boxing day

26/12/14

Boxing Day!

This morning I was up and ready to go to morning meeting for 8.30 because I was on Program.  Today we were hiking to Engstligenalp and the Engstligen Waterfalls.  Engstligenalp is the biggest plateau of the western Swiss Alps and is between 1900 - 2000 m high.  The Engstligen Waterfalls are the second highest in Switzerland, and are over 600 m long.

We hiked down the hill and through the adjoining town of Boden, before hiking through the woods and over the bridge below.

We may have got a little over excited with the amount of snow....

Walking though the woods was really cool - it felt like we were walking in a 'Winter Wonderland'.  Though it was pretty without snow, snow just made everything better!  We reached the waterfalls early, because apparently this group of guests were fast walkers.  I feel they were just walking fast because it was so cold! The waterfalls were in the shade of the mountain so there was no sun, but there was wind and it was mighty cold!

The waterfalls were beautiful.  They were still running and though they don't look like much in the pictures they were amazing to see in person!

From the Waterfalls we only had to walk a short distance to where we were going to have lunch.  Our guest services team consisting of Nikki, Mara, Megan and Miguel had driven a couple of the guests (including Nan) and lunch out to a site in the woods.  We had a 'snow BBQ' and had sausages in rolls with salad for lunch.  Everyone stood as close as they could to the fire for the most of it because it was still quite cold!  

At 12.30 ish we left lunch and walked up to the Gondola station to go to the top of Engstligenalp.  When we got to the top, first stop was the rest rooms and through the restaurant so everyone could unfreeze and put on more layers as required.  Then we let the guests have free time whilst we organised the Snow Tubing.  

 

Snow Tubing is almost the same as going down a water slide on a rubber ring, except your on snow.  Thank goodness you don't land in a pool of water at the end.... otherwise I fear you would freeze instantly.  I was in charge of pushing people down the runway slope to get them down the hill (Hence why I was able to get these photos!).  I also filmed me going down, however I haven't figured out how to upload a video to Blogger yet!!

After everyone had had at least 2 turns at Snow Tubing, we allowed the guest to roam around freely.  I went off with Mum etc, and we actually got some nice photos of the four of us (which is very unusual!).  

Mum, Lauren, Hannah and I at the top of the Mountain

At 2.50 pm we met at the top of the Mountain to catch the gondola back down.  We walked back to the Chalet along the road. We sung most of the way home and it made the walk much quicker.  

Whilst we were out, the other Vollies had had some free time, so they decided to test drive the sleds down the Chalet hill.  Unfortunately Sarah and the sled weren't compatible resulting in Sarah having an overnight trip to the hospital.  We are saving her jobs for her so we hope she wont be away long!

Before dinner, Tanya had set up a Silent Auction in the Helen Storrow room.  We were able to bid on items we wanted until the dinner bell rang.  Both mum and I bid on a couple of things and we both won them all ! I got a t-shirt, Scrapbook and jar opener (Don't judge they are seriously the best things ever!) and Mum got a Swiss Army Knife.