Eagles Nest Restaurant...and the Wicked Witch of Thredbo

So Leonie landed herself 2 jobs!  One of which required her to travel 2000 meters way up there, she had to prepare to protect herself from the elements... You know wind, snow, ice, freezing temperatures!!!! What was she getting herself into???

OK so it was time to change her Summer wardrobe of sarongs, bikini's and harem pants to big and bulky snow gear???? Thank goodness Winter is only 3 months!!!

Let the new job at 'Eagles Nest' Begin!

Below is Leonie's first pair of snow pants!

Leonie Modelling the latest snow gear! Apres boots and snow pants!

Upon Leonie's first day at work she was told that she would be fed on her breaks??? Ummm try poisoned on her breaks! Leonie learnt quick smart that the food up there wasn't going to sustain her energy and keep her healthy, so she quickly traded 'their idea of food' for her own, and food that she could find in the local IGA at Thredbo.

Below is Leonie's lunch box consisting of nuts, fruit and a carrot! The food had to be quick to bite and quick to chew, because there was no such thing as a promised break!! WTF??? 

Quick run down of a conversation

Owner (The Wicked Witch of Thredbo): "We don't take breaks, so why should you"??? WTF (again) 

Leonie: "Hang on a minute, its illegal to not give breaks"! 

Owner (The Wicked Witch of Thredbo): "Yes but if you don't work through, we'll find someone else, you have to work through"! 

Hmmmmmmm.... this is slave labour! No respect, no love or gratitude!!!

It's understandable for owners to work their asses off for their businesses, but the employees should be looked after...properly!!! After all, without them...what does a business have?

After that realisation, we wondered how long this was going to last for???

Anyway back to Leonie's packed lunch...while she worked at the famous 'Eagles Nest Resturant'.

The best part of Leonie's day was the 20 minutes it took to get to work and the 20 minutes leaving work....

It was a time of reflection, of how magical this place really is, especially when you have a wonderful ride to and from work way up there in the clouds!!! 

Leonie on top of the world...Well ok 2000mtrs up :)

Below is a pic of the 'get of your ride and go to work moment', its also 'quick jump on before the wicked witch of Thredbo stops you from having any ounce of happiness'......

Below are the moments that say, 'life is truly magical and should be lived with respect for yourself and everyone around you'. But Leonie wasn't getting that in 'Eagles Nest Restaurant'.

How could it be with so much natural beauty around, that there inside the nest was 'Greed'! Everything they could take from you, they would! Was it balance or was it a test for Leonie???

Below Leonie sharing her ride from the nest to the village....

Below is a pic of Leonie's glorious moment where she quit working for The Wicked Witch of Thredbo, it was a moment where Leonie knew she was worth more than what she was receiving from these people, and a moment that would change her life forever. Take note of the clear blue sky.... Yup that's the moment where Leonie discovered more self worth!!!

Blood on the snow.... Not Leonie's though! No its not The Wicked Witch of Thredbo either.... It's animal blood! Some little fury animal had a feast last night!

The mountain is a forever changing landscape, day to day everything just changes....

Below is the 2000mtr drop that takes you from the nest to the village....

Deep down into the Village....

Below is Leonie's moment where she had just handed in her notice! Looking a little tired and worse for ware...BUT don't be fooled by the tiredness, for in this moment is developing a strength that takes her into herself! 

Anyone visiting Thredbo, knows it really is a magical place to be! Just remember that at the top of the Kosciusko Express Chair Lift sits a restaurant called 'Eagles Nest'. Here you will find owners that are greedy, a very dirty kitchen that doesn't get cleaned, and the food is so bad your belly will expand with gas in a second (and will need a good cleanse after!). 

Visit the top for magical beauty but enter 'Eagles Nest Restaurant' at your own risk!!! 

Leonie is very happy to say the decision to quit the 'Nest' was the best one ever! 

Subsequently...she was instantly rewarded with more hours (and better conditions) at the best restaurant in Thredbo "Jean Michel at The Knickerbocker".

Thredbo Landslide of 97! Does everyone remember??

On the 30 July 1997 at 11:40pm a section of the road above Thredbo collapsed, causing the destruction of two buildings and the loss of 18 lives. Most of you will remember those harrowing images of the rescuers searching day and night for survivers....and miraculously pulling out 'Stuart Diver' alive after almost 3 days under the rubble.

Here is the official 'Memorial Walk' Dom took (while Leonie worked) of the whole story.....

The start of the "Memorial Walk'. Starts at the valley terminal, and passes along the Thredbo River to where the bobsledding track is.

Directly opposite a point near the bobsled track shows the landslide site. You can see the exact place where the landslide hit in the two pics below. See there in between the buildings? There is a top level (above the road) and then the lower level (which shows the memorial platform). Here stood Bimbadeen  Ski Lodge, above was the Carinya Ski Lodge. Both gone in seconds....you can now see the grassy regeneration in place.

This is the spot from where Dom took the above two photos, and is the exact spot where the media covered the reporting from.

After following the above track down to Friday Drive, Dom followed Bobuck Lane up the hill to the disaster site.

