Skiing for a season is a lot cheaper than you’ think. We were going to spend seven days at the snow, but found out a season pass was almost the same price. Seven days skiing, or a season skiing? We’d camp in a free camp site near the slopes, and spend winter skiing.
We pulled into the Jindabyne petrol station close on dark that night. Jarrad went inside to ask,
“Can we drive up to the Thredbo Diggings campground with the campervan?” Ski season had started the week before, and we’d bought seasons passes. We were all bubbling with excitement thinking of a winter rugged up in warm ski clothes, throwing snow balls at each other, tobogganning, and even better yet … learning how to ski! I had never skiied before, we’d gone to Falls Creek the year before, but I’d stayed with baby Edmund rather than skiing.
“You should be able to, but they won’t let you up during the day. You’d have to sneak up at night.”
After much discussion, we decided to park at Jindayne Lakes that night, despite all the signs saying “No Camping”, so that we could drive up without the campervan in the morning to see what it was like for ourselves.
We needn’t have worried. A wide, easy road led to a lovely, quiet campground on the Snowy River. An emu ran across the narrow driveway was we drove in.
Jarrad shivered at the thought of having to collect our water from an icy river rather than having a tap. Everyone else was delighted to have such a beautiful forest to camp in where we might get to see more emus.
The campsite was walking distance from the railway up to the snow at Perisher named Ski Tube that boasted being the longest stretch of underground railway in Australia. We had realized that ski lift tickets for the season were less expensive than an 8-day pass if we bought them early. Even better, because we were both studying we could get the tickets almost half-price. Although we bought the tickets through Falls Creek resort, they were apparently for Mt Hotham and Perisher resorts as well.
We unhitched the van and drove up to Perisher to have a look at the snow, and check if we liked our campground better than the others. There was another one up a few kilometers closer to Thredbo, where kangaroos were grazing on the grass. We congratulated ourselves for having come up with the idea to spend winter here.
There were a collection of bush campsites about 15 to 20 minutes from Perisher. They had no available water, though. We went to have a look at them, and loved the fact that they were so close to Perisher.
We saw no reason why we couldn’t get the campervan there, but without water they really weren’t an option. The other problem was that if we stayed there and wanted to leave before the end of the season we wouldn’t be able to as the snow would have trapped us in. We didn’t think of it at the time, but the other issue would be that our water pipes in the campervan would have frozen.
That night we lay in bed llistening to gale-force winds, and branches crashing to the ground. The wind roaring over our heads, and we were thankful we were slightly sheltered down in a valley. We could feel the campervan rocking in the wind, and hear branches and trees crashing down around us.
“I was terrified that the campervan was going to blow over or a branch was going to land on us.” Susan echoed my thoughts at breakfast the next morning, as we sat looking at the snow and branches all around the campervan.
Jarrad told us “that it probably wouldn’t have blown over. But there was a really good chance that it was going to roll backwards on the stabilisers and crash backwards.”
We drove to Perisher the next morning, staring at all the trees and branches that were down.The kids wanted to ski, but we said we would tomorrow. We bought season’s tickets for the Ski Tube for the whole family, and looked at the thin patches of snow on the slopes.
We bundled on to the Ski Tube the next day, but it was a white out so there was to be no skiing that day. A white out means that it is so foggy that you just can’t see much at all.
The next day we tried again. We all needed to show our passes each day as the tickets had been purchased at Falls Creek to get a free day pass for Perisher. Peter and Susan got their tickets without any trouble. Edmund and Lucy went next. “No, sorry, the free tickets from Falls Creek and Hotham for under 6′s don’t work at Perisher.” I really didn’t see what the problem was, as they issued us with a free pass from Perisher. Why even bother to mention it? The dramas came when they came to issuing our tickets. “Your tickets are student passes. Discounted passes like that are only valid for Falls Creek and Hotham. You can’t ski here unless you buy a new ticket.” We argued and fought, pleaded and reasoned, but it was not to be. Our tickets just wouldn’t hold us.
We walked back to the car, with the kids all saying, “But Mum … but Dad … why can’t we ski today?” “You promised we were going to ski today…” “I just want to ski” … and we were all nearly in tears with frustration and disappointment.
“What are we going to do?” I said, looking at Jarrad.
“I thought that was obvious. We’re going to pack up the campervan and drive down to Hotham. I’ve not been able to ski yesterday, or today. I want to ski tomorrow. We’re going to drive there this afternoon.”
The drive turned out to be a complete nightmare.
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Great post. Love a snow trip with mykids. have written posts like this. Well done