Charlotte Plains

The decision to make the trip from Snowmass to Charlotte Plains, Cunnamulla, SW Queensland was a spur of the moment one coming as it did immediately on termination of my winter seasonal employment and the distressing news of Reid's rapidly deteriorating health. With a very full house at Charlotte Plains already - Reid , Robyn , Anita, Rob & Caire and their 3 children , Cammo & Carmen and their 2 children and 2 property hands Neville and Geoff - I was apprehensive about causing additional and unnecessary strain on the family. But with 5 children under 6 , a sick Reid and a mass of jobs to be done on the property , I hope that I was more of a help than a hindrance in my 7 hugely enjoyable and very memorable days there.

Pics from bottom
1.Swimming in the artesian bore drain ( almost 2000 feet unpumped ! )with Neets , Robert Reid Russell V, Charlie and Mattie.
2.Reid wishing so much he could be part of the action.
3.Rob and Cammo mustering wild goats.
4.Never without a compass !
5&6. Rob and Cammo respectively.
7. The CP sign on main road at the back entrance - total acreage 70,000 acres . 8,000
sheep and 600 cattle.
8&9 On day in Cunnamulla with Reid. The latter beside ` the Cunnamulla feller `.
10.Loading goats - $50 a head approx . `Help ` from young Robert and Charlie.
11. Clearing an overgrown and blocked bore drain - more `help` from RRR V and
Charlie.
12.Watching the Royal wedding - Robyn , Neets and Claire.
13.Claire and Reid at a children's party in Cunnamulla.
14. G and Reid beside the weir on the Warrego River outside Cunnamulla.
15. After an emotional farewell.

Brisbane & Toowoomba

Aspen - Denver - LA - Brisbane . Managed to get earlier D to LA and therefore give myself time to negotiate out of having to fly LA - Auckland - Melbourne - Brisbane !
Success with only $50 surplus. Saved 12 hours of travelling time .

Rod and Jen were at B airport to meet me . Meant 5.30 am start for them from T'woomba. They took me straight to their good friends Pete and Emma who have beautiful appt right on the Brisbane river - see pic. And what a breakfast they laid on for us - on patio with the great views over the river . Masses of wonderful fresh fruit - melon , pawpaw, pineapple , custard apple and much else . Delicious . All followed by smoked salmon and scrambled eggs and English muffin. What wonderful hosts.

Then to T'woomba via Needham St , Fig Tree Pocket, where Bob and Betty had their house, Wembury, which disappeared under the B River in 1974 floods. Very nostalgic.

Lovely stay with Rod and Jen in T'woomba. Tibouchina trees - see pic - magnificent . R & J in top form and about to set off for European tour - and then Aspen in 2012 hopefully . Goodness they looked after me well . Thank you very much. T'woomba recovered well from the devastating floods. Hard to believe now.

After yet another fabulous fruit and eggs & bacon breakfast , bus to B and flight - see pic - direct to Cunnamulla and 3 hour drive with Neets ( see last pic ) to Charlotte Plains.

Skico end of season party

An amazing fact - our 5th completed ski season free of serious injury. A few close shaves and we've been lucky - no question. 75 days on the mountain for me and 49 for Mary this season.

Beautiful late season skiing with more significant snowfalls right up to last night. Peter , Mary and I did Highland Bowl 2 days running the second on our 37 wedding anniversary on 19/4after a foot of new snow.

Also a great day boarding in new snow at Snowmass , a day with John and Bernadette Barry at Breckenridge and the annual end of season SkiCo party at `Picnic palace ` , Snowmass when the resort closed except to Ski Co employees and one guest each.

Pics above show all the above including a classic of M working in the kitchen of Picnic Palace on day of Ski Co party. A long straight 8 hours of work preparing ( and cleaning up ) for over 1000 people. Also a good pic of the water slide. A mass of people throughout the party ski/board down a very steep slope and try to skim the length of that pond . Many don't make it ! Some who do, manage even a somersault having completed the ` skim `. Quite a specatacle. The 6 on ski slope with whom I skied on morning of party - Guest Services co-employees of Mary's are Herb , Dagmar , Nola , Fred , Barbara and George Baker.

Had 4 days now on bike and today a glorious ride into Aspen with Mary for last minute errands before I head off tomorrow to Australia for 10 days to see my dear cousin and good buddy Reid at Cunnamulla who is terminally ill with a brain tumour.

April powder

With season drawing to a close , we value greatly these last powder days. Mary has chalked up 46 days of ski pass use and G 70, but an overnight fall of anything over 4 inches still has us out on the 1st chair at 8.30 and as excited about it as if it was the first day of the season. And there have been some fabulous days.

1. From the Big Burn chair. Acres of the fluffy stuff all untracked.
2. A morning on Burnt Mountain with Warren before work . Through an `at your own risk gate`, but perfectly safe and epic slope and conditions.
3.From the top of Burnt Mtn just before the 2nd descent of the day there. Comes out at the bottom of Long Shot and the Two Creeks lift .
4. 1st week of April brings in Disabed Vets week . 1,000 disabled veterans come to the Silvertree Hotel and this pic shows the gathering with every type of skiing contraption for these incredible disabled athletes from all over USA.
5. Another lovely visit from the Richards family from Surrey. This was taken as we descended over the Hanging Valley Wall top ridge. Bill, Debbie , Jamie and Katie.
6 Bill and Debbie having come down from that spot ( see very top of pic ) via Upper and Lower Ladder. All those visits to the gym paid off ! Great effort after only 1 day at this altitude and broken powder making it challenging. Jamie's lost ski for a few minutes gave an indication of what can go wrong .