So, Mount Buller was so damn cool. I loved it. It was tiring as hell, but definitely worth it. In my opinion, that is.

I was so stoked about the trip, let me tell you. So excited. I'd seen snow in India before (when everybody didn't believe that it snows in India), but I've never actually skied. Or, erm, gotten this up close and personal to the snow (Read: falling into the snow).

Left Glen Waverley at about half past 6 in the morning. 22 of us. Reached the part where all the buses were parked, which was called the skating-rink or something like that. I assume it somewhere along the midway of the mountain or something where we then had to board shuttle buses to get further up. The wheels of the shuttle buses were all chained up to prevent it from slipping. First time I've seen something like that.

When we stepped off the coach? It was snowing. OMG. How cool is that? I swear, I must've squealed or something. It was actually snowing. My brother and sister-in-law, who've been to Mount Buller while they were studying here, haven't seen snow, so they sounded a teensy bit jealous when I told them over Skype, hee.


Love, love, love this picture. You can see all the snowflakes gently falling. Okayy, so maybe it wasn't all that gentle anymore after awhile, but still, the effect's pretty. I still can't believe I've experienced actual snow fall; excuse the jakun-ness.


Serena and I with the snow. Eh, I like her ear muffs. Damn cute. I didn't get to see her all day because we were in different classes. :( Jas and Caryn also.


YK has a severe dandruff problem. Teehee! He was like, "Eh, after awhile your head will have ais kacang." -_- Look who's talking!

Finally boarded the fourth or fifth shuttle bus that left after we got there because there were so many people. Just getting to rent the equipment was a feat in itself. It was so hectic. Queuing, renting the pants, getting those uber-heavy ski boots, and then getting the skis and poles itself, and getting the skis adjusted to the size of your foot. That whole process and getting everybody done took almost forever.


After what seemed like forever, off we went!

Skiing, oh skiing. I don't know how people actually manage to do it for leisure, lol. Just renting all the gear and lugging it up the slopes zapped up half my energy. But it was all worth it. Because the actual skiing part of it is fun. Our package included a ski lesson which was pretty cool because they teach you how to stop and turn instead of you blindly strapping on your skis and trip and fall over them, like in those Archie comics.

A snow-plough, which is to make a /\ with your skis, is how you stop. The bigger the /\ you manage to muster up, the better.

I could do a snow-plough. On not-so-steep-land. And when I'm going slowly.

If we're on a steeper slope? And I'm going fast? I'm screwed. Lol.

I did perfectly fine skiing back and forth on flat land. And fine on a small slope.

But when it came for us to take the 'carpet' thing up to the larger slope? Uh oh. The carpet thing was pretty fun, though. You get on this flat escalator thingy, you know the type they have in like Tesco for you to push your trolleys onto, and they take you up the slope.

So yeah, got onto the carpet thing, and fell while getting into line. Fall #1 of the day. I wasn't even trying to do anything schmancy. Just getting into the queue for goodness sake! That should've sounded alarm bells in my head already. Heh.

Finally got my ass off the snow and got into the carpet thing to the top. Then we had to ski down slowly to where our instructor was standing midway down the slope, and make a turn around her. Eep. Zhen Han went first, and omg, he didn't manage to turn. In fact, he didn't even manage to stop. He just kept on going and going. And going and going down the slope. Until he disappeared from sight. Lol. The thing was, he actually looked really really professional while skiing down. Haha! (About twenty minutes later, we finally found him again, and he told us he crashed into a vehicle thing. Lol. Damn drastic.)

And then, after a few people, it was my turn. And I didn't manage to turn around the instructor, but I managed to stop. Fine. I plodded my way back up the hill (which is not easy when you have skis attached to your feet, let me tell you that) where the rest were waiting to have a go again. Starting talking to G-Mun while waiting, and suddenly felt myself sliding backwards. Oh shit. Panic.

Snow-ploughed like crazy. Only one minor detail. I was going backwards. So when I was snow-ploughing, it was actually a \/ instead of a /\. Crap. And that, actually makes you go faster.

So what happened? I was picking up speed and nervous and dropped my ski poles somewhere along the way. And then, I got the brilliant idea of trying to lean over and stop myself with my hands (which G Mun kindly informed the rest later at night that I was trying to use my fingers -_-"), but to no avail.

Guess how I finally stopped? I crashed into a poor kid. I feel so bad still! I'm sorry, kid. Before you go reporting me to any child abuse hotlines, the boy actually got up pretty fast and waved away all my frantic sorries and zoomed off in his little skis. Rather professionally too, might I add. How embarassing, lol. That was Fall #2. Probably one of the most ungraceful falls in the history of Mount Buller, what with using my fingers and all. Lol.

All in all, fell three times. Not too bad, I think. I hope. The third one was quite graceful, I think. Heh. What an experience. Went up for a few more tries and realised that I just simply cannot ski in a straight line because I keep on veering towards my right.


Finally finished up with skiing and decided to take some pictures because before that, we were too busy with falling and getting up and falling and getting up again.


Ooh, I just noticed the three of us were all wearing white beanies.


The background is gorgeous, but I look like I'm wearing a songkok. -_-


Look how bundled up I am.


It's so beautiful, isn't it? Like an arch. If only there wasn't anyone standing there, but Mount Buller is such a busy place, especially on a Saturday.


Ching!


White all around me.


And of course, the mandatory picture with the snow.


Ching, me, Denise & Rina - after all the tricky skiing and falling and snow plough-ing.


Hee.


Quinnie, me, Denise & Rina.


We conquered Mount Buller! Sorta. Okay, fine, not much. Lol.


Mel, me and Yao. We tried to make a snowman, but it wasn't easy and we were pressed for time. I made a snow...ball, though? Heh.


Another shot of the three of us. Yao looks so un-potato because she didn't rent the baggy, thick waterproof pants like I did. Oh well, I needed it anyway, considering how many times I fell. Heh.


I'm in awe, I really was. The two random stupid Coles shopping bags kinda ruins it, though.


Lugging all that back and forth is not an easy feat, I tell you.


On the way back to the equipment lodge when we spotted this fence-like thing. Of course, we had to stop and take a picture.


At the end of the day, I realised that I hadn't taken enough pictures, so here's a last dash picture with Mel on the way down from the top back to our waiting coach in the shuttle bus.


But it was all good fun, though. Would I go again? Absolutely. Not so soon, but I'd definitely want to go again. If only there weren't so many people around because it was jam-packed and hectic and also too many people to witness my falling. Hee.


*Special thanks to Kim and Brian for organising the trip and to Zhen Han whose fingers nearly froze while taking some of the pics for us. And of course, Trish, for her super warm waterproof jacket which I need to figure out how to wash.


Next stop- hopefully Phillip Island. I so wanna go. :)