Selwyn here we come!

June 28

How exciting… we were heading to the snow today! We struggled through numerous layers (how does anyone live with this on a regular basis?) and headed out to see the fields white with frost. What a beautiful sight as the sun rose above the hill and the woolly cows stared at us crunching across the grass. (The chooks were intelligently holed up in their hutch).

I have discovered a new use for credit cards: they are wonderful for scrapping frost off car windows. Now, had I been a local, I might have warmed up a kettle and done the job in a fraction of the time, but I only found that out the next day.

It took about 40 minutes to drive to Selwyn Snowfields from San Michelle, passing through the town of Adaminaby whose claim to fame is the Big Trout, flapping in the welcoming park. We stopped at town for breakfast and the bakery had been highly recommended by Graham as a great place for pastries and sandwiches to take to the snowfields.

We hired snow chains at the Ampol service station. Most fuel stations near the snow have snow chains for hire for about $10 per day and the closer to the snow you rent them, the less time you need them for. We then drove the additional half hour to Selwyn where we were allocated clothes, boats, snow boards and lessons. Adam helped us suit up and it wasn’t long before I was learning about rails and turns with Englishman Matt and Amber was bonding with her own personal instruction Tanya from Banff. I didn’t see much of Amber for the next hour because she was way ahead of me on the learning curve. I spent quite a lot of time on my bum, digging my knees in the snow or leaning on Matt’s leg to get up. I did improve though, and before the hour was up I was flying solo for seconds at a time!

Snowboarding makes you VERY hungry so we tucked into sandwiches and a hot milo and chocolate before going out again on our own. One great thing about Selwyn is their picnic room where families are welcome to spread out and save money by bringing their own.

We spent another hour or so on the slopes but by about 2pm we were tired and sore so we clipped out, made an appointment for a lesson tomorrow and loaded up the car with all our new found ski gear. Getting all the compact icy snow off the boards was challenging, but we managed not to get too much wet inside the car.

On the way home we passed Kiandra goldfields with remnants of chimneys, a gold stamp, sorting sieve and miscellaneous other equipment. A little further a grave yard grabbed our attention enough to exit our warm vehicle for a short walk amongst the stones. Out of 47people buried here, 19 were between the ages of 0 and 3. Only five made it over 70 and this brought home the harshness of pioneering life to both of us.

Back at San Michelle, after a hot shower, we settled in front of the TV and watched Indiana Jones. Dinner was served at 6.30 again and Amber repeated the spag bol performance she had enjoyed so much. I tucked into a moist and delicious roast beef with seafood chowder for starters. It wasn’t long before we were in bed finishing off the movie with heavy eyelids.