Who knew Australia has ski resorts? As one who has literally skied all over the world I was surprised when our daughter (who now resides in Australia with her Aussie husband) suggested we go skiing during our annual visit to her home (we live in the USA). What an amazing time we had skiing at Falls Creek in Australia’s Alpine National Forest. We stayed at The Altitude Apartments at Falls Creek, Australia in Unit #8, the accommodation for 6 people. The accommodation was beautiful, very modern, excellent floor plan, and although at the far end of the resort called “The Bowl” it was located next to the Eagle lift which gives you access to the entire mountain making it a true ski-in and ski-out accommodation. One little treat with the apartment was that our non-skiing spouses and grandkids could wave at us as we went up the Eagle chair lift. Altitude Apartments was located right next to a ski rental shop called Base One that offers lift, lesson, and rental packages as well as snowsports products and clothing. We found the staff to be super friendly, knowledgeable, professional and truly eager to please. And next to Base One was the restaurant Be Foodstore, which had excellent food (we ate dinner there every evening except one where we ventured across the Eagle chair lift to dine at The Frying Pan (another great place to eat) – the jerked chicken, lasagna, and pepperoni mushroom olive pizza were excellent; word of warning the pepperoni was SPICY, we asked to substitute ham and the ham was generous amounts and tasty) and again super friendly wait staff. Our two bedroom apartment housed one queen bed in one bedroom and two bunk beds in the other bedroom. The bunk beds were sturdy and long enough for my 5ft 10 inch (177 cm) frame. Pillows and blankets kept me comfy and warm. Each bedroom had it’s own electric heater so you could adjust warmth to your liking. Heating in the main area – kitchen and living room – was generated from the tile floor in the kitchen and was kept at 20 degrees Celsuis (68 degress Fahrenheit) which kept the accommodation nice and warm most of the time, however, at times it was inconsistent, cold during the evening and warm during the day which made it a bit uncomfortable at night while watching TV. We noticed the clock on the thermostat was off by 6 hours and the replace battery sign kept flashing so we assumed that was the cause of the mis-match in heating times, but it could also be the floor heating comes from a central boiler that heats all of Altitude’s apartments so some inconsistency should be expected. Our apartment’s kitchen was superb! As we are avid cooks we appreciated the counter-top stove, oven, microwave, and refrigerator. It was fully stocked with enough cutlery, plates, bowls, cups, pots and pans and a variety of kitchen utensils to make great meals at home in the apartment. Soap and sponges were provided for easy clean-up as well. The Jaccuzzi tub was wonderful after a full day of skiing. The shower was equally wonderful and extremely powerful, almost making it a virtual stand-up jacuzzi. Great for massaging out the kinks after a day on the mountain. The Internet had good connection and was fast. The TV had good connections but pixelated and would shut off at times, recovering minutes later. We suspected that was a function of being so high in the mountains and totally understandable. Note – there was a very early check out time so you have to hustle to get all the cleaning done before we left. Also, Melissa who manages the unit at Altitiude is very friendly and accommodating and easy to contact in case we needed anything. Getting around the village was easy as at most it would take you 20 minutes to walk to the center of town where we entered and where the grocery store and main chair lift were. Village shuttles ran every 20 minutes and were very reliable, again with super friendly drivers, and were free as part of the $49/day resort fee. A quick word about The Frying Pan restaurant. It was a great place to eat with superb service. Get there early as the place gets packed quickly and you will have a bit of a wait for a table to clear out. It was open seating so you order your food and then get a table and your food was brought to you. You could buy wine and beer to take out but have to buy it at the bar which was in another part of the restaurant. Food delivery was very fast with even the manager hustling delivering food and cleaning tables as people finished and left. It was inspirational to see a manager working side-by-side the workers which told me they had a good team culture which obviously resulted in many happy customers, as judged by how busy this place was. Kudos to the manager. The skiing was wonderful and we had almost perfect weather every day. The backside of the mountain where there was a lake at the bottom of the mountain gave an incredible panoramic view of the mountains. Ski lifts were fast and many. The “Poma Lift” was a blast from the past that I haven’t seen since the late 60’s in the US. It worked well for our 6 year old grand-daughter who was taking skiing lessons and had to go up on her own which she managed well. The mountain itself provided enough runs for the varied levels of skiers within out family. All-in-all we had a great time at Falls Creek staying with Altitude Apartments. We highly recommend.…