Skiing at Falls Creek - Yay!!!!

Well, we're back in Brisbane, back at the grindstone again, but for a brief few days we were having the time of our lives!

We flew down to Melbourne before the sun peeped over the horizon on Wednesday last week. It was a public holiday in Brisbane, since the Ecca was on (ie. the Brisbane Fair) - yes, yes, we will use any excuse for a holiday, that is very true!

So, from Melbourne we caught a bus to Mount Beauty where we stayed for 4 nights (see picture above left). Here is a photo of us in downtown Mount Beauty (above right) - almost a village actually, less than 2000 people live here. It was in fact very beautiful, as the name suggests, and the drive from Melbourne was picturesque with green fields, snow topped mountains in the background, and trees dotting the hills.

On Thursday, we caught another bus up the hill to Falls Creek ski resort. It was only about 45 minutes on the road, and a very pretty if somewhat sickening ride. Ski fields in Australia are very different to the USA, with snow gums everywhere, less snow and less people. Also, the altitude is much lower in general than the fields in Colorado or Utah etc, and of course being Australia it is more expensive too! Here is a picture of the ski slopes.

We had a great time skiing, and then caught the bus home to Mount Beauty again in the evening. The next day, we went back up to Falls Creek, and this time stayed for dinner. Both days ended in rain - which was a bit miserable to ski in, especially since I still had bronchitis - but it was only at the very end of the day, and so we finished up early and went inside to warm up with chips and drinks.

As you can see from the photo on the left, it was quite foggy at times on the slopes, which made it difficult to see where you were going. There are actually a lot of people all around me in the photo, but you can't see any of them...

We had a fantastic time, and didn't have any crashes or falls, so we were happy with that!

By the end of the three days of skiing, I was swooshing pretty fast down the slopes. It's been a year and a half since we last skiied - that was in Canada. We definitely missed Canada, but Falls Creek was fun too.

Saturday was a beautiful, clear day, and then we headed back to Brisbane on Sunday. We had quite a long layover in the Melbourne airport, but thankfully I was able to use my corporate Qantas club membership to get us into the lounge, so we were able to lounge on couches, eat, drink, watch TV, read magazines and generally enjoy some lazy time before catching our flight.

Here is a photo of us at the top of one of the black diamond slopes... I'm not a huge fan of skiing black diamonds, but a did a few of them and managed to stay on my feet so I was pretty happy with that.

Of course, black diamonds in Australia aren't really the same thing as in the US, Canada or Europe. But I'll take it!

It was really nice just to have some time to ourselves, as we've both been so busy lately with work and buying land etc. Since getting back we've hardly seen each other again, so it was definitely good to have a break.

Here is a photo of Eric hiding in some snowgums...

Another photo: at the pub after a long day of skiing!

Trek for treatment

One of the things that our church is heavily involved in is raising money for and participating in mission work overseas. On Saturday Eric, Aussie and I did the 'Trek for Treatment' which was a 13 km hike through the Brookfield Hills to raise money for the Leprosy Foundation of Australia to buy X-Ray equipment for a hospital in Nepal.










It was a beautiful day, a little chilly at first, but nice once we warmed up from the walk. It was quite a difficult hike, up and down hills the whole way, and I'm pretty sore and sorry now, but it was definitely worth it. Aussie was in his element of course, and didn't even get worn out by the end of the hike, even though he probaby goes about 10 times further than we do, as he runs back and forward the and side to side the entire way on his 20 foot leash. He did some great work pulling me up a couple of hills!







We loved being outside, and wished that we could have been camping. It's been a while since we have been camping - the last time was in Italy. Our weekends have been so busy that we haven't had an opportunity, but we're hoping to go in Spring after our trip to India.

















We're very excited at the moment, and little anxious because we settle on our block of land in Kenmore this week. Here is a photo of the land:


It's a small block, but we're actually glad of that because it will mean less yard work, and with the terrible drought that Queensland has been going through for the past 7+ years there isn't any spare water to keep a large garden going, so it's better to have a small yard. Also, it's directly across the road from a cute park, so we'll use that as our backyard without having to maintain it!



The block is in a fantastic location. It is literally within eyesight of the church, so Eric will be able to walk to work. This will be so great for him, because he often has late night meetings - and once we move to our new home he will be able to pop home for dinner. Also we won't have to buy a second car which will save us a lot of money. Here is a view of the street that it's on - Palm St.

Kenmore is such a nice, leafy suburb. It's really well established, with shops, cafes, restaurants, and several schools. Everything we could want within reasonable walking distance. We're very blessed to have found a block of land there within our price range (well sort of!) - there isn't much land available in Kenmore these days, we may have snagged the last block! The only thing is that it will be quite a long process to get it built as there is a real estate boom on in Australia and all of the builders and tradespeople are extremely busy and very difficult to book. We're hoping to get it done within 8-9 months... and in the mean time we have to pay rent and a mortgage!

I won't tell you how much the land is costing us, because you'd probably have a coronary, let's just say that the land is costing us quite a bit more than a very nice house in Atlanta would have cost. Then we have to build on it.... Oh well, we're trusting God through the whole process, 'cause He's looked after us so far. Here is a view of the cute park across the road from our block, and up the hill towards the church.









Here are some pictures of other houses on the street. It's a very modern, funky look - Dad is designing our house, and I think it will be great. Two stories, with 5 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms. We can't wait until it's built and we can move in - then we won't be moving again for a very long time, and you will all have to visit us!











Au revoir!