Well it is foaling season at Snowy Wilderness and nothing better than riding on horseback and seeing the brumbies in the wild with their new foals. 5 new foals so far. The feed on the ground is rich and green with plenty of water from recent rains.
One of our Waler mares Lorelei has a new foal as well, we are thinking of names for the little fella.
Snowy Wilderness Spring 2011 Newsletter
Snowy Wilderness Spring 2011 Newsletter
Hi *|FNAME|*
New Flow to the Snowy
Well I have never seen Lake Jindabyne so full of water as it is now and just as I was worrying that there may not be any beaches for this summer, the Snowy Hydro announces the biggest release of water into the Snowy River since the damming of the Snowy and the flooding of Old Jindabyne township.
They are releasing 12 billion litres of water per day for a total of 84 billion litres to be released, sounds like
The Spillway at the Dam Wall compliments Pete Bartrip
a whole lotta water to me!! Anyway it’s great news for the river which is so important to our Snowy Mountains region and our local folklore, we just love our Snowy.
It’s also great for boogie boarding with your horse, and there are no sharks to worry about.
The folks in Dalgety are stoked with plenty of visitors checking out the flow. For those of you who do not know, Dalgety, just downstream from Jindy, was touted to be our national capital before Canberra was selected. Dalgety is now about 80 people including Thistle, the resident Wether (male sheep) who lives just over the road from Buckley’s Crossing Pub(the Dalgety Pub) and loves potato crisps!!
Boots, Jeans, and Other Things
In one of my previous newsletters, I got started on about hats in the Snowy Mountains country and how important our Akubra’s are to us, well today we are going to get into other apparel items starting with one of the most important fashion statements, BOOTS.
A couple of our recent Prime Ministers have had this nationalistic thing with R M Wiliiams boots, and good on them!! I have noticed our current PM does not wear RM’s, but who could blame her, what with all those people putting the boot into her, she really does need those stiletto’s to counter attack!!
Back to the main theme, boots for the Snowy’s. Now some of our blokes have gone for lace ups with a little frilly tongue on them that sort of looks like a “golf playing shoe” but 2 of our toughest guys in AJ & Shannon have opted for these so I’m not saying no more. You can get these in a number of brands including Ariat, Baxter, & Horseshoe.
MY Used Boots
Well here in the mountains our boots cop a real hammering and a pair usually lasts me no longer than 12 months. The other thing is I need 2 pairs, one for work at Snowy Wilderness, and one for good wear like social “la dee da” occasions and city visits.
When AJ’s boots are on the blink, he duct tapes them up, just to give them that extra few months of wear. Personally, I don’t do duct tape c’ause it ain’t water proof and your socks can get wet & soggy.
What about jeans though, the Levi’s I have recently bought are falling apart, belt loops breaking, they just do not make them like they used to.
I have now been introduced to Blue Dog jeans and I can swear by them, they even have a double belt loop at the rear, no breakage here. I love ‘em and I now have 3 pairs and got two more on order with Carlee Knight of Bairnsdale Horse Centre.
AJ swears by his Wrangler jeans because they have an inverted seam on the inside leg so they are the most comfortable for horse riding. He even claims they are “fire proof”, but as we found out one morning while he was cracking eggs over the BBQ plate cooking breakfast, they are not fire proof!!
AJ’s Fire Proof Wranglers
Yeah, the heat of the fire just burnt right through his jeans as you can see from the photo above, but they are really comfortable for riding. By the way, for the benefit of AJ fans, of which there are plenty, he was not injured or burned.
While out riding I also wear leather chaps, these protect my jeans from wear and tear, and keep me dry during the early morning dew which can hang about in the bushes. They are also very warm during the winter months.
Talking about getting wet you cannot go past a full length Dizabone for riding in the rain and snow. There are other brands but the only one to consider is the Drizabone. A Drizabone done up properly and with your Akubra hat on your head or a helmut, you just do not get wet during that unexpected downpour. We found this out the other day riding the Great Southern Loop.
What a sight though, a group of riders dressed in riding boots, Drizabones, and Akubra hats or riding helmuts, there is no better sight to encapsulate the Snowy Mountains horse person and the spirit that goes with it!!
Our Horse Riding Calendar
We have a very comprehensive Horse Riding Calendar for this Spring/Summer/Autumn riding season with many spectacular rides including our Great Northern Loop ride, the Great Southern Loop ride, and the Ingebyra Loop ride.
