Bargain and snow holiday don’t often go together, especially
when travelling with 2 children in the school holidays. We travelled by plane
to Melbourne Airport then the coach to Falls Creek. We stayed at Snow Ski
Resort in the Bowl. How much did this cost?
The Coach from Melbourne Airport to Falls Creek - 2 Adults
& 2 Children - $596 return
Accommodation at Snow ski apartments for 5 nights - $1695
So before you have even got your toboggan out it has so far
cost $2291 + flights.
The coach was very comfortable, and stopped at a really nice
and reasonably priced restaurant / cafe where you can pre order hot food and
pick it up straight away when you get inside. There were no toilets on the
coach so I was a bit concerned that there would be issues with the children,
but there weren’t. The Coach stopped twice on the 6 hour journey, once at the
restaurant and again at the depot at the bottom of the mountain, there you
could buy food and use the bathroom. On
the way back down the mountain I was glad for the stop at the bottom of the
hill, My Daughter was motion sick and crying. I had a bag ready, luckily it
wasn’t used but after a walk around the depot she was fine and we continued
back to the airport with no drama.
Once we arrived at Falls creek we were dropped off at the
transport gate, there were people and luggage everywhere it was hard to move
and no one seemed to know what they were doing. I found a staff member who was
pleasant and helpful. He gave me a map of the village and said the wait for the
over snow transport was going to be over an hour and our best bet would be to
walk. So with both kids and 4 suitcases we set off up the hill. The climb took
about 30 mins. Cant say I would do that again. If it was just the 2 of us I would
but it was hard for our son to drag a suitcase up a snow covered mountain!
However by not getting the over snow transport we saved $50. We also dragged
the suitcases down the hill the morning we left, that wasn’t too bad, total
saving there $100.
I would recommend sending 1 person on the over snow
transport (cost $33 one way) with all the suitcases with any children
under 5 (free) then the walk up the
mountain isn’t too bad especially if you don’t have to drag a suitcase. Also
there is a free chair lift to take you from the bottom of the hill up into the
bowl. Snow Ski Apartments is right next to the lift.
The accommodation looked pretty average, but it was warm,
clean and comfortable, although the bed was really hard. We were up 3 flights
of stairs so that was another challenge to drag the bags up there after
dragging them up the mountain. The manager did help with one of the suitcases
and came in and set the temperature. All the staff we came across during our
stay were very helpful and pleasant.
We hired toboggans, they were $30 each for a four night
hire. Well worth the investment, the kids loved them. At the opposite end of
the village there was a dedicated toboggan field, to get there you take the
free over snow bus, it looks like a tank. Then you get a regular mini bus the
rest of the way. It took about 20 mins to get over there including the waits
between buses.
We did not go skiing, the weather for the last 3 days was
really foggy and I didn’t feel comfortable to go skiing for the first time when
I couldn’t see really far and I was concerned the kids would get lost. To go
skiing for 2 days, including ski hire, lessons and lift passes was going to
cost close to $1000 to book through the travel agent. There are so many ski
hire places I am sure with a bit of leg work you could find a better deal. As
mentioned before there is a free lift from the bottom of the hill up to the
bowl, but it does say repeat riding requires a ticket, I didn’t see any tickets
being checked. Also that lift doesn’t go up to the top of the mountain, but it
goes higher enough for the new to skiing.
We filled in our day by going out in the morning on the
toboggans and throwing snow balls and making snow men and just playing in the
snow, we would come in for lunch and hang our suits in the drying cupboard then
head out again a few hours later.
Overall it was a great holiday and we will be going back in
a couple of years when the children are a bit older and we will be going skiing
this time.
Other Tips for saving money on this trip.
Hiring a snow suit is around $20 a day per person, depending
on how long you are going see if you can borrow or buy a second hand suit,
there are so many good ones out there as alot of people buy them and only use
them once or twice.
Use one of your suitcases for food that will travel, cans of
baked beans, canned vegetables etc, muesli bars, cereal, coffee, tea, sugar, 2 min
noodles, pasta.. anything you think you will need. There are 2 shops in the
village, the on half way down the mountain is super expensive, over $6 for a
packet of tim tams! The Foodworks at the bottom of the hill is cheaper but
everything is at a premium and there are no specials. We shopped there and then
got the free chair lift back up the hill. Snow ski also had some items in the
reception for sale. Surprisingly the price of milk was cheaper there. $4 for 2
lt, compared to $4.39 at the bottom of the hill.
Unless you plan on going to the snow a few times, rubber
boots with thermal socks will be fine. The kids had a pair of $15 Woolworths winter
boots, with 2 pairs of socks, the tops of the boots were not quite
waterproof but they were ok. I had a
pair of ankle high rubber boots, not the smartest move, as if you stepped in
deep snow your boots fill up, luckily the knee high thermal socks for snow were
quite water proof, so it took about an hour before my feet were wet and cold.
Next time we will get knee high rubber boots or proper snow boots.
See if you can find a private rental, it will probably be
alot cheaper.
