Anyway, to cheer myself up, I will blog about my recent trip to the snow with friends!
We planned this trip a few weeks ago. One of the our friends, his parents has a time share arrangement for accommodation at Mansfield. Mansfield is about 1.5 hours from Mt Buller. So we booked two villa units for a very reasonable price between the 8 of us. The week leading up to the trip, I was busy during my lunch break looking for things to buy for the trip. I ended up with a new pair of ski pants (hell yeah!), new beanie, new goggles, new snow boots, new ski socks, and... yeah that should be it.
Most of us finished work earlier than normal on Friday afternoon. We left Melbourne at approximately 7pm. The drive was quite pleasant, but of course, with daylight saving, it was dark. We arrived at our villa unit around 10pm. We settled in quickly, the place was quite old but very clean, cosy and most importantly, warm! We agreed to wake up at around 5-ish in the morning the next day, for a 6am start. While majority of us did not think it was realistic, let me tell you, we did it! Well, not exactly at 6am, but we were ready to go at 6.30am the next morning. Not bad for a group of 8, don't you think?
Initially, we agreed to drive two cars up to Mt Buller from Mansfield. So we drove in to Mansfield town centre to hire wheel chains for both cars. Depending on the weather, cars are legally required to hire the wheel chains to drive on snow and icy roads. While filling out the paperwork, we find out that the wheel chains could not fit my car. Therefore, at 6.55am, everyone agreed to take the bus from the town centre to Mt Buller. Mind you, the bus was scheduled to depart at 7am. We ran for our lives to get on to the bus in time. If we missed it, we would have to wait an extra hour. Good news is that we made it on time. Phew!
Grumpy and myself in the bus. Bright and early.
The journey up to Mt Buller, we could already see snow. Everyone was so excited.
After over an hour, we arrived right at the top of the central area in Mt Buller. It was soooo cold. We zipped up our jackets, put on our scarves, beanies, googles, all good to go!
After about ten minutes of settling down in Mt buller, we organised our ski hire. This process took forever. Especially with a group of 8, we spent over an hour just sorting out our skis, boots, poles and snowboards. Some of us were getting impatient and very hot, staying indoors with 4 layers of clothes = so not cool :(
Anyway, finally when everyone finished sorting out their skis and snowboards, we joined the queue for the chair lifts.
I always say to him "Are you exciteeeeeddddd?" And he'll go.. "I'm alright..."
Everyone knows that the crowd in Mt Buller is the worst among the 3 most popular snow locations (Buller, Hotham and Falls Creek). Buller is the closest to Melbourne though.
The last time I skiied was 6 years ago. I can hardly remember how to ski from my previous experience. Two minutes after we hop off the chair lifts at the top, I find myself very afraid of the slopes. So I joined Dopey's other half to a complimentary two-hour ski lesson. I found the lesson very helpful. The ski instructor was extremely cute too. He had blue eyes. *faints*
Finally after the lesson and some lunch, I was ready to take on the slopes. While there was hardly any sun that Saturday, it was constantly snowing. Excellent for skiing. The snow was so nice and fluffy, it did not hurt much if you fell. The last thing you want is for it to be icy, because falling down would mean a lot of bruising!
Grumpy looks funny here. Hehehe don't you think it looks like I have my arms wrapped around some random stranger?
The last chair lift was at 5pm. We returned our skis and headed to a pub for some drinks. The bus took us home around 7.30pm. We were exhausted. Finally at 9pm, we started preparing dinner. Mr Happy organised steam boat and it was sooooo delicious. I guess after a long and tiring day, any hot food would have tasted better than usual!
I must say, my arms were extremely sore that night. From my wrist to my elbow. It was so sore that the pain was excruciating! Grumpy thinks I must have gripped the ski poles a bit too hard.
We ate dinner while watching the election. Everyone voiced out their political opinions. Among the 8 of us, only one person was an Australian citizen. So all I can say is none of their opinions mattered except for one! LOL
The next morning, I wake up and my arms so much better. Yay, I have my arms back! The sun was shining in Mansfield, here are some pictures.
View from our villa unit. So fresh and relaxing!
Our bedroom. There was an electric blanket to keep us nice and warm while asleep. I loved it!
The last day of our trip. We started the day with breakfast prepared by Dopey. We drove about 35kms from Mansfield to visit the Jamieson brewery.
We did beer tasting and shared some lunch. Then it was time to make our journey back to Melbourne. On the way home, we stopped by at De Bortoli vineyard and bought a few bottles of wine. Grumpy said he was stocking up for summer. Yes sure, spring comes first, my darling.
So there you go, I actually made it for a snow trip this winter after many years. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Everyone had a blast.
