Chicks Weekend Away

Al was the driving force behind our ladies back country snow tour. Planning was relaxed - we had decided on the weekend and booked in with Snowy Mountains Backcountry !! Although we'd planned on just having a girls weekend - the families (or parts) were potentially coming whereby Andy would take all the kids skiing while we did our ladies tour. However this all hinged on Ella's netball finals journey. Turns out they not only made the finals but caused an upset by taking the win!

So it was back to Al, Cath and myself on the tour. As the date drew closer the weather forecast began to go downhill. We left Canberra late Friday afternoon calling into Straightline to hire our touring skis and boots. Unfortunately although they were advertised to be a lot cheaper than hiring at Rhythm, they lacked actual stock. There was only one set of tech touring skis which was way too big for any of us. Then in the frame binding skis, they had 3 sets but again all too long except for me. In the end we hired the only 3 sets of touring boots they had which miraculously were three different sizes and mostly fitted us! It was a little disappointing but at least we had the boots and knew we could hire skis and skins off Doug at Snowy Mountain Backcountry. Finally we were on our way - Al and I were in the front chatting while Cath was in the back on her phone and computer having a work meeting!! We hit the national park as the sun had set and lots of animals were out and about. Our headlights caught and thankfully not the bonnet; 3 deer, a wombat, a few wallabies, and a stunned possum sitting in the middle of the road as we made our way up to the lodge.

Al whipped up a quick pasta dish which we washed down with a glass of wine before settling down in front of the fire for the evening.

Saturday dawned. Our tour was postponed til the Sunday due to the windy and possible snowy conditions. Mid morning we wandered down in the light rain, to Doug at the Guthega centre for our safety briefing as well as the hiring and setting up of our skis. We were all prepared for an early start the next morning. With the poor conditions, we opted to save our money and not hire skis for the day instead hanging out at the lodge! Without any food for lunches, we headed down to the Burning Log for coffee and food. Being the end of the season the place was completely void of people - the coffee machine had been turned off but there were three Moroccan veggie filo parcels and freshly cooked hot chips. We leisurely consumed our food before being politely asked to leave in order for the place to close for the day! Meanwhile the sky outside became a dirty red colour - the result of a dust storm. The colours against the white snow was stunning.