Off the snow i go

After the weekend that past i make this qualification - that skiing is very easy, it is just the stopping and turning that i had troubles with!

Luckily, skiing was not the main event of the weekend. We involved ourselves in a lot of eating, drinking and hanging out with friends. Now to recap the weekend, I shall go back and start from the beginning - Friday morning.

Firstly, we departed my house a little late because our driving partners (more importantly my friend) got a little drunk and had a hard time getting up. So I took the sterring wheel and started heading to the mountains. The drive was pleasant as we witnessed some of the Yarra Valley, passing a number of wineries where I was wishing we could stop to sample the varieties of reds, rose` and whites they had to offer.

Eventually, after a few winding roads and our ears popping a few times we arrived at Mt Buller. We had to park our car and take the local Taxi to our place of accommodation. Now because they try to save the environment, personal cars are not allowed into the hill - it is actually a great idea but do they rip you off. I mean we paid $28 for a return trip that takes no more than 15 minutes. Even taxi's in sydney do not charge you that much!

But we arrived in a lovely apartment which had fantastic views of the mountains, quite a site. We did some exploring and found that we were about 50m from the centre of the mountain which house a few hire shops, cafes and bars. Not bad and well done to Harry and Jen for getting us this place.

We did not hit the slopes that day but settled in and we ate that night. We also partook in some Uno and I won one of the games. Should have won something else but I reckon there was some collusion going on to stop me - kind of like a ref in our league!

The next day we hot the slopes after hiring soem ski's, poles and boots that were strapped so tight I had a hard time breathing. Now this is where it gets interesting.

See snow boots are weird as they do not allow yu to bend our foot so walking involves your feet staying at right angles to your leg so you walk weirdly. After a while it starts to get annoying. Because we were beginners, we had to walk up to the training area and it tookeffort and time to lug ourselves, the ski's and poles up there.

Eventually we began our lesson, it lasts about 2 hours and I thought we could progress a bit. But the lesson involved us standing in line, side stepping up the hill and going down the slope individually.

Before I even got to the top of the queue I had fallen down and struggled up. It should be noted that there was not alot of snow and it had compacted to be quite hard! When i did get to the stop I started the downward decent and tried to stop as the instructor asked us.

But I could not! So to stop myself going past the instructor and don the hill and super speeds I did what any person would do, I fell! right on my a$$! This went on a few times during the lesson. i also had to purposely fall down a few times as I was heading to other skiiers - I figured I would do less damage that way.

Eventually I thought myself to stop properly by spreading my legs farther out than the instructor had told me.

So the lesson was a kind of waste of time for us. I was also annoyed because Metria had fallen and was struggling to get up. No one was helping her and i was struggling to gain control but eventually I just went and helped her up.

But I managed to move and manoeuvre a bit. So I got the bascis of the basics sorted out!

The rest of the weekend was spent hanging out with friends and sight seeing. It also snowed a bit Saturday night so we had a light blanket of white copvering the place the next day.

And the hills are steep so walking and sightseeing took some effort.

Overall a fun weekend. The highlight was of course seeing snow and learning to ski. The lowlight was seeing these 4/5 year old, 3 foot kids skiing and moving like professionals. little shits!!