Monday, Nov 07, 2011 at 13:34
We spent the whole ski season free camped near the mountains last year. A few points first:
get in early and buy the early bird lift pass. Fantastic value if you spend a season there.
A dometic diesel heater or the like is brilliant and kept us toasty - but only use alpine diesel as normal diesel gels in the heater and stops working at about 1 degree celcius.
I wish we'd set up the tent or an awning now so that we could have left the ski boots etc in there overnight instead of trying to keep them in the caravan.
If going to Thredbo or Perisher -
The
camping and parks annual permit for Kosciosko is necessary. It's fairly cheap, and good value. There are two campsites very close to Thredbo that you can
camp from. I think from memory they were only about a 10 minute drive from Thredo - making Thredbo the resort of choice (in my opinion). They were also only about a kilometer drive from the ski tube up to Perisher, but that meant also buying a ski tube pass, and having to find somewhere to leave your stuff up at the mountain while you're skiing.
The
campsite at
Thredbo Diggings (and another one only a few kilometers down the road) are both beautiful and easily accessible. The main problem is that you can only stay at one for three weeks, and then move to the other one. You can just keep moving between the two, but because it does get snow there you'd have to be careful about when you move so that you aren't moving on a day when there is snow on the roads.
There are drop-
toilets provided, but no running
water. It is on the
Snowy River, though, so if you have a hose and a 12v pump you'd be right.
If you go to Mt Hotham -
Victoria Falls campground at Cobungra is half-way between
Omeo and Mt Hotham. It is beautiful, and at 30km from Mt Hotham it's about a 30 minute drive up to the ski slopes. Again, you'll need to buy an annual resort entry pass as
well as your ski lift pass.
There is no running
water, but there is a clean river that you can get
water from. There are drop
toilets.
JB Plains Hut is 2km from
Dinner Plain, 8km from Hotham BUT it is walk-in
camping only. Even if you could get an RV in, your
water pipes would freeze up as it has snow coverage there for most of the season.
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Follow Up By: bazjes - Monday, Nov 07, 2011 at 19:25
Monday, Nov 07, 2011 at 19:25
guys i really didnt expect such a detailed reply.... thanx heaps gives me lots to work with. now my rig is a 37ft coach deck out as a camper will size b any problem at these campgrounds
baz
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Follow Up By: Livin On The Road - Monday, Nov 07, 2011 at 19:43
Monday, Nov 07, 2011 at 19:43
Sorry, kind of turned into a mini essay.
Cobungra you should be able to get in to, but careful it is dry weather access only.
At Thredbo there are two, there is
Thredbo Diggings and another that's name escapes me.
Thredbo Diggings should be OK, but the other one you wouldn't manage. As there is the two or three week time limit you may struggle. The
ranger considers leaving even for one day as sufficient, but I don't know where you'd go for that one day.
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Follow Up By: bazjes - Tuesday, Nov 08, 2011 at 07:24
Tuesday, Nov 08, 2011 at 07:24
I may be through that area end of feb so I'll cheak it out before hand ....keep the essay comming I am starting to read ur blog so I may have more ? Ask thanx again
as I will be needing to keep 7 kids plus mun and myself happy with the gagets so solar is the thing I'm reserching now. Ur blog on solar ..... Do u have anymore info that will help or that u would xo if u had to set up solar again.... I have a seperate house bank of 210 ah 12 v system with a 1000 inverter;)
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Follow Up By: Livin On The Road - Tuesday, Nov 08, 2011 at 08:19
Tuesday, Nov 08, 2011 at 08:19
We found at the snow that we needed to run the generator for a couple of hours during the day quite often because even though we have 600w of solar panels and 500 amp of batteries, it was winter and the batteries got low running the diesel heater almost all the time. We've got a 2000 inverter, but it sucks the power and drains the batteries too much.
Hmmm, doing something different? Jarrad's asleep at the moment, and as an electrician he does all of that stuff. He's made a few changes though while we've been in the caravan. We started off with only 3 solar panels, and now we've got 5. We started off with 400 amp of batteries (2 * 200 rather than 4 * 100) and now we've got 500 amp. He's also permanently mounted the inverter, so we can just flick the switch to it.
Recently we got an anderson plug (wouldn't have been any use at the snow) so we can bake a loaf of bread in the bread maker while we're driving (we have 4 coeliacs in the family).
Ask as much as you want, or if you see something on a blog post that raises a question., leave a comment and I'll reply as soon as I can. Happy to help.
Oh, and 7 kids completely explains my initial astonishment at such a big rig! They'll love it if you spend the ski season there. Our kids still talk about staying at Cobungra for 10 weeks as being their favourite part of our trip.
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Follow Up By: bazjes - Tuesday, Nov 08, 2011 at 14:00
Tuesday, Nov 08, 2011 at 14:00
once again thanx heaps for the info....
so i gather
Thredbo diggings is a better location ie close to ski tube but need to move camps...
did u need to move when at cobungra...we also have a partner with coeliacs.
our rig is a ex Harrettville tour coach/rock band tour/queen of the nullabour tour coach still has 12 origional reclining coach seats with classic jet air and reading lights that all work twin u shap lounge area easly sits 10 also roof platform design to pitch tents full gas stove/oven/double sink and so on............
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Follow Up By: Livin On The Road - Tuesday, Nov 08, 2011 at 15:42
Tuesday, Nov 08, 2011 at 15:42
Thredbo Diggings may or may not be "better" ... it is very close to Thredbo. The ski tube is for accessing Perisher as it is quite a drive from
Thredbo Diggings to Perisher itself. (I've described them more here:
thredbo diggings )
Cobungra you don't have to move at all. We stayed there for 10 weeks. There is a little deli called Mountain Kitchen at Dinnerplain that does gluten free
well, but like anything else gluten free it's not cheap.
Suonds like you've got more room for the 9 of you than we've got for the 6 of us :)
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Follow Up By: bazjes - Thursday, Nov 10, 2011 at 19:39
Thursday, Nov 10, 2011 at 19:39
Again thanx , i googled maps and now i understand the location better thanks...
i ski bumed in st anton austria for two season in my teens and cant get spending the money for only 6 days so thats my reasoning to do as u guys have done....
this time though with 7 kids....
now how did u go with both ski and clothing gear. did u hire or buy..........ive found heaps of seconds through op shops but looking pretty retro i must say ..
your though.............
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