Listen to These Adventures Three

G'day,

Our story this time begins about three weeks ago. I got it into my head that I wanted
to go snowboarding in the Australian Alps. After making a few phone calls, I managed to
squirm into a full ski club trip to Mt. Hotham (supposedly the powder capital of
Australia). We left early on a Sunday morning for the bus trip up into the mountains. It
is quite an odd experience to leave a place with no snow and drive for awhile and then be
in the snow. At any rate, we arrived at our lodge in the late afternoon. The accommodations
were hostel style, I was in a room with seven others (I had met a few of them on the bus
ride). After a delightful dinner of cold rice with hamburger and vegetables, we all hit
the sack, eager for an early start in the morning.

In the morning, I decided to ride with Phil, Theo and Harry from the room. Phil and
Harry were riding boards and Theo was on skis. Mt. Hotham is bigger than any place I had
boarded in Minnesota, but I don't think it would compare with some of the places out west.
The following five days are just of blur of sunny weather and constant boarding (usually
open to close, 8 hours). Around Wednesday, Phil and I became obsessed with trying to do
360's. I have been trying to land this trick for over a year. We tried for a day, without
much success. The next day, we went to a snowboard lesson and had the instructor explain
it to us. Apparently we'd been trying to spin in the more difficult direction and he told
us to try it the other way. Sure enough, it was easier. By the end of the day, I had
landed two perfectly and several not so perfect. Unfortunately, my success was temporary
and by the next day I couldn't land a 360 to save my life. The problem is purely mental,
very frustrating.

From the ski area, you could see Mt. Feathertop, I'll be seeing you later!

By the last day of the trip, we had seen all of 2cm of fresh snow. In our desperation,
Phil, Scott and I decided to do some backcountry riding on a mountain across from the
resort. We set out just after the lifts opened. We had serious doubts about the snow
quality, but we decided to go for it anyway. It was a steep grade with deep snow, one had
to kick each boot into the snow, very exhausting work. At the worst part, we would travel
only about 20m before collapsing to rest. After an hour and a half of climbing, we reached
the summit of the mountain. We took some photos and admired the view for a bit. We then
strapped in and pointed the boards downhill. The snow was better than we dared hope,
powdery and soft. The first section was a gentle slope through patches of trees, Scott in
the lead. I followed, transforming his S curves into figures of eight. Hoots and hollers
where sounded by one and all as we enjoyed the snow. We all stopped to regroup upon
reaching a steeper and open section that lead the rest of the way down. I hopped up first,
taking the lead. This section was good snow, but the awkward angle of the slope made the
riding somewhat jerky. We reached the bottom, each of us grinning from ear to ear. Sure it
was only a five minute ride down, but it had been well worth the hike.

We returned to Melbourne and back to classes (contrary to popular belief, I actually do
go to class, well usually anyway :)). Pound for pound, the classes here back a lot less
punch than classes in Morris though. I have 4 lectures a week (2 hours apiece) and 2
tutorial (TA) sections a week (1 hour each). I spend some time most days in the computer
lab working on my graphic user interface project (it's the only assessment for the class).
For those computer types in the group, basically what I'm doing is a Motif/X-windows
interface for the Unix tar utility. I've got it 75% complete, got all the menus and
windows and such, just need to connect it with tar. For my data communication class, I
have to develop a xmodem type protocol that can send and receive files. That project is
only for 30% of the grade, 70% is the final (mostly multiple choice, some simple plug and
play type problem solving). For my history of photography class, I just have two essays to
write. For my Melbourne on foot class, I've done the class presentation and now I just
need to do my journal and write a walk of my own. But enough about school...

Enjoying the view, Grampians national park.

The weekend after Mt. Hotham, I planned a trip to the Grampians, a national park to the
west of the city. We needed to take a V-line extended rail service there. I told Jen and
Carlos they should meet me at Flinder St station at ten till 8, since the train left at
8:15 and it might leave from Spencer St station. Well Jen and Carlos come tooling in at
8:13, we took a taxi to Spencer St but we were too late. I was a little bit pissed... We
called Art, an exchange student with a car, he wanted to do something this weekend, but
couldn't go until 4PM. I went home and decided to take a bike ride to blow off some steam
(I just bought the bike, $169 new from the factory. It works, not as nice as my mesa
runner at home, and that ain't saying a lot).

We all piled into Art's car and took off to the Cathedral ranges to the Northeast. We
found a campsite off a logging road and built a nice campfire to sit around. A nice
evening, good to be out of the city. The next morning we drove to Stevenson's Falls. We
explored around, climbing to the top of the falls and down the other side, crossing back
over on a fallen tree trunk. We then drove further into the park to the head of a trail.
We hiked along the trail for awhile and it ran next to this mountain Sugar Loaf. Not being
the type of people that could resist, we started heading up. We all became separated, some
taking the trail, others like myself bouldering up short rock sections. The view from on
top was great, almost 360 degrees (I took a series of 6 or 7 pictures rotating around a
fixed point). We eventually climbed down, missing the trail and down into some deep ferns.
After an extended bushwhacking exercise, we reached a road and walked back to the car.

We decided to eat dinner at a nearby lake. We stopped at a local general store and
picked up some spaghetti supplies and a bottle of red and white wine. We drove to a scenic
overlook way above the lake. We cooked a dinner of spaghetti noodles, sauce, and pizza
bread. Having no glasses, we just slurped from the bottles, real class! Many photos were
taken at sunset, and we all piled back into the car and headed home to Melbourne.

Another week of classes passed. On Saturday, another guy from outdoor pursuits and I
had signed up for a climbing competition at a local gym. We arrive at 9am and spent over 3
hours in isolation before getting our shot at climbing. They had combined the beginners
and intermediate divisions, Vernon and I about choked when were heard our climb was grade
23 or 24 (not sure what this is US grade, I tried not to think about it). After roping up
outside the gym, I was lead in by my belayer. I wore Vernon's jester hat in hopes of
winning the best dress spot award (I don't think I got it though). For the climbers out
there, the competition was done on lead. The runners were already on the bolts, but you
had to clip the rope as you went up. I started up the overhanging wall-from-hell. I
clipped the first and second runners with little difficulty (not bad considering I've been
leading from less than two weeks). Unfortunately, my inexperience showed as I climbed
almost completely past the third runner. If both feet went above the runner, I would be
DQ'd. I knew I had to get back to it, but I fell off in the attempt (nearly cratering due
to the excessive slack caused by climbing past a clip). It was all over in 30 seconds.
Vernon performed about the same, reaching the identical hold that I did. Oh well, I got a
t-shirt out of the deal.

Well I have a lecture like now, so later...

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