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Published: January 2nd 2008
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Thanks mum!
Christine strapping me in Before I came on this trip my mother would tell me about all the awesome things I would get to do with Warren and Christine - I had been to visit before, but only for one day in 2006 - an awesome one day - but only one day nonetheless.
She always brought up skiing, saying - ooh you'll be able to go skiing!! To which I was like - well... yes, and I might even be able to travel around europe for my second month with a broken leg, now THAT will be fun.
Suffice it to say that I was not THAT into the idea of skiing - don't get me wrong, it seems really cool, I would love to be able to do it... there is just something in my genetic code that always makes me focus on the absolute worst case scenario, and often, that scenario makes experiences seem not worth while in my books.
I know how screwed up that is... it's one of the main things that I try to fight - everything that I am doing in my life currently (moving to Brisbane, going to uni, making new friends, traveling overseas
by myself) is in some way me attempting not to be quite so 'me'.
But... baby steps...
And having Christine strap me into ski boots and clamping long flat sticks to my feet did not at all feel like baby steps.
But - I did it. I let Warren and Christine try to teach me to ski.
Fist lesson - stopping. The snow plow ... get some speed up, push your ankles apart, bring the tips of the skis together and you should stop... i did stop, a few times anyway.
So after learning to plow a little more, I hit the lift! Well... more like the conveyor belt... the kiddie conveyor belt - it's about 5 metres long (if that) and it takes you up this minute little slope - it was faster to just walk up in your skis, but - I loved it.
Then, after two trips on that I was ready for... the kiddie lift!!
Basically you just hang on while this lift pulls you about 50 metres up the hill, pretty scary really (even though there are about 20 little kids under 5 all looking a lot braver
Yay!
still not dead at the prospect of heading down the hill than you are). I fell over in life two seconds, though it wasn't really a falling over kind of falling over, more like a 'I don't know how to stop, I think I might sit down' kind. Christine and I followed Warren down the hill, when all of sudden we hear this shriek... this little pick cannonball is screaming towards us, she had missed a turn and had separated from her group and was zooming towards us.
Needless to say I manned up and waddled out of her path and watched the show (I'm not an idiot...). Luckily Warren looked up at the right time (though there was really no missing this kids screams) and jumped out and totally scooped her up before she ran into the hut. It was so cool... He said he just looked at her and she just screamed her little heart out as he handed her back to her instructor - too funny.
One more fall and I was ready to head home - I totally loved skiing, I don't think I'll ever do very much more of it (unless I one day move to
the Alps - which could happen) but I really did enjoy it.
So we headed home, totally buggered - well, I was anyway - and had lunch with Hugo and Doris. That afternoon we were going to go for a walk with them in the hills that overlook Oberstaufen... See I was thinking that it would be like other walks that we have taken... nice, long, hilly...
But it was so much more. We drove into town and started walking up along a frozen road up to cow pastures. The snow was covered in ice crystals that were crunchy and dry and blew around like corn flakes - it was beautiful. We kept climbing up, well after the road completely disappeared, and then we went into the woods. Up and down, and around and through... we walked for ages through snow where your foot would sink 2 feet into... It was a real workout, and I was steaming under my jacket... thank god I had worn Christine's ski pants and had tucked the material into my shoes - otherwise my socks would have been drenched in two seconds flat.
Once we made it out of the woods,
My first ski lift
Warren and I heading (slightly) up... we walked along another snowed-over road, balancing delicately on ice-topped snow whilst every second step would fall through, collapsing into the soft snow beneath... it was too cool, I would have thought that it would have started sucking, but I just giggled every time my body would collapse - it was fun! I have never done anything like it - and I don't believe that any of the thousands of tourists that invade Oberstaufen every year would have had that opportunity - Doris and Hugo are the best tour guides ever!
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Meg
non-member comment
You plough girl!!!
Well done Sus! Excellent skiing effort. You rock. Am loving your pictures of all the beautiful snow. Just gorgeous. Lucky thing!!