Hotham 09 – Day 8 – The Long Road Home

We woke on the final day of the Hotham 09 Ski Adventure at 6am, to be ready for a 7am departure from Bright. The morning was full of cold-weather showers as always, but everyone was pretty happy considering the time and the temperature outside; -2C according to the car thermometer. Once the layer of ice had been been removed from the three cars in the convoy, and all of the removed luggage repacked, we hit the road – with 900kms to drive before we were home. [singlepic id=1226 w=320 h=240 float=left] We stopped for breakfast at the usual pit-stop – the McDonald’s at Glenrowan (well, one of the McDonald’s) – and were met with a relatively normal morning crowd. Unfortunately Ed wasn’t feeling well now,... [Read More]

Hotham 09 – Day 7 – Out with a bang

Just a note: I’m incredibly tired while writing this, and so can’t guarantee the wording is all correct. Apologies if any sections don’t make sense! [singlepic id=1130 w=320 h=240 float=left] Like the preceding two days, our final day at Hotham started early – 7am was the time for moving cars between the long-term car park, the house, and the short term car park in the heart of the village. Peering out of the bedroom window while getting ready, we saw that the weather was perfect outside – blue skies, no wind, and some fresh snow overnight to top off a perfect week. As this was our last day in the snow, the usual morning routine was interrupted by packing items once used, organising to have... [Read More]

Hotham 09 – Day 6 – Tough Conditions

Day 6 started at a similar time to Day 5 – early. Unfortunately, the weather was not good at all compared to the day before, and it wasn’t long before I had peered through the window and made the decision to go back to sleep rather than suiting up to go out in the cold. This early alarm woke Kim, Max and Pip up, but most were able to get back to sleep. There were some keen skiers, however, even if I wasn’t as die hard as I had been the day before, and Ed, John, Michelle and David went out into the thick fog soon after 7:30am. [singlepic id=1097 w=320 h=240 float=left] For those of us who didn’t make the early boat, by the... [Read More]

Hotham 09 – Day 5 – Happy Birthday Max (and what a great day)!

Day 5 started early. Around 7am for most. (It was Max’s birthday, and so he is forgiven for not wanting to be up before the sun.) The promise of a 7:30am lift start, coupled with fabulous new snow and brilliant weather was too good to pass up (although, how did we know anything about most of those things the night before when we planned this?!). John, Dave, Michelle, Ed and I were the keen skiers, although it took John and I longer to get out than the others. In the end it didn’t matter as the lift opened a little late and we soon caught up to the early crew who had been held up with a long line of other people with the same... [Read More]