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Just for you, Marg
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<blockquote data-quote="Marguerite" data-source="post: 232545" data-attributes="member: 1991"><p>Thank you for this.</p><p></p><p>We were fairly poor growing up also. We lived off what we could grow ourselves, plus my Dad went out to work to pay for the rest. I used to help Mum with cooking and preserving our produce, and also give Dad a hand with the animals. I did a lot especially with the sheep and the poddy calves.</p><p></p><p>husband's family were better off, both parents worked so they could afford holidays away. I've seen photos of the family at the snow. husband learned to ski.</p><p></p><p>I have never skied. I always wanted to learn but never got the chance.</p><p></p><p>When I was in early high school we had the option for sport, to do ice skating. It was exciting for me, I had never been to an ice skating rink before. We had the rink to ourselves, they hired a teacher in figure skating to help us and I didn't do too badly. I loved the exercise in the cold, and it always felt lovely to walk outside afterwards, back into the warmth (even ini winter, outside was much warmer) and to feel the warm glow not only of the air outside, but also after the exercise. I remember one day we'd been taught 'snow plough' to stop ourselves and a lot of surface ice had been scraped off and I fancied that perhaps snow might look like that.</p><p></p><p>Then when I was 15 (and at a different school further out in the country) our school went on a week-long trip to the Riverina (the food basket of NSW) and also to the Snowy Mountains. The trip was in August, towards the end of our winter, so we hoped there would still be snow to see. We have no permanent snow in Australia; in summer months, the Snowy Mountains are a great place to go trekking through the bush and high country.</p><p></p><p>It was several days into our trip before we were anywhere near snow. For most of us it was the first time. Our noses were pressed to the glass of the bus windows and there were shouts form the front as the first snow was sighted. I thought it looked like foam from a bubblebath or over-soaped load of washing, foam spread over the fallen logs and branches of the trees. There were only patches here and there, until we got to Thredbo where we were to stop for lunch. We piled out of the bus and the small patch of icy snow soon vanished under the onslaught of us kids, maknig snowballs and trowing them at each other. The bus driver evaded the snowballs by wearing his leather jacket. I was wearing a thick woollen jumper over a skivvy, my mother had madde me pack layers and insisted I wear pure wool, it was the only way to keep warm. On my feet I only had sneakers, although two pairs of wool socks should have been enough, according to my mother. They weren't. I wore thick tights under white stretch trousers, I had carefully dressed in the way my mother had made me rehearse. But I was still cold. Parka? Beanie? Gloves? What were they? I did regret the lack fo gloves, my hands were stinging as if cut, from scrapes on the ice. Because although we THOUGHT this was snow, it was in reality the partly-thawed/refrozen ice you get at the bottom of a ski run where there is most traffic, and at the end of the season when the temperatures are above freezing during the day.</p><p></p><p>Then we discovered tobogganing. We walked halfway up the hill and sat down, sliding on our rear ends to the bottom. It was fun! A few kids found a cardboard box and opened it out, making a sort of toboggan that went much faster, especially with five of them sitting on it sharing it. Others of us found more cardboard, I found the flap off a cardboard box and sat on that.</p><p></p><p>After an hour it was time to go, we had to continue through the national park to get down from the mountains to our accomodation that night. We said farewell to the snow and piled back onto the bus. We were wet, cold, tired but happy. Some of the kids were even wetter - the opened-out cardboard box had slid right into the creek and their wet outer layers had been stripped off and were hung from the haldrails, swinging to and fro on the bends in the mountain road and slapping us in the face on each corner as the bus wound higher.</p><p></p><p>Then we turned a corner and saw REAL snow, great drifts of it. This was Dead Horse Gap. The kids clamoured to be let off the bus, the bus driver and our teachers finally relented because they had to stop anyway to put chains on the bus. So we finally experienced REAL snow, it was up to our knees and we danced around in it, some of the kids began makng a snowman and THIS snow didn't make our hands feel scraped. It was still too cold without mittens or gloves, though, and my feet and trousers were soaking wet from the slush we'd been playing in down in Thredbo Village. We were there for maybe half an hour, I took a lot of photos with my camera (I don't know why I didn't take any in Thredbo itself) then we got back in the car and drove on, soon waving the snow goodbye for the rest of the trip.