Days 246-247- Skiing at Mansfield

Days 246-247- Tuesday and Wednesday, August 28th, 29th- Skiing at Mansfield???!!!

It's a long story. So I'll begin here. The nearest large ski resort is 3 hours north east of Melbourne, just past the town of Mansfield, Victoria.

Mount Buller Website: http://www.mtbuller.com.au/

Skiing in the Victorian Alps is great and the scenery is breathtaking and so different from anywhere else I've skied in my life- Mansfield (Ontario), Blue Mountain (ON),Killington (VT), Smuggler's Notch (VT), Banff (AB), Tremblant (QC), even Austria.

Let me tell you about the differences:

The price...it's really, really expensive to ski here!
The Eucalyptus trees...the fragrance of the snow gum trees, which keep their leaves in winter, is like skiing in a pot pourri shop.
The snowballs...yes, snowballs! Australian kids always throw snowballs when they ski or board since they have not grown up with them and it's always a novelty.
The sun...the sun is so strong here that a spring skiing face tan is guaranteed.
The temperature...it rarely falls below minus 5 at Mount Buller so corn snow is pretty standard, although early winter there are major falls of drier snow.

Our Photocast of the skiing at Mt Buller can be seen by clicking here.

Last Friday during school sports awards assembly, the snowsports competitions were announced and all the competitors were given a send off, as the races were starting on Monday at Mount Buller. We had not been able to get to the mountain to ski yet this winter. So, on the way home, I decided that I would request a leave for 2 days to go.

On Monday morning, I was granted a 2 day leave to head up to the "snowfields." I emailed Colleen, who was able to clear her busy Writer's Festival schedule to come along. We quickly headed to the skateboard shop in the Glen before closing, and hiredskiis for Colleen and I, and boards for the boys, along with other accessories (snowpants and helmets!).

Tuesday, we arose to a warm and sunny day. After packing the car, we headed north east on the Maroondah Highway. The drive up is beautiful, past Healesville (where my school's outdoor centre is located as well as the Healesville Animal Sanctuary), past Toolangi Forest (where Matheson went on a watershed field trip earlier in the year), past Yea (a beautiful Victorian town), and beyond Bonnie Doon (made famous in the Oz film "The Castle" in which characters repeatedly sing "we're going to Bonnie Doon").

Arriving in the town of Mansfield around noon, a ski/farming town of a few thousand just 50 km west of the mountain, we changed into ski clothing. It seemed a little strange, as there was not a flake of snow around, it was sunny and warm (+15).
Leaving the town, the long, winding mountain road rises steeply to the base of Mount Buller and the alpine village. Normally, in winter, cars must stop part way up and pay for mountain access and put on snow chains. On a cold snowy day, this drive would be extremely dangerous. Today, it was easy.

We carried our gear to the chairlift, loaded our skiis/boards onto the back of a chair and hopped on. A few patches of snow were visible! But instead of going up the mountain, we started down! Eventually, the chairlift changes direction and heads up to "The Spur," the most westerly side of the mountain. From here you can ski Burnt Hut. Eventually, you make your way up and over towards the village, and the main run, called "Bourke Street," which is lined on one side by all the hotels and condos. Lifts and runs go off towards the south, and these slopes keep their snow longer.

Tuesday afternoon, we stayed on the north side, and the sunshine was glorious and the snow soft and very spring like!
Matheson was boarding for the first time, and his patient teacher, Kevin, taught him everything he knew in 3 runs, and he was standing up, making turns all the way down in no time. We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! We managed to get in a half day on Tuesday before we had to descend the Horse Hill Chair back to the parking lot and take the road back to town for dinner, and a good sleep (not before watching the total eclipse of the moon!).

Wednesday, we packed up the car, grabbed breakfast in town and set out again, back up the mountain. This time, we explored various runs on the south side, such as Wombat, a much longer intermediate run. On Little Buller Spur, the Victorian Girl's Downhill race was being run, and we sat and watched for a while, cheering on the Wesley Ski Team. Kevin and I also took "Boomerang" to the back of the mountain, and ascended the Summit chair. The views were even more spectacular! The runs to the south were ravaged by bushfires just 6 months ago, and if it were not for the snowmaking machines being used to spray water last summer, some of the resort would have been lost.

We took photos in front of Mt Buller's year round webcam (click here to check it out!), ate lunch in the village, bought a few souvenirs, and then skied our way back over to the west on the Emirates and Tirol chairs. What a fantastic day!


