YARRA VALLEY

We had a great time in the Yarra Valley, it was a Trackers Staff "end of season getaway


We went to some gorgeous wineries and ate SO MUCH yummy food.


Great way to end a season I reckon....

Last Day in Falls Creek

Our last day in Falls Creek and it decides to snow like it has never snowed all season.... to make things worse, we hadn't had snow for over three weeks and warm weather so had figured the skiing was over.... so how badly gutted was DAve that we were leaving that day... PRETTY GUTTED!!

So we got up early and headed out for a couple hours of skiing - followed by several hours of FRANTIC packing...

Followed by some amzing driving from Dave, as we headed down the mountain for the last time and on to the Yarra Valley for the staff trip.

FALLS CREEK MEMORIES

From the top
1: Fireworks after the snowshow... every Wednesday night!
2: Icicles
3: Overlooking accommodation for "irritating guests" - the Hammock
4: I sank
5: A wee little bit of snow outside...
6: Cathe snowboarding down the take-home trail
7: Dave working hard...
8: Ex staffie relaxing on the hammock
9: Zadie, purposely ignoring me.
10: Dan the chef, being attacked by a balloon monster (Sammy)
11: Brian & Dave out on the town, impressing the "ladies"


12: Dave n Rae having fabulous adventures

Birdy Num Nums....

I was amazed by the amount of birds up at Falls Creek - there were so many - but only two varieties to choose from - Kurrajongs and Rosella's.They'd all fly onto our balcony and have a feed if we left some seed out for them, not sure what else they would eat if we and the nearby pub didn't feed them?These little guys were LOUD!! and trying to eat the rubber of our bedroom window frame...
birds: "bang bang" "squark" "bang bang"
me: "shhhhh..."
birds: "?????"
me: "thanks"
birds: "bang bang bang!"

Happy Birthday Dave!

"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to Youuuu - you look like a monkey and you smell like one too"

It was Dave's Birthday yesterday, we didn't do anything really exciting. Just a quiet day, finishing with a lovely meal at the local RSL in Bairnsdale with our friends Pete n Mandy and the kids.

Mum was pretty organised this year and sent over a cake with Cathe when she visited in August.She said it was to do for both our birthdays - hence the R + D... luckily for Dave I can only eat about 5% of a cake this big, and by amazing coincidence, he can eat 95%.
and although this photo shows him in Falls Creek - we were under strict instructions to check that the cake was ok, and not to wait til yesterday. Dave undertook the duty quite seriously...
There is still some birthday cake left... just not sure if it will still be around for my Birthday in March?

My new hobby

I've been having a great time making these...
Just have to figure out what to do with them all..
hmmm?(love the centre button on this one - too cute)

Dorks..

We went to the movies recently, we saw the movie "UP" we had the option of seeing it in 3D and it was very good..
It was my first time watching a 3D movie so I had to get a "piccie"

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Ben

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More awesome visitors...

Cathe and Emma came to visit us and to learn to snowboard...
we had a fantabulous time with them...


lots of laughs and good times.

playing card games, going out for dinner, a few itty bitty falls...

how is your arm now Cathe? and your special bruise Em?

Thanks for coming by and seeing our life... we had a wonderful time!

So you want to go for a drive off the Mountain?

Going on a daytrip is a little trickier than just jumping in the car and taking off...

just follow these simple instructions..

1 - you need to put all your warmest waterproof clothes on
(make sure u have your "real cothes" with you)

2 - you need to get down to the car park
if your lucky you might get a shuttle otherwise 10 minute walk - downhill in ankle deep snow

3 - find the car in the carpark....
not as easy as it sounds... if you can't remember exactly where it's parked - you have to find the right "shaped" snowmound, uncover the numberplate, repeat this until you find your car.

4 - Remove snow....
it is recommended that you remember to bring your gloves with you... otherwise, brrrr! If you are lucky you will have a scraper to do this... if you are even luckier your husband tells you to wait in the car once you uncover the door.

5- Start car
AND TURN THE HEATERS ON FULL SPEED!!!!

6- If you had forgotten to take your handbrake off when you originally parked,
wait several minutes while the car/brakes warm up, then reverse backwards and then forwards, until the brake warms up enough that you can take it off.... none of this is recommended really.

7 - phew

8 - Get in car and take off all wet weather gear
without getting too much snow on your seat, and try to keep dry as you put on all your normal clothes for "down hill"

9 - Slowly drive off out of your car's "cuccoon" and depart the mountain

10 - Take it easy
the mountain is 25km from the bottom and it takes approximately 40 - 45 minutes to drive.. it can be a little icy or snow covered at the top and it's extremely windy, lets hope your passenger doesn't get carsick easily...

11- Remember stuff...
that you should have bought with you; like sunglasses, or stuff that you shouldn't have left in the car; frozen jellybeans :(

12 - Enjoy your day trip
try not to think of all the things that are required to get back home to the lodge (uphill, in the snow, at night, with all the stuff u bought)