Seasons Greetings

The "season" varies depending where you are and who you are. For a little contrast I give you photos from Niseko care of Rosco and a touch of green somewhere other than Thredbo.

Rosco reports that a new rope tow has been installed at the top of Hanazono 2 to drag weary, unfit, lazy skiers and boarders back to the Hirafu side of the mountain. There are also reports of many new restaurants and bars. I wonder how many old ones have disappeared?

I hope Santa was good for you. On the news I hear there is a bit of a controversy between Italy and Turkey over the bones of St Nicholas. Surely not! How could this be when Santa lives at the North Pole?

I spent a quiet and pleasant time with family in Sydney over Xmas. I hadn't been to Sydney for sometime and upon my return it was obvious that many Sydney-siders had not driven out of the city in a long time. The roads out of Sydney were busy and scary. Scary because of the number of sleepy or drunk or stupid drivers I encountered. I saw cars driving onto the wrong side of double lines, cars towing caravans or boats with one wheel off the tarmac and all travelling above 100kph. Even when on an expressway with a limit of 110, you don't want to be dragging a wheel in the grass. Unfortunately the new police "eye in the sky" will not be able to pull over and warn these drivers, nor those I saw throwing cigarette butts out of their car windows. As usual the almighty dollar is more important then having police patrolling amongst the punters.

In over 1200 kms of driving in the past week, I saw one police car.

Yotei zan (photo by Rosco)

"Santa" is in the eye of the beholder depending where you are (photo by Rosco)

Rosco's ice aquarium

Ramshead (as we call it) before opening for season 2009-2010 in Hirafu

A little rain and sun and up pops a crop of rollers in Murrumbateman

Rather than breeding sheep, some farmers have taken to breeding rollers
Sort of headless, legless sheep for vegetarians ;-)

Thredbo is warm and a little humid but nothing compared to Sydney. There is a good crowd in town and a lot of bike riders on the Alpine Way. My Christmas surprise was to see the "pass-holders" lane open on the Alpine Way. Well done. May be it can stay open? Please?

Happy New Year to all. More updates and more grumps coming soon if not before 2010.