Photo of Rod Standing on Bourke Street from the Webcam Deck Taken by Colleen

It was a long drive back home in the dark, but the 2 day break made it all worthwhile. The Victorian Alpine country is really
spectacular and to be able to ski on this continent, and experience a different kind of skiing, was a very memorable experience.

Day 243- Remote Man from Canada Meets Author

Day 243- Saturday, August 25th- Remote Man from Canada Meets Author

Colleen and I attended the Melbourne Writer's Festival Author's party and were honoured to meet Elizabeth Honey. She is a Melbourne children's book author who has, over the past 3 years, collaborated online with my classes in Canada while we studied her book "Remote Man." The book takes place in Australia (Melbourne and Kakadu), America (Boston and New York), France and Jamaica as 5 young teens track down a wildlife poacher through online email and chatroom communication. Elizabeth was gracious enough to spend time over the past years with my classes online, discussing the book and answering questions.
We attended her morning author presentation with her German co-author Heike Brandt, where their new children's novel, "To the Boy in Berlin" was featured. Afterwards, I presented Elizabeth with an ePals t-shirt. It was through ePals, a Canadian based online network for school children that links classrooms worldwide in online projects and provides electronic penpals, that we were able to communicate. At various times we had online meetings while she was in Japan and Melbourne, while my class was at home, at school and on holidays (Dubai and Quebec) and while our partner classes were in Australia and Scotland!

It was a thrill to meet Elizabeth Honey face to face!
Elizabeth signed my copy of her new book, "To the Remote Man from Canada..."

Days 234- 235 Birthday Weekend

Days 234-235 Saturday, August 18th and Sunday, August 19th

A Photocast of our weekend is available by clicking here

Kevin wanted to go boarding/skiing at Mt Buller for his birthday weekend. The drive up is 3 hours and the snow is still good, although warmer weather is expected this week (up to +18 in the city, maybe +5 at the mountain). When we found that for tickets, accommodation, snow chains (every car has to carry them in case), gear rental, etc. it would have cost us well over $2000, we decided to go surfing
instead. Wetsuit and board rental = $10 per hour....a no brainer

Last weekend, while we were on an exchange teacher's weekend in Bendigo (see the New Blog for details), Colleen got talking to fellow exchange teacher Heather and husband Wayne, from Winnipeg, who are living in the beach town where we took our first surf lessons back on Rod's birthday in Februray. They wanted to go hiking in the Dandenong Mountains just 20 minutes from our place. The Dandenongs are a National Park with lots of trails and cute mountain villages with tea houses that serve afternoon tea (scones and Devonshire cream etc). So the ladies decided that we would visit Inverloch and the beach, and in return, they would visit us and hike the Dandenongs sometime.

So we drove down to Phillip Island early Saturday and rented our surf gear at the little place where Colleen took Kevin, Nicole and Dillon to surf back in July- funny little place a 100 metres from the surf beach. Island Surf Boards rents gear and builds custom boards right next to the water.

http://www.islandsurfboards.com.au

You hop into your wetsuit in their changerooms, grab your board and walk down the street, over the dunes, down the stairs and onto the beach. Kevin did a lot more surfing, while Mat and I did a lot of riding the waves lying down on our boards. The water was cold, and it was not until you wiped out that the cold water runs down the seams of the wetsuit that you know how cold it is...maybe 14C. But it was sunny for 2 hours and the waves were perfect as the tide rolled in and Kevin was happy. After
a while you realize your hands are numb and you can't make them work to do anything and you know you've had enough.

We drove the 40 minutes to Inverloch, where we were staying and had some snacks. Then, Mat and I drove back to the island for the Penguin Parade. A species of Penguin called "Little Penguins" (for obvious reasons) nests on the dunes of Phillip Island. Each night at dusk, they come out of the water in rows, sometimes by the thousands! and wander up to the dunes to nest, moult, mate, feed, depending on the season. I knew this was a popular tourist place, but we arrived a few minutes late to find the parking lot full (at least 20 tour buses + many cars), and 1000's of PEOPLE sitting on terraced slopes and boardwalks above the beach...eventually, a hundred or so Penguins (a slow night I might add - Colleen and the teens saw a few hundred when she was there on a Thursday and sat in the "reserved" close-up seats (called "Penguins Plus" which are double the regular price!).

We drove back to Inverloch and watched Forrest Gump on TV. Mat was remembering that it was one of the 3 movies we had at the cabin. Kevin had not ever seen it and really liked it. Mat says it's one of his favourites. Amazing tale of American modern history really, and we lived through that age and remember all the songs and major events.

