Looking after pets

Isn't my little pet cute!?!?!?

Oh, the doggy is nice too!

Housesitting for Todd's parents.... Prabs thought she'd come down to visit from up North.

A vet who loves dogs... who would have thought it?

During the time, I got my hands on a hundred dollar bill!!!

First time I'd seen one in about three years......

Dinner with mother and father

After my graduation, my parents wanted dinner....

We went to the oldest restaurant in town.
.... it was pretty good.....
I looooooooove oysters!

So now I'm a graduate......

After missing out on my original graduation date due to the need to go home to look after my mother.....

I finally got to go to my graduation ceremony!



It was an interesting day.

Not one I'd do again, but definitely interesting.



I was happy to see that I was there with a few friends. People whom I thought had graduated last year were there!



















I even managed to get my photo taken with the Chancellor!

Tune up

When you ski on an awful pair of old Rossignol skis..... you really don't care what happens to them.

Apparently they're filled with styrofoam anyway.
Things are a bit different for Bryce and Hugh though.

Every pair of skis they own is provided to them by the companies.

Racing skis that will never be used by the rest of us "normals".




But.... with such valuable skis....

Comes the need to tune them.....

On top of Australia

Skiing to the top of Australia!!!!

We wandered into the Eagles Nest for some brief shelter from the cold.

But then it was time to go back out! Visibility was VERY low and the winds were howling.

Didn't stop me though. I happily reached the highest ski lift in Australia.
Above the tree line, there wasn't anything to get in the way! Straight lining became far more fun.
The high winds produced some strange looking ice-crystals on all the rocks.
Isn't it perfect?
As the temperatures dropped again, Hugh and I retreated to the Kareela Hut for some warm drinks.Great views!
As we both skied down to the bottom again, Hugh decided to take a different run to me. We agreed that we'd meet at the base of the Gunbarrel chair lift.....

However, as I went down I stopped paying attention and flew right passed the turn I needed to make.... I ended up at a completely different location at the bottom. I didn't have Hugh's mobile number, so the minute I reached the bottom, I had kicked off my skis and ran to the shuttle bus. I got on that and travelled back to the lift I SHOULD have been at.... the look on Hugh's face as I appeared in the opposite direction of where I should have been coming from with skis on shoulder was priceless.....

Up the mountain

The skiing yesterday was tough..... really bad conditions..... awful conditions.

I got a little bit of frost burn on my lips and nose.

At one stage Hugh and I both ducked our heads to avoid the winds only for chills to go down our backs.

Today was MUCH nicer!

The sun was out and Hugh and I headed straight up Gunbarrel to find some nicer runs.

Isn't the snow beautiful?
Absolutely stunning.
As we got to the top, the winds started blowing again..... blowing even harder than the day before.....

At least the sun was out I guess.....

Look at that view!

Hugh looks happy with the snow as well!

Over the course of three seasons, I've had the pleasure of skiing with Bryce and Hugh, two of the best skiers in Australia (and the world for that matter). It's definitely been a great experience. Trying to keep up with these two, even on the traverses, is near impossible!!!

Cold as ice!!!!

I love the cold.

I also love the snow.

Skiing and snow... it really must be one of the best combinations ever!

When Bryce asked if I wanted to head to the mountain with his family... I jumped on the opportunity!
Pretty good snow! Not great.... but definitely above average.
Bryce and I also took this opportunity to head down to ''42''. This cafe supposedly makes the best coffees in Australia. I stopped drinking coffee two years ago... but I take this opportunity as the only time when I break this ban.

Getting down to the cafe was COLD, even when rugged up.

The coffees were good though, very good.

Bryce proudly displays his Are beanie. It's amazing how much stuff he gets from being a World Champs ski racer.

For competing at the World Champs, he and his brother were presented these amazing Crystal glasses.....

About to head off to the mountain!!!!

My old stamping grounds

It's been a very long time since I went back to my old school......

Years in fact.

Seems odd..... having gone to boarding school, I spent almost all my time there. To have so little interaction with it still feels a bit strange at times.

It was time to go back though.

My brother, Bryce and I needed to go back to say some goodbyes.

The old school Chaplain had decided it was time to give up teaching and preaching to the students. Instead, he'll be headed back out to look after a small parish in rural NSW.

Father Rex is a good man and we felt we needed to say goodbye.

While we were there.... we also said goodbye to Tini. She's retiring and heading off to warmer weather!
It was very strange walking through the halls again.

Everything felt so different.....

Even the students look smaller...

Goodbye Oliee... Fliss....

Next in line to leave are Oliee and Fliss....

They're both going to Ireland to work and live for a while..... who knows when they'll be back?

For his farewell, Oliee wanted a specially themed party!

SPACE PIRATES!!!!

Now.... I wasn't too keen on this, so I decided to put my own spin on it.

Instead of a space-pirate, I dressed up as a space-COWBOY!

Ting helped me to do my makeup. Look at the thunderbolt! Does it look familiar?

It really should! I'm ZIGGY STARDUST!
Everyone was nicely dressed up.... thought I'm not completely sure as what.

We even had time to break out a few poses.

.... maybe more than just a few.....

Look how shiny Emma's stockings are.

Everyone was having fun... the drinks were flowing and people were generally running around.

.... but then....

Things started getting a bit weird.....

Stead had shown up wearing a bondage outfit (Pirate???)

And Matt found a leash.....

While Matt was busy with Stead.... a few of us decided to get busy with his girlfriend Jess.....

... and then things went from weird to outright gay....

Cowboy Matt and I decided to go brokeback on one another.

Strauchy didn't want to be left out.

... and Dan then had his way with Todd.

... the rest of the night is a bit of a blur....