Friday, September 28, 2007

Hello, I should get enough time to do an update by the end of the weekend, so keep an eye out:





Just incase your wondering, it wont be anything to do with butterfly's, I took these in Cambodia in January.

S+C

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Hello everyone!

Sorry the updates have been pretty slim recently, but myself and Charlie both got sick and were pretty wiped out for a while, but we are pretty much back to full health so I thought id tell you about what we did for Charlies 29th Birthday!


We splashed out and booked 3 days up at Mt. Buller snowboarding!!


We booked into this stunning ski-lodge for 2 nights, we were kinda unsure about doing it as its not cheap, but it was Charlies birthday and we get all the gear for free and the Ski-passes are dirt cheap, so we just booked it and hoped for good weather.


And boy did we get it!! The first 2 days was super warm and I got a stupid goggle tan on my face (Which looks cool when your up the mountain, but you look like a lunatic when your riding the tram to work the week after.....) This is the view from our room, pretty swish huh?


On the edge......


The weather was just stunning, it must have been the luck o' the Irish as the day before we arrived was crappy!!


I obviously couldn't bring up my Digital SLR, so I was using my Sony Camera and I hadn't used it in quite a while so some shots were on the wrong setting and came out kinda weird. Anywho, that's Charlie's board on the left and my giant slab is on the right!


Taking it easy waiting for our second lesson to start. The last time we had lessons we both learned to go down the slopes on our "Heel edge" (facing down the mountain), so in the second lesson it was time to learn "Toe edge" (Facing up the mountain) and then to learn how to move from one edge to the other in smooth single movements which I think is called linking turns.


Charlie looking "Goggle Hot" in her newly acquired fancy goggles. (Probably bloody texting Sash.)


Our instructor, Danny, was brilliant. It can be very hit and miss with what instructor you get, but we lucked out as he had us flying down Red runs by the end of the 2hr lesson linking turns. The lesson moved at a pretty face pace, but he would tell you what you were doing wrong and help you sort it! After the lesson we spent the rest of the afternoon practicing what we had learned and we both improved quite a bit. Although that included quite a few falls, but we both managed to get down a couple of runs without a single fall........


Well, day one was over and were bloody shattered, a quick nap when we got back and then some dinner and snuggled up in bed pretty early to make the most of the next day!


Another sunny day!!! yeah!


Some of the views were just amazing, it just stretches on for miles and miles.


Charlie all wrapped up nice and toasty!!


"Cold? What, I'm bloody Irish, this is a summers day back home!!"


How cool is that?


This is the lodge, it was really nice, but we didn't spend much time here as we were either Sleeping, eating or boarding.


Up we go again......


Its pretty hard to try and look cool on Chair-Lift, but I think i pulled it off..... Oh yeah.


On the second day we were free to go around the mountain improve on what we had learned the day before. After a shaky couple of runs to wake up the body, were back on the Red run called "Shaky Knees" which is pretty steep and very bumpy but its a great place to learn as its not very forgiving, so a mistake hurts which means you try a bit harder!!! (There is some logic in there)


Charlie Adjusting herself (Pulling snow out of her pants!)


She seems to be making some sort of ball from snow...... Wait a second... Doof!


Those green things are the park, which is pretty much like a skate park, but for snowboards. Not that good, just yet.


By the end of day 2 were getting much better and doing like 5-6 runs in a row without falling!! That night we went out for a nice dinner and had a good bottle of wine for Charlies birthday!!


Well, on day 3 I got pretty lazy with the camera as we were having too much fun and wanted to get as much in as we had to catch the bus home at 4pm, which meant we had to be off the mountain by 2pm. After a few warm up runs on a few green runs, we were back at "Shaky Knees" We were getting pretty good and the speed was increasing along with the speed of our turns, and I got a little too confident in my (lack of) skills and was going balls-out (not literally mum) down the run when my heel-edge caught and I flipped twice and got knocked silly. I hit my head hard and was pretty dazed and had managed to knock my hat and goggles off my head... It was a bit of a shock to the system and combined with being shattered after the 3 days, I lost my nerve for the speed runs, so for the rest of the day I took it a bit easy and practiced slower turns and a few other things.


Charlie on the other hand had it down, and was getting REALLY REALLY good, where I tried to go a bit too fast too soon and got cocky, she built up her speed nice and steady and was ripping down the mountain. I think I said it in the last snowboarding update too, but its great doing something like this and having your girlfriend right beside you or in front of me as the case was most of the time!!!


Well, It was time to leave Mt. Buller, we were shattered, but totally hooked, we are already talking about doing a season somewhere next winter and Charlie is eyeing up a board in work!! This is probably the last thing we thought we would be doing in Australia, but are so glad it happened!!


Charlie took this from our room, how sweet is that?

This is a short video of Charlie on the first day when we were still learning the basics, at the very start of the video she is on the far right (travelling left across the screen), second from the top, and obviously on a snowboard. Wait for her little "WhooHoo" at the end!!



While on the subject of Snowboarding, Charlie got free tickets to a premiere of a Snowboarding film through work.

Big deal, I hear you say?


Well, it wasn't just in some normal cinema, it was in/on a rooftop Cinema right in the city centre!!!


I could not help taking a few pictures before as the views were pretty slick!


I didn't think we would be in a cooler cinema than the one in Bangkok, but this one had grass on the floor, deck chairs for seats and simply the best view!!!


Its pretty distracting while watching a movie though, watching all the poor suckers still in work.


Melbourne.

Lots of Love from both of us.

Sean and Charlie.