just a bit of catch-up

When I first started writing this blog I had this idea that once a week or every two weeks, I’d have some time free, sit down and bust out a new post. Wishful thinking for sure. I get an idea into my head to write about, sit down and then just get distracted and can’t really be arsed to do it. Motivation dies and I potter around doing something else. I think the main reason is that there is so much to go through and I can’t get it all down in a compressed version that makes any sense. It’s now been weeks since I’ve posted anything, Japan has come and gone and now, 3 weeks after getting to Bali I’m finally typing this.

Nozawa Onsen – a great little ski town with hot spring bath houses scattered throughout and a relaxed peaceful atmosphere. If only the mountain was what I was expecting. I looked it up, saw that it was in Nagano prefecture, amongst the Japanese Alps and just assumed that we would have open bowls, massive chutes, killer terrain park and classic Japan powder. How wrong I was. Don’t get me wrong, it can be a fun hill, but after about 3 days, Snaz and I were getting sick of cat tracks and mogul runs with no decent kickers in the terrain park and definitely no open bowls. Add to that rain, warm days of plus 7 and a quickly receding base, not the perfect picture we thought we were in for. Having said that, it’s still snow and we managed to have a great time learning bits and pieces, shuffles, spins and all kinds of trickery messing about. It all seems so long ago, so skip ahead now to Bali, ‘Island of the Gods.’

Warm sunny days, fun surf and great food. Out of the 3 weeks Joel and I have been here we’ve surfed all of them bar 3. It’s easy to see why people get stuck here for far longer than they expect (or come to escape reality). Had we held to the original plan we’d be in Lombok by now, but the days just blend in. Wake, coffee, surf, eat, rest, surf, eat, drink, sleep, repeat. Throw in some ukulele and massage (no happy endings…yet) and that’s the daily grind. We’ve managed to get a scooter to cruise around on like our own version of the Motorcycle Diaries, board rack on the side exploring the breaks. Staying in local places for about $50 a week including friendly Mamma looking after us, brewing up coffee, mixin up Nasi Campur and hanging out our increasingly smelly clothes is great, but wait till you see what we’ve landed in now! Some friends we’ve made here live in a villa with pool, massive king size beds, day beds, all the works and we’re house sitting for 5 days…livin Deeeeeluxe. And that brings us up to the present. We’ve had nights on ‘jungle juice’ dancing up a storm, paintball skirmish acting out all our trigger happy fantasies, loads of street food and scenery to put some of China to shame. This has been a bit boring I know, but thenext post will be more exciting to read, I promise.