After a long flight we arrived in Sydney to start our Australian experience. We were met at the airport by John East and this is where Heinrich and I split up.  He flew on to Melbourne and I would stay in Sydney as I had a ski school for the next couple of days at Liverpool.  This is an awesome site as this is where the Open Worlds was held a couple of years ago .

After seeing Heinrich off on his flight, it was of to John's house where I met up with the whole family.  These people were really great and we had a awesome barbecue and then it was of to bed after all the normal questions were asked about South Africa.

The next morning we were up at 5am and off to the river. I had about 5 skiers waiting and we immediately started skiing. What amazed me was that there is so much talent in Australia with the young kids.  These kids kept me on the water for 13 hours a day with hardly any time for lunch.  All I can say I was well looked after.  We had a lot of success with young girls that had so much go and the willingness to learn new things.

It was then time to fly out to Melbourne to join up with Heinrich and Peter O'Neil at Mulwhala Ski Club for the Expo. Pete hosts this grand event every year and Heinrich was invited for the second year running to compete in the jump event.

I arrived at the airport and was met by Pete's dad and took an hours drive to Mulwhala and to my surprise I could not believe what awaited me.  When I arrived there were thousands of people that came to watch the evening show that was the lead up to the main event the following day.

After a late night we had Supper (Tea), then off to bed.  The whole Expo started at 9am the next day and people just streamed in . I must say all the controls were well organized . Pete had managed to get together some of the best wakeboarders and show skiers in the world to show off there expertise, and add to this BMX, MOTOR X BIG FOOT TRUCKS, and you have one amazing show. There were more than 10000 spectators on the banks and this had to let the skiers feel great as we all know you don't get that much spectators at 3 event tournaments.

They had music going, food stands, people selling boats and equipment, and the commentators really had the crowds going.  There was never a dull moment. Heinrich ended up winning the jump event by beating Brendon Wright in the finals.

The next day was just a lazy day at Pete's house and we ended up going for a ski with Pete's Flightcraft still one of the best barefoot boats ever built.

The next morning we were up early and off to the twin lakes at Malwala.  Ski club skiers were all lined up and we started at 7am and went all the way till 7 at night.  Once again there was so much talent on display from the junior boys and girls and for the first time in my life I was going to coach adults.  But this also went well and we were fully booked every day. We never got back from the lakes earlier than about 8-9 in the evenings and all that normally was left was to eat and sleep as the next morning we were up at 5 again to get ready for the days training.

I had a lot of fun with Mitch, Chris and just all the kids that arrived to train. After a week of coaching we were off to visit the Crouch family in Sydney.  We were collected at the airport by Brandon and took the drive to their great spot at the river and was welcomed to a real African Braai (barbecue).  The steaks and chicken were great and we just talked til late that night.  The next morning Heinrich went out for a ski and we ended up helping a kid ski that stopped us on the river.  We were later joined by Riley and her brother for a ski set.  These were two very talented junior skiers.

The next day we were off to Canberra. We arrived and went to our hotel soon after were off to Jeff at the club that his mom and dad runs for a great supper.  The next day we had a tournament and were up early.  This was a qualifying tournament for Regionals.  We met up with officials and skiers.  To prevent being bored, I jumped in and drove for the tournament.  We were then off to the airport for our flight back to South Africa.  Pete told us we had to be there at 10 that evening so we arrived there with good time to spare and went to check in and low and behold we were informed we had missed our flight.  Our flight was at 10 in the morning instead of the evening, so we had to be put on a flight the next morning.  So we booked ourselves into a hotel for the night. 

Once again we would like to thank Peter O'Neil and all the families that looked after us on our trip.  These people went out of there way to make us feel at home and welcome.  We're looking forward to coming back again in years to come.