A little too old to attempt a new extreme sport....

A year or so ago, sitting as I am in the lounge alone would have made me happy. I would not think twice about having a weekend by myself, sitting back and listening to a bit of Jack Johnson. But whilst Mark is over in Europe and Tim and Shelley are in Paris, I am overwhelmed with a sense of loneliness and boredom. Sure there is plenty that I can do here…. But I can’t help but be a little envious of their current adventures (without me) ..

So I guess now is a better time than never to mention the holiday that I took by MYSELF before Christmas. I was lucky enough to guess the half time score of the 2012 AFL Grand Final that was being shown at the notorious London Aussie Pub, “The Walkabout”. Much to the disgust of the thousand or so male patrons may I add! My prize that afternoon was a 1 week ski trip to Austria with Contiki. We have seriously had the most amazing luck on this trip… I honestly could not believe it!

So the time came for me to make my way to the Contiki basement… by myself… where I was to sit on a bus for anywhere up to 20 hours and drive to Austria. Sound like fun to you?? After a belly churning ride on the ferry from Dover to France, the drive wasn’t actually too bad. Being the first trip of the season, the bus was only half full and we all had two seats to ourselves. I pretty much slept the entire way!

We finally arrived at Hopfgarten and got kitted up with our boards and shoes and headed to the Contiki Lodge. It still didn’t quite really feel real… There was just over 60 people on this tour, and I knew I was going to struggle to remember each and every one. I don’t know how those that were on the later tours were going to cope… there would have been over 100 of them! I went to bed a little apprehensive about boarding the next day… but excited as heck!

When I found that I couldn’t walk down the stairs properly in my snowboard boots, I should have realised that I was not going to find the whole “snowboarding” thing easy! The whole time I was walking to the practice slope, I had Mark’s voice in my head telling me, “You are going to find this SO hard… I don’t think you can do it.” So, of course I was going to prove him wrong”!!! But at the end of the day, when I still hadn’t conquered the practice slope, I was becoming so frustrated and it took all my might to get back on the belt that took us up the top to start again. But Mel and Todd, who I had only met the day before, were SO patient with me. With their “encouragement” I managed to kinda get it by the end of the day. Needless to say, I didn’t actually make it up the (proper) mountain until the 3^rd day….

One thing I need to mention... the pain.... the agonizing, muscle tearing pain!!! I used muscles that I seriously never realised I had. On the second night, I woke myself up every time I moved in my sleep. 

When I finally made it up the mountain with the rest of my (beginner) group, we all improved a great deal. I even started to turn... well I attempted it on many occasions. After a few awesome runs, I made the mistake of going up for "one last run" even though my body was screaming for a rest. And it all turned to poo! As soon as I took off I hit the deck... and then twice more. Then I hit a patch of ice and pulled back my shoulder and heard a 'crack'... I thought the pain in my muscles were bad.. this was excruciating! I eventually made my way down the mountain.... and listened to my instructor lecture me about 'falling properly'... Bit late now Mitch! He advised hospital, but it was a clear day and we were having lunch at the top of the mountain... priorities right? Luckily half the tour were Physio's or trainee doctors :) Thank you to Sim for making me a makeshift sling, and the view on top of the mountain was definitely worth the pain. It even stopped hurting as much... well that was until I fell flat on my ass walking out of the restaurant... Then it was  a short drive to the hospital and told to stay off the board for a bit! Thank god it was the end of the tour.

Besides snowboarding, the week was jam-packed! One of my most memorable moments was riding in a bobsled on the Olympic Track in Innsbruck! It was the best 40 odd seconds of my life haha! I was petrified, and the only thing that made me do it was knowing how excited my Dad was about it! But I'm so glad I did. 

      Hopfgarten: The pictures don't do it justice!

 Schnappy hour... this picture says it all!

If anyone wants to go boarding, I would definitely say go Contiki. The staff were amazing, and the cooks adapted to my allergies SO well.. I was so impressed, and they didn't even come close to killing me! I met some amazing people that are continuing to bring laughter and fun into my life. It was an amazing week of good people, food, drink, experiences and a little pain. I would absolutely jump at the chance to do it again!!!