Going Away

I had a really amazing day at Karasawa today.  Karasawa is the ski run that is only about 2 minutes walk from Villa Nozawa (10 min in ski boots).

Until now, my skiing hasn’t been progressing terribly well.  I didn’t

get skis until the end of December and I’ve spent a fair chunk of January sick.  So all I can really do is snow plough, which is the slowest, easiest way of doing things.  A few weeks ago, Yan and Manuel, the ski instructors, told me how to do parallel turns and I’ve been wanting to try it for ages and today was the first chance I got.

So, Karasawa, a beautiful wide 3km slope.

I don’t know how or why, but it

all just worked.  I was chilled out enough that I didn’t freak out on the chairlift – it’s sad, but that’s actually quite an achievement for me – and when I skied I found my brain was switched off enough to go a bit faster and started doing the parallel turns without even consciously trying.

It was a really stunning day on th

e mountain as well.  Lots of fresh snow, beautiful clear sky, gorgeous scenery and only about 4 other people on the whole 3km run.

So basically this means I’m going out again tomorrow.

And yes, I know I look sensational in my hat.  :)

So, back to normality.  It was nice to get home.  :-)

The holiday was absolutely fantastic, we saw so many amazing places and had a great tme.  Very nice to be home though.  It’s a long time to be away and by the end of it, we were definately ready to come home.  Started missing people, normal food (Italy seriously has bread issues).

But anyway, home now.  Back to work.  Heaps more hours now, but still have a life.  Not that I know what to do with it.  Caught up with Ellen and Rachel, been seeing a fair bit of Kyle.  Eating normal foods, hanging around with the smelly ones.  Going through photos, planning on doing them up all nice.  

Life is good.

In an attempt to stop me going to Schoolies, Mum and Dad offered me a trip to anywhere in the world (with them).  I know, as you do, right?  Well, much to my surprise they came good and Mum and I have just come back from a five and a half week trip that took us through Japan, England, France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Italy.  Had a great time, but the photos are better than my sad attempts at retelling.  :-)

Mum and I in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan.  Love it.  The whole city lights up.

Mum in front of Tokyo Tower.

Me with Naoko and Misato, who hosted me when I went to Yokosuka, Japan for three months in year ten, 2006. [click to continue...]

Okay.  I lied.

And I have to admit, I probably shan’t update this anymore until after the 17th of April because…I’M GOING AWAY!!!!!!!!

Well, technically Mum and I are going away, but whatever.

So.  March the 10th we fly to Tokyo.  Then we go to Yokosuka and visit (and stay with) my host family from the last time I was in Japan.  Then we fly to London for a few days, hire a car and wander around southern England for a week, catch the Eurostar to Paris and meander through Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Italy.

Singapore, too, if you count stopovers.  (I do.)

So I am very very excited right about now.    I’ve been spending my days on the computer (did I mention I got a laptop?!?) looking up accomodation and sightseeing tours in exotic places.

We leave in 17 days.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m a little excited.

More when I get home…promise.

(Not that that seems to mean much, but it’s the thought that counts.)

I feel the need to show where I actually went.  So here goes.

It’s a very, very long way.  And that’s only from Day 14 of the whole thing.

Jack’s amazing.  I think that is becoming clear. [click to continue...]

What I’ve seen from Ceduna to Surfers Paradise

Llama: 1 Definatley wasn’t expecting that one.

Double Headed Lizard: 4 They are really cool.  They have a proper name, but I don’t remember it.

Frillneck Lizard: 3 Very glad I saw them, as I’d just bought a frillneck charm for my charm bracelet.

Kangaroo: 20 or 25 perhaps. Two jumped across the road in front of us and we saw a whole group of them bounding across a paddock about 200m away.

Goat:  hundreds!! They’re everywhere. [click to continue...]

Iron Knob

Harry liked this one alot.

Cockburn

Geez, minds out of the gutter people, it’s pronounced Co-burn.

Coonabarrabran

Just awesome.

Oodla Wirra

Adorable.

Wollomombi

Try saying it three times fast.  Seriously.  I spent like ten minutes in the car trying to pronounce it.

Nothing much has happened since we left Uralla… seems to be getting a little bit same old, same old.

Er, what news?

They found a dead guy in Gunnedah (sleepy country town) the day we left.  Suspicious death, too.  Never would have expected Gunnedah to be capable of it.

Stayed at a 100% completely manicured caravan park last night.  It reminded me of the movie The Stepford Wives.  Beautiful, but kind of creepy.

We’re really close to home now.  As in, I know the roads, I know the towns.  It’s scary, only two more days of riding left (and only short ones too, since they got so far ahead).

More later.

My first and pretty much only impression of Tamworth:

Public toilets just by the big map of the town.

I flushed the loo and a whole gush of water spurted out of the pipe at the back and onto my foot.

Ewww……..toilet juice!

The lesson:

When flushing in Tamworth, keep a safe distance.