Cross Country Tours, Sled Dogs and Delightful Dinners....

Saturday 30th July, 2011

This morning we slept in and missed breakfast, generally a lazy morning for us but nearly everyone else was out on the slopes...oops!

But we did get up in time to have lunch with everyone and then Tom went out for a few runs with them for the afternoon.

I was planning to spend the afternoon hanging around the Motel and catching up with any of the skiers that came in early or didn't go out at all.

Chatting over lunch about the tours that go up to Mt McKay (Elevation 1842m) to watch the sunset and it just happens that Phil who was chatting with us runs the tours, so I decided to fill the afternoon in by going along for the ride.

So after getting into some warmer gear to cope with the chill factor that will be up the top I headed down to the pick up point at the bottom of Gully Chair just near Gebi's Hire. On the way down on the chairlift I could see the Air Ambulance on the helipad being loaded up with a very unfortunate patient who possibly broke her leg quite badly and was being air lifted out.

The offroad snow vehicle arrived shortly after and we were off.....



Jo getting into the Beast!



Glistening Drifts



Heading up to the summit of Mt McKay





Our final destination...right to the summit!



After reaching the summit of Mt McKay

we got out of the vehicle and

had the opportunity to take a lot

of photos of the surrounding countryside,

overlooking the Rocky Valley Dam,

Mt Feathertop, Mt Hotham, Kiewa Valley.





The walls of the generator shed at the Summit



We also checked out the Portal of the huge pipeline that runs all the way down Mt McKay.

I got back to the lodge just in time to get changed for dinner. Everyone made to the Falls Creek Motel for dinner and they don't usually let outsiders in for dinner but they did for us and we were very grateful that we could all eat together on the one night.

Tonight also was the Inaugural Dog Sled Races to be held at Falls Creek. Whilst we were waiting for our dinner we got to see a few teams pass by the motel in the race and we were out on the balcony cheering them on.

Another amazing meal cooked by the staff and everyone loved their meals, especially those that had the steak it was perfection on a plate, and the Baileys & White Chocolate Cheesecake was heavenly!!

More wine flowed as did the conversations and the deconstruction of the days skiing and planning of the following days activities as the night went on until it was time to watch the DVD of last years SIC.It was full of fantastic footage and photos from all thefun of last yeasrs SIC and hopefully there should be some great things to put in the DVD for this year!
Everyone slowly drifted back to their rooms for a semi-early night before skiing again tomorrow and heading home.

Sunday 31st July, 2011

This morning we woke up to being surrounded in fog and visibility was down to 20m!!

So we went downstairs for breakfast and to figure out the plans for the day. We decided it wasn't worth going out into the fog and packed up and headed for home. But so did everyone else so getting Oversnow Transport was a challenge as everyone who had booked the day before was trying to reschedule their bookings and it looked like we weren't able to get off the mountain until late in the afternoon but luckily there was a free space on the 11:40am service and we got down to the bottom in one piece and dropped off at the Departures Gate at the Terminal.



Luggage all ready for the car and home

After packing the car we headed down the mountain and in the CD player was "Massive Attack" and I thought how appropriate as the whole weekend was a massive attack on senses and the liver but all in a good way...hehe


We made our way home through the countryside stopping at Yackandandah for lunch and Beechworth for a sugar hit at the Beechworth Sweet Company.....




Our Stash

Then we made it home where we found one very excitable Poppy cat who had been on her own for 4 days, so after placating her with some food we unloaded the car and collapsed on the couch.

Thanks to everyone who went along to SIC and made our time so enjoyable there as 'first timers' and we can't wait for the next one!





Ahh this is the life.....

We awoke this morning to a beautiful clear blue sky and looking over the valley up to snowy peaks...

And a little frost on the ground...Is this a promising sign?

After the super keen SICo's headed off early we stayed in bed for a little longer then headed off into town for some breakfast at Treats Cafe...another must do if your in the area.

Found this lovely Russian Man to share breakfast with.....

After breakfast it was time to head up the mountain and the time for SIC to officially begin!!

Arriving at the village it was time to park the car and arrange transport up to our accommodation. Now Falls Creek has always been notorious for its Oversnow transport being unorganised, rough bone shaking trips and leech enough money of you to solve a small countries national debt! So you could imagine the surprise when we found that the Resort Management had taken over the contract for the Oversnow Service of years gone by and replaced it with brand new Prinoth Husky all-terrain vehicles ! More Info....

