for my stay here. only a few good walks to some nice little spots, some good naps in hammocks and a few beers in the evening. nothing too fancy. the second day was the most active tho and with my buddy louis we hiked for about 7h to some secluded beaches. its pretty cool. the weather was... mmm tropical, which means warm but very humid, with the ocasional little rainfall.

praia dos rios

lagoon

one side of the island hosts an old jail. i dont know but it looks like quite often, the best places on earth (like here or australia) are the place where convicts get sent away...

the old jail

village near dos rios

secluded beach found after a good jungle hike

view of the main village

local church

apart from a cloudy weather, these 3 days on the island where the perfect way to finish off my trip in brazil. from there i went straight to rio airport. no transition, a few hours later i was due to arrive in vancouver, canada!

see you on another continent for another adventure :-))

At my arrival in SP, i decide to check into a hostel in the center so that i can be close to all the action. first things first, unlike Rio, SP doesnt have a backpackers vibe at all. it is hard to meet people and the city can feel like a concrete jungle at times. but i was lucky cos my local friend elisa took care of me. and on the first night we went out with some of her friends to a real good party... and that was just the begining.

SP may not be the most beautiful city, it may not be the safest, it may not be the cheapest, but in my opinion it has by far the best parties in the whole of south america. so you understood it: my first night in SP was pretty sweet. then on the next day i decided to do a little bit of sightseeing.

theater

a bit of green amongst the buildings

cathedral, praca de se

market

so SP has a few sights but the best happens at night. and on my second night there, i cought up with a few locals i met before and a bunch of ten of us all drive towards the countryside for a massive 24h long outdoor party. easily the best party of the year: 15000 people, great DJs, great view on the valley, water canons and all the rest... thats what i call 24h well spent :-)) we came back the next day in the evening for a well deserved sleep.

i had only one more day in SP and i decided to check the wealthy neighbourhoods where i saw massive mansions with guards and nice cars. SP is definitely extreme in many aspects.

house with guard

popular item: the bulletproof car. for real!

SP can be a little terrfying if you dont know anyone there, but you can also have a great time if you do have a few contacts. personally i ll keep great memories of this city.

time for me now to go and finish my trip in brazil (and south america) in Ilha grande, a laid back island near Rio. a last night in the bus and we ll get there...

After a few relaxing day in the beautiful ilha do mel, i headed south even further towards Floripa. at the bus station i was greeted by local girl monique as well as james and maria (mates from sydney). florianopolis is probably my favourite place in brazil. it is very similar to sydney in the sense that the weather is pretty much the same and the laid back city is surrounded by beautiful good surfing beaches. what else would you ask for hey!

on the first day we caught up with caio and kyllie. they both left sydney to open a backpackers here in floripa and they seem te be doing really well. after a little bit of catching up, we went to play a good football game with caio and his buddies. i always like it to play against our fellow brazilians.

at the backpackers, caio, kyllie, monique, maria, james and me.

floripa has a little bit of a sydney north shore feel to it. outside the city center, its very green and the roads are in bad conditions. you could think that you are in the middle of a village in the countryside.

on the second day there was not much swell so no surf but we made the most of our free time to check out a couple of beaches and some nice restaurants.

oyster delight

streets on santa catarina island

in floripa you can obviously have some good parties and a few minutes away you drive through the countryside. also, about an hour away you can reach the very popular praia do rosa. a beautiful beach with decent surf and good restaurants. thats where we spent the next day. it is a very nice area and many people have beach houses here. no wonder.

with monique

praia do rosa

only a few minutes away from the city

on the last day in floripa, we hanged out at joaquina beach for a good surf session. probably the best surf since peru. it was a nice way to finish off the trip in florianopolis. over all, i m left with really good impressions of santa catarina and i m really hoping i can come back in the foreseable future.

floripa, surrounded by water

its now time to leave this laid back place to go to Sao paulo.... not sure what to expect there. the biggest city in south america is probably a little bit less relaxed...

so was it all over with argentina? well i was almost stuck there cos of issues while entering brazil. well first of all, the bus driver who crossed the border didnt stop at the brasilian side which means that i didnt get an entry stamp. i was made aware of that only at the arrival when i wanted to book another bus and i needed this stamp. the other issue was that i had to pay a fine on my return to brazil and as i was not sure how and where to pay it.... well, it s not paid yet :-))  so now the problem is that i have to go back to the brazilian side of the frontier to get the stamp and i have to show my passport that has another stamp mentionning the fact that i havent paid this fine... tricky hey. so i went back there and thanks to an old school smooth manoeuvre (and a big smile), the lady who checked my passport didnt see that i had to pay a fine and she just gave me the stamp. nice one!

now lets go back to the bus station and catch the last bus of the day in order to get to curitiba by the next morning. in curitiba i caught up with both my ex flatmate angelica and marica angelica. on the first day, we had a very nice grilled meat churasco (all you can eat).

great food

on the next couple of days, we did what brazilians are very good at: we hit the beach. more precisely, we went to ilha do mel, a very nice undevelopped little island. the weather was hot and the forro party was nice too. i wish i could have stayed a little bit longer to chill out there hey.

rizotto, angelica and me

praia do fora

on the first day i surfed for quite a while (enough to get a little sunburnt) and it was good to get back into the water after 4 months of inaction. on the second day i cruised around the island and even if i didnt see much of it cos of a lack of time (and too much sleep) i could see that this place remained fairly wild with long uncrowded beaches. very nice, i like.

view from the lighthouse

the lighthouse

the pousada

on the sunday night, back in curitiba, we all went to a nice bar with good live music. a great way to finish off the weekend. life is good in and around curitiba. tomorrow i m going south to floripa in order to see if life is just as good over there...