Falls Creek

...we found ourselves headed for Falls Creek!

Falls Creek is located in North East Victoria (that's the state down the bottom under Sydney) about 5 hours drive from Victoria's Capital city, Melbourne. For my friends and I it's about a 14-hour drive from Sydney. The story goes that its rare to have to put on tyre chains but we had to put ours on, this could have something to do with it being the middle of winter though! There are service ...
...guessed I went down to Falls for Skiing and boarding (two separate holidays) but it is also a summer tourist area. Aside from just enjoying nature and it is a scenic area, there are also lots of summer events organised, like wine tasting. The area is also heavily promoted as a family place, and suggests such activities as visiting an old cattle hut. There is also the obvious activity of walks and your standard such as ten pin bowling.

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I'm a Sydney girl and growing up had always been to the snowfields just out of Canberra (not so many hours from Sydney) so just after a break up a group of friends suggested I needed a week away and suddenly we found ourselves headed for Falls Creek!

Falls Creek is located in North East Victoria (that's the state down the bottom under Sydney) about 5 hours drive from Victoria's Capital city, Melbourne. For my friends and I it's about a 14-hour drive from Sydney. The story goes that its rare to have to put on tyre chains but we had to put ours on, this could have something to do with it being the middle of winter though! There are service stations as you start to enter the area that will hire chains and add anti freeze to your car if you haven't already sorted that out. It's compulsory to carry chains if driving up the windy road.

You can also get a train to Albury (on the border of NSW and Victoria) and the train has a connecting coach service. Albury also has a tiny airport, which has a connecting coach service too. I once flew into Albury airport and its such a small airport that your bags are loaded onto a cart and left on the side of the runway for you to pick up!

Now if you haven't guessed I went down to Falls for Skiing and boarding (two separate holidays) but it is also a summer tourist area. Aside from just enjoying nature and it is a scenic area, there are also lots of summer events organised, like wine tasting. The area is also heavily promoted as a family place, and suggests such activities as visiting an old cattle hut. There is also the obvious activity of walks and your standard such as ten pin bowling.

Now in case you forgot Australia has opposite seasons to the UK so ski season at Falls (as we Aussies call it, always too lazy to use a full name) so our ski season is June/July/August and snow levels vary each year with eager skiers keeping an eye on the weather reports with fingers crossed! Last year (2005) most of the advanced level runs were opened in June. Falls also has a fake snow machine to help things along..

There is of course a ski/board school at Falls and the first time I went down I was with a bunch of snowboarders so a girlfriend and I decided to try it out. We hired a private tutor to teach the both of us, lucky for us he was cute (no one could figure out why I was so reluctant to let go and board on my own) and Falls is a small enough resort that we saw our instructor while we were out dancing. Not the instructors fault but it turns out we weren't meant for boards and on one occasion found ourselves taking the lift back down (how embarrassing) and so the next time we went down (a year later) we signed up for ski lessons. They do advertise that you can use the chairlift for a scenic ride but I think we gave ourselves away by our big snowboards.

I had skied before, but it was a long time ago and I was not confident at all. So my friend (the same one as last time!) and I bought a lift pass for the day that included a 2 hour lesson and use of the lifts on the easier runs. I just checked on their website and this pass costs $77 for a day or $145 for two days. This is in a class situation and we found ourselves with about ten other people. At all times the instructor kept an eye on each of us so that if we took a spill there was someone to help. Not (ehem) that I took any spills.. There are other varieties of this package depending on your level and how many days you are after.

If you've already got the skills you can just buy straight lift passes which will set you back from $33 for a half day child to $1347 for a family 7 day pass, with lots of choices in between. There are also lift and rental (equipment) packages (from one of the many rental stores, all pretty much the same price)which is $96 for the child half day and $643 being the most expensive for an adult 7 day pass. No one ever said skiing was cheap! One way to save a bit of cash is to rent your skis and things outside of the resort, but that does come with the pain of lugging it all everywhere. I put good value for money below as if you are in Australia on the pound its quite cheap! But ski resorts anywhere arent really known for being budget locations!

The runs you ask. Indeed the runs. Now like any ski resort there is a variety of levels from easy to scary and variety of ways to get up to the top. Falls has pomma bars (those crazed things you stick in between your legs) chairlifts and t-bars. There is also the option of cute instructors and first aiders riding about on ski-dos for lifts. We had no luck on that one though, must have been the goggles hiding us. The runs all come colour coded and shape coded (don't go on a diamond run if its your first day) and come also with names. I found myself on the wombat run a lot, it was wide and gentle, nice run.

Falls also has cross-country runs, again from easy to hard and most runs allow snowboarders on them. There is also some night skiing on the main runs, well lit up.

One great thing that I love about Falls Creek, and it's a novelty in Australia is that you can (if you are a good enough skier!) ski straight to your lodge doorstep. I didn't manage this one on the snowboard but was so proud the first time I skied to the door - "Did you see that guys?"

What to do aside from hit the slopes? During the ski season Falls has a few events on. I was there once for a yearly snowboarding competition, it was quite scary to see what some of them could do! There are ski races also held. There are shops in Falls, mostly selling warm clothing and souvenirs, or food. There is also a movie theatre with one screen that runs slightly behind movies.

Now the real question.. how is the nightlife? Well like any ski resort I have ever come across Falls is a different world. Cheesy pop music and great times. There are a few bars and more restaurants and can I use the word variety again? Pizza, Aussie food (whatever that is), home cooked meals, pub food, Middle eastern, Asian, yes one thing Australia is very good for is its wide variety of food. We will eat anything. We will also drink anything, there is a takeaway (we call it a "bottle-o") if you feel like avoiding that cheesy pop music, a wine bar, pubs and disco. And if you overindulge there is an "Après Taxi" service offered at $5 a person. Not such a bad idea as I do have a memory of me walking home and suddenly finding myself flat on the ground, in the snow. Damn cheesy pop music bars. I marked this good below, but its not something I could go to all the time but for holiday fun its great.

Off that topic completely is the kiddies. If you take kids Falls is ready for them. There's a children's ski school, listings of child friendly restaurants and ski shops, there is even a section on the website with "Tips from Local Mums". Tips include such things as how to cope with car sickness when driving up the mountain (its very windy road) and keep those kiddies rugged up. There are also facilities for childcare.

Which reminds me, I almost forgot tobogganing. I used to love this as a kid and there is a toboggan run at Falls. You can also hire toboggans.

As with any ski resort there is a wide wide variety of accommodation available, in variety of prices and stars. You can stay on the mountain, or off the mountain. I wont go too much into accommodation as really its an impossible area to cover but both times I stayed at ski lodges and hired out dorm rooms with my friends. One place I stayed at a guy I used to date turned out to be the chef! Lots of places have spas and you can chose between self catering or catered, big or small, hotel or lodge...

Falls creek have both a summer and a winter website which link to each other (below) with amazing amounts of information on surely anything you could ever need to know (not of course that I have missed a single thing!) .

In the end what do I think? I love Falls. I think it's a bit of a sentimental vote as I went down with a great group of friends each time and I am also won over by the ski to your door thing. It runs over several mountains and seems much bigger than our other choice for skiing. It also came with the exoticness (before I started travelling) of being located in a different state to me! One thing to keep in mind if headed to Falls in Winter- it is Australia and we don't get flooded in snow!
 

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