Ski Trip To Snowy Mountains

Snowy mountains is one of the nearest places to Sydney to experience snowfall. In fact snowy mountains and its surroundings are the only places in mainland Australia to experience consistent snowfall, consistent enough to engage in winter sports like Skiing, snowboarding etc. Snowy mountains covers the states of NSW and Victoria, and there are various Ski resorts to engage in such activities. On the NSW side there are 3 major Ski resorts. Perisher, Thredbo and Selwyn. The initial 2 cater to more professional demographic, whereas the later caters to a more family oriented , learner/amateur population.
















We had been to Snowy mountains on 2 consecutive winters. The first one was to just experience snow, since my better half had never experienced it before. The second year we had timed it to experience snowfall and engage in some winter sports. As mentioned previously Perisher and Thredbo can get very crowded with people who are serious about skiing. So much that Perisher had run out of parking spots and the cops had setup a roadblock at the bottom of the mountain and asking people to take a U turn and go back and take the train. This was last year and we were not very specifically intending to visit Perisher, hence we went to the nearby Thredbo. This year based on that experience we decided to just visit Selwyn resort.

We had booked a cottage in the outskirts of Adaminaby. Though it rarely snows right up to this town, the night we stayed it snowed very heavily even in these regions. It was a scene straight out of a fairy tale, a wooden cottage in middle of nowhere and heavy snowfall outside. By morning everything was whitewashed, and we were still 35 kms away from the Selwyn Mountain Snow resort which is right up on a elevation. Hence we were expecting some good snow for skiing.

Reached the Snow resort driving through the snow filled roads and some scary 2 wheel drive moments. We had rented the ski equipment and also some lessons. The lessons were not at all helpful and the ski equipment weighed a ton, with very restricted movement possible. Not sure how people have them on and move for an entire day. And if you fall, its takes a great effort to get back to your feet, which believe me was more frequent than comfort for a newbie like me. At the end of the day, I didn't quite enjoy the concept of skiing, but I always wanted to try it atleast once. Will I ski again ??? Probably Not !!!!

Sydney : The Heart Of Australia

Eventhough Sydney just a small drop in a big ocean named Australia, if just one city has to represent it, it would definitely be this city with its world famous tourist attractions and melting pot of cultures from around the world. Compared to the other Australian cities it might seem crowded,  with its job opportunities and it being the financial capital of the ANZ region, but with so many things to visit and experience it is truly a world class city.

1. The Harbors

Touted as the best harbour in the entire world for its views, which includes the famous "hanger" bridge and the Opera house, which are the iconic symbols of Australia in their own right. A site to the spectacular vivid light festival during the long winter hours. Darling harbour is another harbour further inland. Not as dramatic as its cousin, the main harbour, but still spectacular.

2. The Beaches

There innumerable stunning beaches dotting this harbour city, which gives Sydney an upper hand when compared to the other Aussie cities. Sydney has Bondi, Manly and Coogee which are the famous ones, but there are innumerable small and secluded beaches one can find along the entire coastline. The coastal walk from Bondi to Coogee is not to be missed.

3. The National Parks

Sydney is literally surrounded by National parks in all directions. This is one of the main reason why the city is facing constraints in expanding and is doing so only towards west where there is some breathing space.  There are infact close to 50 national parks and conservation areas inside the city and in its vicinity. Towards the north of the city there are likes of Kuringai and Lane Cove national parks. Towards the south one of the oldest, Royal National Park. On the east coast is the Sydney Harbour national park and towards the west the likes of Blue Mountain national park.

4. The Mountains

Just about 50 kms from the city central,  acting like a huge boundary wall for this majestic city are the Blue Mountains. There is so much to do and see in the blue mountains. For the hardcore nature lovers there are innumerable walking tracks which range from anywhere from a couple of hours to a couple of days. The best walking track in my my experience is the National Pass trek which takes close to 2-3 hrs one and the double if returning on the same or other tracks. For the touristy kind there are places like the 3 sisters, Katoomba, Scenic world and so on.

5. The Buildings

The core part of any modern man made jungle are the concrete buildings, and Sydney has quite a few of very iconic buildings. The first obvious ones are the Harbor bridge and the Opera house. Other notable building include the very gothic and huge St Mary's cathedral and the iconic Sydney tower which gives 360 degrees brids eye view of the city.

6. The Museums

Some notable museums in Sydney include the Art Museum of NSW which has a free entry. This has an endless collections of art from the ages right from Indiginous art through to the Victorian era right upto the modern era. But frankly speaking museums in Sydney are a bit of a let down when compared to Melbourne, with the endless and colossal NGV museums. Probably Melbourne had to compensate in some way to their gloomy weather and keep their citizens happy :).

7. The Parks

With one of the most expensive real estate market in the world, it is no doubt that the green breathing areas within the city under tremendous pressure to hold their ground. Some of the famous green spaces within the city are the Hyde park, which includes the War memorial. Not as grand as its Melbourne counterpart though. The botanical gardens which is sandwiched between the Opera house and the sea. This area comes alive during the annual Vivid light festival conducted during the winter months.