</p><p></p><p>I had never been anywhere in snow overnight, until our New Zealand trip in 2007. easy child & BF1 were with us there, BF1 had never seen snow falling (I did, a few years after my first experience, but it hadn't been very much snow, the snowy equivalent of a light misty drizzle). Then it started to snow, the day before we were due to leave the place we'd been staying. It snowed, we played in it, the snow got heavier, we watched as everything got blanketed with it, we drove to the village and watched the snow falling in the village (very picturesque) then got back and played more. The place hd a giant outdoor chess set so difficult child 3 & I played chess in the snow, even though it as getting tricky to find the chess board under the snow. Waking up next morning and peering out the window was beautiful. But trying to drive anywhere in it - NOT beautiful. easy child & BF1 had to get to the big town 100 km away (60 miles) but the road was closed when we got to the highest point of the drive. It took us another day and a lot of luck to get to the town, to find tha airport closed anyway. The town was even more picturesque, with snow through the town right down to the lake edge. This was where a lot of "Lord of the Rings" was filmed, the amazing mountains and fabulous scenery.</p><p></p><p>The rest of our trip was snowy. A few days later, after we had finally seen easy child & BF1 onto a plane for Sydney and swearing they never wanted to see snow again, husband, difficult child 3 & I drove north through more snow, past Mt Cook with snow right down to the glacier-fed lake at its foot. The colours were spectacular. Then a few days later we caught a train that goes right across South Island, again travelling through places that were cut off by road due to the heavy snowfalls.</p><p></p><p>One lovely memory we have of New Zealand was from North Island, when we drove to the top of Mt Ruapehu. The ski field there wasn't open (the season was to start the next week) but it was fascinating to visit the only skifield in the world that is on the side of an active volcano! To know that we were in snow, but just above us was a steamy, hot crater lake - amazing. There were wisps of steamy cloud around the top of the mountains (there are three active volcanoes in a row, all connected). We took more photos of where the Gates of Mordor were filmed. And Mt Doom (they used Ruapehu for Mt Doom also).</p><p></p><p>I was over 50, but had finally seen snow falling right before I slept and again when I woke. Heavy snow, real snow, an adventure. And at last I was dressed to cope with it, in a down parka and ugg boots! Warm feet, warm body. We'd heard the siren and announcement of the school next door to where we were staying as they announced a snow day, and later we saw kids tobogganing down the street.</p><p></p><p>Sometimes when you visit a place you get a lot more than just different sights; you get new experiences also. </p><p></p><p>One day I would love to visit the US and see (and experience) so much more. And if any of you ever want to visit Australia - let me know, we'll show you around.</p><p></p><p>Marg</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Marguerite, post: 232545, member: 1991"] Thank you for this. We were fairly poor growing up also. We lived off what we could grow ourselves, plus my Dad went out to work to pay for the rest. I used to help Mum with cooking and preserving our produce, and also give Dad a hand with the animals. I did a lot especially with the sheep and the poddy calves. husband's family were better off, both parents worked so they could afford holidays away. I've seen photos of the family at the snow. husband learned to ski. I have never skied. I always wanted to learn but never got the chance. When I was in early high school we had the option for sport, to do ice skating. It was exciting for me, I had never been to an ice skating rink before. We had the rink to ourselves, they hired a teacher in figure skating to help us and I didn't do too badly. I loved the exercise in the cold, and it always felt lovely to walk outside afterwards, back into the warmth (even ini winter, outside was much warmer) and to feel the warm glow not only of the air outside, but also after the exercise. I remember one day we'd been taught 'snow plough' to stop ourselves and a lot of surface ice had been scraped off and I fancied that perhaps snow might look like that. Then when I was 15 (and at a different school further out in the country) our school went on a week-long trip to the Riverina (the food basket of NSW) and also to the Snowy Mountains. The trip was in August, towards the end of our winter, so we hoped there would still be snow to see. We have no permanent snow in Australia; in summer months, the Snowy Mountains are a great place to go trekking through the bush and high country. It was several days into our trip before we were anywhere near snow. For most of us it was the first time. Our noses were pressed to the glass of the bus windows and there were shouts form the front as the first snow was sighted. I thought it looked like foam from a bubblebath or over-soaped load of washing, foam spread over the fallen logs and branches of the trees. There were only patches here and there, until we got to Thredbo where we were to stop for lunch. We piled out of the bus and the small patch of icy snow soon vanished under the onslaught of us kids, maknig snowballs and trowing them at each other. The bus driver evaded the snowballs by wearing his leather jacket. I was wearing a thick woollen jumper over a skivvy, my mother had madde me pack layers and insisted I wear pure wool, it was the only way to keep warm. On my feet I only had