An Election Special

Hey, it's been around 8 weeks that we have had to endure this election campaign and everyone has got on board somewhere somehow. Why should I be any different?

This special election report is totally without prejudice or bias or any intention to try and affect the way you will vote. It is merely a light-hearted look at what will no doubt alter our lives after next Saturday. So why not have a laugh now, in case you wake up in tears next Sunday morning.

Firstly, who to vote for?
• The Mickey Mouse party
• Donald Duck and his quacks
• Elmer Fudd & the shooters
• Daffy Duck
• Independently Goofy
• The Bugs Bunny vegan party
• Boy, I say boy, what about Foghorn Leghorn
• Wile E. Coyote and the road runners party

Will it make a difference?
I heard the following quote on QI:
The people who cast the votes decide nothing
The people who count the votes decide everything

I'm sure some in Western Australia would agree after votes went missing in the last federal election. But disregarding any criminal activity I believe every vote does make a difference, especially votes for the senate and especially votes for the house of reps if you are in a swinging seat.

How to vote?
Speaking of criminality: anyone thinking of "voting often" as heard in that old saying "vote early, vote often" will be committing a Federal Offence.

Talking of "voting early": I encourage anyone thinking of voting in Thredbo next Saturday to vote early. I don't want to have to queue when I vote late :-)

Is it a one-horse race?
You've all heard the saying "a one horse race", well I heard on TV last week Malcolm Turnbull saying he is the "stable choice" but I think Mr Ed is the "stable" choice ;-)

On a more serious side, I have, as I always do, done a lot of research into who is standing for the House of Reps and the Senate. I found the following web page really good for finding out about all those standing for the Senate in NSW. http://www.abc.net.au/news/federal-election-2016/guide/snsw/ as the page contains links to candidates' own web sites.

Items of note found during my research are:
1. "polywell". I had never heard of it before and why haven't we been hearing a lot more about it? I found it at: http://www.dlp.org.au/policies/energy/polywell-plasma-fusion/.

2. There are 2 parties prepared to let the general population decide on issues voted upon in parliament: Online Direct Democracy and Voteflux.org - This is a first as far as I know.

3. Then there was a video that certainly raised some concerns about the future of the freedom of speech in Australia: http://riseupaustraliaparty.com/our-policies/freedom-of-speech/

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Now that you have endured the above, here are some shots from this morning after Snowgums chair and Antons T-bar opened for the first time this season.

Meadows natural snow depth

Looking from Antons across Central Spur towards Sponars

Looking back up to the top of Antons T-bar

Looking down towards the base of Sponars T-bar

Looking back up Sponars T-bar - yes there are no Ts on yet

Merritts Creek - far from covered in snow

Snow play area, Snowgums chair and Sundance this afternoon

Crackenback, The Bluff and Supertrail this afternoon

The Basin T-bar is scheduled for opening tomorrow. That just leaves Karels, Sponars and Ramshead ;-)

I encountered many rocks under the surface whilst traversing above Merritts Falls to Antons this morning. Yesterday I got a surprise when I went down Sundance (no closed sign) because it was beautifully groomed at the top but once around the corner under Merritts chair it was anything but. As the ski patrol often says - "beware early season obstacles".

Antons was nice until everyone else realised it was open. Hazards exist here off piste as well. And I noticed a crevasse opening up behind me as I went down Q5 - which is really just a pile of large boulders in the summertime, not a smooth grassy slope.

A local (name withheld) said he thought there could be upwards of 75cms of new snow over the next week. The forecasts are all over the place but at the moment Thursday/Friday looks good and next Wednesday, that will probably move to next Thursday/Friday because that already looks like the pattern this year.

I have no news on the basin brumby. However I received varying stories on what travelling to Dead Horse Gap is like.

Public school holidays for ACT and NSW start on Saturday. Consider yourself warned.