For the Shanghai Star 2002-08-15

HAILING from a land where I can jog down the road and see great big men like Russell Crowe punching each other while balanced on their surfboards, I knew full well what was going on when I found myself perched on a fiberglass rock, gazing at the reflection of my high-rise apartment block in a 10cm deep, chlorinated "stream".

I'd gone soft. I needed air, I needed nature...

As a first time snowboarder and visitor to Colorado, I found Winter Park simply outstanding. It fulfilled all of my childhood winter wonderland fantasies. It is breathtakingly gorgeous. The skies are bright blue and the resort is surrounded by the mountain ranges of the continental divide. The snow falling sparkles like fairy dust!

While quiet in the Apres ski department, Winter Park is far more friendly and down to earth (and affordable) than resorts like Aspen and Vale, which makes it p...

by Anna Warwick

Steamboat is a beautiful resort with a great Apres ski atmosphere like no other - it's a real life cowboy town. We spent five days there that flew by like five minutes. As well as my beginner snowboard adventures at the foot of the mountain, and nights spent crashed out at the luxuriously cosy Steamboat Grand Hotel; I thoroughly enjoyed the rich delights of the fabulous Cafe Diva down in Gondola village. I could have eaten everything on the menu.  We also enjoyed havinga boogie...

By Anna Warwick

Think you know a lot about beer? Five Aussie beer lovers took their “beeriness” to the next level on a microbrewery tour of Denver, Colorado.

“There can’t be good living, where there is not good drinking”
Benjamin Franklin

My ski buddies and I stopped over in Denver to acclimatise to the altitude before heading up the mountains for some fresh powder. With its bustling, mountain-shaped airport and state of the art infrastructure, Denver is the nat...