Hang Ten Mate - Tuesday, March 3

[Photo above: beach bounty]

Another early morning brought another long walk with Mom. This time we started by walking up the steep hill behind their place to Point Danger (love Aussie names!). We weren’t the only ones out at 5:45 am - there were tons of surfers enjoying the waves. The area around Point Danger is stunning – a high hill with beautiful trees and rocks framing a wicked surf beach where the Quicksilver/Roxy Surfing World Cup is currently being held. I’ll have to go back another day with a camera.

At 10:00 I showed up at a surf truck advertising surf lessons. Other than a CRAZY woman in my group, I had fun. I managed to catch quite a few waves. This surf school teaches an adapted method to getting up that is much more beginner-friendly than the jump-up method I’ve learned in the past. Plus for our first lesson he pushed us onto waves for the first hour. Nothing like the sweet taste of success.

In the afternoon we walked to a local mall. There was nothing that interesting with the exception of the licorice store. Yum! I bought pineapple and strawberry flavoured licorice. The pineapple licorice is wicked.

Tuesday night is Mom and Dad’s night at Seagull’s, a club in Tweed Heads that we had to take a bus too. We had dinner then Mom and Dad hit the pokies while I tried to stay awake by doing some Sudoku.

Welcome to "Retirement" - Monday, March 2

[Photo above: view from the condo’s living room balcony]

I began my day bright and early this morning with a beautiful beach-front walk with my Mom. Bliss. The weather is perfect – hot but not disgustingly so. We walked 7km. My knee didn’t bother me at all.

We returned for a breakfast of French toast and tropical fruit – papaya, mango, pear, and apricot. Everything tastes so fresh and flavourful here. After breakfast we headed to the beach first taking a stroll and collecting seashells. I then took a boogie board we found in our condo’s storage locker out to catch some waves. I had fun despite the fact that the board was pretty useless. I definitely want to surf instead as soon as I can line up a surfboard.

The afternoon had an unusual twist. My parents and I went to the Coolangatta Hotel and they pulled out coupons so we could each get a $15 cocktail for free – mine a mix of rum, butterscotch, and ginger beer was fantastic! We then entered a gaming area off the main bar that was full of slot machines (pokies in Aussie lingo). Mini Vegas in Oz! My parents then handed in another three coupons and we were each given $3 to gamble. I love the way seniors operate! Those playing between 2:30-3:30 pm were eligible to win a cash prize of up to $500 just for playing. So we played for a little while. I lasted half an hour before I quit. That was pretty good for me as I’m not a slots fan. My mom quit with me. My dad lasted the whole hour and got entered into the draw but unfortunately did not win.

Monday nights are free movie nights at the [social] club nearest my parents’ place so we showed up at Twin Towns for a light dinner and a movie. The movie was not fantastic. It was too soon for me to sit still for that long after my journey here. I felt like I was back on the airplane watching another endless movie only this time I could not flip through a magazine or do a Sudoku puzzle while it was on! It was another early night which suited me just fine as I was anxious to get up early for another beachfront walk.

Arrival in Coolingatta

I’ve arrived! And it feels really good. Twenty-six hours of travel were quickly forgotten as I slipped on a bathing suit and made my way to the ocean minutes after my arrival. I am so excited to be back!

In the days/weeks/months leading up to my trip I really hadn’t given it much thought. I am not sure if my lack of anticipation was because I had already been to Australia twice already or because I was so busy with work and skiing leading up to my trip that I really didn’t have the mind space to think about it. But my excitement mounted as I flew from Sydney to the Gold Coast airport taking in the stunning views featured above. I was thrilled to find my parents waiting to greet me at the airport. On the drive to their condo, I was excited to recognize favourite haunts from the last time I was here four years ago. My excitement culminated in our walk along the beach.

After a little beach time we chilled on our 7th floor balcony with stunning views of Rainbow Bay. We then went for a walk to pick up some groceries for dinner in. It is definitely going to be an early night for me as I have only slept an hour or so in the last 48 hours. I am looking forward to my early morning walk along the bay.

Sunshine 2 - Friday, January 2

On my last day I wanted to return to Sunshine as I had only spent one day there and it had the best snow, both in terms of coverage and consistency. Mike Romano from Voyageurs was in Calgary for a family wedding so we arranged to meet and ski together. I was a little worried as the forecast was for -16C temperatures but the day turned out to be amazing. It was our first sunny day from start to finish. There was even a vertical rainbow in the centre of the resort for most of the day. The snow was fantastic - tons of loose snow and no icy patches like Lake Louise and Norquay. My freshly tuned edges felt sooooo much better than my railed skis did at Norquay.

Mike and I skiied A LOT. We skiied off every lift and spent a great deal of time at Goat's Eye as conditions were better there than when I was there earlier in the week. We started pretty much when the lifts opened and skiied through to around 3:00 pm. With my "private shuttle" (Mike's rented Prius) I was back in no time and even had time to go for a hot tub before beginning to pack.

