Victorian Snowfields.

[BigJon]

G'day All,

At the end of next week (Thursday, Friday, Saturday) I am hoping to get up to the snow for a looksee.

My fiance has never seen snow (Queenslander!! :twisted:) and it is years and years since I have.

Does anyone have any recommendations for where to go and where to stay? I am hoping I can organise some accomodation without spending all of my unborn childrens inheritance!

Cheers.

[V8Ian]

G'day All,

At the end of next week (Thursday, Friday, Saturday) I am hoping to get up to the snow for a looksee.

My fiance has never seen snow (Queenslander!! :twisted:) and it is years and years since I have.

Does anyone have any recommendations for where to go and where to stay? I am hoping I can organise some accomodation without spending all of my unborn childrens inheritance!

Cheers.
Gold Coast, and show her an old Christmas card if she must see snow.;):p

[waynep]

Depends -- do you want to ski or just throw snowballs ?

For skiing there is accommodation up on the mountains but staying in the nearby towns is probably cheaper. Take a look around the web for options.
Hotham - stay at Dinner Plain
Buller - staying in Mansfield or Merrijig

Or if you just want to see snow and maybe play around on a toboggan, you can go to the cross country skiing places like Lake Mountain or Baw Baw/St. Gwinear.
For Lake Mountain you would normally have stayed in Marysville but that town is no more. Warburton is probably next closest.
For St Gwinear you can stay somewhere like Rawson or Walhalla ( nice place )
For these lower places, check on the snow reports sites that there is actually snow before you go.

You'll need to hire or buy some chains to get past the gates in most places.

.

[BigJon]

Gold Coast, and show her an old Christmas card if she must see snow.;):p

Pfft.

I have been to the Gold Coast. Backside of creation as far as I can tell.
She is in Brisbane at the moment, so there wouldn't be much point.

[BigJon]

Depends -- do you want to ski or just throw snowballs ?

For skiing there is accommodation up on the mountains but staying in the nearby towns is probably cheaper. Take a look around the web for options.
Hotham - stay at Dinner Plain
Buller - staying in Mansfield or Merrijig

Or if you just want to see snow you can go to the cross country skiing places like Lake Mountain or Baw Baw/St. Gwinear.
For St Gwinear you can stay somewhere like Rawson or Walhalla ( nice place )
For these lower places, check on the snow reports sites that there is actually snow before you go.

You'll need to hire or buy some chains to get past the gates.

.


Neither of us have ever tried skiing, but she can roller blade, how hard can it be? I can water ski a bit, is it similar?

We will have to see what we can find. Obviously trying to organise something at no notice doesn't help.

Where I am I have no phone, where she is there is no internet!

Good thought on the chains, I will have to organise something there too.

[V8Ian]

Pfft.

I have been to the Gold Coast. Backside of creation as far as I can tell.
She is in Brisbane at the moment, so there wouldn't be much point.
Freezing here today too. Enjoy that obsene white stuff.:)

[Hymie]

PM sent

[waynep]

Neither of us have ever tried skiing, but she can roller blade, how hard can it be? I can water ski a bit, is it similar?

We will have to see what we can find. Obviously trying to organise something at no notice doesn't help.

Where I am I have no phone, where she is there is no internet!

Good thought on the chains, I will have to organise something there too.

Yeah try skiing, but it'll all cost of course ( ski hire, lift passes, lessons etc )
If you want to try downhill I'd recommend you book a lesson to get some basic techniques, otherwise you'll spend most of the time on your backside.

Cross country skiing is more like roller blading than downhill so maybe consider that. ( it's cheaper too )

Most of the towns near the resorts will hire you skiis and chains.

[loanrangie]

If you just want sightseeing then lake mountain should have good snow by end of the week or even mt donna buang (4x4's dont need chains at db then you could stay somewhere closer to the city.

[BigJon]

you could stay somewhere closer to the city.

We will be travelling from Horsham. I am quite happy (prefer) to avoid Melbourne...

[loanrangie]

We will be travelling from Horsham. I am quite happy (prefer) to avoid Melbourne...

I didnt mean in the city itself but more on the fringe, depending on where you go there are B&B's in the Dandenongs or Yarra Valley that the missus would appreciate and only a stones throw from good sight seeing snow.

[BigJon]

that the missus would appreciate .

She isn't fussy... afterall she seems to like me :D.

[BigJon]

Righto,

Booked a couple of nights in Mansfield and will make the trek up to Mt Buller. Hopefully it will be OK.

[def90]

Good move...

Gate entry for Buller is $34, Chain hire - try Mirrimbah General store, just before gates, lift ticket is $94 (I think) or half day $82. Skis boots and poles hire about $35-45 per day. Toboggan hire about $15-20. Can hire on mountain. Free shuttlebus from Carpark to Village.

If at all possible, go M-F as S-S are very busy...

There is also enough snow ar Stirling to do Cros Country on the trails, so consider that. Ski hire about the same, Just no lifts, still need to pay same mountain entry fee....

Have fun!

[Rudolf]

Snow in OZ?:o

Only Drakensberg and Lesotho area. The rest Frost and Slate.:p

[Pedro_The_Swift]

Try and keep up Rudolf:D
we win medals at this stuff:p

[BigJon]

I did some research online last night (thanks Google!!) and I think the Ski Centre Mansfield is the place where I will hire equipment. Their prices seem pretty good and they have on mountain support.

It looks like it could be a pretty expensive day out though...

Accommodation, hire of equipment / clothing, entry to the top of the hill :eek:, ski lift, etc, etc.

Not to mention the fuel required to get the Rangie there and back... :p.

[BigJon]

We made it there and back again!

Good day out on the mountain, although the weather wasn't very good.

We rented all our gear from the Ski Centre Mansfield. Great people to deal with and the prices seemed pretty reasonable.

We got the Discovery lift pass which also gives a 2 hour ski lesson. Well worth it as we got the basics down pat. Had a few goes up the ski lift (Blue Bullet). I fell over plenty of times on the first run down:o, no times the second :D:cool:.

There were no views to be seen, it was very foggy the whole time we were there. It also snowed quite a lot, which was nice.

The accommodation in Mansfield was good, nice to have a spa in the room to relax into after a cold day.

The Rangie went well, apart from using lots of fuel and having one failure to start :mad:.
Fueled up in Bendigo on the way home and it didn't want to start in the servo.
Cranked without firing. Pushed it out the way of the pumps and cycled the ignition a few times to check for fuel pump operation.
It then started and ran perfectly, just as if it had never had a problem.

http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/7155/11072009002001.jpg (http://img170.imageshack.us/i/11072009002001.jpg/)

http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/8945/dscf3026.jpg (http://img291.imageshack.us/i/dscf3026.jpg/)

[mike 90 RR]

It then started and ran perfectly, just as if it had never had a problem.


and thats gonna bug ya every time you go for a drive :p

Bonnie Doon ? ... I thought it was a fictitious name from that movie "The Castle" :confused:

[BigJon]

Yep, Bonnie Doon really exists :p.

The lake doesn't have any water in it anymore, so no sounds of two strokes running flat out :D.