So we awoke this morning in a beautiful place on the top of a hill overlooking an inlet, the waves crashing in on the shoal, all viewed from the second floor bedroom window and beautiful sitting room with huge windows facing the ocean. I think the ocean is the thing I will miss the most here. We are envious of Heather and Wayne as they seem to have landed one of the best places, location wise. But we have learned that there are lots of pluses and minuses to an exchange and you get what you get.

We drove home via Leongatha which is dairy country. Everything is so green compared to when we were here in February. The hills were beautiful too. Heading northeast past Leongatha, we stopped at Mirboo, where we joined up with the Great Ridge Road. It runs for 150 km SE to NW along the greenest hills I've seen since I was in Ireland many years ago. The sheep covering them added to the ambiance. The views were quite
incredible and we stopped the car and just stood there, looking out at
the terraced hills, the amazing vistas, all the while listening to the myriad sheep calling.
We drove about one third of the way along this road, winding our way back towards the M1 freeway. Arriving home before dusk, we unpacked and decided to forgo the ice cream cake that we had picked up for Kevin's birthday. We were all tired but happy, since we had done something different, experienced an incredibly beautiful corner of Victoria, and celebrated Kevin's birthday surfing, when we should/could have been skiing.
Kevin and Mat posed for pictures when we returned.



The next night, we finally got around to having Kevin's Birthday Cake. It was an ice-cream cake and Kevin and Mat ate most of it, I think!


We had Chocolate Ice Cream Cake and Candles and Kevin Did His Own "Happy Birthday" Cake Ceremony

Days 228-230- International Exchange Teacher's Association Weekend in Bendigo

Days 228-230- Friday, August 10 to Sunday, August 12- Bendigo, Victoria

Colleen and I had registered for the International Teacher's Association Bendigo weekend and we headed out of the city on Friday night as quickly as we could. We were joined by Julie Frei, a young American on exchange from Washington State. She teaches near where we live.
The three of us rolled onto the Monash Freeway and north through the city on the Calder Freeway, arriving in Bendigo shortly after 7 pm. We had been invited to Annika Pint's, another young teacher from Toronto, who had arranged a "naked eye astronomy" night with a fellow from the planetarium. The sky was unbelievably transparent and the southern Milky Way, Large and Small Megellanic Clouds, and other gems of the southern sky thrilled all of us.
Colleen and I stayed at the home of Catherine Jerome, who had only last year been on exchange to Glasgow, Scotland. It turned out that she had travelled to Hawaii at the same time as we , while she was returning and we were starting our exchange. She lives in Castlemaine, another historic town just south of Bendigo.
Bendigo is Australia's largest inland city. It has more gold rush historic buildings than any other location and has a rich architectural beauty. We toured the downtown by foot after meeting all the exchangees and hosts at the Chinese Museum.
Late afternoon, we headed to the arena where Josh Kilgour, son of Toronto exchange teacher Cam Kilgour, and wife Cathy, was playing hockey (real man's ice hockey!). Many of us attended to cheer on Josh's team. It was surreal to be in a hockey arena in August! It was a beautiful mid-winter day in Bendigo, about +14 C.
A number of the gang went to the Shamrock Hotel for afternoon refreshments, where the original building's external historic facade disguised the modern gaming centre inside. Colleen and I first visited the amazing stone Catholic Cathedral, which is a very magnificent building. We prayed for the souls of those who went straight to the Shamrock for drinks.
We drove to a small community centre in the country for the evening meal and traditional Australian "Bush Dance." The dancing was fun and included many traditional Irish and Scottish group dances which were very similar to American Square Dance.
Sunday morning, we walked the streets of Castlemaine, as well as its lovely Botanic Gardens, bid goodbye to our host Catherine, and drove back to Bendigo. The Bendigo Pottery factory is the oldest in the country (1859). Offering tours, sales and lunches, we shopped and tasted the local pumpkin soup.
Soon, it was time to head home, and we picked up our passenger and made our way down the M79 towards Melbourne.
We really enjoyed catching up with our fellow exchangees, meeting old and new Australian exchange teachers, and seeing such an historic city. Everywhere we go in Victoria, the influence of the gold rush on history and arhictecture are apparent, but never so obvious as in Bendigo. This was one of the richest gold fields in the world, and it changed Australian history. I will never be able to think of anywhere else when I hear the age old saying, "There's gold in them thar hills!"


See our Photocast at this link here:
http://photocast.mac.com/rod.murray/iPhoto/bendigo/index.rss