From Jindabyne to Perisher

For a variety of reasons; from bad internet connections to issues at work right through to moving into my third house - I have massively neglected the Wanderer.

Here we are two months later and I've finally pulled my finger out.

After a few days in Sydney to visit Amy - who has since given birth to little baby Sonia, the Wanderer is now an uncle! - I jumped on the bus down to Jindabyne. The road down is the most quintessential of Australian landscapes. A scene straight out of The Heidelberg or The Man from Snowy river; it's no surprise that half of the places in town are named after Banjo Paterson. A short 7 hours later I was setting about town and settling in to my new place. My roommates were veterans here, lift operators mostly who seemed like a good bunch who didn't mind a beer or two. I had a room to myself for a few days before Bobby moved in.

Bob was an interesting character, I couldn't tell if it was his accent or if he had some kind of speech impediment; but basically it was bloody hard to understand a word he said. As a pretty heavy sleeper, I'm not normally bothered by snoring but this was something else. Whimpering noises, snoring, talking... it made sleep a little difficult. Otherwise the house was pretty good, good people, but it got a bit much after a while so I moved on.

House number two seemed alright at first- I even went over to meet my new housemates and checked the place out before I moved in. What I didn't realise is that I was living with the biggest stoner on earth and pretty incredibly messy house habited house mates in general. The mess, the laziness and the tiny rooms lead me to look elsewhere once again. Third time is a charm so far though; I moved in across the street with another snowboard instructor and so far has been smooth sailing.

About a week ago I was playing poker at a friend's place with the guy who replaced me in house number 1. He started telling me a story that made my particularities over living circumstances feel a little wiser. A few nights earlier, Linden (my replacement) woke in the middle of the night to some strange mumbling/whimpering noises. Slowly finding his bearings he looked up to see Bob standing over him, mumbled a few incomprehensible 'words' and walked away. Linden thought little of it and turned over to get back to sleep. Not two minutes later did he feel a strange sensation either side of him... something wet? He felt around and there were two distinct wet patches on the bed. As he sat himself up to investigate he saw Bob sitting on his bed, completely naked and the horrible truth became clear. He had walked in his sleep to find the toilet - my old bed...

Jindabyne is a town at the bottom of the mountains on the banks of a man-made lake created by the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric project. Most of the staff from both Thredbo and Perisher live in town and the better part of skiers find themselves a place to stay and make the daily 20minute drive to the Ski Tube to spend their day on the slopes. Most of the time you can get around Jindabyne in a t-shirt and jeans, maybe a jumper to find yourself 20 minutes later in minus 5 degrees surround by snow. It's an interesting set-up they have here. Most of the time we can organise a lift with friend and co-workers to get to the train, but sometimes it's easier just to hitch-hike. It's such a well-established tradition here in Jindabyne that you don't even need to stick your thumb out- you can just stand at the hitching point and without fail, in just a few minutes you'll be picked up by any variety of people, tourists and locals, young and old... it gives the town a real community feeling and can usually keep you pretty entertained for the boring drive up. More importantly; it helps keep you distracted from the distressing image of the flattened Australian fauna that litters Kosciusko Road.

Working in Australia I have never felt so unsafe on the slopes. Front Valley is the best place around for low-level riders because of it's clarity and accessibility but the chaos that ensues can be terrifying. People with absolutely no idea about skiing/boarding get their gear on and jump on the chair that accesses the 'green' run. They then get to the top, look down and think: "oh crap, now how do you stop on these things?" Long heavy objects with sharp metal edges attached to 60+kg people with no idea and no control can lead to some pretty disastrous collisions. I am surprised I haven't seen worse injuries while managing to avoid being cleaned up myself (touch wood). My theory is that Australians have an attitude that steers them away from lessons in favor of trying it out with little or no idea where to start. "Aussies having a crack" might be a charming element of our culture but it has no place in the snowsports industry. They are not only endangering their own lives but risk causing severe injury to those around them. While many falls result in a tumble, a laugh and back on the horse- the potential is pretty horrifying. Unfortunately there is no system in place to make lessons mandatory.