Back in London now, from a good week of partying, drinking and of course... skiing. Really had a good week - was well worth all the effort and problems beforehand with my visa and insurance and everything else. But at least that all came together!

Haig, Bianca and I left London last Friday, the 26th, at 19:00 and travelled by coach towards Dover, where we boarded the ferry and crossed over to Calais, France. From Calais, we travelled through France, then Germany, and then arrived in Hopfgarten, Austria about 16:00 on the Saturday. Wasn't the most exciting 22 hours I've ever had. But we were welcomed in Austria by a completely snow covered town - it had been snowing quite heavily for the previous three days, and still continued to do so, which very was quite picturesque!

Before going to our accommodation, we stopped off in town to pick up our hired clothing (snow pants and jacket) as well as our equipment - which included the ski boots, the skis and the ski poles. Damn exciting! That evening was a rather quiet evening at the bar, as well as a poor attempt at trying to make a snowman, and of course a snow fight between Haig and myself.

Sunday morning was our first day of lessons, which went ok. Very basic to start off with... how to get your skis on, how to stand, how not to stand, balancing, etc. Spent most of the day learning the basics and get an idea of it. That night was a quiet one in the bar downstairs. The Monday again was much the same as the Sunday - getting slightly better as we go along.

The Monday night we went to a nearby frozen lake for ice-skating much was interesting skating on a frozen lake. The ice was a lot more rough than an ice skating rink, but understandable as it is normally a lake. The first half of that was spent skating, then the ice and snowball fights began! Great fun. From there, we went for an Austrian meal (schnitzel with berry sauce) and then to the local Hopfgarten pub - the Silver Bullet. And in true Austrian style - the Schnapps bar was open, which meant the next day skiing was gonna be tough. Oh well. Had a great evening there and walked home around 01h30 or so.

The next day, Haig and I were pushed up to Intermediate classes with another group. That was the first day up the actual mountain - no longer on the baby slopes. But with a combination of the increased difficultly and excess schnapps - we very quickly retreated back to the beginner's class. Continued the day with skiing and slowly getting there! That night was the Contiki party "Inside Out Upside Down" - lots of fun! We said we would take it easy tonight, and not be too hungover for skiing the next day - but that changed after about the 2nd sip of the first beer. Had a really good party that night...

The Wednesday, again, was a rough day on the slopes. Normally, the first couple of hours we took some strain, then did all right in the afternoon. Today was no different. But gradually we were getting better - just had to be patient. That night we took it easy - all going to bed early. Which made a huge difference the next day, we were now actually able to ski rather well. And it felt good!

That night was the schnapps party. Basically they had half price on all their schnapps in the bar between 22h00 and 23h00. And on the wall in bar, they had a snowboard listing all the schnapps they serve, a list of 20 different flavours. So we did what was only natural... had an hour to get through all 20 shooters. We bought 6 each to begin with, no problem. After half an hour, another six. Still ok. Then right at the end, we bought the last 8. Had 4, waiting a bit, then the last 4. Oh yeah... then the party started. That was one awesome night, which finished up around 02h00. In this case, pictures to speak louder than words! :)

Friday was our last day of skiing - we didn't have ski lessons that day, just our own day on the mountain to do what we wanted. Its amazing how quickly the time went - but also how quickly we improved from Sunday to the Friday - where some of us had never skied (or even seen snow) before, to the point we were able to do various runs down the slopes! Was awesome!

That night we staying in, and then left 04h30 yesterday morning and arrived back in London around 22h00 last night. Some of the people were heading back to Australia and other parts of the world, while quite a few were staying in London for a bit. We all went down to the local pub for a few farewell drinks, before all heading home. What a kickass week - cant wait until February next year to do it all over again!