The group went to Bumpers for another beef dinner. I swear I am not going to eat steak or any kind of beef for probably three months after this trip! We will be leaving early tomorrow for Calgary. So another trip winds down. I am glad I got a lot of big mountain skiing in. I am happy I found some great people to ski with. After over two weeks away from home I am actually looking forward to seeing my renovated condo, sleeping in my own bed, and just being by myself doing what I want when I want. Ahhhhh!

Norquay - Thursday, January 1

After a late night, we had a bit of a lie in, waking up at 8:00 am. After four days of frenetically getting ready to catch shuttles to hills and enduring the long transfers back in the evening to get only minutes to get ready each night, I was ready to take it easy. I took my time getting ready and caught the 9:12 shuttle to Norquay with Pat. I remembered liking the oft-overlooked hill the last time I was in Banff and was looking forward to avoiding the crowds and having only a 15 minute commute.

Norquay did not disappoint. It was a picturesque drive and a beautiful hill. There were no rocks poking through on the moderate blues and blacks we did and a fair bit of fresh snow on the sides of the runs from yesterday evening's snowfall. My only problem was that one of my skis kept washing out any time I was on firmer snow. Upon inspection I realized I had rolled an edge, so I traded skis to move that edge to an inside edge to minimize its impact. Then when I returned to Banff I took my skis in to get the edges done.

Pat and I had a nice lunch at a pub on one of the side streets and then returned to the hotel to chill for a bit. The outdoor hot tubs have now been repaired and are likely my next stop.

Kicking Horse - New Year's Eve

[Photos above: Craig and Bruce before diving in; Pat and I at New Year's Dinner, the scene on Banff Avenue at midnight]

The High Park trip included five days of skiing at your choice of Lake Louise, Sunshine, or Norquay. For most that was all the skiing they planned to do. I however did not come all the way to Banff to visit souvenir shops. I'd rather be making some souvenirs (memories). With that in mind, three of us - Craig, Bruce, and I - booked a day trip to Kicking Horse in Golden, BC. It was $91 for the door to door coach and lift ticket, pretty good considering a lift ticket alone is $67.

The trip to Kicking Horse took about 2 1/2 hours with pick-ups. As it was still dark when we left at 7:00 pm, we didn't see much early on but the scenery was stunning as we got close. I was glad I was on a bus as I sure wouldn't want to drive that highway! It snowed hard all day which made for awesome snow conditions but not great visibility which made the tougher runs a challenge. The most interesting run we did today was one off Redemption Ridge. We had to follow the ridge down a way to where we wanted to ski. The downhill traverse kept us on our toes as a lot of wood and rocks were still uncovered this time of year. But once we dove down it was deep, deep powder.

We had planned to eat at the Eagle's Eye restaurant on top the mountain but as visibility was so poor we elected to grab a sandwich at a coffee shop at the base of the mountain. It was delish - probably my best sandwich since the bakeries in New Zealand. Appropriate as almost everyone working in Banff and Kicking Horse seems to be either Kiwi or Aussie. We then skiied hard all afternoon, just taking a brief pause at the end of the day to get a gluewine (Yes! They even have mulled wine there) and a cute Kicking Horse t-shirt. OK, so I did get my souvenir after all!

As today is New Year's Eve, once I got back to the hotel o had to quickly get ready and hightail it over to the pre-arranged New Year's party. Really, who plans a formal in Banff!?! Dinner was fantastic. I ate several different things than usual - beef carpaccio (me and basically raw meet?), scallops, and bison. The creme brule dessert had saskatoon berries in it so I explained to the easterners what they were. It was not a very wild crowd with most departing before midnight. For those of us who hung in we were treated to a huge fireworks display for the gigantic crowd on Banff Avenue. Rather than watch from above, we joined the crowd in the street. It was fabulous. Happy New Year!

Lake Louise 2 - Tuesday, December 30

Day 3 brought a return visit to Lake Louise. This time we caught the earliest bus at 7:40. It turned out to be a good move as the best light was earlier in the day. It was our first sunny day. You could see the Chateau and Lake Louise. There was a lot of photo taking, to the point of "Enough already! I came here to ski!"

The day didn't start well for me as my feet cramped up on the first run. I think it was a combination of thinner socks and doing a harder effort than I usually would apply right out the gate. I loosened my boots up and took it easy for the next run and luckily they felt a lot better. By mid-morning I was able to buckle them up properly and they were comfortable the rest of the day.

We skiied in the same group as the day previous - Bruce, Craig, Pat, and me. We covered a lot of terrain once again. Perhaps the most interesting run was one I had no interest in doing initially. We had to take a poma lift (little saucer like disc that is inserted between your legs and pulls you up the hill) to the summit. Once there we were able to traverse over to a bowl of soft fluffy snow. With the bright sun out it was the perfect day and time to ski it.

This evening I FINALLY made it to the hot springs. They were packed. Still it felt good to relieve my tired muscles. The same group that skiied together then had dinner at Giorgio's Trattoria. I had their signature dish - a pasta pinwheel that was delicious.

I then returned to the hotel to rest up for my big trip to Kicking Horse tomorrow. Stay tuned...