Snow - and the longest journey to get there!

With all the cold weather blasting its way over the southern tablelands this past week or so, I had it on good authority that there would be a good dusting of snow in the Brindabella Mountains, just south of Canberra. I figured when the BOM said there were likely to be blizzard conditions and snow down to 900 metres we would have as good as chance as any of finding plenty of the white stuff to play in.

In previous years we had organised a convoy with either the good folk from this forum, or from our local community to go into the hills with the simple objective of finding enough snow for the kids to make a snowman, have a snowfight and perhaps even a simple toboggan (on an old boogie board). We have found snow on each of our previous excursions to the south of Picadilly Circus on the Mount Franklin Road.

The late notice meant we were setting forth solo. Maxtrax were loaded into Terry, along with a primus stove, dry clothes, lunch and extra provisions for the Hobbits.

The Little Helpers are excited to be heading south!

So off we set – confidently proceeding over Uriarra Crossing and on our way up the mountains. The little helpers knew we were off to find snow, but we hadn't promised anything until we saw the mountains in the distance, with a great white colouring... excitement was building, promises were made that we would be soon playing in the snow when disaster struck...

We came across a sign that read Road Closed.

The road up to Picadilly Circus was closed. No worries, there are plenty of tracks through the Mountains... we press detour on the GPS and it suggests an alternative route through Warks Road... only to come to a locked gate. Hmm, a theme is beginning to set in here, and after a good 45 minutes and three locked gates we are no closer to the snow.

A ten minute roadside break for morning tea is called for and the little helpers patiently ask when are we going to play in the snow. I look at Jo... we promised them snow... we are now two hours from home and the snow is tantalisingly close, but so far away... what to do, oh what to do.

Well there is really nothing else for it. Five minutes later we are back on the tracks trying madly to find our way back to the main road so we can barrel down the highway to Thredbo.

Thredbo.

After a lunch break at Cooma, we finally arrive in Thredbo, which is thankfully covered in snow. The boys have travelled so well considering we have spent the better part of five hours travelling to get here. There is nothing else for it, but to dive into the snow, literally!


Thank goodness we made it!


Thedbo

And what fun we have. We use the lid from our storage box to make a toboggan, albeit one requiring a lot of pushing. The boys get well into the spirit of snow ball fights. The big one even worked out that ice makes a far more effective missile than snow, particularly when aimed with startling accuracy and pace at his old man's head!


Push faster Mummy!


But watch out for the other little helper!

Our time frolicking in the snow was only limited by our ability to stave off the cold. We don't own waterproof pants or boots and looked quite out of place with the regular ski folk. We had learnt that gum boots don't provide great insulation for little feet, so we did put two pairs of socks on their tootsies, only to find the snow was so deep that it quickly filled their boots from above. The boy's ALDI ski gloves kept their hands warm, and there was no wind, so we were fortunate to have as much fun as we did before eventually having to call it quits and return to the car to change into warm and dry clothes.

On the way out, we dropped in on Ngargri Campground. It looked spectacular but mighty chilly. We will save it for a Summer Camp. The snow on the track made for an interesting return to the Alpine Way. Jo checked for traffic whilst Terry had a couple of runs to get up the last ten metres or so back onto the road... it was all about momentum and timing!


The campsite was unsuprisingly deserted


But the country spectacular

We broke the journey home with a warming hot chocolate at Jindabyne before making it home without further incident. In all we spent about seven and a half hours in the car for twenty minutes in the snow... but it was worth every minute.

What would we do differently next time?
Go straight to Thredbo... for the effort in getting into the Brindabella Mountains and the small amount of time you might save if you can get to the snow, if snow is what you want – go directly to the ski fields.
If four wheel driving is what you want – then there is some great touring through the Brindabellas, but our objective on this trip was snow.

What saved our sanity
The only thing that kept us sane was a couple of audiobooks we had saved on the ipod. The boys really got into the stories (and so did we), meaning the time literally flew by. We have borrowed some CD's from the library, and others we have bought. There are a great number of childrens books out there, some simply read, others dramatised with different actors playing different parts. The beautiful thing is that if we have them on the ipod, we have a huge selection of stories or music on hand, in such a small neat package. It makes the replacement of Terry's radio with an aftermarket unit with auxillary input one of the best value for money additions we have made.