Thredbo Day 2

Saturday dawned sunny and clear …… and the first thing on the agenda had to be the chair lift ride up to Eagles Nest - our starting point for Summer walks around the Main Range.

There's no walking up here today though. You need snowshoes or skis to get around on the snow at 1930metres above sea level in October.

But who needs to go walking when there are snowballs to throw?

But all that snow reminds us of the need for hot chocolate at the iconic Eagles Nest Café, the highest café in Australia.

Followed by another ride back down to the village on the chair lift...…

To round out the morning the kids were up for their turn at the beautiful Thredbo River walk and Golf Course Loop - an easy 4 klm walk in ideal conditions today.

So we really deserved our lunch break at the Thredbo Alpine Hotel Bistro - looking very tired and 70s era in the bright sunshine - but an excellent lunch menu for us all the same - a very popular choice today.

Abi ate the whole of that medium rare steak with broccolini - no kid's menu for these two!

We had to do another round on the chair lift before the day was over …...

…. and ride a resident emu (a bronze one anyway) ……..

We rounded off a perfect day with some resting, some Trivial Pursuit, a glass or two of champagne before another fabulous meal around the corner at the Black Bear Inn, a favourite of ours in the Village.

Thredbo Day 1

We've been SO looking forward to this weekend: two nights and three days staying in Thredbo Village with J & J, & A & E to celebrate J & J both celebrating their fortieth birthdays within a few months of each other.

Neither of them have stayed in Thredbo before (apart from the odd short, uncomfortably cold and miserable "pop in" over winters in their youth). Ella and Abi have never visited the Village at all.

We drove up early on Friday and settled into our favourite Snowgoose Apartments and started counting down the hours until "the kids" arrived ('cos some people still have to work don't they?).

In overcast and cool conditions we filled in an hour or so doing the riverside walk along the beautiful Thredbo River.

We love the characteristic landscapes of the mountains: the snow on the main range, the Snow Gums, the massive granite outcrops, endless heath, wombat holes, rushing rivers and lush mosses.

"The kids" arrive around 8.30pm. Abi is excited because she's seen three deer as they entered the Village. We're all set for a fabulous couple of days together in Thredbo!

A new season

The girl who never wanted to compete in Gymnastics comps entered her second championship a week or so back and proceeded to win the grand handstand competition, outright, for her level, even beating girls with some really unusual technique. Ella's been practising for that one her whole life (well almost)!!

Meanwhile the weather here has been really warming up. We celebrated today's 22oC perfect Spring weather with a drive out to "Sculpture in the Paddock" in the beautiful 50 acre paddock in the grounds of Shaw Vineyard at Murrumbateman.

There were some big names exhibiting in this exhibition - and we thought the standard was at least as good as at Sculpture on Clyde at the Snow property at Bawley Point.

Michael Le Grand, for one, is a pretty big name in this part of the world and he had a few works in the exhibition ….….. 

We liked the way "Connect the Dots" looked in the landscape - very finely balanced.

But this monumental work by Harrie Fisher "The Last Charge" was our favourite……. capturing the intensity of the last charge of the Light Horse at the Battle of Beersheba in 1917......

This "Solitary Tree" by Ulan Murray created a lot of interest ……..

We didn't appreciate these "Coloured Boys" too much, but we did love the background cacophony of sheep baa-ing in the far paddock.

And the old gum trees in the paddock were just as beautiful as the art work (and even more beautiful than many).

There were a few Tobias Bennett works - we'd loved his elephants at Sculpture on Clyde - he'd brought rabbits to Shaw Vineyard

This beautiful work by Sasha Reid was awarded First Prize in this exhibition.

And another beautiful Tobias Bennett work………

We thought Keith Bender's "Disencumbered" looked a bit caterpillar like ………….

I can't believe we've never been to Shaw Vineyard before. It's had an undistinguished restaurant for quite a few years but this new building housing the cellar door and wine tastings looks pretty amazing. We'll have to go back!!

Sydney Contemporary

The Sydney Contemporary Art Fair had a special interest for us this year as the Stanley Street Gallery (in Darlinghurst) featured the work of a rising young artist who we all know and love as the very talented Claire P.......

This is how her two paintings looked at the entrance to the Stanley Street Gallery "booth" at the Carriageworks yesterday ..........

It was actually very crowded most of the time - and we were there when Claire's largest work SOLD, late yesterday afternoon - so exciting!

The Art Fair was huge - a bit overwhelming actually for a single afternoon visit - but very exciting, enthralling and stimulating to see so much creativity all together in the one space.

I was just thrilled to see our other fave artist yesterday afternoon too - Ben Quilty, doing book signings for his fundraiser for the children of Syrian refugees (sigh!)

Although we thought his latest work, exposing the "bottom feeders" of our society, was pretty confronting in the space allocated!

Patricia Piccinini's super real work is always very thought provoking - and we love the fact she works in Canberra a lot (or at least some of the time).

And to continue the biotech issues theme I was very struck by Yhonnie Scarce's Strontium 90 installation too.......

 The Carriageworks at Everleigh looked beautiful in the early evening light as we were leaving at the end of an exciting day ......

We stayed in Surry Hills this visit - a favourite haunt of ours but a big change for us not to be in Coogee, as our home base in Sydney.  We dined well in Surry Hills with Claire and Nat: a wonderful dinner at Nour in Crown Street and breakfast at the iconic Bills this morning. The venerable old "Clock" hotel is a bit of a landmark in Surry Hills for us too

On the way out of Sydney this morning we could not resist a visit to our beautiful Coogee.

 It was just sparkling on this breezy, cool Spring morning ....

Beautiful Sydney!!