For the next three months many snow-craving Canberrans, especially those with young kids, will regularly scan the weather forecast hoping magical white stuff might fall across the suburbs.

Sure, there's often snow predicted for the Brindabellas but anticipation rises exponentially among snow-starved Canberrans when flurries are expected in the suburbs. But let's face it, snow actually falling in downtown Canberra rarely eventuates, even if it is on the forecast.

And as for the snow in Brindies, well unless you have a helicopter at your disposal, or have a 4WD and know the backroads, it's almost impossible to access. Our risk-averse Parks Service usually closes the roads at the sight of the first snow flake. They claim it's for safety reasons (which does have some merit) and to allow cross-country skiers the opportunity to ski along roads without having to dodge inexperienced drivers sliding towards them.

The Parks Service are quick to direct young families to Canberra's dedicated snow 'resort' Corin Forest (if they leave the road open, that is), but braving the traffic jams and joining the queues (and often needing a ticket) can take away from the spontaneity of it all.

So that leaves most searching for snow close to home with very little choice but to grab a hot chocolate and drive up to the summit of Black Mountain or Mt Ainslie and wait for an obliging snow cloud to roll in. In fact, when my eldest daughter was aged 5, I remember one very long cold July afternoon atop Mt Ainslie when she found a Christmas CD in the back of the yowie-mobile and played Frosty the Snowman on repeat on the car stereo for about three hours. Talk about Christmas in July without any trimmings. Needless to say singing along to Frosty didn't coax any snowflakes to fall from the dark clouds, just freezing drizzle.

One dad who doesn't have to spend hours parked atop Mt Ainslie praying to the weather gods is Dario Jurjevic of Flynn.

Dario has his own fool-proof way of ensuring there is snow in his suburb; he makes it.

"I've been making snow for five years now, the kids [have] an absolute ball ... playing in it," he says.

"The first year was a bit of a write-off, I wasn't doing it properly, but ever since then I've been going hard at it.

"Snow-making isn't for everyone, it involves messing around with cold water in the dark in the middle of winter," says Dario who, every night the mercury is forecast to dip below freezing point, sets the temperature alarm on his weather station.

"When it hits minus 2 degrees, the alarm wakes me up and I hook up the bits and pieces and away it goes."

Once his home-made snow guns start pumping out snow, although it's often the early hours of the morning, Dario can't go back to sleep. And it's not the noise of the air compressor that keeps him awake - he built a sound-proof box for his equipment to ensure it doesn't wake his family or neighbours.

"No, I just don't want anything to go wrong with it. Sometimes the pipes can block up and I want to be there to fix it," he says.

Not surprisingly, Dario is popular among the local kids.

"Yeah, I'm known on the street as the snowmaking guy," he laughs.

While Dario is in regular contact with a fellow snow-maker in Goulburn who has a similar suburban set-up, he isn't aware of anyone else in Canberra regularly making snow in their front (or back) yard. But that could soon change.

"In recent weeks, I've had a few requests to build snow-making set-ups for others," he says.

And mimicking mother nature is not as expensive as you might think. Dario claims he can build a base unit for about $300. Even if you add water costs (5-8 litres a minute), that's a lot cheaper than a couple of day trips to any of the Snowy Mountain resorts.

It sure beats being holed-up in an old jalopy at the top of Mt Ainslie for three hours slurping hot chocolate (which very quickly turns cold) and enduring Frosty the Snowman on heavy rotation.

After reeling in a brown trout while fly fishing in the Snowies recently, David (Dave) Vincent of Weetangera did what any proud angler would do; he immediately sent the photo of his prized catch to his mate.

Not any old mate, but his fishing buddy Thomas who is currently in New Zealand but who had previously joined Dave on a trip to the very same stretch of high country river two years ago.

When Thomas saw the photo he couldn't believe his eyes - he thought the fish looked similar to a brown trout Dave had caught on that adventure.

