Shred the Kea!

Wow, what an awesome week! It all started with the close of the winter festival on Sunday. They had a rail jam at CP (Coronet Peak) with some of the best local skiers and boarders. It was a shame the weather was really cloudy but we managed to see a few guys absolutely wreck themselves on the rails. One guy broke his shoulder and another landed on his back from a 10 foot drop off an uprail. The comp got stopped for a while so we decided to go home and beat the crowds on the bus home. It was so cool seeing world class freestyle skiers like Jossi Wells and cool boarders like Nick Hynne. I was a bit star struck but these guys are totally awesome riders.

It has inspired me to get a bit more into the freestyle skiing. I'll maybe avoid the rails and stuff though as i don't fancy busting myself too badly. I'll just keep riding and hitting my little airs and doing my fancy little reverts.

The highlight of the week was being asked by the admin department to be one of the resort mascots for the afternoon. They came into the shop and asked if me or Billy could help them out. Billy decided he would do it as it did sound like a bit of a laugh but when the time came to go he bottled it so i jumped in. I went to the admin dept and got helped into the huge green Kea outfit. A kea is a local parrot that is notorious for being mischievous. They already chewed/pecked their way through an electrical cable which shut down one of our chairlifts earlier this week. We have two mascots. A Kea called Shred and a kiwi called Spike. A guy called Dave from rentals was in the kiwi suit. We joked about as we were getting dressed and it turned out he is from Yeading! Literally 2 miles from where i was dragged up. Small world huh? Once we were in our suits with our big heads on we were unleashed on the public. We had a minder who guided us around as the visibility was so poor in my costume. It was also about 500 degrees centigrade and as i pranced about for the kids i damn near passed out a few times! We worked the crowds over by the Skiwi kids area, high fiving the kids and dancing about and throwing snowballs. It was a right good laugh. We were not allowed to speak in the suit and under no circumstances could we take our heads off. This became a real problem for me as i was so hot.

We thought it would be a laugh to head up one of the chairlifts so we rode up one of the lifts called Meadows. When we got to the top we stopped and greeted the kids as they came off the lift. I was in bits as we caused so much carnage! Kids were concentrating so much on waving at us they were forgetting to get off the lift in time and causing big pile ups. Even the adults were trashing theirselves. I went over to help a big guy up and managed to fall down a big hole. I struggled back up as my minder wet his pants laughing. We decided to head back down the hill to the base building by walking down one of the steeper runs called the M1. As we walked over to the run we couldn't help but slide on our arses into this big bowl. As i tried to climb out of the big bowl i lost my footing and slid off down the mountain. I tried to fight it for the first 100 feet but it was pointless so i just rolled onto my back and enjoyed the ride as everyone on the chairlift pissed themselves laughing at me. It was actually quite a lot of fun, that was until i hit a patch of little fir trees and ended up smacking my balls off them! They didn't slow me down though and i gained speed as i headed over toward the nursery slopes. It all happened in slow motion but as i neared the slope i dropped off this big dip and smashed into the back off a snowboarder. I got up, helped her up, shrugged and just run away. I couldn't speak after all. It must've been such a surreal moment for her. One minute she's just chilling out sliding down the slopes when all of a sudden she gets totalled by a 6 foot 6 fluffy green parrot who just shrugs and runs off! I was cackling away to myself at the shear stupidity of it all. I had to stop after a few hundred feet as i nearly collapsed from heat exhaustion. When i stopped i noticed Spike the kiwi and our minder heading towards me in fits of hysterics, well i couldn't tell if Dave was laughing in his kiwi suit but our minder definitely was. They had seen me slide off down the mountain and both been really concerned, especially when i hit the trees but couldn't help but laugh when i smashed into the snowboarder. When i got back to admin and told them what had happened they laughed but were worried that i had hurt someone. It was all OK though in the end. I would defiantly be the mascots again but i would no way be the damn Kea again.

Work is becoming so much fun. I'm meeting loads more people. I'll probably be known as "the midwife" or "the Kea" from now on but i really don't mind. Town has calmed down a bit since the winter festival ended and it has really started to feel like Christmas. Weird as it's July but town is all lit up, it's cold and everyone is strolling around in beannies and big coats. I'm super happy. It helps that work has changed my days off to the same as Kates and after the school holidays finish in two weeks my hours drop down. It means less money but loads more time skiing. This week has been so busy. Full of stupid Australians who haven't seen snow before and spend all day shouting at each other! It meant that i didn't get a ride break for a few days. Well, i could have gone up for some runs but the lift lines were crazy long so i woulda spent most of my break in a queue. It'll all calm down in a week or so and I'll be back skiing everyday again and jumping off stuff, YAY!!

Tonight we're heading into town to meet our friends Laura and Jesus Christ to have a few drinks and play poker til the wee hours as i am off tomorrow. YAY, drinks and poker!!

Anyways guys, I doubt my career as a mascot is gonna be fruitful so i guess i'll just keep up the retail job. I must admit that i lucked out so much with my job. We get busy just like everyone else but i work with some great people and we all look out for each other. All the other departments are getting slammed! Guest services, rentals, lifts and food and beverage are crazy busy and having to work like dogs to run properly. We are busy but we still have quiet periods and time to have a laugh. I love my job!

Peace y'all.

D

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