Orange : In Search Of Fall Colours

Australia is not really a land wherein one finds autumn colours in the wilderness. But thanks to the locals with majorly European heritage and fairly favourable climate, some of inner NSW towns have planted their own European gardens with a lot of trees which gets transformed into stunning colors of yellow, red and pink during the fall season. But even then these areas are limited. Some of the towns near to Sydney with some great autumn colors are Blackheath, Orange and so on.

Apart from the fall color, Orange is also famous for its vineyards and wine tasting. Nearby we have Abercrombie caves which was good. Also the Bathurst racing track, which is actually open to the public. Hence we had a go at this race track which snakes and climbs to Mount Panoroma and back to the base. It was pretty good experience driving a car on a race track for the first time in my life.

The Great Whale Migration

Whale watching is one of the more popular attractions for tourists in Australia especially during the winter months. Unlike the likes of Sea World where one would see trained sea animals confined within a small pool, here you can watch completely wild whales on their great migration from freezing Antarctic waters to the warm cozy waters of the Great Barrier reef . These apparently they do every year and by the end of the winter head back to their rich feeding grounds in the Antarctic ocean. There are various species of the whales undertaking this journey, but the most easily spotted ones are the the humpback whales, which also travel closer to the coastline, making it easier to spot. Even though technically not as big as the blue whales (which are rarely spotted along the coast), the humpback whales are majestic in their own right.



From Sydney, there are various tours offering whale watching cruises which last from anywhere for a couple of hours to full day. The best season to encounter these beautiful creatures is in the end of June and beginning of July with maximum sightings during this period. Hence we planned our trip to coincide with this period and we were not disappointed.

We took the morning trip starting from Circular Quay and we entered the open water , which was the highway for these creatures. Within 10 minutes we started to get sightings. Whales breaching water and diving back into water is one of the most beautiful things to watch in the wild. They do this in order to get rid of the parasites in their skin which are removed due to the impact of water. The impact sound on the other hand is heard by other whales kilometers away and used also as a mating signal.

The first encounter was exciting , but with so many sightings with nearly 100+ breaches by the end of our 2 hr trip we were a bit saturated, but found ourselves lucky at the same time, since some cruises dont even encounter even a single whale , leave alone a breach. Overall a very satisfied customer !!! ;)

Byron Bay : The Easternmost Point Of Australia

Australia is the land where the sun rises much earlier than majority of the civilized world and that makes it distinctive. But alas that was not enough for us. We wanted to visit the place where the sun comes up first, than the rest of the Australian landmass. The beautiful Byron Bay is the answer to it, the easternmost point of Australia. Byron Bay is around 160km from Brisbane on the Pacific Highway and beyond Gold Coast and in the state of New South Wales.

Since we wanted to catch the sunrise, we decided to drive to this place the previous day itself and camp for the night. It is illegal for one to camp unless in designated camping parks, where one is provided with site for camping, toilets, garbage bins etc to make it more eco friendly. Since we were visiting on a long weekend we could get one in Byron Holiday Park, which was decent enough, but not the best. Once we had settled and pitched our tents, we decided to visit the Tallows beach in the backyard of this holiday park. It is a good 2km walk from the park, taking us through some picture-some backwaters and grasslands. The Tallows beach on the other hand was huge and simply beautiful, with the Byron Bay lighthouse in the left end of the long beach.

The next day we got up early before sunrise and drove all the way to the Cape Byron Lighthouse, which is the best place to catch the first rays of the sun. But unfortunately many other tourists too had the same idea and with very limited parking space near the top, it took us some time to find a spot, much further down the hill and walk all the way back. We were just in time to catch the views. The sky was not clear, but still we got some good views. Once the sun rose we explored the Lighthouse trail which starts from the Light house, hugging the coastline, giving some awesome views of the coast and the endless ocean.

After checking out from our camping site, we decided to visit the main beach of Byron Bay, which was buzzing with activity. We enjoyed in the crystal clear waters of this beach, along with a large number of others who were there to enjoyed the pristine water even though we found a large number of mildly lethal blue bottle jellyfish carcasses washing ashore. After spending close to 2 hours in the water, we decided to explore the hinterland. We had lunch in a local Indian restaurant (Bombay to Byron) which was average, even after having such a unique and interesting name.

The two places we had decided to visit in the hinterland were the Minyon falls and the Rocky creek dam. The Minyon falls is around 35kms from the town, but the last 3-4 kms of the road leading to the falls is bad, unpaved and bumpy. Eventhough our sedan could take this road, it was a surprise coming across such a thing leading to a popular tourist attraction. Despite the roads being disappointing, the water falls was not. The cliff through which the water takes a plunge is very steep and easily gives one an episode of vertigo. According to my estimate it was easily a 150m fall, with near vertical mountain walls flanking it. I presume it might be a mecca for rock climbers.

From the falls we moved towards the Rocky Creek Dam which is another 20kms. This dam supplies water to the town of Byron Bay. There are a lot of trails along backwaters of this dam. We spent some time exploring this area and then it was time to return back to our base.