So, for the first time ever, we went to Perisher in the School Holidays, and were pleasantly surprised. At first we were very nervous that there would not be enough snow to ski, as the resort only had 5 token lifts open (out of 50!) and two of those were the magic carpets for beginners.
In the lodge, the kids very quickly became comfortable with the other families staying there, as if they had known each other for ages. In fact, this is how they were behaving within 1 hour of meeting each other:
The lounge room activities included Paper Aeroplane wars and games of "Celebrity Head":
The first few nights did bring a top-up of snow, so while Jess went off skiing with the other kids, Kate and Jake shovelled some steps at the front of the lodge (only to have them buried in more fresh snow the next morning):
As there were still limited lifts operating in Perisher Blue, we decided to do something different this year, that we have never done before. On Tuesday morning, we rose early to spend a day in Charlotte Pass - the smallest, highest , ski resort which has only natural snow and a great view of the main range.
Below are photos of the ethereal sunrise as we prepared to set off higher up the mountain:
The ticket price up from Perisher included a 40 minute oversnow coach ride, and a hot lunch. Here are the kids having a hot chocolate between runs in the dungeon-like bar in the bowels of the Chalet:
Even though Charlotte Pass is rather isolated in Winter, with oversnow transport the only access, the shop at the resort still has all the essentials!
On Wednesday, after yet another overnight blizzard, we caught the Ski-tube up to Blue Cow, part of the resort between Perisher and Guthega. Can't believe the railway is 20 years old this year. It was a beautiful morning, as there were fresh snowflakes all over the trees.
We all like this view from the top of the Summit Quad chairlift:
We headed back to Perisher Mid Station for lunch, and met up with others from the lodge. Then the Quad Express chairlift was opened to the top station, and we spent the afternoon skiing first tracks from the top down to Happy Valley and Pretty Valley, playing "dodge the alpine heath" in the lower areas. At one stage, Jake caught his ski in a rogue root and "had a minor stack". All good fun though.
After a long day, we grabbed some shopping, and the kids were kind enough to carry it back up to the lodge while the "Mums & Dads" dropped into the White Spider bar at the Eiger Chalet for a Gin and Tonic on the way.
With everyone sporting good appetites, we all shared nibblies before dinner, and even got together again for pancakes after dinner!
Later in the week, there were several more blizzards. Once the weather cleared enough to go outside, we marvelled at the wonderful icicles forming around the outside of the lodge.
The kids wished they could stay forever, not wanting their holiday to end.
Cheeky Ethan grabbed a large icicle sword, and we suspected a mutiny was at hand:
On the way down off the mountain, the car still had 6 - 8 inches of snow across the bonnet that we couldn't remove (it took several more hours for it to melt enough to start coming away in pieces - very exciting when driving along at 100km/h).
When we got to Jindabyne, there was still evidence of fresh snow around, something we had never seen in all our years of skiing, in fact there was still snow almost all the way to Canberra!
It was a great break, and like all good holidays, left us wanting more.
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