Wow, what a difference the trip is now to how it used to be!! Lovely smooth ride, heated cabins and quite reasonable in cost compared to lugging all your luggage up to your accommodation. A HUGE improvement!


Once we got to Falls Creek Motel which was going to be our home for the next 3 days, we thought that we would have to store our gear for a couple of hours until we could check in but luckily our rooms was ready early so we got to check in as soon as we arrived *thumbs up to housekeeping*

Walking into our room we were greeted with this.....



Tom was quick to lay down for a little while....

and then this view from our window.....

 Once we had put all our gear into the room we went down to the Balcony and found all the early birds that had headed up the mountain before us and also some others that had arrived the day before, so we joined them for lunch after introductions all round to our new found friends and matched faces to the forum names that we have been conversing with over the years.
This is always fun as you have to try and remember 2 names per person Forum & Real Name! Can get quite confusing at times!!!




Some of the locals enjoying their lunch....


Once the skiers had left for an afternoon slide, we left for a wander around the village. The snow on the road was thick and slushy so quite hard to walk in at times as the Oversnow Vehicles chop it all up.

When we got back to the motel we headed towards the lounge and sat in front of the open fire.....hard life I know...hehe!                                               

                                          

This was a practice drink for the forthcoming "Wine/Drinks Night" that was on later after we all had dinner at our prospective lodges.

An amazing dinner consisting of 2 Entree, Choice of 3 Mains and 3 Desserts...all very delicious and full of flavour was enjoyed throughly by all and then we moved onto Feathertop Lodge for the Wine/Drinks Night.

Unforutnately the night didn't go off without a hitch, everyone had a great night trying different wines from all over the world ( imports from Vancouver the highlight!) alongside some ( very small plates of !) Tapas.



 

Vino Overload!

 

Wine & Tapas Selection



The Manager had a bee in his bonnet about something and most of us felt a little uneasy towards the end of the night and believe their could have been some imporivements for the night considering the amount of 'extra' people that would be walking through his door for the night during a low occupancy season in general at the ski resorts. For the $15 perhead that we paid for the tapas/corkage, having several larger platters with 3-4 different items placed around the room would have worked so much better than the few small plates we got placed on one table to the side of the room. IMHO (In my humble opinion)

So after we couldn't stay at Feathertop anymore we moved to Trackers Lodge where a few of the forum members were staying, and we continued our night until the wee hours of the morning.

Finally reached our destination for the night...

After dawdling our way through the countryside we have reached our destination for this evening...Tawonga South/ Mt Beauty.
We checked into our accomadation for the night...Allamar Motel

Our Room...Fantastic Comfortable bed for $115 per night and close to the snow, great value for money.
Thanks to Stuart for making us feel so welcome.

There was quite a few of us staying here for the night and we all ended up eating at the Settlers Tavern in Tawonga South for the evening.

Great meals and atmosphere all for a fair price. Recommend this place highly if you are passing through or in the vacinity of Mt Beauty.

After dinner we all headed back to the rooms for an impromptu drinks night in preparation for the weekend ahead of us all.

Top of Tawonga Gap

We went through Tawonga Gap to get to Mt Beauty, a nice windy road but great views from up the top.


Looking down to Mt Beauty from the top of Tawonga Gap under the Power towers



Me with Mt Beauty and the mountains topped with snow

The track up to the Power Towers on top of Tawonga Gap

Our first offical Snow Information Conference

This weekend is our first pilgrimage to a Snow Information Conference aka SIC. It is a yearly event where like minded people from http://www.ski.com.au/ get together to discuss the current trends in the snow travel, equipment and other snow related topics.
SIC rotates between all ski resorts in Australia and occaisionaly overseas (mini SIC), this year its at Falls Creek. For more information click here http://wikiski.com/wiki/index.php/Category:SIC

Most people are making their way up to SIC today with other popping in and out over the weekend, with most participants meeting up at the Falls Creek Motel which is kindl letting a majority of us stay there for the entire weeknd and will be the hub of most of the activities for the next few days.

Friday night is the drinks night and first offical activity planned, we are getting together and getting to know new faces, catch up with the more familiar faces over drinks and Tapas.
Saturday night we are all gathering at the Falls Creek Motel for dinner and drinks after a good say skiing we hope!

We left this morning after dropping Mr 15 off at school and currently drifting through the King Valley enojying the lovely sun shining through the windows and the clear blue skies on this winter morning.

So stay tuned for more....

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