Simon.and.Kate

Hi folks.

The first snow has falling in France, and a little bit of wee escaped when I saw the webcams. I'm counting down until a trip to 3 Valleys in Feb, and then I'm running a School trip to Italy at Easter. I'm glad I've got these lined up more than usual, because they're a good distraction from all that is 'plans for Aus'.

I can't help but wonder how my favourite past time will shape up when we get to Townsville, QLD though. Obviously I am aware that there is snow in Australia, and NZ is within reach. Places like Japan are also an option.

But my questions are:

How many of have been skiing/boarding since you've arrived in Aus?
How was that?
How did it compare to Europe?
What are the costs like?
If you skied every year when you where in the UK, will you be skiing every year now your in Aus?

Your thoughts please.
The plan at the moment is to ship my board and gear over. I did 'work experience' in 2 schools in Townsville this August, and saw adverts for 'Ski Trips' in both, so thats a positive!

steve`o

http://www.skiingaustralia.org.au/index.asp;)

Simon.and.Kate

link above not quite right, this should work:
http://www.skiingaustralia.org.au/

Mainly competative information though - I was after info from 'pleasure thrill seekers'...

Do you ski?

rosscov1970

Hi,
we're a family of five skiers and moved here in feb. We're in Adelaide and drove to Mt. Buller in Victoria in July for our 'snow fix'. We used to ski in Austria and from our one experience over here I would say that it is a much more expensive pursuit in Aus. Ski passes are dearer, lifts are less sophisticated and manned by very young operators. Our 6 year old fell off a 6 man chair because it wasn't slowed down and was too high to get her bum on. In Austria they tend to be manned by wily old men of the mountains who have a better understanding of the capabilities of small children. Piste markings at our resort were very poor and it was far too easy in poor visibilty to wander off course, which we did! Having said all that we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Our 6 year old daughter is a thug in a frock and just laughed off her 6 foot drop off the lift, thank god! We were apparently very lucky with the snow, it was a very good season, but were shitting ourselves when we arrived at our accomodation as there wasn't a snowflake in sight, just kangaroos. Skiing was much more comfortable as the temp just hovered below freezing, not minus 23 as we'd experienced sometimes in Austria.
Glad we bought all our skis, helmets and clothes with us as it would have cost us a fortune to kit ourselves out again.
Think we'll try another resort next season if the snow's good enough, or possibly NZ as everyone says it's so much better?
We also like the idea of Japan, perhaps on a combined trip back home, but if we get lost on the mountains in Aus. what hopes have we got in Japan?
For us, skiing in Europe is probably the thing we miss most, after family and friends of course.

DCI Gene Hunt

I skied in Austria and Andorra before coming to Australia and since I've been here I've only skied & boarded at Buller.
The snow quality at Buller was fairly poor, but I have heard that other resorts are better. I've only been a few times in 8 years as the prices are what stop me doing it often, it really is quite expensive for what you get.

Dried Graze

Have only managed a day trip to the snow this year but I'm planning a ten day trip for the whole family for next season. The fact that it's only a three hour drive is one of the reasons I agreed to come here. Can't really imagine a life without skiing.

btw it doesn't really compare to the standards of Europe but it will probably keep you happy. There's always NZ if you don't mind overseas.

jad n rich

As others have said expensive for what is often patcy, sparse, or even no snow. This season was good best snow for 20 years, last year nothing much at all. Went down about 5 years ago too, again, nothing that warranted the expense.

djamesburgess

I've skied several times. Within the last 12mths - December in Vermont, this February in Italy and France and this year, since arriving here, once at Mt.Buller.

The snow this year was excellent in the early season - July onwards but it is more expensive to ski here as they don't have the vast resorts I've become accustomed to. If you're going to base yourself in Townsville, it might be easier & cheaper to get over to New Zealand for a week and Queenstown or up to Japan rather than NSW or VIC.

Have no fear though, just because you're moving to the Southern Hemishpere, skiing won't be a thing of the past but you'll have to make more of an effort to enjoy it. However, snow isn't always guaranteed despite improved snow making facilities.

Buzzy--Bee

I haven't skiied here yet. I have skiied in NZ though in the past which was excellent. I know of someone here in Victoria who can see the Mountains from his window - yet he still reckons its cheaper for his family to ski in New Zealand!!!!

Buzzy

steve99

It the biggest draw back to this country, I used to ski 2 or 3 times a year for about 15years but havent been for the last 4 as couldnt face the inconsistent conditions here in aus, and NZ whilst more reliable isnt exactly extensive and hardly cheap.
So this year we've organised a trip to Japan for 2 weeks, this place looks awesome and I predict it to grow and grow in popularity, its only about a 9hr direct flight from perth and its through the night so you dont waste anytime, 600 ski resorts in japan and some amazing snow depths.
Role on March, I cant wait

MartinLuther

I went to Hotham for a week in July this year. Skiing on the wednesday was probably in my top 10. The next day was probably in the bottom 10. The snow this year was good and the snow last year was bad. 2004 and 2005 were both good years. I'm surprised that this year was considered better than 2004.

The resorts are not surprisingly smaller than European ones but I found Hotham to be a reasonable size. They're adding at least 1 lift this year (maybe 2). They're also increasing the snow making as well. I'll agree that the towies are young but they were good at slowing the lift down for our kids. July and August are the best months.

The resort and lift costs are about double what you'd pay in Europe. I've found the accommodation to be cheaper. The big saving for us is the travel (less than $200 in petrol) for the return trip to Hotham.

Dried Graze

Who did you book that through if you don't mind me asking?

rosscov1970

Just a taste of what lies in store at Mt. Buller

The greenery was the view from our accommodation, just a 15 minute drive from the slopes. No worries about digging the car out every morning!

Scuba Steve

I'm a boarder, I thought the snow was generally decent in Oz. Last season was terrible in Europe, didn't bother going anywhere but desperate to get on the snow again!

Simon.and.Kate

Cheers guys, thanks for all the feedback.

Steve99: If you don't mind me asking, how does the cost of your trip to Japan compare to say a trip in Aus or to NZ?

Am I right saying that there isn't really such a thing as 'ski-to-from-door' accomodation in either Aus or NZ?

A bit of a side-track, but - does anyone know if these lifts run through out the year? ie. gear up for biking etc during the summer as most european resorts do?