Having had a good rest, this morning we got up bright and early to head to the resort so we could get a good day of skiing in. The drive took us back through the Kosiosko National Park and we noticed that it seemed generally brighter than yesterday, which made the scenery along the drive much prettier. Along the side of the road we saw lots and lots of road kill, specifically wombats and kangaroos. Hez pointed out that lots of them were in some way coloured – although it looked like a local graffiti artist had gotten happy with a spray can, apparently the Rangers of the National Park go around and check the pouches of the deceased marsupials, to see if there is a live baby inside that can be rescued and the colour shows that it has been checked. Interesting.
Once at Perisher, we got ready, bought our ski lift passes and met Dylan, who had been making snow til all hours, but now had the day off. The three of us went straight up to the Front Valley slope and from the top it looked so different compared to yesterday – the sky was clear, as blue as blue can be, without a single cloud; incredibly beautiful. We had a few runs down the Front Valley slope and again I found my ski legs very quickly, not falling at all and trying out different things on each run. I stopped half way down to watch Dylan go over the jumps on his snowboard – very cool indeed!
Having built up enough confidence to go to another slope, the three of us jumped on the Ski Tube (train) to take us to a different mountain, called Blue Cow. It was much higher up than the Front Valley so was much snowier. It looked even more different to any ski slope I had ever seen – rather than the usual alpine scenery, the slopes were lined with gum trees, which looked so pretty, glistening white against the blue sky. It was strange how the snow on the mountain contrasted with the green, snow-less hills nearby; highlighting the fact that the lack of snow was still preventing lots of the other slopes from opening.
We did a run down the Easy Starter slope, which was exactly what it sounded like; a relatively easy slope but still a little harder than the Front Valley (which is the easiest slope at the resort). We then took a diversion down the Rollercoaster – I was a little dubious about this as there were massive signs on the lead up to it, saying that this slope was not for novices, but Hez and Dylan assured me that I would be fine. The Rollercoaster run was actually really good fun – it is so called because it is narrow, twisting and undulating (it is a path that goes around the side of the mountain) and lots of fun to ski along. It then opened out into a much more challenging slope, with lots of scary ice patches, some very steep bits and other sections which I couldn’t help but speed down as it was impossible to slow down, but somehow I managed to keep upright and get down in one piece.
We got on the ski lift which took us up to the next slope, Zali’s – the views from the lift were amazing - it climbed really high and as we went up, Dylan pointed out the slopes that were still closed and constantly having snow made and pumped onto them, to try and get them open for the start of the school holidays. When we got to the top of the slope, I was somewhat shocked – it was waaaaaaaay steeper than the other slopes we had done, quite narrow in comparison too and was rather long. The thing was, there was no option other than ski down and so I watched Dylan shoot off and then Hez and I started to make our way. I took my time and was particularly nervous, especially as the whole left half of the slope was just a sheet of ice where it was cast in the shadow of the trees; meaning that every time I turned right, I had no grip and I really felt like I was going to fall, but somehow I didn’t. What didn’t help was that I kept seeing people fall over around me and that was really offputting! Eventually I reached the bottom and I felt a huge sigh of relief and could breathe again!
We took the lift back up to the top of the Easy Starter slope and along the way I once again really enjoyed the views in the sunshine. Once we disembarked the lift, we decided to have a much deserved coffee break - I certainly needed a rest after the traumatising experience of Zali’s!
As they had been having to go slower than usual on account of me, I felt bad for Hez and Dylan, so convinced them to go off on their boards for a bit without me. This meant that they could bomb down all the big scary slopes and I could take it easy and just enjoy the views – and that is exactly what I did. When they had zoomed off, I took my time going up and down the Easy Starter a few times; this time stopping at various points along the way to take in the scenery and trying out a few different turns, with just myself for company! It was great because I had enough confidence on the slope that I didn’t really have to concentrate on what I was doing, so instead could just appreciate the beauty of my surroundings; in particular the snowy gum trees. We met up again at the top, then did the same thing for a few more runs, eventually meeting up at the Tube, to go back to the Front Valley.
We had a few more runs down the Front Valley slope, again after doing a few together, I convinced Hez and Dylan to do a few runs without me, so they could go as fast as they wanted! I continued up and down the slope, again not really having to concentrate on my skiing, instead just enjoying the vistas and the glorious blue skies.
The afternoon brought some natural snow and the clouds began covering the slopes once again, so we decided that it was time to depart. Before we went back to the car, Hez said we should go to Little Orbits, where we had some delicious tiny little doughnuts! Yum! The three of us then jumped in the car and went back to Jindy, where I warmed up with a shower and then sat with Hez and Dylan in the toasty caravan, watching tv and chatting about our day.
We headed out to a fantastic Thai restaurant for dinner and then popped to the petrol station on the way back to get an icecream! Back at the caravan, we whiled away the rest of the night watching various things on tv and a couple of DVDs, with lots of snacks and a few beers! It is unbelievable how shattering a day of skiing is, but it had been well worth it and I had been truly blown away by the amazing views – I can see why Hez and Dylan love it there so much.
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