We left Newcastle and drove to Canberra (5 hours). The drive was relatively easy and Liam was quite pleasant. When we arrived we immediately went to the National Dinosaur Museum. This was really good for the kids and Liam enjoyed the exhibits. He really enjoyed the computer game on dinosaurs and played it for nearly an hour. I went out to the car after a while and listened to Collingwood flogging the Dockers.
We then went onto the Quest Apartments, in the centre of Canberra, which I booked over the internet. Initially things didn’t look that good but everything turned out well and the room and location are really good (if we didn’t have Liam). Canberra on a Saturday night is dead and we struggled to get an easy meal. We had a multitude of restarants to choose from, but none appropriate for Liam.
Liam is nearly over his cold now, but I have a sore throat and a headache which isn’t too good as we approach the snow.
Before leaving Canberra, the next day, we took Liam to see the War Museum. I thought he might be interested in the displays and ask a few questions about it. He loved the big guns and in general enjoyed his walk around. Some of the new displays are really good. They have one which simulates being in the bomb bay, the whole floor vibrates and a viewing platform on the floor opens up to see the town below. Unfortunately it all scared Liam so we had to leave before it ended. Other displays allow the kids to dress up as soldiers or nurses and can touch all the items set up. Liam loved the bridge of the boat best and played here for a long time.
We drove up to Jindabyne after this and picked up our skis on the way to the accommodation. This all went well but unfortunately Liam never quite got over not being allowed ski poles.
Once set up in the accommodation we went up the ski tube to Perisher so that Liam could see snow and we could check out the Kiddies Klub that we had booked him into. It all looked good and Liam was quite excited that night. He put on his boots and skis and tried to ski around the room, he didn’t really understand the concept but was enjoying himself.
The next day, we finally got to go skiing. The weather was good and everything went well up on the mountain. Liam went to kindy, Rosie to her lesson and Bruce just went skiing down a few nice slopes. In the afternoon Rosie and I went skiing together until Rosie had a big crash and decided it was time to stop.
We dropped over to kindy to watch Liam and saw him standing around a lot but not doing much. He looked happy though and was participating properly.
At 4pm we picked Liam up and he wasn’t a happy boy. He thought kindy went too long and he didn’t enjoy it at all. This was a bit disappointing for us.
Our accommodation was nice and warm and everything went well in the evening.
During the night I could hear the wind start to blow up and it wasn’t surprising to find an absolute gale up on the mountain. We put Liam into Kindy but told him we would pick him up after lunch.
Rosie went off to her lesson, but all the lifts were closed at Blue Cow due to the wind and the lines were too long and the weather too miserable for Bruce to venture too far.
I did go and watch Liam’s lesson and again only saw them wander around and didn’t get to see too much skiing or fun taking place.
At lunch time Liam was keen to leave so we packed up and went home.
Liam was miserable about kindy and didn’t like being dragged out of bed so early that he missed his shows. We decided to take it a bit easier the next morning and not worry about getting him there on time. While packing the car we realised that Bruce was so distracted yesterday afternoon that he left Liam’s skis on the train platform. When we arrived at Perisher, Liam and I went searching for them, with little success. We then played cards, did some colouring in and played out in the snow while Rosie completed her lesson.
Liam loved sliding down the snow on his backside and playing with the other kids.
When Rosie’s lesson ended we swapped roles and Bruce went skiing for a couple of hours. When we met up at lunch time, Rosie had had more success and found Liam’s skis. She also got him into kindy for the afternoon.
We went off for a ski together and then went and picked up Liam at 4pm. He still hated his lesson.
The next day Bruce put Liam into Kindy in the morning (crying and kicking but did this upset him!!). Rosie went off to her lesson and Bruce went touring the mountain. He has finally worked out how to get all over the mountain including the traverse from Blue Cow to Perisher. This enabled me to do a couple of runs at Blue Cow and then investigate Perisher without having to wait in long queues.
Bruce met up with Rosie for lunch and then we had a couple of runs down Pleasant Valley before the big traverse back to Perisher to pick up Liam. Rosie did quite well and only fell over once at a relatively easy bit at the end. We picked up Liam at 1pm and he wasn’t that unhappy, he actually told us what her learnt in his lesson and wanted to stay on the mountain to play.
He was quite keen to ski down the mountain so I took him on the beginners slope and he was better than I expected. He quickly realised what they were trying to teach him and was doing good pizzas (snow ploughs) on the first run. As usual he had to ruin it by being an absolute pain on the rope tow, wanting to hold it himself (he didn’t have the strength or the skiing skill to succeed in this). I took him up between my legs and we got up ok. We took another two runs down the mountain before he became too painful. He was quite good towards the end.
We finished the afternoon off with a play in the snow and a slide on his backside.
Strangely he quite enjoyed his time in the snow and didn’t want to give back his snow gear. He also wants to go skiing again which is good.