The menu only gets better as well with 2 new dishes being introduced this season with slow cooked (4 hours) Lamb Shoulder in Cumin with Pear, it just melts in your mouth, and Crispy Skin Chicken (thighs) with roasted garlic and red grapes, this is delicious. And we do this out at the campsites as well as inhouse accommodation.
So please visit our calendar and see if there is a ride that fits in with your schedule or holidays, we would love to go riding with you.
http://www.snowywilderness.com.au/horse_riding_calendar.cfm?PageID=12 is the direct URL for the calendar.
OK, so that’s it for now, we hope to catch up with you all in the not too distant future….
Warm regards
Justin, Delia, and the Snowy Wilderness team
1800 217 181
www.snowywilderness.com.au
info@snowywilderness.com.au
Well I have never seen Lake Jindabyne so full of water as it is now and just as I was worrying that there may not be any beaches for this summer, the Snowy Hydro announces the biggest release of water into the Snowy River since the damming of the Snowy and the flooding of Old Jindabyne.
They are releasing 12 billion litres of water per day for a total of 84 billion litres to be released, sounds like a whole lotta water to me.
This will transform the Snowy River around the township of Dalgety which was once considered the site for Australia’s capital, it is now only 80 people and Thistle, the local sheep who lives across from the pub.
Everyone in Jindabyne is very excited and many out of town visitors are coming to Jindabyne to view the spectacle.
| Snowy Wilderness Winter 2011 Newsletter No 1 Hi A Great Start to the Winter SeasonFor the first time in many years, all the ski resorts have heaps of snow for the opening weekend, Perisher actually opened up Front Valley 3 weekends early!! This all goes well for a great season of skiing and boarding. The beginning of last week saw a couple of really good ski days with fresh snow falls and lots of wind swept powder. Snowing or blizzard!! I remember when we went skiing 8 years ago in the Dolomites in Italy, all the resorts in the region had already joined together to just have the one smart ticket that worked for every lift in every resort, representing over 550 lifts. It was really amazing, the region was so large you could go for a 3 day ski trip just skiing non stop each day and stay overnight at any number of Refugio (small hotel). I’ve always wondered when we would catch up with this sort of technology and more importantly, cooperation between resorts. In the Dolomite Mountains in Italy
Anyway, back to Australia and our season. I will be doing my usual trek out to Mt Koskiuszko again this year and AJ has put his hand up to come with me. As I mentioned last year I will be coming back via some new slopes that I noticed last time that really looked exciting. The Word “Erstwhile” In the last newsletter I described Cody James as our erstwhile quad bike guide, and many people asked me what erstwhile meant…….I replied “dependable and certain” which is what I was trying to convey. However, if you look up the word in the dictionary it says “in the past”. Well do you think Cody had something to say about that!!! Cody on his Quad Bike
Suffice it to say, Cody will be guiding again, never fear, see you all again on the Snowy Wilderness quad rides. Horse Trekking in the Snow This winter we have scheduled some day rides out into the Ingebyra State Forest that will go up over 1,600 metres in altitude or 100 metres above the permanent snowline. The dates we have scheduled so far are July 27, August 10 and 17 and we will schedule a few for September. The Gold Mine Ore Crusher or Stamper On this day ride you will not only get to ride in the snow, but you will see magnificent scenery from Long Plain, descend into the Little Boggy which is an alpine frost plain, visit old gold diggings and an ore crusher (pictured), as well as visiting where Dan Kelly hung out in his days on the run and finally passed away. All in all it is a really great day of riding that you will remember forever. If you want to join us on any of those dates, just call on 1800 218 171 or email info@snowywilderness.com.au Accommodation during Winter Even though most of July is booked out there are still some dates available during August, and as always the best month, being September there is plenty of accommodation available, so get the ski gear out of the cupboard, brush off the cowebs, and come on up to the mountains for a few days skiing or boarding and squeeze in a quad bike ride or horse ride while you are here. You can always check out our availability from our website by clicking on the “Book Accommodation Now” button, it will show you each property, it’s availability, pricing, and photos http://www.snowywilderness.com.au/accommodation.cfm?PageID=4 and click on the red button. Have a great winter wherever you are, got to go now and put the horses away for the night. See you all soon, we will get another newsletter out at the end of winter. Warmest regards Delia, Justin and the Snowy Wilderness team Snowy Wilderness Resort |
Many of you have been following V8’s progress with his “super bug” and thank you all for your interest and caring.
Good news, the wound has healed completely up and it appears we & V8 have beaten this 6 month thing. I still have him at Canberra Equine Hospital to keep him under obs while they take him off the anti biotics. Hopefully I will pick him up on Saturday on my way back from a Sydney visit.
