Day 80 Jindabyne

Back to Perisher this morning.  Surprisingly the kids were not quite as quick to get out of bed, and were more receptive to instruction.  The drive in was quick and painless, and after sorting out Ashley's boots yesterday, getting him kitted up for his lesson was much simpler.

I took off for the nearest chairlift hoping that the day would bring wide open slopes with fresh powder.  From the top of Front Valley, I had made 3 or 4 turns before I realised I was not going to be able to continue skiing today.  I started to get shooting pain through my knee, and had to declare myself too busted to ski any more.

This was a bitter enough pill to swallow, but I went and asked about refunding my lift ticket, and I was sent to get a medical certificate before they would talk about any credit.

Meanwhile, the kids were progressing beautifully with their lessons, and were mastering turns and stopping...It's now called a pizza...just doesn't have the same ring as "Snowplow" when Sven is yelling it across the slopes..."Do the PIZZA"

Even Rowan had picked up on a slow start yesterday, and had put more effort in today.  He was having a ball, but still looked so disappointed at the small hill.  



Rowan is always looking for the bigger thrill.  I don't know where he gets that from, but it is not a character trait which will endear him to the emergency room staff.  Still, whenever he gets into trouble, he flashes his cheeky little grin, and there is someone there helping him up, or making space for him to push in.  I think he is quite enjoying himself.

At the end of lessons, Ashley and Emma were to be moved up to level 3, but the instructor informed us Rowan had a bit more to do before moving up, and that we should get him longer skis and smaller boots...and as it turns out, a new instructor would help too.

I went with Lisa back to ticket sales with the medical certificate to be told that I could only get a credit voucher to be used in the next 12 months.  It was after 15 minutes of us refusing to accept this, and refusing to leave that they did a reversal and credited my lift ticket.  One small win for the West Australians.  So disappointed and ticketless, we went to fetch the kids.

They did a few more runs down the bunny slope for me, and I let Ashley and Emma go up the chairlift to ski Front Valley.  Emma exercised better judgement at the top, and came down on the chairlift, but Ashley tackled Front Valley, and went around a couple more times whilst Rowan and Emma worked on their turns and stops.

Rowan's ticket stopped working, so I took it back to the sales office to get a new one.  Standing in front of me in line in the sales office was my old boss Craig Hindle.  The world is a very small place sometimes.

After some lunch, we took the skis back to the car and made our way over to the toboggan hill for some free bruises.

The ground was icy and fast, so it was always going to end poorly for those of us with larger, more fragile frames.

The toboggans that we hired were about as controllable as a wet cat on meth amphetamine.  My first run with Rowan saw my flung off and careening down the hill with snow flying in plumes around me.  I walked 20m back up the hill to collect my I-phone which was physically ripped from my pocket (Which was zipped up) and amazingly it still worked...HOORAY!

Lisa didn't do any better, and gave up after her first ride which left her sore, and Rowan depositing his lunch in a neat little pool on the ground.

I tried one more time to ride this crazy contraption, but again was hurled unceremoniously down the hill whilst Rowan casually rode the toboggan another 50m.  Fed up with this, Lisa and I went back to Tubetown with Rowan in tow, and left Emma and Ashley to duke it out for the Open Toboggan Downhill Championship.

We ended up having a few runs on the tubes, and then played around in the snow.  Snowmen were out of the question as it doesn't matter how you try to pack powder, it just fluffs back onto the ground in a pile. 








Emma did make a snow cat, and a snow turtle as best she could, but again it was just not the right sort of snow for building with. 

Rowan had gone completely red in the face and wasn't having much fun any more, so we made the executive decision to head back to the caravan.

We finished the afternoon with a spa, a soak in the hot tub, and a hot shower.  Bed wasn't far past that.  So much for relaxing, we have been smashing ourselves since we got to Sydney.  I'm going to sleep well tonight.