Well, a new year and probably time for a bit of reflection on 2012 before the current year really takes off. 2012 was definitely a transitional year for me with some major experiences and changes occurring in my life. A warning, this post includes a bunch of disjointed and disconnected photos.
The year began with a fateful ski trip to Japan. We had enjoyed an amazing week of powder snow, food and good times before tragedy struck. While walking home after dinner, a member of our group fell down an embankment and struck his head on a concrete culvert. Tragically, he died from his injures. The incident was my first experience of death as an adult and it definitely took some time to get over. I will be returning to Japan Feb 2013 to mark Fitzy’s passing.
 |
| Otaru mall |
 |
| The Japanese are so quirky |
 |
| Festival of love Otaru, everyone was laughing at me wandering around alone |
 |
| Again, the quirkiness is awesome, Hirafu fire station |
After Japan we knuckled down for a bit, working, saving money and doing the occasional hike and weekend at the beach. I did buy myself my first proper mountain bike and started to explore the local fire trails and single tracks. Our region also experienced a massive flood event with rivers bursting banks and Lake Jindabyne at full capacity.
 |
| The country would not run without these |
 |
| Hiking with Holly at Doi Inthanon, Thailand's highest mountain |
 |
| Wat at Doi Inthanon |
|
|
| Mountains of northern Thailand, Burma is over the valley |
 |
| They are happy bunch in Northern Thailand, and they like to sit in the back of utes |
 |
| Chang Rai and the Golden Triangle |
 |
| Massive Buddha on the outskirts of Chang Mai |
 |
| Songkran craziness, Chang Mai |
We stopped in Singapore on the way home for a few days. We ate some delicious food, did some shopping and checked out the famous zoo.
 |
| Busy Singapore and tasty dumplings |
 |
| Holly loves giraffes |
 |
| Biggest nose in Borneo |
 |
| Evil squirrel |
 |
| Projectile |
 |
| It was really nice eating ice cream watching the sun set |
Arriving back in Australia after our trip to Asia we were excited for the snow to start falling and to be skiing again. An early snowfall presented an opportunity to ski the Main Range in May with buddy
James.
 |
| One of my favourite places in Australia, the Main Range |
I managed one last coastal weekend in June and scored some really nice waves. I tried surfing with my gopro camera for the first time and
made a little clip.
 |
| I scored some nice waves around Shellharbour |
After this we settled into the ski season, working all week and skiing all weekend. Work was challenging as we implemented some changes to our winter operations that required constant consultation with the local stakeholders. We had plenty of visitors and scored some great days out on the slopes with friends and family.
 |
| Another day skiing at Perisher with Holly |
 |
| Holly is starting to get pretty good, some sidecountry powder |
 |
| My Mum the ski instructor and Dad the lifty, classic! |
 |
| Lunch ski break |
 |
| Kate and Dane came to visit |
 |
| Dad has still got it, Thredbo |
.jpg) |
| We had a memorial day at Thredbo for Fitzy and Steff |
Despite the great start, the 2012 season was kind of frustrating from a backcountry perspective. Early in the season we had a work overnight search and rescue BC training night. The evening corresponded with a full moon and we skied the dry powder past midnight. I had hilarious and sort of scary overnight BC trip with by buddy Matt where we nearly got blown off the mountain by a crazy storm that hit in the middle of the night. I had a day out with
Damian who was out from Japan teaching avalanche courses. This was followed by a solo day trip out to Mt Twynam where I encountered bullet proof dangerous ice and gale forced winds. The following week I had another crack and again encountered ice this time at Mt Tate.
 |
| Training night, it got down to -12, pretty cold for Australia |
 |
| Good food and chatter |
 |
| Full moon turns |
 |
| Our campsite |
 |
| A day at Guthega Creek with Rohan |
 |
| Crazy overnighter with Matty |
 |
| Snowy conditions touring with Damian |
 |
| Main Range view, very icy day |
 |
| Nice pitch below Mt Tate |
Despite the lack of action, my blog post on Mt Twynam was picked up by
Mountainwatch, my first piece of published work! My edit from a day out around Guthega Creek also
won clip of the week.
Amongst the action of winter I passed a milestone, I turned 30. I celebrated in Sydney with friends and family and scored some amazing presents. A beautiful
Neal Purchase Jr. surfboards, an Atomic coffee maker, a kindle and a trip to Tasmania! Turning 30 was completely different to expectations. I had thought I would be apprehensive but in fact it is a really exciting time. I enjoyed my 20’s, sometimes a little to much, it feels good to be moving into the next phase of my life.
 |
| My beautiful new Neal Purchase Jr. quad |
We went to Tasmania in October and did an amazing hike around Cradle Mountain. We encountered everything that Tassie could throw at us. The hike made us stronger and brought us closer together. After the hike we spent an incredible week exploring Tasmania.
 |
| Tassie, its all happening |
 |
| Just another day driving around Tasmania |
 |
| The snow storm we experienced at Cradle Mountain |
 |
| Gordon River |
 |
| Southern giant petrel, Bruny Island, incredibly rare apparently |
 |
| Australian fur seals off Bruny Island |
 |
| Baby fur seal, so cute! |
 |
| Southern tip of Bruny Island, next stop Antarctica |
Arriving back in the mountains after our Tassie trip there was still plenty of snow to be skied. I had a great boys weekend camping and skiing the spring slush. My season finished with a lovely morning ski to Carruthers with Holly who battled on despite some nasty blisters.
 |
| Boys camp out at Island Bend |
 |
| Now that's a fire! |
 |
| Transition at the top of Little Austria |
 |
| Holly and I hiked up to Caruthers in late spring |
 |
| Last turns of the season |
 |
| It was a bit patchy at the end |
 |
| Crazy stuff going on at the Snowy River crossing |
 |
| My season in the backcountry, 23 days, 10,800m climbed, 12,800m skied and 170km travelled |
As we enjoyed the spring skiing we were also in midst of house hunting, mortgage comparisons, lawyers and settlement. We bought a beautiful house in Berridale, close to the mountains and work. We are currently painting and doing some other minor work and hope to be in very soon.
 |
| Our new house! |
As spring turned to summer we started visiting the coast again and some great weekends surfing, fishing and even got into some prawning.
 |
| The drive to the coast is spectacular |
 |
| Nerriga church |
 |
| Gerroa meat raffle, we have a winner! |
 |
| Prawning at Gerroa |
 |
| Some nice spring waves |
 |
| The sunsets are amazing |
 |
| Sunset skate session |
 |
| Hello from Gerroa |
 |
| Again, just beautiful |
 |
| Found this guys driving home, not sure what's going on with Holly's glasses |
 |
| Another friend on the road |
The year concluded with a bang. I convinced Holly to ride up to Mt Kosciuszko with me one Saturday morning. Near the peak, and away from the tourists, I dropped to the knee and asked her to marry me. She said yes (of course!). Me being me, I filmed the whole thing on my gopro!
 |
| She said yes! |
We got up to heaps of other stuff which I mostly covered on the blog. We are currently in the midst of renovating and moving so things have been a bit quiet on the adventure front. I have managed a few weekend surf trips and heaps of local mountain biking but nothing ‘blog worthy’ at this stage.
In addition to the house I am working on a few other projects, more to come on these once they are further developed. I have also started a new blog,
‘Wander Lost’, focused more on photography, travel, surfing and random thoughts that pop into my head, check it out! I'll still be posting to this blog with trip reports and other interesting outdoorsy stuff from the oceans to the mountains.
Cheers
.jpg)