Fingers crossed, this disoicable infection has finally been beaten
Justin
Snowy Wilderness Autumn 2011 Newsletter
It is Cold up here!!!
Hello everyone from all of us at Snowy Wilderness and yes, it is cold. We have had many nights and early mornings that have been below -5 degrees celsius and it has also been snowing. So much so that Perisher ski resort have announced they are opening now, almost 4 weeks before the official opening weekend, unbelievable!!
Reservations at Snowy Wilderness for the next 3-4 months have been coming in every day and it really looks like being another terrific winter season with many new guests as well as guests returning.
Luckily the really cold weather stayed away long enough for us to complete our Autumn horse trek season, the last ride of which was on May 6th, a 5 day ride. We did have one morning on that ride where the toilets froze and the orange juice froze in the glass, but the days were sunny and warm and the riding really enjoyable.
Cody James our erstwhile Quad guide and son in law
Easter was a highlight with our team doing a terrific job managing in excess of a 30% increase in guest numbers as well as a 4 day horse trek. Congratulations to AJ, Vicki, and a special thanks to Cody James who this year got through many quad bike rides without one quad having an accident or breakdown.
Bill Tankey, one of our repeat horse riders who joined us on the Easter 4 day ride, sent us a little ditty and it
Goes a little like this to the tune of On the road to Gundagai
“All the riders gathered for the Easter weekend,
Sitting round the campfire, we’d all become friends.
There’s a track leading back to the Reedy creek shack,
along the road from Jindabyne.
Day 1 and 2 the riding, was long and intense,
Day 3 saw Lynne and Greer decide, to sit on the fence.
There’s a track leading back, to the Reedy creek shack,
along the road from Jindabyne.
Justin, Delia, Vicki, were early to rise,
AJ gave the horses oats before the sunrise.
There’s a track leading back……….
There was Mark and AJ leading us onto a hill,
with Darren and Vanessa, Sally and Bill.
There’s a track leading back ……….” Thanks Bill, see you again soon.
Our whole Autumn season was highly successful with plenty of new friends coming to ride and stay with us and some great feedback. AJ and I found some new trails we never knew existed and I think our riding guests were proud of the fact they were with us on these trail blazing, mostly unplanned exercises.
In March we had our inaugural 3 day Drop Off Ride for experienced riders and it was a resounding success with everyone thoroughly enjoying themselves. The concept of the ride is we drop you off somewhere and with your Snowy Wilderness guide, you make your way back to the Woolshed/Reception, and it should take about 3 days of riding to get back. Yes, we had plenty of laughs, a small amount of uncertainty, heaps of new stories to tell, and memories that will remain forever.
Recently I was asked by one guest, how do we cope with so many people visiting and staying at Snowy Wilderness, and my reply was “it is really like having good friends over to experience our small part of the world and sharing our love of good food, the mountain wilderness, and our horses, and that we enjoy every minute of it” I cannot say it any better.
Local Produce
A lot of credence is given to “local produce” nowadays and so it should be. For those of you who have experienced a meal at Snowy Wilderness, all our herbs are home grown, and our meats are locally sourced.
We are now embarking on an ambitious project of growing most if not all of our own seasonal vegetables at Snowy Wilderness.
We will be building and mulching vegetable beds right throughout the winter months to be ready for early Spring. For a guy who has never grown a veggie in his life this is a big ask, but I will have plenty of help and advice from many sources including Delia, her sister Sandra, our daughter Bec, and Jacopo Martelossi (Jacob), our friend, my mentor chef and hopefully our resident chef in the not too distant future.
Breakfast of eggs, our thick smoky bacon, and next year grilled tomato from our garden
The food we prepare at Snowy Wilderness is generally slow cooked, and is influenced by my experiences in Italy, New Orleans, and Asia, as well as our local specialty, camp ovens, however, in all dishes we prepare, we always use a lot of our own herbs and in the near future, we will use our own home grown vegetables.
As many of you know, we have planted our own Oak trees infused with the black truffle spoor and we hope next winter we will be harvesting a few black truffles to be used in our risotto, scambled eggs, and a new pasta dish we will be introducing with black truffles and olive oil.
Our Roads
Just to let you know we have had all our internal roads in the resort graded for winter and they are back to being really smooth again. It is always a continuing maintenance job for us as the rain washes ruts and pot holes into the roads, but for now we are as smooth as………….
