Our days start with an amazing spread of a breakfast at our "Ausie home" BIMBLEGUMBIE (more on this later). The staff here is amazing and the food is even better. From there we head up the hill on the 8 am train for a training session on the snow, back down for lunch around 1 and then to the gym at 3. We come home, eat dinner around 7, which usually lasts till around 8:30 or 9 as we all just sit and chat around the table, then off to bed to do it all again tomorrow. Now that is the quick version of our days, let me share a few snippets of the "finer details".

BIMBLEGUMBIE: Feel free to look it up on the web (http://www.bimblegumbie.com.au/). This place is amazing. At first glance I was a little surprised that the coaches had chosen such a place to stay for a high performance camp. While in town, the reaction we have received from locals upon hearing where we are staying ranges from: "Doesn't that Witch Lady run that place?" to " Isn't that the old Whore House on the Hill?" Quite an unerving opinion when we first got here. But... I have to commend the coaches on their choice of accomodation as this place has been great. It allows us all to relax int he evenings, Breakfast and Dinner are included (and like I said, they are amazing) and today Pru (the owner) even did our laundry for us. I would recommend this place to anyone visiting the Snowy Mountain Range in Australia.

Having Dinner included has saved us a tonne of money. Although the exchange is around 1.099 (canadian $ is a little stronger), things here are VERY EXPENSIVE. Not just because we are in a small Mountain town, but everywhere. A typical sandwiche in town costs around $12-14, and if you want a drink ($3-5) or fries/salad ($4-6) you can end up spending well over $20 for a simple lunch. I can only imagine how much of a nightmare it would be for us to have to grocery shop for 10 people in the tiny little store in town, with the strange products that are available, at the amazing price of everything. I am just thankful for the awesome service we are getting at home.

What have we eaten? Breakfast here is the same each day. An assortment of cereals, fruit salad, eggs (cooked any way you like), toast, and any type of coffe you desire. Dinners have been the highlight! Last night we had a few of the Aussie team over for a Barbeque (steaks, sausages, potatoe salad and a meringue for desert). Previous dinners have included a traditional Japanese Dinner (some of the staf are visiting from Japan), Indian Curry, Barimundi, Spaghetti, and a mystery meat Dinner that turned out to be.......

You guessed it KANGAROO! It is a very dark meat, a little chewy, but all in all it tastes like a regular steak. When I told My kids about it the next day their first question was if I could jump higher now. I hope so, have you seen my calves???

Speaking of Kangaroos, there are tonnes around. I went for a run the first morning we were here in Jindabyne and as I was running through a local field I was wondering if there were any Kangaroos around, when suddenly they started jumping out the busshes all around me. It was very early (7 am) and I must have startled them. It was really cool though as I was withing 40 feet of many of them. They are pretty amazing creatures, although like deer, they really like to jump out in front of moving vehicles (some of the French-Canadian athletes were driving home the other night and they hit one). Domonique commented that "it is just like hitting a dog" which inevitably caused many of us to ask "how many dogs have you run over?" Poor Little Guy.

We are off to go Horseback riding today. I will have much more about driving around Australia's roads and Kangaroos in the next installment.

I am trying to keep the blogs short so they are readable and you don't have to spend an hour catching up on them.

There is quite a dramatic difference in weather between our first day in Sydney (L) and the bulk of our time spent on the mountain (R)

NICE AND SUNNY

BRRRRR.. ITS COLD!!!

Hope to talk to you all soon,

Nate