Skiing in the New Year

On New Years Eve the four of us headed up to spend a few days on the Murray with another friend who did ag at uni with Matt and Tyler, Ashley and her partner Hayden. Ash's Dad (also Hayden, confusing) lives at Gol Gol, near Mildura.

We arrived straight to the river and got skiing/wakeboarding/biscuiting. It was about 40 degrees with lots of boats and jetski's in the river. Tyler and Matt wakeboarded and Kate one-skiied off Hayden Snr's boat, 'The Water Rat'.

Somehow Matt, Kate and I thought it was a great idea to have a go at the huge three person tube Hayden Snr. had in his repertoire/arsenal. 

All was fine on the mega tube, it was a relatively soft and leisurely ride...except when we inevitably overbalanced and came off. 

Oh. My. Goodness. There was nothing that didn't hurt. We came off four times, two of which it seemed my face hit the water first at high speed, my contact lenses flew out of my eyes and I bit my tongue until it bled. Thumping headache ensued. I also must've kicked Kate in the head on one stack as her head and my foot were pretty sore. 

Back to Hayden's for a neighbourhood New Years Eve barbie. He has a great outdoor entertaining area with a bar and huge paved area. Mountains of food and drink, including several different flavoured daiquiri's made by Ash and Hayden Jnr. Dangerous. We rang in the New Year with sparklers and nearby fireworks scaring the dogs into hiding :(

New Year's Day was a scorching 43 degrees. And I couldn't feel the majority of my body. Apparently the tumbles off the biscuit were worse than anticipated. I couldn't move my neck and my left shoulder, elbow and wrist were painful and weak. We retreated to the cinema to see a movie, I saw my phone flashing with a call from Matt's best mate and one of the groomsmen in our wedding, Mika. When we got out of the movie we had message's on our phones - Mika and his girlfriend were engaged! Off to the Gol Gol pub for celebratory drinks.

We took Hayden Jnr's boat, 'The Hulk', out later in the evening when it cooled down. Ash had a one-ski before Matt saw spark's and the motor started smoking a lot. A bit of panic ensued with the boys ripping open the motor cover and Matt hovering with a fire extinguisher, me not sure whether to bail out of the boat into the river! All seemed ok but we packed it in for the day.

Next morning we headed the three hours back to Boort, on the way up we had gone through Swan Hill and Robinvale along the river, this time we went through Sea Lake and Wycheproof.

A great weekend, if not a little hot! Happy New Year from The Happy Campers, 2012 is going to be a good one!