Well this is it I suppose. My last few weeks in Suomi were spent organising, packing, planning and saying goodbyes. Traveling is good fun and meeting new people is the best part of it but I am slowly realising that the more you travel, the more you have to say goodbye. Making friends in so many places around the world means that is is hard to catch up with them again later. I don't know if this means it is always best to travel to the same areas, not travel at all or travel but without befriending anyone. Still, I hope to be back in Finland again in the next couple of years and I am 100% sure I will see the friends I have made in Suomi again.
A few days before Julia and I left for Australia we made a trip over to England to visit some of my family. We were only in the country for four days and the trip ended up costing a small fortune. We missed the flight back to Finland which meant we had to catch a coach from Gatwick to Heathrow and then book last minute flights to Helsinki in the airport terminal. It was maybe the most expensive 4 days I have had yet but it was nice to catch up with family again anyway and have one last trip through Europe before we left. Even if it was to England. I am still not convinced on the country. I find it very daunting and bland. It seems to be motorways as far as the eye can see, flat, dull country and I am still yet to think of anything in England that I would really like to visit. We did spend a day in Cambridge which was not to bad. It was kind of like being in a Harry Potter movie. Some of the buildings in the area are breath taking and it is all very well looked after. Of course it is the kind of place where every law has a ''keep off the grass'' sign and the footpaths are all washed on a daily basis. None the less it was a pleasant day spent wandering, eating and sneaking into University classes.
The night after we arrived back to Helsinki from England I had a small gathering at Aussie Bar where they were premiering a new snowboarding flick named ''Rubberduck''. The movie was ok, nothing special but it is always good to watch snowboarding. I would have liked to go again before I left the country but it was not to be. The newt couple of days was filled with packing and moving. That was really it. Julia left on a flight on the 9th at some un godly hour in the AM. I left the same afternoon. My flight left at 4 but by 3 it was dark. Just as I was leaving Helsinki got it's first real snowstorm for the year and I left the country white and iced over. Funnily enough I landed in Australia on the first real summers day of the year so it was all timed to perfection.
Other than a chilli breakfast before landing in Singapore that saw me drinking 5 pints of water, 2 pints of milk a cup of juice and a little tub of cream the flight was pretty good. I flew from Helsinki to Frankfurt then to Singapore before landing in Australia. Julia had arrived about an hour before me so we met at the airport cafe and made our way to Leighs. We had planned to stay in Adelaide with Leigh for a week before heading back to KI to visit mum and the dogs. I had wanted to skate some proper hills for the whole week but my skate gear took longer to freight than planned to most of the week we spent lounging around and relaxing. We had a fella named Ian over from Perth who was passing through on his way to Sydney so when we finally did get around to skating it was good to have a extra board on the hill with us. It felt so good to be back on the Adelaide hills again. Leigh and Bow have progressed so much since I have been in Europe and I have some serious catching up to do.
On Ian's last day we skated all the hills in the area, had a carpark session in the city and then decided to do a few runs of the Adelaide freeway since it had been about a year and Ian hadn't done it before. We got 3 runs in before the police caught up with us and we were all fined $171 each. A small price to pay in my opinion for a whole day and night of skating with friends. The next morning we awoke to calls from friends saying that all the radio stations were talking about us followed by Channel 10, Channel 9 and the Advertiser calling us for interviews. By the following afternoon we were headline news around the country. Bigger than the trapped miners and even the Kapunda murders. We had some good interviews with 10 and 9 but apparently the ABC and Channel 7 reports were not so good. They were told by the police that we had no safety gear such as helmets on which of course was false but as they put no effort in to contact us we could not set them straight.
Tomorrow Julia and I make our way up to Bathurst for the 2010 Newtons Nation. I am very excited to attend the event again and catch up with all the people from Europe, Canada and the U.S. I am really falling in love with the family side of downhill skating and looking forward to meeting new people too. Newtons has changed this year adding huge amounts other sports, bands and displays. It will really be a festival event this year and it is looking to be the biggest downhill skating event yet. With mass media coverage and people from all sorts of disciplines attending, we are all hoping that it will be a big step forward for the sport.
This will likely be my last entry on this site. I have added a new video to the video page from Italy so you can check that out to. I have two more to edit from Europe and will hopefully put a Newtons one up to so feel free to check back. I will add them to the site and post when I have put them up. If not, keep checking my Vimeo page for updates.
A huge thank you to everyone who has been reading the blogs and watching the videos. I hope you have enjoyed and the site has shed some light on migrating to another country, skate racing and just been entertaining in general. Thanks to everyone in Finland who took the time to show me around and make me feel welcome. 2010 has been a fantastic year for me and I owe that to Finland and the people I spent my time with. I hope to see you all again soon and hope you all have an awesome winter on the slopes. Thanks to Asfalttikukka for giving me work when they did. My time in Finland almost came to a very early finish and you really did come through for me. Thanks to all the people I worked with in the company, all fantastic people and a pleasure to spend each day with.
