The Snow Trip - Mt. Bulla

Last weekend Amy, Rick, Ez, Jase, Ben and I went away on a snow trip. We stayed at "Hillview Cottage" and skied / snow boarded / tobogganed on Mt. Bulla. It was an awesome weekend. Aimez, Rick, Ez and I arrived around 3pm on Friday afternoon, while Ben and Jase arrived around 8:30am Saturday morning. The road trip up was entertaining in itself. Amy and Rick shared the driving, and as we took Amy's car, we were stuck listening to my dodgie cassette tapes, as she doesn't have a CD player, and reception for the radio was lost rather quickly. Although listening to War of the Worlds was kinda cool :P



The drive took about three and a half hours as we stopped for lunch and Amy insisted on stopping at Yea for some Fruit Tingles and a Cherry Ripe.... LOL.
Ez seemed to sleep most of the way, and was making some random sounds as she slept. It was amusing!



"Hillview Cottage" was beautiful. It was a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, fully contained cottage. It had a country theme and was very comfortable. It is located about 14km outside of Mansfield, and the "serenity" was blissful! :P





Friday was spent unpacking, grocery shopping, and hiring the equipment for the following couple of days. Ez cooked us dinner, and then the four of us put on our ski clothes and went outside, laid on the ground, and looked up at the stars. I don't think I have ever seen so many. The air is so fresh and clean up there, that we had the perfect view of what seemed like a diamond encrusted sky. It was breathtaking. Although man, was it COLD!!! hehe.


Saturday morning arrived and so did Ben and Jase. After breakfast we headed to Mt. Bulla. We met up with some friends from MarShere (Angie, Stefan, and Kristian) and the nine of us headed up the mountain. Which to be honest, scared the absolute shit out of me. I am terrified of heights, but driving up on what I saw as an unsafe road was petrifying! I was close to tears a few times going up, and yes I realize this makes me a complete wuss!! Thankfully Benji and Ez held my hands and I imagined a "happy place" occasionally remembering to breathe. LOL

Once we arrived, went met up with another two people from MarShere (Marty and Carrie) and the snow fun began. Marty and Benji snowboarded, while Rick, Amy, Carrie, Stefan, Angie and Kristian all skied. Ez, Jase and I tobogganed, which was an adventure in itself, but I will get to that a little later :P The group separated here, and as the skiers and snowboarders headed up the slope, Ez, Jase, and I went to the tobogganing area.





Tobogganing was heaps of fun, and Ez and my laughs could be heard for miles! LOL. After going up and down the slope for a while, we decided to make a snowman, and well, that turned into a disaster. While trying to find an area to do so, I slipped down the slope, and couldn't stop sliding, that is, until a freaking tree stopped me!!! Man... the collision with the tree was painful, and I have the bruise to show for it. The problem you see, is that the tree was located at the edge of a cliff and below the cliff was a "raging river". Let me describe what the scene felt and looked like from my perspective.....

I was sliding, gaining speed and heading towards a fast approaching cliff. I couldn't see anyway of slowing down or better still stopping. I was trying to grip the snow as I slide, but it was so smooth that this was pointless. I could see the edge and thought, yep, I'm going to end up in the raging river below. This however didn't happen as a tree (which seemed to appear from nowhere) stopped me. I must have slided sideways a little down the slope, as my hip and back made contact with the tree. This was extremely painful, but I was just relieved that I had finally come to a halt. Slightly freaked, but laughing uncontrollably, I tried to get up onto my feet, but every time I moved, I slide closer to the edge. I could see and hear Ez and Jase laughing their heads off, and this was fueling my own laughter, but I was getting a little worried as all I could think of was falling to my death over the cliff. I was stuck, and needed help, so Jason came to my rescue and helped pull me back up onto my feet and back up the slope. Ez, was now crying with laughter and the three of us stood there laughing.


So that is my story, at least from my perspective. On further examination, it turns out that the cliff was only amount 2 meters down, and the raging river, was a slow moving stream which was probably no more than half a meter deep. BAHAHA!!! But at the time it felt like a life and death situation! What a complete pisser.... I'm crying with laughter as I'm writing this! And I can still hear Ez's laughs! :P

Unfortunately the good weather quickly turned into rain and once we got wet, it became unbearably cold, even with the numerous layers of clothing we all had on, causing us all to look and feel like Michelin Men.


The three of us decided to head to the restaurant where we were meeting the others for lunch, to warm up and dry off.



We all met for lunch and warmed back up. Then the others went back on the slope while Ez, Jase and I went home to have a hot shower and get ready for dinner. The others arrived home about an hour and a half later, and then we all went out for dinner with Angie, Stefan, Kristian, Marty, and Carrie.







Driving home I almost hit a freaking Wombat.... what the hell! Lets just stop in the middle of the road and wait to be hit by a passing car. Thank goodness for fast reflexes.... hrm, freaked me out a bit though, but no harm done! Then Aimez, Rick, Ez, Jase, Ben, and I had some drinks (which quickly became a lot) and played some random games, including "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, (Rick's drinking game) which I recall having to take 17 drinks at one point!! WHAT THE??? *Waves fists!* It was a lot of fun. Saturday was exhausting, and so we all went to bed around midnight.

Sunday started pretty much the same as Saturday. We met up with the others and headed back up the mountain.... Grrrr... I HATE THAT MOUNTAIN DRIVE! (Thanks Benji xoxo) Rather than tobogganing, Jase, Ez and I decided to buy a scenic lift pass which allowed us to use any of the lifts and get a better view of Mt. Bulla. This was fantastic, and my highlight of the snow. We were able to stay with the others, and watch them ski and snowboard from the lifts. Here are a few photos.







Jase, Ez, and I then went on the long chair lift for a better view. Obviously snow is white, but it was so pure, that it was radiant. It was beautiful. There was a calm and quiet atmosphere that surrounded the snow. It was a shame that it started to snow, and therefore it became a little foggy, but I managed to take a couple of pics from the lift.





We then met up for lunch and to once again, warm up and dry off. This was a great day, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. After lunch we went back on another lift back down the slope where we met the others and then packed up our gear and heading back to Hillview.



Once we arrived home, we had dinner, packed and was back on the road heading home, leaving Amy and Rick behind. I drove home, Ez slept, and Ben and Jase were having some random conversations that I was tuning in and out of. The whole drive home I was thinking about how much I wanted to turn the car around, and head back to Hillview. It was a sad realisation that work, Uni, and Tafe were waiting for us all the next morning. Real life sucks! I want to go back, and escape my everyday life. Being up there was a refreshing time out that ended far too quickly. So, suming up, my first experience of snow in Australian was awesome, but to tell you the truth, this trip was never really about Mt. Bulla, it was about having a break and spending some quality time with my Best Friends. Thanks to you all for making it such an awesome memory.