Now is the Winter Summer of Your Discontent

2014 is the Chinese Year of the Horse. Following my receipt of the perfect Christmas gift, one that will help me refine my skills whilst providing hours of entertainment, I proclaim 2014 Richard's Year of the Grump ;-) The gift was a copy of the "Grumpy Cat" book that is full of tips, games and puzzles to hone my grumping skills. This instruction manual has already provided me with my New Year's resolution ;-)

The lead up to New Year in Thredbo was stunning. Cool temperatures under cloudless, blue skies and with a brisk breeze to keep the flies at bay. The first few days of 2014 were grey with even a little drizzle to maintain the theme of my New Year's resolution.

Today the weather is back to cool, breezy, cloudless, sunny days. If you're discontented with the 40C+ temperatures being experienced in other parts of OZ then Thredbo is the cure.

If you haven't already noticed, I'm trying something new in this report - bigger photos. I have compressed my photos to 800x600 rather than the previous smaller images of 640x480. It means more download but you will get to see more detail along with my mistakes. I have also made some changes for smaller devices in an attempt to make my reports easy to read but this may cause some issues on older browsers. Let me know if you prefer the new format or not. Come on, let those grumps out.

Summer Drift at the end of 2013

Signature Hill - note the crowds crossing the bridge
from where I usually take photos of the hill

Saturday Peak on the left and Balls-to-the-wall on the right

Abseiling beside Eagles Nest

New Year fireworks

The display was just after dusk so the kiddies could enjoy it too

Live music in the Village Square for the switch to 2014

First rays on Eagles Nest with a grey/pink backdrop

Central Spur

Grumpy Cat - a cool addition to any library

For next week the bureau is forecasting temperatures with a minus sign in front of them. Just as well we have global warming and that Australia's climate is warming so rapidly, otherwise it could be really cold here in Thredbo.

On the other side of the coin, for those who don't believe we will all be dead from global warming within a few years, here is some interesting information from two credible German scientists who claim that 'the global temperature will drop until 2100 to a value corresponding to the little ice age of 1870'. If the Germans are correct, you may look forward to some much improved snow seasons in the future.

Speaking of snow seasons, I finally put away my skis after my last ski for 2013 completing my 85th day skiing in Australia for the year.

Walking out behind Eagles Nest this morning I noticed a lot of Brumby poo very close behind Eagles Nest. I guess it is just a matter of time before close encounters of the Man-From-Snowy-River kind.

Whether we are about to die from global warming or not ... Happy New Year to all my slightly warped readers. And remember, if you are feeling good and optimistic about 2014, a copy of "Grumpy Cat" can fix that.