Check out the video
A few days before Julia and I left for Australia we made a trip over to England to visit some of my family. We were only in the country for four days and the trip ended up costing a small fortune. We missed the flight back to Finland which meant we had to catch a coach from Gatwick to Heathrow and then book last minute flights to Helsinki in the airport terminal. It was maybe the most expensive 4 days I have had yet but it was nice to catch up with family again anyway and have one last trip through Europe before we left. Even if it was to England. I am still not convinced on the country. I find it very daunting and bland. It seems to be motorways as far as the eye can see, flat, dull country and I am still yet to think of anything in England that I would really like to visit. We did spend a day in Cambridge which was not to bad. It was kind of like being in a Harry Potter movie. Some of the buildings in the area are breath taking and it is all very well looked after. Of course it is the kind of place where every law has a ''keep off the grass'' sign and the footpaths are all washed on a daily basis. None the less it was a pleasant day spent wandering, eating and sneaking into University classes.
The night after we arrived back to Helsinki from England I had a small gathering at Aussie Bar where they were premiering a new snowboarding flick named ''Rubberduck''. The movie was ok, nothing special but it is always good to watch snowboarding. I would have liked to go again before I left the country but it was not to be. The newt couple of days was filled with packing and moving. That was really it. Julia left on a flight on the 9th at some un godly hour in the AM. I left the same afternoon. My flight left at 4 but by 3 it was dark. Just as I was leaving Helsinki got it's first real snowstorm for the year and I left the country white and iced over. Funnily enough I landed in Australia on the first real summers day of the year so it was all timed to perfection.
Other than a chilli breakfast before landing in Singapore that saw me drinking 5 pints of water, 2 pints of milk a cup of juice and a little tub of cream the flight was pretty good. I flew from Helsinki to Frankfurt then to Singapore before landing in Australia. Julia had arrived about an hour before me so we met at the airport cafe and made our way to Leighs. We had planned to stay in Adelaide with Leigh for a week before heading back to KI to visit mum and the dogs. I had wanted to skate some proper hills for the whole week but my skate gear took longer to freight than planned to most of the week we spent lounging around and relaxing. We had a fella named Ian over from Perth who was passing through on his way to Sydney so when we finally did get around to skating it was good to have a extra board on the hill with us. It felt so good to be back on the Adelaide hills again. Leigh and Bow have progressed so much since I have been in Europe and I have some serious catching up to do.
On Ian's last day we skated all the hills in the area, had a carpark session in the city and then decided to do a few runs of the Adelaide freeway since it had been about a year and Ian hadn't done it before. We got 3 runs in before the police caught up with us and we were all fined $171 each. A small price to pay in my opinion for a whole day and night of skating with friends. The next morning we awoke to calls from friends saying that all the radio stations were talking about us followed by Channel 10, Channel 9 and the Advertiser calling us for interviews. By the following afternoon we were headline news around the country. Bigger than the trapped miners and even the Kapunda murders. We had some good interviews with 10 and 9 but apparently the ABC and Channel 7 reports were not so good. They were told by the police that we had no safety gear such as helmets on which of course was false but as they put no effort in to contact us we could not set them straight.
Tomorrow Julia and I make our way up to Bathurst for the 2010 Newtons Nation. I am very excited to attend the event again and catch up with all the people from Europe, Canada and the U.S. I am really falling in love with the family side of downhill skating and looking forward to meeting new people too. Newtons has changed this year adding huge amounts other sports, bands and displays. It will really be a festival event this year and it is looking to be the biggest downhill skating event yet. With mass media coverage and people from all sorts of disciplines attending, we are all hoping that it will be a big step forward for the sport.
This will likely be my last entry on this site. I have added a new video to the video page from Italy so you can check that out to. I have two more to edit from Europe and will hopefully put a Newtons one up to so feel free to check back. I will add them to the site and post when I have put them up. If not, keep checking my Vimeo page for updates.
A huge thank you to everyone who has been reading the blogs and watching the videos. I hope you have enjoyed and the site has shed some light on migrating to another country, skate racing and just been entertaining in general. Thanks to everyone in Finland who took the time to show me around and make me feel welcome. 2010 has been a fantastic year for me and I owe that to Finland and the people I spent my time with. I hope to see you all again soon and hope you all have an awesome winter on the slopes. Thanks to Asfalttikukka for giving me work when they did. My time in Finland almost came to a very early finish and you really did come through for me. Thanks to all the people I worked with in the company, all fantastic people and a pleasure to spend each day with.
Check out the video
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