sneakers, although two pairs of wool socks should have been enough, according to my mother. They weren't. I wore thick tights under white stretch trousers, I had carefully dressed in the way my mother had made me rehearse. But I was still cold. Parka? Beanie? Gloves? What were they? I did regret the lack fo gloves, my hands were stinging as if cut, from scrapes on the ice. Because although we THOUGHT this was snow, it was in reality the partly-thawed/refrozen ice you get at the bottom of a ski run where there is most traffic, and at the end of the season when the temperatures are above freezing during the day. Then we discovered tobogganing. We walked halfway up the hill and sat down, sliding on our rear ends to the bottom. It was fun! A few kids found a cardboard box and opened it out, making a sort of toboggan that went much faster, especially with five of them sitting on it sharing it. Others of us found more cardboard, I found the flap off a cardboard box and sat on that. After an hour it was time to go, we had to continue through the national park to get down from the mountains to our accomodation that night. We said farewell to the snow and piled back onto the bus. We were wet, cold, tired but happy. Some of the kids were even wetter - the opened-out cardboard box had slid right into the creek and their wet outer layers had been stripped off and were hung from the haldrails, swinging to and fro on the bends in the mountain road and slapping us in the face on each corner as the bus wound higher. Then we turned a corner and saw REAL snow, great drifts of it. This was Dead Horse Gap. The kids clamoured to be let off the bus, the bus driver and our teachers finally relented because they had to stop anyway to put chains on the bus. So we finally experienced REAL snow, it was up to our knees and we danced around in it, some of the kids began makng a snowman and THIS snow didn't make our hands feel scraped. It was still too cold without mittens or gloves, though, and my feet and trousers were soaking wet from the slush we'd been playing in down in Thredbo Village. We were there for maybe half an hour, I took a lot of photos with my camera (I don't know why I didn't take any in Thredbo itself) then we got back in the car and drove on, soon waving the snow goodbye for the rest of the trip. I had never been anywhere in snow overnight, until our New Zealand trip in 2007. easy child & BF1 were with us there, BF1 had never seen snow falling (I did, a few years after my first experience, but it hadn't been very much snow, the snowy equivalent of a light misty drizzle). Then it started to snow, the day before we were due to leave the place we'd been staying. It snowed, we played in it, the snow got heavier, we watched as everything got blanketed with it, we drove to the village and watched the snow falling in the village (very picturesque) then got back and played more. The place hd a giant outdoor chess set so difficult child 3 & I played chess in the snow, even though it as getting tricky to find the chess board under the snow. Waking up next morning and peering out the window was beautiful. But trying to drive anywhere in it - NOT beautiful. easy child & BF1 had to get to the big town 100 km away (60 miles) but the road was closed when we got to the highest point of the drive. It took us another day and a lot of luck to get to the town, to find tha airport closed anyway. The town was even more picturesque, with snow through the town right down to the lake edge. This was where a lot of "Lord of the Rings" was filmed, the amazing mountains and fabulous scenery. The rest of our trip was snowy. A few days later, after we had finally seen easy child & BF1 onto a plane for Sydney and swearing they never wanted to see snow again, husband, difficult child 3 & I drove north through more snow, past Mt Cook with snow right down to the glacier-fed lake at its foot. The colours were spectacular. Then a few days later we caught a train that goes right across South Island, again travelling through places that were cut off by road due to the heavy snowfalls. One lovely memory we have of New Zealand was from North Island, when we drove to the top of Mt Ruapehu. The ski field there wasn't open (the season was to start the next week) but it was fascinating to visit the only skifield in the world that is on the side of an active volcano! To know that we were in snow, but just above us was a steamy, hot crater lake - amazing. There were wisps of steamy cloud around the top of the mountains (there are three active volcanoes in a row, all connected). We took more photos of where the Gates of Mordor were filmed. And Mt Doom (they used Ruapehu for Mt Doom also). I was over 50, but had finally seen snow falling right before I slept and again when I woke. Heavy snow, real snow, an adventure. And at last I was dressed to cope with it, in a down parka and ugg boots! Warm feet, warm body. We'd heard the siren and announcement of the school next door to where we were staying as they announced a snow day, and later we saw kids tobogganing down the street. Sometimes when you visit a place you get a lot more than just different sights; you get new experiences also. One day I would love to visit the US and see (and experience) so much more. And if any of you ever want to visit Australia - let me know, we'll show you around. Marg [/QUOTE]
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