Ever Seen a Car & Trailer Free Wheeling down the Roller Coaster
Believe it or not, it happened to Delia. She stopped on the Roller Coaster to pick up a bed base from the side of the track, she left the car running in neutral, on the level of a rollover with the hand brake on hard, all the correct things. She got out of the Land Cruiser, put the bed base on the trailer, and then the car started to slowly roll forward over the lip of the rollover. Once it was over the rollover, it was all over “red rover” (how many overs are there??!!!), the car took off with the trailer, hit the next rollover, and then on the next rollover down took off into the air and hit the trees on the side of the track and disappeared into the bush where the trees finally stopped it’s runaway ride. Wow!!!Delia was traumatized, given that she was on the way to Reedy Creek campsite with all the gear for the horse ride we were supporting and seeing the car and trailer take off like that and going through the air….wow!!
Cut a long story short, she did get everything to Reedy Creek using AJ’s truck (I was in Sydney with our other Land Cruiser), and she had some terrific support from AJ and Bruce Williams, one of our riding guests…..thanks Bruce!! The camp fire got lit a little late, but they ended up getting the camp oven done nearly on time and a good night was had by all, again!!
Riding in the Snow
This winter we are introducing 1 day rides which will go to 1,600 metres in altitude. The permanent snowline is 1,500 metres so you will be almost guaranteed to be doing part of the ride in snow. This is an experience not to be missed, believe me. It is just so beautiful, the silence……
Last year, Tin Mine in the snow
The ride will take up to 7 hours so it is no “walk in the park” and you will know you have been out for the day, but the experience and enjoyment you get in return is well worth the effort. Check out our website for more details and book online or give us a call, we would love to go riding with you.
Snowy Wilderness on Facebook
Yes, I have bitten the bullet and set up a Facebook account for Snowy Wilderness, not too sure how to utilize it just yet but please visit our wall and say g’day, we would love to hear from you on our Facebook page.
Apologies to all our subscribers who did not receive our Summer 2010/2011 Newsletter, our email system had a glitch and around 250 subscriders did not receive the newsletter.
Well, I must get back to work and get ready for the coming winter, it looks like being a big one….see you all soon.
Warmest regards
Delia, Justin and the Snowy Wilderness team
Snowy Wilderness Resort
© 2011 – Snowy Wilderness | snowywilderness.com.au
Snowy Wilderness Spring Newsletter
The Horse Trek Season Begins
We have already completed 5 multi day horse treks this Spring (if you count the one in August) and they have all been terrific fun with the most enjoyable company….talk about having laughs. It never ceases to amaze me how groups of people from different backgrounds, geography, languages, whatever, can come together for a few days and immediately strike up a rapport, crack jokes, have fun, and absolutely enjoy each other’s company. Maybe it’s the mutual love of horses, the natural wilderness landscape, camping out, the camp fire, the evening cocktails, or a combination of all of these. Whatever it is, it is extremely satisfying seeing our guests go home with great memories they will hold onto forever.
Camp site fun
The weather has been amazing, except for one very windy and slightly scary night. We have had bright blue sky days with plenty of warmth and crisp nights with millions of stars in the sky. I have been riding in shirt sleeves for 2-3 weeks now. Even this weekend when we had over 60mm of rain and snow during Friday night, we started a perfect day riding in a few centimetres of snow with bright sunshine and we headed to the Reedy Creek area, where we were in mostly mild and warm conditions with good going under foot. The perfect “Man from Snowy River” day.
Fun in the wilderness
Water is cascading over the rocks in our creeks, and the crossings are a real feature of our treks at the present, there is so much water around with everything lush and green wherever you look.
We have many more multi day rides coming up and our calendar has never been as full. Our horses have come through the harsh winter in superb condition and have just put on their summer coats.
Riders on way up to Bella Vista
Our wild brumbies have also come through the winter in great shape and the first foal of the season was born just the other day.
So find some time in your busy schedule to come and join us for 2, 3, 4 days or more to go riding in the wilderness, or just come and relax in one of the High Country Lodges and do a day ride, it is the best way to get back to the real values in life
On the way up to Bella Vista
Hats and Boots
Well I have finally consigned my old Akubra hat to legend and retirement and am now busy shaping my new Akubra. For those of you not familiar with the Akubra brand, it is the Australian hat of choice for use in the Outback, there is no other alternative!!
It is critically important to get your new hat into shape as soon as possible, otherwise you can be and probably will be open to serious ridicule.