Both did a quick search on their smartphones of their catches (and releases) from their 2019 trip, and bingo. Among them was the very same fish.

"Brown trout spots are like a fingerprint, so it turns out I caught the same fish twice," remarks Dave.

I've heard stories of the same fish being caught in a dam or lake, but never before in a wild river and two years apart.

Dave let the fish go, but plans to return to the same stretch of river with Thomas next year to see if they can catch 'Fred', as they've coined the trout, for the third time. What are the chances?

The quest to find Canberra's longest eucalyptus tree leaf proved far more competitive than expected.

Several weeks ago Michael Hall of Hawker found a 35cm gum leaf in the Pinnacle Nature Reserve near Hawker but he was left disappointed when gazumped by a 38cm whopper stumbled on by Jill Mowbray-Tsutsumi near Cooleman Ridge in Chapman. But that was just the start.

Undeterred, Michael returned to the hunt in the Pinnacle Nature Reserve and promptly found a 40cm specimen. Incidentally, Michael also reports that for the first time in his 22 years wandering around the Pinnacle, he's seeing gang-gangs for the first time. ''They just love the stringy bark seeds," he reports. "I don't know if it's population pressure getting them out here, or an after-effect of the bushfires."

But we digress. Back to the chase.

So just when the official gong was about to be awarded to Michael, a missive from Rita Hanvin of Charnwood lobbed into my inbox. On a recent walk she'd unearthed a 40.2cm gum leaf. Poor Michael, pipped at the post yet again. Just.

However, soon after, Rita's entry was blown out of the water (or should that be tree!) when Steve and Sue Doepel submitted an entry of not one but two lengthy leaves in Hackett, both measuring 42cm.

But that still wasn't the end of it. In a flurry of late entries, a 49cm leaf found on the North Lyneham Ridge by Joanne Hutchinson and Steve Nerlich was beaten by a colossal 55cm specimen discovered in Woden by Andrew Pearce of Hughes. That's over half a metre!

"I was astonished at its length," says Andrew who claims it was even longer before he dried it out. If you want to go and see some of the monster leaves for yourself, forget it. Andrew is keeping the location of the tree close to his chest. "I'm reluctant to disclose exactly where I found it as I'm nurturing next year's batch," he muses.

Clue: Don't slip or you might fall on a ... platypus!

Degree of difficulty: Easy - Medium

Last week: Congratulations to Rachel Bentley of Greenway who was first to correctly identify last week's photo as the historic log lock-up from the former Mongarlowe police station. Built circa 1850, the lock-up was brought to Braidwood after the sale of the police station in the 1970s, and re-erected in the Braidwood Museum grounds where it still stands.

How to enter: Email your guess along with your name and suburb to tym@iinet.net.au The first email sent after 10am, Saturday May 29, 2021, wins a double pass to Dendy, the Home of Quality Cinema.

Chris Ryan of Kirrawee reckons he's finally nailed the location of the milepost that was moved from an unknown location (and unknown time) to the Hall School Museum and Heritage Centre.

"I firmly believe it was originally located on the Young-Boorowa Road (9 miles from Boorowa and 24 miles from Young)," says Chris. "My research indicates that the shortest road distance between Young and Boorowa is 47.7km, which converts to 29.6 miles."

"However, there is an alternative and slightly longer journey between Young and Boorowa via the locality of Barwang, which is 51.5 kms (32 miles), which is a better fit, given the 33 mile total posted," he explains. "As for a position on this alternative route, given the miles indicated on the post, I would estimate that the most likely location would have been somewhere with 500 metres of the Cunningar Road-Cusak Road intersection."

"As you might detect, this matter has been bothering me since it first appeared in your column", confesses Chris.

Gee I would never have guessed! When should I tell Chris the 'Y' may actually stand for Yass and not Young?

CONTACT TIM: Email: tym@iinet.net.au or Twitter: @TimYowie or write c/- The Canberra Times, 9 Pirie St, Fyshwick