Renos - Day 88

Yep so I've almost lost count as to what day it is. All I can say is that Paul is officially no longer here but that doesn't mean we have finished the contract yet. There are quite a few things to tick off the list  and now living in the house we'll uncover others which need tweaking.

Our main focus will be to spend any spare moment painting....it's officially known as my third job (after paid work and parenting). Post dinner our evenings are involve filling, taping, edging and rolling and are completed by the dreaded washing up. No matter how tired we are the final results are so worth it as we turn this building into a home.

First cab off the rank was our bathroom and bedroom.

Home Sweet Home

The remains of our weekend were spent unpacking our garage and filling up the house. Despite the house being in a constant state of disarray as we discover new places for our things, we are absolutely loving the new open plan living space and the wood stove. Organising and completing the never ending list of jobs is going to be challenging with so many things already scheduled for the next month!

Goodbye Guthega

Our final day at Guthega wasn't much to talk about. We couldn't do any more downhill as our lift tickets had expired; we had no equipment for cross country or snowshoeing plus we had our house waiting to be unpacked back in Canberra. So we decided to cut our snow holiday short by one day. Andy managed a small cross country ski to Illawong while Ella built Happy the snowman. Then it was all hands on deck to clean our part of the lodge and pack the car. With rain clouds threatening, we farewelled the Grandies, Cathy and kids who were off on a snowshoe adventure and drove back to Canberra.

All Out and About

Finally a day where we were all out on the snow! Katy was well enough to attend the last lesson of the week with the rest of the kids, while Cathy and I vetoed our lesson in favour of a short tour of Perisher with Andy. We were joined by a friend of Cathy's (also an expert skier) at the bottom of Copperhead Road.

Once again we took the Pretty Valley Double Chair up, then headed over to Happy Valley a little lovely little run. Unfortunately there was a rather large crowd at the Happy Valley T-bar which translated into a long wait enforced by the fact that Cathy and I were on restricted lift passes and couldn't ski over to the next lift.

We utilised the Perisher Quad Express Mid station to make it up to the top of Back Perisher Mountain before traversing towards Pleasant Valley where we thought Katy's group may have been. Being adventurous we cut the corner to this run, negotiating our own way through the snow gums down to the groomed trail. There was no sign of Katy's group while we were going down and up on the chairlift.

At the top Andy and I split up in order to find Katy's group. Based on previous experience we were very keen to take Katy out early. While I was searching in Blue Cow terminal, I got a message from Andy that Cathy had seen Katy, Maki and Luca on the Freedom Quad at Guthega. Off I went to join up with everyone.

We extracted Katy from her group at the top of Guthega Peak as they were all ready to traverse back to Blue Cow which was perfect timing for us. We skied down Karl's then scooted over to the Norwegian Home Trail dropping in the back door of the lodge. Andy continued on as he had to pick up Ella from her lesson. They skied together for a few runs before calling it a day. It was a great day to farewell our 2015 snow season.

Exploring with Friends

An early start for Andy who was keen to get out for a cross country ski before beginning Daddy duties. His route up Guthega Trig began with a visit to 'the igloo', a much talked about structure built by fellow lodge members.

The rest of us minus Katy who was deemed too sick to attend her ski lesson, got ready to tackle the journey over to Blue Cow. It was our first time not using the snowcat and facing the challenges of the t-bar, chairlift, long ski traverse and chairlift. We had a clean run up the Blue Calf T-bar with everyone making it to the top first time! The slope down to the Freedom Quad chairlift took some time to negotiate while the traverse was a breeze. The pinch down to the Terminal Quad chairlift again was completed with care and we arrived at blue Cow with enough time for coffee and hot chocolates before our lessons!

Meanwhile Andy returned to the lodge relieving Nana of child minding duties. He convinced Katy to come out for a little ski with him but she only lasted one run before wanting to go home. Luckily Nana was still up for more child minding duties leaving Andy to come over to Blue Cow in time with the conclusion of our lessons.

Post lesson we were joined by Al, Max, Mira, Alma and Grandpa Bill who had come up for the day! Once fed, the gang headed for Pleasant Valley. It's a lovely open easy run which everyone enjoyed. Back at the top, Cathy and kids peeled off heading back towards Guthega while the rest of us explored further afield.

First run was Copperhead Road an interesting trail that finished at the Pretty Valley Double Chair and a little cafe perfect for a quick sneaky coffee! Up this slow chair then a short ski to the midway station of the Perisher Express Quad before farewelling the Walter Clan and starting our journey back to Guthega. Another wonderful day out on the snow.

Another Awesome Skiing Day...

We lived to regret yesterdays adventures in regards to Katy - who looked like this for the entire morning...

So Andy and Ella headed out into the glorious weather skiing across to Blue Cow. Thankfully after her lesson, Ella was happy to return to the lodge to lounge around for the rest of the afternoon with Nana and Katy (who had perked up somewhat!)

This meant that Andy and I had an hour or so to explore the blue runs at Guthega testing out my newly learnt skills from yesterdays lessons. The views from Guthega Peak were just gorgeous.

Back at the lodge, the girls were itching to get out into the snow. They dragged out Abby (another girl staying at the lodge with her grandparents) and together began constructing a toboggan run adjacent to the building. Happy days!

Just Spectacular

And after the storm comes the calm. What an absolute cracker of a day to enjoy in the mountains. It snowed overnight, the wind died down and the sun came out. Cathy and I took Maki, Luca and Katy on the snowcat to Blue Cow, while Andy and Ella skied over a little later. We made snow angels and tobogganed on our bottoms while time ticked by waiting for our lessons.

Katy was still sickish.  We decided that once Andy joined us and the other kids were in their lessons, he would ski back with Katy to Guthega. However Katy protested quiet loudly when the others departed so we changed our minds taking her to the lesson with the strict instructions for Andy to pull her out after an hour.

We were joined by Nana who had snowshoed her way across and was happy to standby the pony ride area where Maki, Luca and Katy's lesson was being held in case Katy wasn't coping. Meanwhile Cathy and I joined an intermediate lesson and were off. I found this class to be challenging with the lovely instructor pushing us to our limits and forcing us to use our newly acquired skills by constantly taking us of piste.

On surviving the lesson, I headed back to Blue Cow the designated meeting spot to find Andy and a flat looking Katy in the cafe. Turns out Katy was enjoying herself too much in the lesson when Andy came by after an hour and so left her in for another hour!

We didn't have to wait too long before everyone was back and tucking into food. The kids all looked tired but happy. By this stage it was after 2pm so the decision was made just to ski back to Guthega which would take around 30mins.

The ski back was spectacular with views towards Mt Tate and the main range. I don't think Maki and Luca were enjoying them much as they struggled to negotiate the track home. Our general organisation of the group involved me at the front with Ella and Katy close behind then Andy and Cathy coaching and encouraging Maki and Luca. At one point we were wondering what Luca and Cathy were doing as they seemed to be taking a long time. Imaging our surprise when a random guy came flying past us holding Luca minus her skis!! Turns out that the guy (who was some ski expert) stopped to help Luca who was exhausted and decided it was easier to ski carrying her! Cathy soon followed carrying Luca's skis!

Unfortunately after we got going again, Katy ran off the piste and also out of energy. She fell apart and we soon realised we'd over done it with her especially as the return journey had taken much longer than we had expected.

Once back in the lodge, more food helped ease the tiredness and the kids were soon off playing together on the mezzanine. Andy took advantage of the beautiful conditions and in last daylight he headed off up Farm Creek on his cross country skis.