The alarms go off at 6am, Justine and I have both had a restless sleep, kinda always happens the first few days we’re away. With the diesel heater running all night, at least the van’s not freezing. Being first up, I go fill the jug for coffee and the water runs for a few secs and then stops… then I think about it, have the pipes frozen? I turn on the water pump from the tanks and that works, phew.
Breaky and everyone gets ready. I go outside to warm up the car, it’s reading -2 and the windscreen is covered in ice. I go to check the water hose connecting the van, and yep, it’s frozen solid!
We pull out bang on 7. The suns only just starting to come up. There’s lots of fog about. All the roadside puddles appear frozen and a small farm dam has a layer of ice on it. We hit the main road from Cooma to Tumut and along the way see a few roos beside the road, so we need to take it carefully.
We pull in to Selwyn about 8:10 only a dozen or so cars are already here. We needed time to get our passes and be all ready for the kids 2 hr lesson at 9am. Well, that was the plan. There was some fire drill, or more likely false alarm. So everyone, including the staff are locked out of the building. Everyone is milling about entrance for a good 15-20mins, and it’s damn cold… I guess this is all to be expected, the resort has been closed for a few years after it was burnt down in the January 2020 bushfires and this is the first season they’ve opened, so a few teething issue are not at surprise.
Finally in, we get the kids ready. As the staff have been disrupted too, it all a bit more haphazard than it probably normally would be, but finally they are off on their first timers’ lessons.
I go and organise the family pass for the toboggan run. Justine and I kill a bit of time having a go, it’s much faster than the tubes at Snow Farm in NZ. After a couple of runs we decide it’s coffee time.
We go to see if we can locate the kids. We see Liam sitting down, and as he wasn’t super enthused about the lessons we’re not sure if he’s just sitting it out, but no, he’s really enjoying it and just waiting he’s next turn.
Caitlin seems to be doing well and starts a run down the beginner’s slope by herself. That is until she comes a cropper. She makes her way to the bottom and then rides the magic carpet back up. We go to congratulate her on doing such a great job, but it seems she’s hurt herself, is upset and has had enough, so we pack her gear away.
Liam has a few more runs and we’re all surprised how well he’s picked it up.
Some average luke warm lunch (which involved fighting for a table to sit at) and it’s time to hit the slopes again.
We all have a few runs at the toboggan, It’s not long and Liam wants to get back to the skiing so goes with Justine.
After a few more runs with Caitlin we leave the toboggan area. Seeing Liam having so much fun skiing, Caitlin asks for her skis again and within half an hour or so is skiing down with ease. However, the trip back up seems a lot more problematic as she has difficulties getting on the magic carpet with the skis on. We point her to the chairlift that is nearby at the bottom of the run and she finds that much easier. Within an hour they are both on bigger and bigger runs. Liam tries the T-Bar and goes nearly to the top. Shortly after, Caitlin mistakenly gets on the wrong chairlift and does find herself at the top! We only notice this when we saw her coming down from the top…how the hell did she get up there????
By this stage there was no stopping them and they seem to be having a ball.
I certainly think coming to Selwyn on day 1 was a good idea. It will be interesting how tomorrow goes.
Around 3:30 we finally pry them from the slopes, get out of the ski gear and hit the road. A quick detour into Three Mile dam where we camped a few years back. Nice seeing it with snow, but it sure is boggy.
Just over an hour later, we arrive back at the caravan right as the sun is setting. Not sure about the kids, but I sure am buggered.
Dinner, a movie and an early night all round ready to repeat this at Thredbo tomorrow.