Snow again!

We woke up to a very light dusting of snow on the back lawn and gale force winds. Then the winds started to ease and the snow started to build up. And build up. And build up. So much so that we were able to do this:

That's Andrea sliding down our driveway on a real estate sign (Thanks Michelle!).

And this one is Greg skiing down the driveway! Much earlier in the day, before the second lot of snow.

It's still snowing so hopefully we'll be able to post some photos tomorrow...

Powder Day

This morning we got up bright and early after deciding last night that we were going to take a bit of a walk with our snowboards and avalanche kit (which includes a backpack that carries our snowboard, transceiver, shovel, probe and first aid kit). The avalanche danger had dropped and the forecast was for the freezing level to rise, which meant that for the low altitude snow, it was now or never. We voted now.

We parked one car at the bottom of the run and used a second car to drive us as far up towards the top as we could get. During summer there is a 4WD track right to the top of the hill we were climbing but after this much snow it's not accessible so we had to walk the last couple of hours.

It was definitely worth it. The run was a total of 700 vertical metres (about 4 times the height of One Tree Hill above sea level). It took us about 15-20 minutes to get down - with a few stops for photos etc... and to jump fences!

Our flatmate Mark took this video - it's a little jumpy at times as he was trying to snowboard and video at the same time (not overly successful!). The first person you see is Greg, the smaller person down the hill further is Andrea.

White Christmas part 2

Late last week, Greg went up to the top of the driveway and took a few photos of the Remarkables. Because it had finally started snowing up there, and things were looking pretty and white. You'll see in the photo that it's been so warm here that the rose hedge is in full bloom.

It turns out (as you have seen from the videos) that we were wrong. That wasn't snow. This was:

Our backyard covered in snow (while it's still falling)

The cars and boat

And last but not least, our new Christmas card house.

White Christmas

Saturday night we were talked into throwing a midwinter Christmas party by our neighbours, much to our delight. Afterall, everyone loves Christmas and it does only come... twice a year.

Turkey, Ham, Roast Veges, Spinach and Cheese Cannelloni (for the vegetarians), minted peas, chocolate Gateau, Tiramisu... complete with a Christmas Tree and outside fairy lights made for a perfect night - made just a bit more perfect by the snow that turned up halfway through dinner.

It continued to fall right through until mid morning on Sunday. We'll post some photos tomorrow but here are a few videos to keep you going until then!