Flessenpost 14: The mountains are calling
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Vera
15 Augustus 2018 | Australië, Jindabyne
The 20 degrees breezy Sydney temperature can hardly be called winter, so time to escape the city and head to the mountains for some real winter and snow fun. As much as the city tried with overpriced mediocre mulled wine and raclette at Bastille Festival and the Christmas in July markets, it just wasn’t giving off that wintery vibe.
The closest mountains, the Blue Mountains, don’t really have snow, but still offer an amazing hiking place in winter and I had a wonderful daytrip with Aaron, where he took me on a roadtrip to Evans Look Out, Leura and the Grand Canyon Track; the same trail I hiked 5+ years ago with Nanna. I actually recognized some parts of it and me digging into old maps of my exchange period confirmed it was indeed (for the majority) the same hike, what are the odds!
However, for the real snow a couple more hours of driving are required: The Snowy Mountains! Jasper had invited the ACFR crew to Jindabyne for an inaugural ski trip at Thredbo. Our humble home for the trip consisted of a beautiful mansion including floor heating, an unlimited backyard with treehouse and zoo, consisting of a cat, dog, 2 horses, lots of roos and some crazy wild PhD students on top of that.
Besides a minor T-bar incident that caused me a blue eye and cheek, a bit too explosive fire lighting (be careful with that diesel petrol ratio), aka that time we almost killed Max, a couple of drunkies throwing up, Jasper managing to throw the car keys down the storm drain (on top of which the car was parked), Fletcher skiing backwards into a fence during his very first ski lesson and Wei falling into the cuddling arms of nearby trees, it was a flawless trip with lots of snow fun.
Besides good snow, good slopes, lots of skiing, we had an awesome rest day in between with a bonfire, some archery practice that involved more arrow searching than firing and never ending (cold but crispy) pasta bake. One tip; heating food in a fire DOES NOT necessarily work, more fire does not equal more heating, just more charcoal.
And before we knew it the trip had already come to an end and it was time to head back. Back in Sydney, there was no time to rest as my supervisor instantly requested to see my (at the time not yet existing) paper draft and one stressful week later I was back on track to hopefully, fingers crossed, the first publication of my PhD. The actual deadline isn’t until early September, but there is still lots of work to do, so no more loafing about.
However, before I get ahead of myself and we are talking about spring, one more winter thing to check off my bucketlist: my very first rugby game. And not just any game: The Wallabies vs All-Blacks. Well you can guess who I am rooting for, even though their chances of winning are very low, miracles do exist, so Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi Oi Oi!
The closest mountains, the Blue Mountains, don’t really have snow, but still offer an amazing hiking place in winter and I had a wonderful daytrip with Aaron, where he took me on a roadtrip to Evans Look Out, Leura and the Grand Canyon Track; the same trail I hiked 5+ years ago with Nanna. I actually recognized some parts of it and me digging into old maps of my exchange period confirmed it was indeed (for the majority) the same hike, what are the odds!
However, for the real snow a couple more hours of driving are required: The Snowy Mountains! Jasper had invited the ACFR crew to Jindabyne for an inaugural ski trip at Thredbo. Our humble home for the trip consisted of a beautiful mansion including floor heating, an unlimited backyard with treehouse and zoo, consisting of a cat, dog, 2 horses, lots of roos and some crazy wild PhD students on top of that.
Besides a minor T-bar incident that caused me a blue eye and cheek, a bit too explosive fire lighting (be careful with that diesel petrol ratio), aka that time we almost killed Max, a couple of drunkies throwing up, Jasper managing to throw the car keys down the storm drain (on top of which the car was parked), Fletcher skiing backwards into a fence during his very first ski lesson and Wei falling into the cuddling arms of nearby trees, it was a flawless trip with lots of snow fun.
Besides good snow, good slopes, lots of skiing, we had an awesome rest day in between with a bonfire, some archery practice that involved more arrow searching than firing and never ending (cold but crispy) pasta bake. One tip; heating food in a fire DOES NOT necessarily work, more fire does not equal more heating, just more charcoal.
And before we knew it the trip had already come to an end and it was time to head back. Back in Sydney, there was no time to rest as my supervisor instantly requested to see my (at the time not yet existing) paper draft and one stressful week later I was back on track to hopefully, fingers crossed, the first publication of my PhD. The actual deadline isn’t until early September, but there is still lots of work to do, so no more loafing about.
However, before I get ahead of myself and we are talking about spring, one more winter thing to check off my bucketlist: my very first rugby game. And not just any game: The Wallabies vs All-Blacks. Well you can guess who I am rooting for, even though their chances of winning are very low, miracles do exist, so Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi Oi Oi!
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Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
