The Far East Coasters: Australia- Part 5- Snow time @ Perisher

The drive was lovely, but ultimately exhausting and we were glad to pull in to the town of Jindabyne, which would serve as our home base for skiing in near by Perisher and Threadbo. Australian ski mountains haven't fully adopted the US model of having a full-service town and accommodations at the base, so we stayed between the two resorts and drove to the mountain in the morning.

The first morning, we were met with that ubiquitous problem at ski resorts.....ski traffic. And all the cars on the road turned out to be a bigger problem than just slow-driving. We were told as we entered the National Park that there was NO parking at the Threadbo resort! No parking? At a ski resort? Crazy talk. Being the self-assured Americans we are, we continued to drive 30k up the mountain only to realize that they were serious, there was no parking anywhere! People were lined up all along the highway, willing to schlep themselves and all their ski gear down a massive hill to the lifts. I don't like walking 2 feet in ski boots, so a long hike in boots was out of the question. So we promptly turned the car around and headed to Perisher in hopes of more plentiful parking.

We found parking.... sort of.

Here we are, parked on the side of the road. Realllllllly far from the resort.

Thankfully there was a shuttle, or I might have sat down in the road and cried! After all this parking drama, we finally made it to the snow!

Happiness is fresh snow and a blue sky.

Taking a much needed break.

That is right- this sign is for T-bars. I haven't taken a T-bar in forever! In fact, I actively avoid them, which is easy enough to do in Colorado. But here in Aus, it was standard transportation. We got the hang of it, but there were some dicey moments each tow.