Free Skiing and Photo time

Yesterday was another free ski - I took the opportunity to take heaps of photos which I will post here as soon as I work out how to. Only two runs of tuition. Just a little carving practice which at first I was terrible but it just clicked again after a while. The mountain is great for just cruising around and practising. I worked on my carving mainly, but also did a spot of moguls when the sun came out. Not really focussed without my guide and coach so it is hard to maintain a vision of what I want to achieve without someone else pushing me on - I simply just enjoyed skiing for what it is. Now a little thought. I was on the chairlift when it occurred to me how much influence Australia has in this small town. Our coach, local Kimberley born and bred Steve Bova, was the Australian national coach for Torino and Salt Lake. Australian taxpayers footed the bill for his house, his three cars, his trips to Australia and to the Paralympics for him and his family. Right now Steve employs three staff, Graham the assistant coach, Scott my guide and Paul who is Belinda's guide. Steve's training camp consists of seven Aussies over the season and one Canadian and two Pommies. He also trains other people but they dont stay at the house. So we Aussies staying here pay for Steve and his family, Scott and his wife and baby, Paul and his wife all their wages. Not only that but we contribute to the local economy each time we go shopping, or have a beer, or pay for season passes. So the effect of us Australians on the local economy is not insignificant. I was on the chairlift thinking, geez Australians are a real microeconomic influence on Kimberley. It was, I guess, no surprise that I then met Ook at the bar at the end of the day. Ook is an Eskimo from Lapland or something like that. He is now a Kimberley local and hangs out at the mountain bar doing some serious drinking as he has an injured ACL or hip or something. Anyway we got chatting and it turns out he works for a mining company as an instrumentalist. He was telling me stories about how they fly him here to fix one machine, and then to the other side of Canada to fix another machine, then to Finland to do some training, then down to Papua New Guinea to do something else. I was fascinated by Ook and asked him the name of the company as he mentioned they were global. It was none other than BHP, good old Broken Hill Propriety Limited! So not only do we Aussies hold up the skiing side of things, but we also employ locals to work! I was thinking without Australia, Kimberley would be virtually dead broke! So it made me feel a little bit more at home. Distance aside, Australia really didnt feel that far away. There is a little bit of Aussie in everything I look at here, Steve's outdoor hottub, the diamonds on sale at the town Jeweller, the Alexander Keats Pale Ale that my assistant coach has in his hand at the end of each day - it is all a part of Australia in some weird economic way or other. Today was a day off. Done to Cranbrook to pick up a few things. Nothing exciting happened at all. Plan to read, do a little stretching and recover, recover, recover. Tommorrow a little ski to warm up for half a day. Wednesday full days training and Thursday another day off. Friday, Saturday and Sunday is the speed camp which I am looking forward to. Super G and downhill course is set up with timers and speed cameas. I want to smash the course.