Hotham 10 – Day 7 – Sunshine City

Michelle and Emma on the Roadrunner

Today was our last day in the snow country, and as a result, unfortunately, it began early – 7am Ed and Dave hit the road to pick up the cars from the long-term car park – while the rest of us bumbled along collecting gear and readying ourselves for one final day on the slopes. Pip and Sally were the first to actually hit the slopes, as Sally, Mike and Jayne were hitting the road for home much earlier than the rest of us – 10am to be precise. The house was packed, cleared and checked by 10am – quite an effort considering the amount of stuff we had with us – and most of us hit the slopes while Nat and Tess took up camp in the Chill Cafe at Hotham Central. The weather was perfect today, with blue skies as far as the eye could see, temperatures hovering just below zero, and no wind at all.

We tried our best to cover as much terrain as we could, and ventured to both Imagine and the Cornice which had opened for the first time this week. Luckily this meant the crowds were a little more spread across the mountain, although the bottlenecks at the base of the mountain still meant a few minutes waiting before each ride back up. We only lasted until about 11am before we stopped at Snake Gully Hut for a hot chocolate/coffee to keep us going before lunch. Both Emma and Bronte had certainly improved in leaps and bounds since last season, and were proving to be hard to keep up with on the slopes – a challenge that is only set to get harder and harder in years to come.

Michelle on Snake Gully

We skied a few more runs before Ed and I stopped for lunch, with Pip, Emma, Bronte, Michelle and David not too long behind. A small incident at the base of the Summit involving a trainee liftee, Bronte, and the Summit chair meant that they were a little longer than expected, but luckily there were no injuries as a result. Lunch, for the first time this week, was at the Chill Cafe – only due to the fact the our accommodation was no longer ours. The food was nice but was, of course, at mountain prices. The change of scenery was enjoyed by all, although unlike our previous lunch spot (the house), it wasn’t quite set up for such a big group to sit together. We didn’t spend too long inside, and soon hit the slopes for one last ski for the 2010 Australian Season.

The snow had certainly started to soften by mid-afternoon, but the conditions were still better than we’d skied all week so nobody was doing any complaining. We skied most of the afternoon at Heavenly Valley, then decided to call it a day just before 3:30pm. Ed and Pip had stopped skiing a few runs earlier, and had begun reorganising the car to fit in skis, boots and other items that had been in use throughout the day. Before we hit the road, we stopped briefly past Michelle, David, Emma and Bronte’s new home for the next week (they were staying a week longer than the rest of us), then started down the mountain. We also left Nat and Tess behind, as they were catching the Snowball Express (but that wasn’t leaving until 5pm).

Sun through the clouds

The drive was uneventful, although we did pass one ute that had taken a corner a little too quickly and ploughed straight into the snowy embankment on one side (luckily not the other side, otherwise they may have stopped 500m lower than the level of the road). We arrived at the Bright on Track around 5pm, and relaxed for an hour or so before heading to the Star Hotel for dinner. We met up with Nat and Tess, who had stopped here on the bus for dinner, and enjoyed the pub-style meals that were always on offer. As everyone was tired (and Nat and Tess on a time schedule), dinner didn’t last a particularly long time, and Ed, Pip and I had an easy night in preparation for the long drive home tomorrow.

We’ve certainly had a mix of weather this week, with rain, snow, wind, and perfect sunshine, but all-in-all, it has been an enjoyable time away (and we did get to ski, which is always good!). Have a look at today’s photo gallery here, as there are some great images!

About the Author

Scott

Web designer, graphic designer, coder, scripter, photographer, musician, performer, entrepreneur (and the list goes on) based in Adelaide, South Australia. Scott loves to experiment with new ideas, and OnSno.com is his creative dumping ground.