Australia in September?

[aljuarez 0]

I know it sounds a bit too soon for this, but with the expense involved, the time is about right to start considering options.

 

I am planning a trip to Japan early next season (Christmas time) but before that I will be in Australia in early September. I'm attending a friend's wedding in Melbourne and for a while I though about hopping over to New Zealand for a few skiing days. However, I've just about made up my mind to stay in Australia (it'll be a little under 2 weeks). It'll be my first time in the Southern Hemisphere and I selected Australia over New Zealand basically for its cities. Auckland and Wellington, pretty as they look, can't seem to hold a candle to Melbourne and Sydney. I'm all about cities when I travel, you see. If I can throw some nature in, awesome, but there needs to be major urban delights in the program.

 

I've only been on skis a couple of times and I've struggled with my fear of falling and losing control, which may be closer to a phobia, actually, which skiing really has helped me with. I actually put on skis for the first time in Gala Yuzawa a few years ago, for just a couple of hours on a day trip. I wanted to see if it was true that there could be so much snow in May while it was already almost hot in Tokyo. (There was!! It even kept snowing the whole time I was there). After an additional few days and lessons over the next few years (Innsbruck, Austria and Cortina, Italy), I want to concentrate of moving firmly into intermediate terrain.

 

And the nagging question is... should I try to spend a few days (say two or three full days) in the Victoria mountains as preparation for Japan? I like the thought of being able to ski during the Summer before I go on a more extensive ski trip of Japan in Christmas. I wouldn't do it if it involved a long trip of it turned out to be really expensive, as I've read it could be. Mount Buller and Hotham seem like the obvious choices: relatively large and close enough to Melbourne. Which one has the best "confidence builders"? Which is the most convenient (not just from the "getting there" perspective)? Would there even be snow on the lower easy slopes in September?

 

Like I said, skiing in Australia is not a must for this vacation. I just want to get a sense of what people who have experienced both Australia and Japan think. While it would be nice to arrive in Japan ready to actually explore a bigger area like Hakuba or Shiga, my graduation to intermediate could just as happily take place in Nihon!

 

I would greatly appreciate anyone's opinions!