Happy New Year 2011

Well another Xmas has passed by and it's time for all the life changing & good living things we promise to do every year...
It was a great Xmas - we actually saw snow and didn't even have to travel to the UK!
We had a quick visit to beautiful Bright - a quick break before the Xmas rush. It was very cold and wet with lots of flooding but snow was the last thing we expected to see.
On a wet night sitting at the brewery sipping a few of the local ales I heard the guy from the local ski hire shop say there was a metre of snow on Mt Hotham.
At first I thought it was the Bright Ale kicking in but when I heard it again I thought, "I have to see that"!
As we sat huddled under heaters at the Bright brewery chatting about the good old days the ski hire bloke was talking about snow-boarding on Mt Hotham the following day - no way, this is Xmas in Australia when the temperatures are in the top 20's!
So, up to Mt Hotham the next day it was!
The fog was as thick as pea soup, a sheer drop over the side with no barriers - it must be scary in the depths of winter when on the orange poles in the sides of the roads are visible to mark the edge of the road.
We kept on going & what a surprise when we started seeing cars coming the other way with snow on their windscreen! Then we reached Mt Hotham resort - unbelievable!! The snow had drifted on the sides of the road to almost a metre deep.
Quickly we stopped the car on the side of the road (tested the abs brakes) and jumped out into the snow like 2 kids at Xmas... the way we knew it - it was awesome - 2 weeks from Xmas and here we where in snow - in Australia!
The weather remained miserable until it was our last day when it got into the top 20's.
We made up for it by visiting a few wineries and the Mt Buffalo berry farm is a must stop if your up that way - they have a small vineyard and their 9 year old Shiraz at $20 a bottle is a good buy. Next time I'm buying a box of it!
Last year was a quiet one for getting out on bike trips & 2011 might be the same. We're off to England & Hong Kong this year and a new contract that might involve a bit of travel - we'll see.
Hope everyone had a great Xmas & New Year - see you on the road.