Following the successful delivery of our last major project deliverable for work, we’d booked in the girls to spend a couple of weeks with us. Having not seen them properly since February, we were all excited to catch up.
Arriving on the Friday arvo, we spent the weekend taking the girls our favourite local hangouts, including: Molly Bar, BentSpoke, Via Dolce, Bungendore, the Old Bus Depot Markets, Brod Burgers and others.
Then it was off to Perisher for a couple days frolicking in the snow, stopping in at the Wild Brumby Distillery for lunch and schnapps on the way through. Parking at the Bullocks Flat car park, we caught the ski tube up to the Perisher Village to our accommodation at the Perisher Manor Hotel, smack bang in the middle of the Village, with snow right to the front door and the main ski lift just 30mtrs away. Whilst our rooms were small and a bit in need of a refurb, the hotel restaurant and bar/lounge were fantastic. Very comfortable, with lots of lounge chairs in front of the fireplaces. Jules alternated her time between the lounge and the little outside deck near the skier’s food hall next door. Mads and I spent Tuesday skiing, with George giving it a go for the first time, but never really getting comfortable with it. Having last snow boarded 23 year ago on our honeymoon, George and I decided to give that a go on the Wednesday, with George proving to be a natural at this and enjoying it a lot more than skiing. I on the other hand, discovered I no longer had the same confidence as I did 23 years ago and whilst I was able to get up and do some runs on the board, by the end of the day my legs and knees were killing me and I think I’ll stick to skiing next time. Whilst we only had a couple of days in the snow, we loved it, spending the days playing in the snow and the evenings talking shit in the hotel bar.
Following our short ski trip, we kept the experiences going with a day trip to Sydney. Catching the 7:30am Murrays bus from Canberra, we arrived in the city in time for brekky in the Queen Victoria Building. This was followed by a nice stroll through the main streets, eventually making it down to the Rocks in time for a wander around the Rocks weekend markets. Whilst I’m not a huge fan of the Sydney CBD, there’s no doubting that the Sydney harbour, framed by the Rocks, the Harbour Bridge and Opera House are spectacular. To maximise our Sydney experience, we jumped on the ferry and spent the afternoon at the Taronga Zoo, with its great animal enclosures but even better views back over the harbour and onto the CBD. Leaving Sydney on the 7pm bus, we were back in Canberra around 10’ish, having had a long, but great day.
The girls got really lucky with the weather with beautiful, clear but cool skies throughout the trip.