Thredbo is the perfect spot for a family summer holiday
WHEN you think of summer holidays, the Gold Coast or Noosa might come to mind. But this spot? It wouldn’t even be in your top 50.
THINK top family summer holiday hot spots in Australia and the Gold Coast, Noosa or Sydney may be on your wishlist.
But Thredbo, the famous ski village, at the foot of Australia’s highest summit Mount Kosciuszko? Wasn’t in my top 50.
It’s about five and a half hours from Sydney, and what a revelation!
If you love challenging your family with an action-packed calendar of events and activities such as fishing, abseiling, climbing, skateboarding, trampolines, waterslides and bobsleds, all set among the stunning great outdoors, this place is for you.
Who knew beneath all that winter snow lay a summer playground with so much on offer for the young, and the young at heart?
TAKE A LOAD OFF
How often as parents do we go on a family holiday, only to swap one kitchen for another? This trip had me at ‘fully catered’.
We stayed just 100 metres from the Kosciuszko Express Chairlift, and the only effort needed when it came to food in this beautifully designed ski lodge was enjoying it.
Chef/manager Carolyn Major cooks breakfast to order, packs picnic lunches as required and serves up a stupendous three course meal for adults nightly.
#CONQUERKOZZIE
At 2,228 metres above sea level, Mount Kosciuszko is Australia’s highest mountain and it seems criminal to visit Thredbo in summer without making the trek to the summit. It’s easier said than done when you have a five-year-old in tow!
The hike is not difficult — a moderately challenging 13 kilometre round trip — and the scenery and views are spectacular. But if you are walking with kids, come prepared.
Luckily for us the sun shone like a perfect powder day in winter, and through a mixture of cajoling, carrying and chocolate treat bribery, we made it to the peak.
Thredbo has an extensive range of guided and self-guided walks for all experience levels, including the Mt Kosciuszko Full Moon Walk, which takes walkers through breathtaking scenery, in the great outdoors. It’s a fabulous invigorating outing to tick off the family’s bucket list.
GET YOUR PEDAL MOJO ON
Thredbo is spending much energy in ensuring it is Australia’s premiere alpine mountain bike destination, and it seems to be working.
At the November weekend opening of the 2017 season, 350 riders descended on the mountain, to make the ten kilometre descent vial the All-Mountain, gravity and cross country trails to the valley floor.
The resort rents bikes, and holds daily clinics, lessons and sessions for riders of every age and ability including Thredbo Gravity Girls, an awesome sounding women’s clinic, designed to help women of every age, find their mojo on two wheels.
EAT YOUR HEART OUT, JAMAICAN BOBSLED TEAM
If you love going downhill fast, the Thredbo bobsled is a 700-metre luge track that winds down the mountain, complete with snake bends, twists and turns. Great fun for big and small kids alike. Just be prepared for the kids to want to go on again. And again.
60 YEARS OLD & 20 YEARS ON
2017 marks two momentous occasions in the history of Thredbo, home to 250 permanent residents: its 60th birthday, and 20 years since the 1997 landslide disaster that claimed 18 lives.
“A generation has passed since the tragedy and while we will never forget, our community is intent on moving forward,” says Suzie Diver, communications manager, who has lived at Thredbo for more than 20 years. “We love this place and think Thredbo has so much to offer year-round.”
The 300,000 people forecast to visit this summer alone, including my family of five, completely agree.
Alex Speed travelled as a guest of Boali Lodge and Thredbo Village.