Weekend Away

Khar and his friends made plans to go up to Hotham for the weekend last week, and asked if we wanted to come. We've just returned from New Zealand, but then Jon's colleague revealed that he has a holiday house in Bright, and was offering it to us at a very good price.... so we thought, why not?! 

So, we drove to Bright after work on Friday evening and spent a night in Bright... a quaint little town, about an hour away from Hotham and Falls Creek. Bright is filled with motels and vacation houses, I believe, that they thrive on the tourism industry... 

Anyways, we arrived at Tudor Village and unpacked our bags.

Our lovely bedroom...

The dressing and wardrobe. 

The place was really quite huge for just the two of us. It is a 2 bedroom unit, with a queen sized bed in one room, and 2 single beds in the other. 

Fully furnished kitchen, if you ever need to do your own cooking. 

The lounge and dining area - very cosy. The place looks rather new too, and very clean! We were looking for hotels on Wotif initially, and the pictures didn't really impress me that much! I was afraid that we were gonna get some dodgy place, that's old and dirty....

But really, Jon's colleage saved me from all that! Thank you!!

The next morning, we got up early, and made our way up to Mt. Hotham...

The sun hasn't fully waken up yet. We wanted to get up there about 8, so we didn't have to get stuck with the crowd that's driving up on the Saturday morning. The drive was relatively scary, and we had to put chains on... but it was NOTHING like the drive up to Remarkables! 

The roads here are sealed, and they have signs posted everywhere! Warnings, where to put chains on etc. So it was still quite safe. And Jon's a good, experienced driver... so I guess that makes the journey a little less scary. I swear my heart would have flown out from my chest if I had to drive! :P 

We met up with Khar, Karen and the rest of the gang in front of Summit for a few warm up runs :) The Summit looked and felt sooooo easy this time around, as compared to the first time I ski-ed! It felt like nothing!! It took us about 3 minutes, probably?? to get to the bottom... whereas I took an hour the first time!! An hour!!! And I was stuffed by the time I got to the bottom!! OMG~!

We proceeded to explore the other side of the mountain in the arvo. I have just realised that Hotham has ALOT of black diamond, and double diamond runs!!! Bbrrrr.... 

The only pic of us up in the mountain that day. We were too busy exploring and conquering the runs to be snapping photos. And besides, it started snowing in the afternoon, so after awhile... it just felt like too much trouble...

Having hot soup and bun for lunch! Despite Jon's facial expression, I thought the soup tasted quite yummy! He was merely sticking his tongue out at me for snapping a candid shot of him...

Post lunch - at the bottom of Summit. Posing for a photo...

Mei on ski's with her new poles :) Yes, I got myself new poles from Wayne Ritchie's the other day, cause I felt that my old ones were too short. Hehe. Yes, I know I'm too lazy to bend down and push myself... :) But no, these ones are of a better length, really... 

We wanted to snap more pics, especially when the guys were attempting the jumps and rails in the arvo, but the camera died :( No more batt. Yeaps, I didn't charge it before the trip.... **bite me!**

The next day, we "checked out" and went for a walk around Bright. 

**Note the difference in picture quality. These are taken using my mobile phone**

Came across this quaint little shop that sells cutesy trinkets, and Christmas deco... and a sign posted in front of the shop that made us stop for a photo....

"Husband parking only" Hahaha... how cute!! The husbands can all wait outside while their wifes shop till they drop inside! :) 

We then came across this lolly shop called "The Sweet Retreat". They have all kinds of lollies that I haven't seen in ages!!! Jon snapped up some Pop Rocks, Fizzos, and we got a bottle of boiled lollies for Jon's mom and dad. We wanted to get some eye balls too, but decided against it! 

Look at him! Absolutely beaminggggg....

The afternoon was spent doing some healthy activity - hiking!! Yes, we went for the Canyon Walk. Don't ask me what made us do that...

Mei @ the start of the Canyon Walk. It says 1.5 hours to complete the walk.... but Jon claimed that I would need 3 hours, at the rate I was going! Hmph!! I reckon I was going quite well, really... And no, we didn't need 3 hours to complete the walk! 

Jon on the swing bridge. He was trying to jump up and down, like a little kid... to scare me. But I did not fret :) Mei's cool as a cucumber... OohhHhh.... 

Mei on the swing bridge. 

On the riverbank. He kept telling me to go closer to the water... I knew he was up to something mischievious! Thank God I didn't get too close, cause he was gonna push me in! Naughty boy!!!

The place was realllyyyy nice! The air was clean and crisp, and the sun was shining in all its glory! The only thing that was missing, was Remy! I bet Remy would have loved this walk!! 

A photo of us to complete the collection. Hehe. Too bad we had to take it ourselves, cause there was nobody else on the trail to snap photos for us! There was a couple in front of us before, but they turned back when they realised that the trail is unsealed... 

Maybe they were afraid that they'll get murdered and thrown into the river, and noone would have realised... kekekke.. Ok, now... why did I even think of that?! 

Anyways... that sums up my weekend... How was yours? Did you have a good time too??

On the way back to good ol' "4 seasons in a day" Melbourne. It started getting gloomy and dark when we got back onto the Hume Highway, approaching Melbourne....

Maybe it was a sign, that God felt sad for us too, that we needed to return to work the next day :( Boohoohoo.... 

No more getaway for me in awhile, cause I'm working the whole weekend! :( OH NOOOO.. So sad!! Send me some love people! 

XOXO