Kosciuszko

My brother Luke has a healthy obsession with cutting lines in the snow, which is unfortunate because we live in Queensland. Every few years he convinces us to take the 18-hour road trip to Jindabyne for ski season, and every time I forget how cold it was last time and stupidly agree.

This was Ollie’s first Smith Family Road Trip™, and I’m still surprised we didn’t scare him off. I’m also surprised that we only came home to one fine in the mail considering the number of toasted sandwich makers we had running off the generator in the back of the troopy going down the M1.

Us-two opted out of skiing and instead hired snowshoes to hike Charlotte’s Pass to Guthega, Dead Horse Gap near Thredbo, and some of the smaller frozen lakes. It was, unsurprisingly, gruelling work, but I only ate it a handful of times, which I’m counting as a win. It was pretty special to show Ollie proper snow for the first time, and to see parts of the National Park that most people don’t make it to in winter.

We camped in swags at our beloved Campsite 90, where we continued the family tradition of making absolute fools of ourselves in the communal kitchens while Queensland loses State of Origin. The boys took it to an entirely new level this year by stealing the fire straight out of the kitchen fireplace and dragging it back to our site in a cast iron pot. I think Ollie was officially adopted as the favourite son for participating in this heist.

It was cold (so, so cold), but I couldn’t ask for better company.

And I’m sure by the time the next trip rolls around, I’ll have convinced myself it wasn’t actually that bad.