Whew, this is a long overdue post. For the July school holidays we hit the slopes on the Perisher ski hill at the snowy mountain which is about a 5 hour drive south west of Sydney. We split the drive up, stopping at Jyndabyne, about 4 hours in to spent the night and rent our ski gear.The kids enjoyed the wide open space at the lodge, running around outside – still no sign of snow though! The next day, we got up bright drove the rest of the way to the bottome of the mountain where we caught the ski-tube that took us up a steep tunnel to the top of the mountain. The ski tube train was a big hit with the kids!
We were smart in our planning as we left 3 days before the school holidays so we enjoyed a relatively quiet ski hill before the bombardment of families over the holidays. Both Ethan and Tomas went to ski school for 3 days and enjoyed every minute. Ethan was in the preschool age school where the kids were meant to be 3 years old and toilet trained. We snuck him in with a nappy on and the staff were so accommodating. There is a day care nearby so they changed him there if needed. It was seriously the most family-friendly place for a holiday!!
Tomas was in the school-age ski school. He did so well that we was put with older kids who were 8 years old. He even took a chair lift up the V8 hill and skied down. Mike and I saw that the kids were doing this and managed to get on the ski lift before the kids so we could watch the kids get off and ski down. Tomas did so well and probably showed-off a bit once he spotted us!
Ski school finished at 3pm at which time Mike and I rounded up the kids and did some skiing with them on the bunny hill. The kids did so well! I held Ethan’s jacket as he went down the hill and he’d shout, “mummy let go” because he wanted to go faster. I let him go for a short stretch and Mike would catch him. Too cute!
The best part of the trip was that we went with our dear surrogate family. They were fantastic to spend a holiday with. We all took turns trading off so that the adults got some alone time (sans les enfants!). Mike and I snowboarded all day for 3 days together and it was amazing. We enjoyed our time together and it felt like a real holiday.
At the end of each day, the families booked a table for dinner at the lodge’s restaurant. They booked us in early as they knew our kids were hungry and that chaos would ensue if they were not fed promptly! In fact we were the only families in the restaurant at 5:30pm! I suspect they opened early just for us!
Good for you guys. What fun for everyone. Even the weather was perfect.