Just passed the disaster site, looking upwards from Bobuck Lane towards the Apline Way (the top road that collapsed that night), you can still see the floor foundation of Carinya Ski Lodge amongst the shrubs.

This pic shows the reinforced retaining wall that was completed on the Apline Way after the landslide.

Upward view showing local shrubs and regeneration that was planted after the landslide...as part of the recovery.

A view from Bobuck Lane looking down to the 'Memorial Site' where Bimbadeen Ski Lodge once stood. The tragedy occurred late at night when most residents where in bed. Over 2000 cubic metres of liquified soil took barely a few seconds to move 250 metres. The Carinya Ski Lodge was pushed downhill with such force that it crossed Bobuck Lane and ploughed into Bimbadeen Ski Lodge, causing the buildings total collapse. 

The wall of Bobuck Lane that was remade after the landslide. You can see in the pic where the newer wall starts just near the first post, as opposed to the older grey-er wall towards the right side.

The "Memorial Site' was created with 18 posts...to commemorate the 18 lost lives from the disaster. You can see some of these post below.

Below is the view looking down from the 'Memorial Site' to where the Bimbadeen Ski Lodge ended up. Now it is all overgrown with grass and shrubbery. It's a miracle that none of the below buildings were affected.

View of the landslide looking up towards Bobuck Lane. Dom walked around on the grass there. It still doesn't feel that 100% solid.

Below is an example of the drainage pipes that was put in place down through the Thredbo Village to allow water run off from the mountains. This was one of the main reasons that the landslide occurred. Water run-off helped make the ground unstable and contributed greatly to the damage. This drain runs out onto Bobuck Lane in the exact place where the landslide happened (in between the two ski lodges. Makes you wonder if this can happen again? Even with the pipes now in place, there is still constant water running off??

This the 'Gabion Walls' up on the Alpine Way which was put in place as part of the work to stabilise the area after the disaster. It's interesting how these are created. Each wire basket is linked together and hand filled with rocks until they are full. Apparently this allows water to run-off through the rocks but also, when full, each wire basket securely sits in place. They are all wired to the concrete up on the Alpine Way or to the wall matter behind them.

Remember these were hand filled and go as far as the eye can see below the Alpine Way and also up on the opposite side of the road too. 

This is view from the 'Memorial Site' towards to majestic skiing mountains of Thredbo Village, and also Mt Kosciusko. You can see the snow-capped tops after some minus temperatures lately. The 'Memorial Site' is a place for quiet reflection, and although the immediate surroundings remind you of the horror and devastation...the mountain views fill you with hope and a little bit of serenity.

And so we come to the end...hopefully they have learnt from this terrible event, and it shall never happen again here.

Back into NSW for an unexpected turn...

Bye, Bye beautiful coast....will see you in the spring time....

OMG look how F***ing cold it is!!! Its winter, yup and mornings are a real treat getting out of the car and making our way to HOT HOT HOT showers!!! See below pic of our temperature gauge!

We are now in Jindabyne, known affectionately as part of the Snowies or The Snowie Mountains. An amazing place....a place where we have decided to park our butts for a while and put in as many job applications as possible to see if we can work in Thredbo or Perisher for the snow season? It may or may not work, because all the job placements happen in Feb. But we can only try! This part of the trip, and if it works out it will fuel our next leg of the journey into Melbourne and Tasmania for spring and summer! 

This part of our journey wasn't planned, but as we have always said, 'everything is subject to change'. We are loving the challenge!

We pulled into 'The BIG4 Discovery Holiday Park'.

Below is Leonie making a new friend, and she has no food in her hand! The little lady just waddled up to say 'hello' and then went on her happy way...lol

Winter sun is a real treat here, oh just lapping it up!!!

Da Dahhhh we made it! Wooooo Hooooo!!!!

The drive into Perisher on the Snowy Mountain Highway

Below Leonie prepares herself to hand in her CV for employment with Perisher....Hmmmmm

(You can see small snow patches over the front valley in the background. Snow making time) 

Look at that! Below they are making snow!!!!

These little patches of snow provide the base for the real snow to settle and 'stick' to the manmade stuff. (We've been told it costs about 10K just to fire these babies up and then around 100K to run them all night....so it's an expensive process all this snow stuff :)

Dom got picked up by the cops in a hellicopter!!! hehehehehe

(You'll have to watch the below video to see what happens??)

Clearly Leonie is in one of her brat moods...lol...Always playing around with life! :)

Does Dom really get taken away by the cops in a helicopter? Watch and see for your self...

Below we got our Kosciusko National Parks pass at a discounted price...because we both scored 2 jobs each for the winter (in Thredbo)!!! Yup, all those job applications that we put in, and door knocking paid off!

(See...if you persist, hustle, smile and believe in yourself things really do happen! Stay tuned to find out where we are working) 

Below Dom couldn't belive the amount of water that was pouring out of the back of this ute...

Then we looked inside to find it full with snow!!! Where has this ute been???

The river that runs from the top of Thredbo down into Jindabyne.

Stay tuned to see where we are now working! And if you come up for the snow season let us know so we can take some time off to spend with you all :) 

Lots and lots of warm hugs to you all!!!

D&L xxx