Snow!

We made it to Lake Mountain finally! For non-Melbournians, Lake Mountain (just outside Marysville) is the closest place to go for snow from Melbourne. It is for cross country skiing only, being not steep enough or high enough for downhill skiing. Most people just go for "snow play" and tobogganing, so the ski trails are usually very quiet, apart from the sssh sssh of the skis on the snow.

The children and I are big fans of XC skiing and wish we could go more often - but the snow at Lake Mountain is not very consistent and the other places to go are twice as far away at least.

These trees are snow gums and are dead. All the trees on Lake Mountain are dead - snow gums regenerate by shooting from the ground, unlike other gum trees that reshoot all up their trunks. So all the trees destroyed by the 2009 bush fires will stay until they fall down, while the new trees grow around them. There are a lot of new trees growing slowly - just not in this photo.

Get a bigger view of the trees

And here are some more snow gums, with a bit of colour!