Our bus trip from Porjus to Gallivare took only about an hour, so we arrived at around midday on Friday 16 November. Unfortunately we didn't know which bus stop to get off at and ended up getting off way too soon :-/ Eventually, after trudging through much snow, we found our way back to the main train station where we bought our onward tickets. Then it was still about another half hour walk to the bed-and-breakfast we were staying at. Once we had dumped our things, Jason walked down to the shops while Kevin and Monique stayed to cook dinner. That evening we met a cool Swedish guy named Thomas, who was out there on a business/road trip. He joined us for dinner and then later we all drove out together to The International Santa Claus Convention that is held every year in the woods on the outskirts of the town - doesn't sound dodgy at all... Once there, we learned that this was actually just the meet&greet/press session (yes there was a TV crew there) and that the real competition was only the following day. Quite a bizarre experience, but in the end just some good harmless fun :-) Back at the house we just chilled in the communal kitchen until bed time.

Saturday was ski day!! We gratefully hitched a ride with Thomas down to the ski slope at Dundret where we got sorted with some gear and ski passes.

[Monique taking over]

We all decided to do snowboarding and were soon kitted up and ready to go. We made our way to ski lift where we discovered that it was a "standing lift" - quite different to our cushy seat we had in Vancouver. Basically you have to position a T-bar inbetween your legs and as the lift moves, the tension on your rope pulls you up the slope. Jason went first and managed a few metres before face-planting into the snow. We chuckled at him from the bottom. Soon the tables were turned - Kevin managed to get about three-quarters of the way up before falling (made for a much longer walk down) and I managed about 5 metres before it all fell to pieces.

We were given some tips by the ski lift operators but we still weren`t getting the hang of it. Fortunately Thomas came to our rescue and explained how it is actually quite tricky to keep your balance on the T-bar lift with a snowboard and it is best to "share" the lift with someone with ski`s... he helped me up and then went back and bought Jason up. In the end Kevin managed to get all the way to the top on his own.

Once I was up, the reality hit of how big and steep this slope was and that there was only one way down. Kevin went whizzing down the slope while Jason and I practised standing without falling over and then attempting to snowboard down the tiny declines at the top of the slope.

I then got so freezing from standing around that I decided to give the slope a go, I mean, how hard could it be??? I managed about 30cm before falling over. Unfortunately I didn`t have Jess`s fancy gear from Vancouver so I immediately got a wet bum :( Up I got to try again, and I fell again...

I certainly acted out that saying "When you fall down, get up and try again... and again... and again" How does it end? - "...until you succeed?" I think there should be a new ending - "...until your undies are filled with snow, you can`t feel your face and you`re certain that one more fall will cause your wrists to snap. Then feel free to give up and go eat some lunch in the still pretty much freezing locker-room"

Yes, my snowboarding dream was certainly not realised. What about Kevin and Jason you might ask. Well, Kevin had a blast whizzing down the slopes getting better and better with each run. Jason, he also spent a fair deal of time on his bum so decided to trade in his board for a pair of ski`s pretty early on in the day and then managed to get the knack of the ski`s and enjoyed whizzing down the slopes. Me? I had a really misirable day which made me feel like quite a failure in the sports department... :(

Fortunately Kevin had a bunch of chocolate on hand which did cheer me up slightly. He then asked if I`d like to go back to skiing next time to which I said "No way! I`m cracking this snowboarding thing if it`s the last thing I do." I may just need to join the kiddies for a couple of lessons next time! Oh, and invest in some waterproof pants!

[Kevin taking over again]

It was dark when we finally came off the slopes and handed back our gear. The rental place was closing up and so we had to wait outside in the freezing cold for our taxi - which never came >-/ So in the end we started off down the pitch dark, snow covered, hour-long road back to town. Fortunately a car came past about halfway and we were able to hitch a ride :-) We walked the last bit back to the house, collected our things (after initially being locked out?!? :-/) and made our way to the main train station. After a short wait, our train arrived to take us back down south to civilization, to Copenhagen!