The Chrissy Card

So I had this idea that it would be cool to hike up to a summer snow drift and get a photo of Holly and I with our santa hats on for Christmas. I had been thinking about it for months, but as is often the case I left it until the last week before the big day.

Unfortunately, the day we had planned to get the shot was the start of a rare summer snow storm. I thought that we could sneak up just before the storm hit. We drove up to Perisher. The weather was starting to turn so I grabbed some wet weather gear from work for Holly and I. Holly looked quite the part as a ranger.




We parked at the Charlottes turning circle and made the trek down to the Snowy River crossing. The rainfall that we had been getting was evident when we got to the crossing. The usually navigable stepping stones were under around 20cm of water. We took our shoes off, rolled up our trousers and hit the water.

The water was freezing, my feet were numb within 2 seconds of being in. Not wanting to prolong the pain I legged it across the stepping stones to the other side. Once there I turned around to check on Holly. I think it was at this moment that it began to snow.

Holly was stuck in the middle of the river. She had forgone the stepping stones and was taking on the full depth of the swollen river.




She eventually made it to the other side but the damage was done. The weather was setting in and we made the decision to return to the car. So back across the river we went. This time I stayed with Holly and helped her get across. We got our shoes back on and climbed heart break hill back to the car. Holly was having a great time…




We made it home cold and wet. We spent a few hours warming up and chilling out. The weather began to clear and I somehow convinced Holly to have another crack at the Christmas photo.

We had tried to find an old hut a few weeks but had gotten lost (another story). I had done some research in the time since and thought it would be a good photo op. We got our gear together and hit the road again.

The first 2km to the hut is a steep winding climb that tested our fitness. As we were walking a beautiful rainbow appeared over the valley which brightened our spirits.




We made it to the hut in under two hours. It was beautiful, with a bright red door and surrounded by rain drenched mountain eucalypts.




We quickly posed for our photo and hit the track for the return journey. When we got home I spent some time on the lapppy designing our chrissy photo. I am pretty happy with the results!




Postscript
When I got to work on Monday the entire valley was blanketed with a fresh layer of snow. The date was the 20th of December, pretty much a white Australian Christmas!