TUESDAY 8^TH JULY: Enjoy the second day of our travels at Mt Hotham….a trip down the mountain!

I am sitting down and all of a sudden there was a mighty crash. I jumped literally off my chair spilling coffee as I came back to earth with a bump…well as my rear end contacted with the seat again anyway! Looking out the side window I saw a huge clump of snow which had fallen from the roof of our cabin. It really sounds like a car crash…and digressing here, speaking of cars- do you know that the chains that they place on the wheels of the cars make a different sound altogether. As I am out walking I hear this particular crunching funny sound before I hear the actual sound of the car coming behind me! Anyway back to the snow…Hearing the sound of snow falling is quite loud! Well in clumps and large blocks anyway as it descends from a high place. Makes you think how loud an avalanche would be as it rolls and gathers more snow on its journey- think about the ‘clump’ at the end!

Well Marc left early this morning to go skiing. He caught the 8am bus and will probably come back earlier than yesterday…but will see what happens. I did not sleep very well last night as the pain in my arm and leg from my little slip down the stairs ached quite bad- plus combining that with the 3 hour snow walk I did yesterday together with a few tobogganing slides….I think that my muscles were a little overworked. I imagine that Marc’s quads must be feeling the strain today! However this morning after a leisurely start (for me anyway) I went for another walk. This time only for an hour as I can feel it in my legs! When we awoke it was very foggy and thought that it would be a grey day but the sun was shining brightly as I commenced my walk. I headed down to this huge snowman I saw complete with green vest and took a photo…it is so huge and cute with its green vest. It did not snow last night so the cars and buildings were not covered as they were yesterday- I guess I can have  something to treasure in my memories.Well there goes another huge chunk but this time falling from the window directly in front of me- (the one I am looking through) and yes it scared me enough I let out a little scream…only a little!!! With the sun shining and no snow falling overnight, I guess this was bound to happen. I do not know that much about snow I guess! Living close the beach there is not much chance at snow!!

Tuesday evening:

Well this afternoon was fun….’more funner’ as children say. Marc came home about 1pm and we went and built a snowman….actually it was a snow-woman! I have never built a snow-person in my life and so this was a new feat for me! Marc showed me how to gather the soft snow and roll it into a ball and then keep rolling until you get the size you wish! I also learnt that you need soft sticky snow, not soft fluffy snow! Who would ever have thought that there were different kinds of snow to use- it all looks white to me! Do you know that lifting the snow was interesting…snow is actually heavy!!! Something I would never had thought of before I did this trip! I know…dumb blonde…but it has all been a new revelation for me of learning!  We made three rolls to create one snow-man …I made the head and he did the torso and butt.

Anyway, the shape was built and then Marc showed me how to contour the head into ears and eyes and mouth etc. I did not know that the bigger and deeper you penetrate the eyes into the snow, the bluer they look- guess what- they do! I had a wonderful shaping implement…a twig from the tree! Worked wonders! Yes, they looked quite blue looking back at me! Marc then proceeded to do the arms- one waving and one on the hip- quite ingenious- they fell off a few times but eventually retained their pose and she looked good. The interesting part that I did was the torso and made the man into a woman….with a size 44double D Bust! Huge! The finished look now complete with a skirt and eyebrows and hair- all from snow! It was so much fun. What was interesting is that you had to gather the soft untouched fresh snow to make the shapes work- the hard snow would not work or stick to the rest of the snowman- I learnt so much today! It actually took us almost 1 and half hours to make…and the photos of development were taken along the way!  More photos on this section later!

From there we went tobogganing…I first of all had to change my boots as I was getting a blister from the snow boots I had borrowed and went back to my original walking boots and felt so much better…I even felt lighter and realised that the borrowed boots were so heavy to walk in! My boots look and feel good! Another learning experience for me!

Now tobogganing today was an educational experience believe me! I became  very professional in doing back turns and coming down back to front, rolling sideways into the snow, weaving my way wonderfully into wire perimeter fencing and rolling into the snow, performing  backward turns and flips onto the front again as I plummeted into passing toboggans who spun me around and around.  Clipping my husband’s toboggan sent him flying further down the slope as I did a neat pirouette on the slope before rolling sideways onto to my stomach. I performed a snow angel flat on my back in the snow easily without even trying! Placing your foot out to stop you flying really did not work as with a heel on your boot, your heel digs in and over the top you go! Yes you definitely stop abruptly! Becoming airborne over small humps in the snow showed my expert aerobatic skills as I then crashed onto the hard snow again and flew further down, missing the hay bales at the end of the run and plummeting into no man’s land as I tried to stop.

Dodging children on the slope was also experimental….some I got, some I missed! Oh it was all quite professional.

It took me to the end of the time there to realize that placing your arm out onto the snow helps you steer. But…the glass of mulled wine at the end of the flying was definitely worth it all!