Skiing Falls Creek!!!

Just came back from an amazing week away skiing!!!

Drove down with Jon on Tuesday all the way to Albury! We left at around 6:30am and arrived in Albury around 12:30pm! We grabbed some Hungry Jacks and then went to Safeways (country equivalent of Woolies) to stock up for our self-catered trip to the snow!!!

Around 1:30pm we headed across the border into Victoria and drove an hour or so to Mount Beauty, at the foot of the Victorian alps! It was raining pretty hard but we were hoping that this meant it was snowing up in the mountains.

At Mt Beauty we hopped on a coach that took us up to Falls creek! Along the way up it was amazing seeing the landscape gradually becoming more and more white! It was almost surreal as it started snowing and it felt like we had entered another world like Narnia or something! About halfway up, we encountered a roadblock as a truck had skidded off the road! Good thing we didn't drive up ourselves!

Eventually we reached Falls Creek! We caught the oversnow taxi to our accommodation at Alpha Lodge! Maureen the manager checked us in and gave us a tour of the cosy lodge! We unpacked and enjoyed some of mum's prepacked curry lamb for dinner!

We got up early on Wednesday for our first day of skiing!!! The sun was streaming down and the conditions looked awesome! We trudged through fantastic powdery white snow a few doors down to Viking Ski Hire and picked up our pre-booked skis, poles and boots! Then we hopped on the village shuttle to the main ski lifts where we bought our beginners lift pass!

There were heaps of people there despite the NSW and Vic school holidays being over. We later found out that it was SA's school holidays and alot of people were from Adelaide.

At the top of the ski lift - Cloud 9 - we found our way to the first timers meeting point and met our instructor Lynnea, an American girl. We joined a group of about 10 other first timers and off we went for our first lesson in skiing 101! We learnt the basics of putting on skis and posture before learning how to stop using a snowplough!

After our lesson, we were left to our own devices and feeling confident, we had a go at a scenic beginner's run called Wombat's Ramble! It was rather interesting snowploughing all the way down!!! I'm pretty sure we fell over a couple of times but we made it to the bottom!

We returned to our lodge by the free shuttle and after lunch, went down Wombat's Ramble around 4 times! By the end of the day, we felt pretty good about picking up skiing so quickly!

We got up a little later on Thursday to discover it was snowing quite heavily! We decided not to wait for the shuttle and try and ski down to the chair lifts. Boy was that a mistake! The slopes down to the lifts were somewhat steeper and narrower than Wombat's Ramble and we found our snowploughs didn't really cut it! Not only that, but we took a wrong turn and ended up at the oversnow terminal rather than the chairlifts!

Eventually we made it to the lifts and this time got on with our skis on rather than carrying our skis like the day before. As we ascended the mountain, it gradually became clear that that day was going to be anything but clear!!! We reached the top to find ourselves in not so much as a winter wonderland as a wintry hell!!! There was a strong blizzard and we had to fight the wind just to get off the lift! At one point I thought Jon was going to get blown off the mountain!!! The wind cut through our clothing like a knife and chilled us to the very bone! We eventually sought refuge behind a big sign before deciding to skip that morning's lesson and go for a coffee in the Cloud 9 cafe!

Inside it was so nice and warm! And we definitely weren't the only ones there! We grabbed mochas to thaw ourselves whilst waiting for the horrendous weather outside to settle.

It didn't!

We ended up skiing down Wombat's and heading to the Village Bowl to try another part of the mountain. There the conditions were somewhat better. There was a rather tame looking intermediate slope there that we thought we could handle so off we went on Final Muster! Man that was mistake!!! Halfway down we found ourselves facing a steep narrow section and both of us ended up falling on our sides whilst other people skiied by! To add insult to injury, the chairlift ran overhead pretty much and I'm sure I could hear people laughing at us!!! =P

Some nice people eventually came along and guided us down that section and we got to the bottom with sheepish grins on our faces! We weren't going to attempt that one again anytime soon!

Feeling out of our depth once more, we grabbed lunch at Max's Cafe before heading back up to Cloud 9 for an afternoon lesson. We skipped to a level 3 lesson and met another American instructor called Terry! He was an awesome tutor! We started by going down Wombat's Ramble together and we started learning basic Christie turns and how to ski parallel. Then we had a go down Drover's Dream, another green run. After the lesson we had 2 more gos down Drover's dream and 2 down Wombat's Ramble to practise our new skills! It was nice to return to the lodge that evening though and we enjoyed lasagna for dinner and then a game of Starcraft!

Friday was our last day there and we had to check out before hitting the slopes. It was another perfect day like Wednesday and we had another level 3 lesson in the morning. After lunch at Wombat's Cafe, we had a few goes at Drover's Dream before attempting some blue runs called Highway 83 and Main Street! Jon was more thrill seeking than me and attempted some other blue runs! By the end of our last day there, we felt pretty confident skiing parallel and I came away with no injuries!!!

