The Land Down Under is not only known for the Sydney Opera House. It is not only known for its Aborigines, koala bears or kangaroos. Australia is also known to be home of several winter sports. Aussies are a big bunch of sporty people. In the summer, they play football, rugby, and cricket and in the winter, there’s a whole new world of winter sports that people are crazy about. These winter sports are both played in ice and snow. However, despite being a country which caters to snow sports and ice sports, Aussies still get to play non- snow or non- ice sports like Rugby Union or Association Football and this is thanks to Australia’s geography, which is generally flat and because of the fact that their winters are rather mild.
One of the snow ports that a lot of Aussies enjoy is Alpine skiing. If you are a fan of this winter sport, head on to New South Wales, where the country’s highest snow country can be located. It’s like the Aspen of Australia but with steroids. Different ski resorts can be found there and they cater to everyone from the novices of skiing to the more competitive ones. This is because Australia has such an extensive skiable terrain. If you want more of a challenge, you can even go back country skiing or cross country skiing. Snowboarding is also one popular winter sport ever since it was started in Australian ski fields. The skiing season traditionally starts on the second Monday of June, which is a long weekend. The best time to go alpine skiing is the second week of August.
Not to be outdone, ice sports also have a lot of audience and participants. Though Canada is still a leader in ice hockey, Australia is not so far behind because this sport is being played by many Australian cities and the country even has its own ice hockey league which is affiliated with the NHL, the Australian Ice Hockey League. Other ice sports include figure skating and short track speedskating. The latter sport has gained more and more popularity over the years when Steven Bradbury won the gold in the Winter Olympics in 2002 for the 1000m event. For the unfamiliar, short track speedskating is ice speed skating done competitively, where multiple ice skaters compete on oval ice tracks. It is kind of like track and field but done on ice.
Sliding sports are also quite popular in Australia and although they currently do not have any bobsleigh tracks, the ones used for luge, skeleton and bobsleigh, you can find bobsleigh push tracks in Melbourne.
This is the reason why a lot of people go to Australia. It is a country where you get to enjoy all seasons and technically, all sports. So whether you are a skier, a skater or an ice hockey player, book a trip to Australia during their winter season and enjoy their world of winter sports. You will definitely not regret it.