My Old Hat
Ways and methods of shaping your new hat include water shaping (perferred method), throw it in the horse feed, place it carefully under your horse and wait for nature to take it’s course, stomp on it, dance on it, pour your favourite beer on it, let Tin Mine (one of our brumby riding horses) chew on it overnight, give it to who you thought was your best friend to shape it (not advisable), or you can try some or all of the above methods.
The important thing is to get on with it and fast!!
My new hat is the Rough Rider style in Sand colour from Akubra and is really shaping up well, last Friday’s rain helped immensely. It went out on it’s first ride on the weekend and performed better than I expected.
New Hat - and look at what it has done!!
Boots are also an important part of dress style in the Outback/Wilderness as well as being a serious safety factor in horse riding. Out here at Snowy Wilderness boots need to be tough as our conditions can be harsh at times especially when your horse treads on your boot.
The new hat – and look what it has done!!
I personally choose to wear the Ariat brand of boot in the roper style. Other popular brands are R M Williams (popular with some well known Australian politicians), Baxters are a good reasonably priced boot, and Justin boots (no relation to me) from Texas.
My Annual pilgrimage to Mt. Kozzie
Well I mentioned in our Winter Newsletter that I would be doing my annual winter ski trek to the top of Mt Koskiuszko (the highest point in Australia at 2,228 metres or 7,310 feet) and you were all welcome to join me this year. Well guess what? yeah, I was all by myself again….. but I had an absolute ball. I discovered another small mountain, so good that I will probably just climb this one next year.
The cornice on the way up to Kozzie
When you start out from Thredbo, you think about all the snow and effort between you and Kozzie
and you really start questioning yourself as to whether it is really worth it. But as the trek progresses the better you feel about the commitment you have made, and when you finally get to the top of Australia and take in the view, and experience the incredible silence, you know you have done the right thing.
The Cornice on the way up to Kozzie
This trip I ski’d back on top of the spur that forms the massive cornice that you see on the way up to the mountain, this is where I saw this other peak at the end of the spur. I climbed to the top and had the best ski run down into the valley below the Ramhead range. It was a bit of a climb out over the Ramshead, but thoroughly worth every breath drawn.
Hey, I will be going back again next year, open invitation to you all……
Have a great Spring season and warmest regards from all of us at Snowy Wilderness….
www.snowywilderness.com.au
1800 218 171 1800 218 171
Well, the weather is nice and warm with the feeling of Spring definitely in the air. I’m riding horses most days in my shirt sleeves and getting that first glow of sun on the arms and face…YES I know you are meant to cover up, but I will never be that concientious.
Today I took the winter rugs off all the riding horses, we have the biggest high pressure system over the lower half of Australia and we are in for at least a week of balmy weather.
Bookings for our multi day horse treks are coming in thick and fast which is really good and healthy, it is the best start to the spring/Summer/Autumn season we have had. Bookings for our accommodation are also filling the resort up and we are looking forward to meeting more new faces as well as plenty of repeat guests.
Last weekend I did my pilgrimage to the top of Mt Kosciuszko and I just love it out there, so much snow, so much fun, and just the silence. I discovered a new mountain to ski down, just south east of Kozzie, so I’m going out again to just do that mountain, it has steep slopes ideal for carving new tracks!! Again, open invitation to anyone who wants to join me, probably this coming weekend.
We are looking forward to a busy Spring and Summer period with plenty of horse riding, private and corporate functions, great food and heaps of fun.
Warm regards
Justin
That’s right, late August 2010, and we have had constant snowfalls for nearly 2 weeks now, potentially making this September one of the best skiing months in recent years.
Snow at the Woolshed
Last night it snowed all the way down to Lake Jindabyne so the ski fields must have received a lot of dry snow.
Out at Snowy Wilderness we continue to get good precipitation, sometimes snow, more often rain showers. All the creeks are running strongly and the dams as full as I have seen them.
Justin going past Ramshead on the way to Koskiuszko
The views from our high acres are stunning with Mt Koskiuszko shining white with masses of snow. I cannot wait for my annual pilgrimage to the top to ski down our highest mountain and have fun in the main range. Anyone wanting to join me are welcome, we use skins on downhill ski’s all of which you can hire if you do not have the gear. Just call me on 1800 218 171 if you are interested…… bye for now
The 2nd of August 2010 and we are finally getting real snow. Perisher has reported 55cms and still going strong. It’s been snowing all day at the Wool Shed/Reception. August and early September look like being really good now and we are being swamped with bookings, so get on the website www.snowywilderness.com.au and get your accommodation secured.
Winter at the Woolshed