We boarded the 5pm bus back to Mt Beauty and then drove back to Albury relishing the amazing time we had! It was a great time of just hanging out with Jon and we're looking forward to our next adventure on the ski slopes!

Engagement Day!

When I woke up on Saturday 7th July 2007, after I had shaken off the last remnants of sleep, I lay in bed with a smile on my face. That day, I thought to myself, was the day I was getting engaged!

Got up around 8:30am and put on heaps of warm clothes. Then set out to Di's place to pick her up at 9am...except that it was already 9:05am when I left home! Ten minutes and a couple of apologies later, Di was in the car and we were heading off for my 'not-so-surprise' engagement day!

We headed to the Sydney Fish Markets at Pyrmont as our first stop! Picked up some fresh sashimi for lunch later on and then parked at Di's workplace. Yes...not the most romantic of places to go on the day she was getting engaged but how could I say no to free convenient parking in the city all day!!!

Anyhow, we walked down to Circular Quay on that nice sunny day and caught a Matilda ferry from Pier 6 to Shark Island in Sydney Harbour! On the way we admired our amazing city and even caught a glimpse of the USS Kittyhawk docked at Garden Island. It was funny cos we were on a ferry with a whole bunch of tourists and there was even touristy commentary on board! I'm sure other people thought we were the tourists!

We reached Shark Island around 11am and hopped off the ferry with just a few other people. That was nice cos the island was big enough that we felt as if we had it all to ourselves! We went on a walk around the island, admiring God's handiwork and beauty of the harbour views. After doing a round, we found a nice spot in the sun facing the harbour and laid out a picnic rug I had brought along. Then out came the food! I brought along some of Di's favourite snacks including Peppermint Chocolate and Coke for her Coke-o-clock later on! We enjoyed the views for a while but then had to find a new spot on the other side of the island cos the wind picked up and chilled us to the core! We found a spot shielded from the wind and had our sashimi lunch. We also spent some time praying and just enjoying each other's company! Finally, we spent the last 15 mins or so taking some photos using a tripod I brought along before bolting for the 1:10pm return ferry!

We headed back to Circular Quay via Watsons Bay and enjoyed interesting commentary from the captain who Di swore was the guy who did the voice for the talking dog statue at QVB! We got off outside the Museum of Contemporary Arts and then headed towards the weekend Rocks Market! After a brief perusal, it was time to head on to our next destination!

I led Di on a meandering walk through the historic streets of the Rocks. On the way she guessed that our final destination was indeed Bridgeclimb! She had mentioned that she wanted to do it a few months back and I thought what better place to propose than on top of the most beautiful city in the world!

We checked in and after waiving our rights and signing our lives away, we were soon gearing up with a jumpsuit, overpants, harness, gloves, radio headsets and headtorches. We were in a group of 12 climbers all together and the other 10 were total randoms who we had to introduce ourselves to since we'd be spending the next 3 1/2 hours with! We then met our tour guide Graham, an eccentric fellow who had been doing Bridgeclimb for yonks! After climbing up a test ladder/platform and feeling confident, Graham led us to the commence the real climb!

We were led to a stairwell underneath the bridge from which we clipped ourselves to a safety rope and began our climb upwards! Along the way Graham provided commentary and we managed to spot several married couples taking wedding photographs around the rocks! The hardest part of the climb was climbing about 4 sets of steep narrow ladders with tiny little rungs! After that we reached the upper eastern arch of the bridge and it was an easy climb from there! Along the way Graham took some photos and at the top we had our group photograph! We enjoyed sweeping views of the harbour and Shark Island where we had been mere hours before!

As the sun began to set, we crossed high above the traffic to the western arch of the bridge to admire the sun setting over the Blue Mountains! There was a nice scatter of clouds to create an amazing effect! After a sunset photo, Di and I walked ahead of the group whilst they got their individual/couple photographs taken. That's when I began my 'spiel' as she later called it!

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't slightly nervous! I had thought about what to say roughly but hadn't rote learnt it or anything. I gripped both her hands so tightly that she had to tell me to loosen her grip! Then in a nutshell I told her how great the last 6 months had been and how fortunate I considered myself that God had brought us together. I told her that I loved her just the way she was and that I didn't expect to change any aspect of her during marriage. I told her that I was certain we'd face challenges and have 'issues' but that we'd work through them together in a godly manner. Then, just as I was about to pop the question and get down on one knee, we heard an 'Oi!' and Graham telling us to come back and join the group cos we'd gone too far ahead! With wry smiles, we walked back to join the group.

Fortunately, there was one more photo opportunity and I indicated to Graham that I was going to propose. So with his camera ready, I got down on one knee and proposed with the other 10 bridgeclimbers as an audience! Can't really remember much of the climb downwards! I was so happy! Another tour guide leader helping out congratulated us and gave me some advice that he thought would save me alot of angst during my marriage: "If she tells you to do something, just do it!"

We descended through nightfall and after taking off all our gear, it was time to sort through the photos! We picked a couple and even got a certificate to say we got engaged on Bridgeclimb!

So there you have it! We're engaged!