Snow Ball

The great thing of Canberra is that is so close (according to Australian standards) to such a wide array of outdoor opportunities. One of them, a ski resort, I visted last Saturday. The snow season is pretty bad this year, the worst since 1982, but we were lucky (we went with a bus of 50 people, mainly DEWR/Government grads) it just snowed on Thursday so it was relatively ok. The are is pretty small, especially when you are used to European standards, but it was quite fun to be able to ski again. The weather was marvellous, and the scenery beautiful. The skiing took place in Perisher Blue, NSW, part of the Snowy Mountains. People (Bapoes, Discovery Channel!!) may know the region fromt he Snowy Mountain Hydro Scheme, a very technical advanced scheme for renewable energy.

The difference with the European Alpine region is that the mountain area is not that large, it runs from Melbourne all the way up to Queensland (great dividing range) but frome east to west it is not that far, therefore you had a great view of the plains underneath the mountains. Also the vegetation is quite different, no pine trees but gum trees instead. I took a couple of
photo's to give an impression of the whole area.

My indoor soccer team became champion last Tuesday after winning three successive knock-out finals coming from the fourth place in the ladder. In the meanwhile yesterday our outdoor team took over the leading position from the Department of Foreign Affairs, hopefully we can retain our championship status.

Later today I will bring my car to the garage for panel beating services, after the accident last week. The weather is pretty ok here, sunny during the day (compare this to a February in the Netherlands!) but it still can be cold at night.. In Sydney it is much warmer, people already walk in shorts...