OnSno.com

A murky-looking day

Today was a slack day for most – the snow conditions certainly hadn’t improved since yesterday, and the (lack of) visibility and strong winds were making things relatively uncomfortable outside. Regardless, some did choose to brave the conditions and hit the slopes as early as they could, but the remaining few of us spent the day inside – observing the poor weather from the comfort of the living room.

Those who did go skiing did so up until lunch (although both Michelle and David stayed out on the slopes during the quiet lunch period), and after lunch, even fewer returned. Although I didn’t make it out there myself, I’m told the conditions were actually better than yesterday due to the fact that all of the ice (which covered much of the open terrain yesterday) had softened. Ed kept saying that he would stay on the slopes until the moment that the rain started, and in the end, he was right (although managed to get wet between the top of the chairlift and the accommodation). Luckily it had held off as long as it did, but by 3:30pm it was well and truly coming down.

Snow warriors preparing for battle

At 2C (and climbing), the water falling from the sky was staying exactly as that – water – and unfortunately it was beginning to take much of the white cover with it. The latest forecasts predicted that this would continue until about 12am, then it would turn to a blizzard of 20cm (or more). Rather than sitting inside and watching the rain fall, Ed, Mike, Sally, Michelle, Emma, Bronte and myself headed to Hotham Central for a wine tasting night, with bottles provided by the King River Estate winery (a local winery). Unfortunately, the winemaker had a bit of an attitude – perhaps it was because we knew less about the wine than we should have (but isn’t that the point of the wine tasting?!) – but it didn’t sit well with many of the group. The wines were “interesting” – some nice, some a little less nice – but the attitude was enough to send us off looking for the Heineken Happy Hour that Mike had read about not long after 5pm.

Swindlers was our venue of choice on this occasion, but unfortunately, not only was this not the location of the Heineken Happy Hour, but they had also run out of Heineken too. Regardless, Ed, Sally, Mike and I stayed here for a (very much) full-priced beer (or soft drink in at least one case – perhaps the altitude and wine tasting had made me feel a little less than perfect) while the rain continued outside. Michelle, Emma and Bronte headed to the Hotham Bingo competition, where I should report, Michelle won first prize in round two, and Bronte collected a few additional prizes along the way too.

As the rain starts to fall...

Making the dash back from Hotham Central to the accommodation resulted in all involved getting saturated – from head to toe – as a result of the now-even-heavier rain outside. Dinner was again home-cooked, and the rest of the night was spent playing board games, watching television, and using as many laptops as physically possible in such a confined space (unintentionally, of course).

As of 8:30pm, 29mm of rain had fallen since it began at 3:30pm – and at 4C, the snow looks a long way off. If things don’t improve, tomorrow’s photos are going to be very brown, and activities may involve hiking, sleeping and general Adelaide-style winter activities. Fingers crossed we don’t get to that point!

Have a quick look at today’s gallery, although I will admit, there isn’t much to look at. Hope the heavy rain back home hasn’t caused too much chaos for too many!