I COULDN'T BELIEVE MY LUCK!

My parents struggled for five years to build a house and then they continued working hard to pay off the home loan and to educate my brother and I. I knew not to ask for much because there was little money left after paying the bills. So when the PE (Physical Education) teacher said he was organising a ski trip to the Snowy Mountains during the school holidays, I knew I wouldn't be able to go because my parents couldn't afford it. Being a mad sports enthusiast, I couldn't think of a better sport to try than snow skiing, so I plucked up the courage to ask my parents if I could go. I didn't get too excited because I was pretty sure the answer would be, "No, we can't afford it." To my utter surprise, there was no answer for a while and after a short discussion between Mum and Dad, they said I could go, as it would be a good experience for me. My knees trembled and my heart was racing with excitement, I couldn't believe my luck! My Mum knitted me a jumper and sewed me a jacket and in September 1958 I went on my first ski trip, I was 16.

Canberra's National War Memorial

Early in the morning, a busload of excited teenagers, accompanied by a few teachers set off for Kiandra in the Snowy Mts. On the way we stopped at Canberra, the capital of Australia. We visited the National War Memorial. We were very interested in the Japanese midget submarines, that had been caught in Sydney Harbour during the war. However, we were more excited about getting to the snow. Many of the kids had never seen snow before and it was ten years since I had left England so it was a distant childhood memory. It took all day to get there and we arrived at night and there wasn't any snow around our accommodation, which was an old guest house and a collection of spartan huts.

Judy outside our hut.

There was no heating and a sheet of ice covered the shower floor. I shared with five other girls. The next day we couldn't wait to get started with our ski lessons. Our bus took us to the ski slopes. Skiing then was nothing like it is today. We had long wide wooden skis and leather boots. No fancy clothes, just a tracksuit or jeans.

Skiing down 

Walking up

                    

But we learnt to ski and we had the best fun. There were no chair lifts, we had to walk up to the top of the hills and then slide down (sometimes on our backsides) in a few minutes.

(From Lto R) Me, Jean and Carol snowballing.

I googled Kiandra to find a map and to my surprise learnt that the town doesn't exist any more. It was an old gold mining town back in the 1800's and Norwegian miners introduced snowshoeing and  skiing. So Kiandra was the birthplace of skiing in Australia. Kiandra had one of the first Ski Clubs in the world. Now there is nothing there, and the grand ski resorts are situated a little further south and in northern Victoria. There were no fancy Apres ski clubs, we made our own fun in the evenings.

Apres Ski fun-our teacher presents the bus driver with an award.

We visited caves and The Snowy Mt Scheme. 

Besides skiing we were taken to caves and the famous Snowy Mts. Hydro-electric Scheme, which was still being constructed.   The Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme is by far the largest engineering project ever undertaken in Australia. It is also one of the largest and most complex hydro-electric schemes in the world. Another day we were taken to the hot thermal pools for a swim. It was freezing when I got out.

My parents were right, it was a great experience and I appreciated what they had done for me. 

Thermal Pool

We also had fun experiencing skidding around on a frozen lake.