CYM-Plast Geelong 2008 Snow trip
For the 5th year in a row, thanks to the sponsorship of Dnister Credit Co-op, CYM and Plast were able to organize a combined youth trip – this time to the snow. Past annual trips have seen us hiking, rock-climbing, abseiling and touring the Murray River on boats. We have a small community in Geelong, so these trips play a vital part in ensuring our Youth stays connected – part of our community building program. This year, we even had a couple of teens participating, which belong to neither youth organization but had heard about the fun in previous trips and wanted to take part.

We arrived at Falls Creek on a Friday late in the season to a glorious sunny day and a meter and a half of snow. After being outfitted in our ski or snow boarding gear, we divided up into first timers (who went off for lessons) and those who had skied before. What a load of fun it was – especially when having a laugh at someone else’s tumble in the snow.

In the evening everyone met up back at the lodge for a swim and spa – quite a treat as they were outside under the stars. After dinner everyone sat around either reminiscing about the day’s adventure or community matters or with some already talking about options for our trip in 2009.

Saturday was a similar day, with everyone becoming more confident on the snow. However, Sat night saw the rain clouds roll in and it poured all night. As a result after breakfast, we all packed up and made an earlier than planned trip home.

A big thanks was acknowledged not only to the organizers of this trip but also to the parents who helped out and to Dnister, for their continued sponsorship and recognition of the importance of community building events such as these combined youth trips. The participating youth not only had a chance to have fun together but benefited from the learning gained in organizing the trip and a combined fund raiser ‘Winter Zabava’ held in July.