Most people had to go in one of several chartered shuttles. Because I know people, I got to ride with a few of my teammates in a rented car (a Toyota Kluger, for those of you wondering). There were 5 of us total - cruising in style.
We left the office at a little past 10 on Wednesday, and started our drive down to the snow. It was a relatively uneventful drive - most of the landscape was made up of long, rolling hills, trees, and rocks. We did stop for lunch at Subway, though.
Glazed donut? Check. Giant merino? Check.
Look of abject terror? Check.
The rest of the drive brought some more changes in scenery. But still no snow yet.
This is George Lake (I think). It used to be a lake
at one point - now it's just a big flat plain.
at one point - now it's just a big flat plain.
Then we drove into some rolling hills.
Then we drove back into some rocky plains.
Still no snow.
Still no snow.
As we got closer to our final destination (after about 5 hours of driving - which really didn't seem like much), we got to the last "major" city before before the resort.
This was the sleepy little town of Jindabyne. We
stopped at a mall called Nugget's Crossing. Much to
my dismay, there were not, in fact, any nuggets,
stopped at a mall called Nugget's Crossing. Much to
my dismay, there were not, in fact, any nuggets,
chicken or otherwise. Good thing I had eaten
some for lunch about an hour ago.
When we finally got to the resort area, it was gorgeous. There was a tiny bit of snow up on the hills, which were the backdrop for a placid lake dotted with lakeside cottages. This is where we would be staying. Not a bad end to the week.
This was quite a beautiful locale. And look -
snow! Kinda.
This friendly little fella was perched on the railing
of the balcony outside of one of the units. We opened
the door a bit and he made like he wanted to come
inside.
My team got ourselves settled, and began our prep for the remainder of the stay, which included stuffing name placards with lift passes and ski maps.
We also got one heck of a blazing fire going.
After a long day of driving, we all retired to our respective rooms in preparation for the long day of skiing ahead of us.
The following morning brought a very tasty breakfast prior to hitting the slopes. We took a shuttle to the snow tube station, and then a train through the mountain to get to the snow. Once we came out the other side, it was a completely different world. There was snow - lots of snow. It looked like a proper ski resort. But the weather was grey and overcast.
Weather could have been better.
It could have been worse, I suppose. I ended up joining a group of very experienced skiiers with whom I would be spending my day on the slope. We geared up, headed to a lift, and headed up the mountain. As we approached the top of the lift, the most incredible thing happened.
We were on top of the world.
The lift carried us above the layer of clouds spread across the mountains. This picture really doesn't do the view justice. You could see the snow around you, and then nothing but clouds for as far as the eye can see. This was a fantastic start to the day.
I had no idea how reflective my goggles were.
I was slo glad I had found the group that I did. We immediately set out in search of some challenging runs, spending most of the day on double-blues, blacks, and even a double-black called Kamikaze (aptly named because of the series of 5 foot drops that start out the run). At one point, we even set out into the forest outside of the ski boundary area. It was a rather new experience skiing right at the tree line.
Speaking of new experiences, I had the pleasure of becoming introduced to several new ways of getting up the mountain - the t-bar and the j-bar. The t-bar is a giant upside-down 'T' that 2 people hold between themselves, the short legs resting against the back of their legs, so that it pulls them up the hill (quite a long distance in most cases). The j-bar, on the other hand, is a bar with a 7" circle on the end that one sticks between one's legs and is, rather surprisingly, pulled up the mountain by one's crotch. Sounds like fun, right?
No tall, jagged peaks here. It was mostly long,
rolling hills with the occasional steep drop.
This was our lovely little jaunt through the woods.
We eventually all agreed that the guy who had
suggested it had been wronged at some point in
the past by others in the group and chose
this route as revenge.
Remember how much I love funny juxtapositions?
This one is solid gold.
Where we stopped for lunch (and I had fish & chips).
There were a bunch of chairs facing the pristine
valley in the distance.
The view from lunch.
Probably my most severe injury received throughout the day was not, in fact, as a result of a drop onto an exposed boulder, nor was I clotheslined by a tree, nor was I impaled by my own ski. No, it was from a ski lift chair. Not just any chair. This was a three-person chair known as the Widowmaker (note: this is my name for it; other names may include Ol' Kneebreaker, the Hobbler, the Ski-lorean, and Betsy). As we stood waiting for it to come around the back of the lift wheel, I heard what could only be descibed as the main rotor of a Blackhawk helicopter starting up. Caught off guard by this, I tensed. Fortunately, they have a safeguard to protect against injury: a little blond girl who scrapes snow away and tells you to "just bend your knees!" Epic safeguard failure. She managed to get halfway through 'bend' before several hundred pounds of steel came screaming up behind me at 88 miles per hour. Bending one's knees might work for some people, but considering I am taller than most, this tactic was utterly useless. The front of the chair hit me square in the back of the calves, and I collapsed onto the bench. Both of my calves felt as though they had a permanent cramp in them for the remainder of the day. Oh, and did I mention this happened twice?
No, I guess I didn't. Well, it did.
The end of the day finally arrived, and, legs miraculously still attached, I made my way back to the resort. The evening brought a warm shower, a party, lots of free food and drink, and a poker tournament!
Here are a few more pics from my time there.
They had a couple of enclosed trampolines.
Side note: don't try this after a large
breakfast.
Straight out of the Matrix.
Another one of the cool birds that Australia
gets and we don't. Note the wacky webbed feet.
A real street name. I want ice cream.
This was first in a long series of signs. Shortly down
the road from this one was an equestrian crossing
sign, a wombat crossing sign, and a Beatles
On the drive home, we stopped in Canberra for a late lunch. Canberra is the capital of Australia. It is also quite boring. In hindsight, our trip through the city was a blur - I mean that literally. The one picture I got was a blurry shot of the Canberra parliament building from the car. It's so bad I won't even bother posting it. Instead, this is what it's supposed to look like.
There was also a very pretty sunset on the ride home.
This was taken from the car, hence the blurriness.
It was not intentionally blurry, but I think it lends
itself nicely to the scene.
Next up - petting the wallabies in Blacktown.
Talk to you all soon.
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