Preamble

The plan was always to try and get down the snow over the holidays, the kids really liked Selwyn, but weren’t so keen on Thredbo, but in the end there just wasn’t any snow to visit.    Over the weekend I thought stuff it and arranged for Liam and I to go camping for a couple of days up the Watagans, so I booked a spot.

On Sunday I packed the car with some essentials ready to get away on Wednesday.

Then on Monday, a bit of snow fell, enough to get a basic covering and the forecast is for at least the temperature to stay down.  So, Monday night I suggest a rapid change of plans and raise the idea of us all going to the snow, late notice, but what the hell.  There is a National Park campground near Selwyn with free space, so accommodation is no issue ($6 booking fee for 5 nights accommodation, bargain!).  Although Justine and the Kids would prefer a caravan park, the one in Adaminaby does not have great reviews, so I’m happy to camp up.  It’s not like we’re really roughing it in the van.

Surprisingly everyone agrees, so we’re on.

While we had preplanned for my Nephew Jono to housesit, that was meant to be earlier in the week, so at the last minute I see if he can still help us out, fortunately he can.

Tuesday, I book the Campground, the Lift Passes, Ski Hire, and after a bit of a discussion get the kids to agree to a beginners ski lesson.

We start to pack some stuff and I go to test the diesel heater.  I give it a run every month or so, to keep the fuel in the lines moving, since getting the new one it’s been great.   Only this time it doesn’t start…. Bugger.   I do some diagnostic and after a bit realise the fuel must have some water in it.  It takes hours to work this out, drain most of the tank and purge the lines of contaminated fuel before it finally seems to run OK.   While it is a bit of a PIA, it also good that I can fix it rather than needing it repaired by someone, like with the AC.

We pack as much as we can, hitch up the van and try and prepare.  While it helped that I had planned to go camping, getting everything ready for all of us to get away for 5 days in about 24hrs is a little be more of a rush then we’re used too.  Without the van, none of this would have been an option.