Snow Trip 2009

This year i went to hit the slopes again, this time i went with Chibi, Somps, MZ, Burpy and Mark. I decided to organise this myself because i think you dont get the most out of it when following tours, and im glad i did because we had one of the best times ever!.

On Friday morning 12pm, we set off on my Kia Carnival to Jindabyne picking up Somps on the way. Driving at night time is pretty challenging because fatigue can come at the most unexpected times. The trip took about 7 hours in total including stops and breaks. MZ drove about an hour and i drove the rest of the way. Along the way we saw tons of dead kangaroo’s on the road and there was a section of the road in which it was splattered with blood… and not long till the end of the trip, a kangaroo suddenly jumped across the road and we were like this – | –>                 <– | – much away from hitting it! ok, now that raises the stupid question – “why the hell did the kangaroo cross the road?!”

Well anyway, without much trouble we arrived at the Station and got our equipments, wheel chains and stuff. This time i brought my very own snowboard and i cant wait to test it out! we were all given $110 spending money and i had no idea what to spend it on since i dont need to hire equipment lol. Everyone else was telling me “just spend it on pizza for dinner”, but like…. its sort of like money i should be spending on MYSELF, you guys have your own $110 lol.

Packed to the rafters…

Once everything was ready, we set off for Perisher Valley. It was Chibi’s second time and Marks first time going to the snow, and i think they very much enjoyed it. It was a bit hard to learn how to ski for them and i couldnt teach chibi properly on the first day because i was trying to get use to my snowboard – Sorry chibi…. Burpy and mz hit the slopes straight away – ‘terrorizing the mountains’ as mz would say.

MZ – the mountain terrorist

Somps was with Chibi and Mark trying to show them how to stop at the beginners field. As for me, i was testing out my new Option Motive snowboard. It didnt take long for me to get use to the board and without knowing, i was going down the mountain like playing SSX =P. The day felt extremely long as i didnt really get to sleep due to driving, but that didnt stop me as snowboarding was so addictive! however, i guess that came at a cost as  i was pretty much Wasted for the rest of the night…. I slept at around 6:30pm which i regret because i missed out on some interesting stuff – including MZ peeping out the window and saying random stuff while asleep! We had Charcoal chicken that night and we heated up the chicken using MZ’s portable heater….However, burpy was not impressed with the taste, but hey, food is food!

Ready, set, skiii! … and snowboard …

Day 2 i woke up with a sore body all over, i thought the day was gona be wasted, but good thing my muscles recovered very quickly throughout the day (thank god for the gym training!). We arrived at Perisher around 9:00 and the carpark was already packed. Today I dedicated most of the day teaching Chibi how to ski. After doing some rounds at the beginner slopes i took Chibi and Mark for the first time – Up the mountain. they were really excited, because this is where the fun begins! I escorted chibi down the slopes by snowboarding backwards down the mountain with a single foot strapped on to the board so i can keep an eye on Chibi and when she stacks it, i can quickly go help her. This also helped me improve my footwork and balance which was awsome. After a few rounds Chibi was getting the hang of it and by no time she was doing it on her own – “As your instructor, i am very proud of you!” as commented in your blog hehe. This also made me really relieved because now i know everyone can now fully enjoy the snow the way its suppose to be. good job!

Proud Student (left), Awsome  Instructor (right)

we also built a snowman at the end of the day. It was funny to see it constantly evolving, from a….snowman….to a pawn to a tower to a bishop back to snowman (with weird things on it). Anyway it wasnt all that impressive, i think the snowman from our last snowtrip was way better and attracted alot of attention from other people.

Back to the Station i was feeling rather terrible once again. We used our dinner coupons and they served us a massive plate of hot food which i couldnt finish. After dinner i went to bed right away to avoid all forms of artificial sound produced by other people. Funny i still heard Burpy making alllll these weird noises when he sleeps, i dunno whats wrong with that guy, but even unconsious he’s still pretty amazing. One of the classics has to be his liquid splattering sound which we all have no idea how he does it, im sure he doesnt know either =P.

Somps preparing the snowman’s head

Completed Snow…um….man – Snowman

Dinner time

Day 3 started off well, we got to the snowfields early and secured a good parking spot (8am). This time we all gathered as a group from the start and met up at the top of the mountain, yay group shot!. Burpy, mz and i originally wanted to hit the high slopes and the blue courses, but the weather let us down today as rain started dropping so they closed all the other chairlifts. I was also very frustrated with myself as i kept stacking it even on the very easy sections. I think its due to poor visability so i couldnt anticipate the bumps…etc…either way, by lunchtime i already had enough. Mark and MZ though, didnt waste time and kept skiing until the weather was too bad and forced us to finish off the day. While waiting for MZ and Mark, chibi burpy, somps and i were inside the facility trying to dry ourselves and stay warm. Somps and Chibi found an open Grill at some restaurant and took advantage of it to dry themselves. Later on i decided to give it a try but i thought it was just weird using it for the heat rather than cooking food…so i went back to sit down….

why do i look like the shortest?? Even chibi looks like shes taller cuz shes bending forward a bit, or maybe cuz im just standing next to burpy… ~~”

Back to the station for one last time, and this time i had plenty of gas left since it was just a half day of snowboarding. I started off playing poker with somps mark and Chibi, and not surprisingly i was first to lose…haha i need to improve on my game, but hey its only the 2nd time i’ve played poker in my life … I’ll pay them back next time…Or be paid back… it was quite a relaxing night, some funny moments when mz mistook a racoon for a giant bee. Wish all the nights had been like this one, i think i need to increase my stamina even more!

Day 4, time to depart – we left around 10am. I did all the driving this time, but day driving is ok for me, the only bad thing is i cant really talk in conversations as i need to concentrate consistently for a few hrs. We stopped by at the giant merino for a lunch break and was very amused by the ‘back of it’ haha. Took some shots and moved on.

Riding the giant merino!!

Getting squashed by the Giant…Merino!!

Thats pretty much it! i dont think anyone will read this whole entry but if you did, thanks!. It has been one heaven of a trip, im sure we all enjoyed it! Snow trips are never to be missed, looking forward to the next time!