Category Archives: Kosciuszko National Park, NSW

Australia, Kosciuszko National Park, NSW

Stuart’s Birthday Holiday Part 1

After a couple of days where neither of us had felt particularly well, we were finally packed and ready to go. It had taken a lot of effort and Stuart, sadly, had been left to do all of the packing, but we were ready. The chickens had been taken care of and we were ready.

I got to the end of the track and automatically pulled to the right to check the letterbox. There was something but it turned out to be just another medical appointments and not another birthday card for an upcoming big birthday.

A big voice piped up saying where were we going? I had assumed that given the gas tank was empty and we needed one or two items from Woolies that we were going to the right. No, I guess because I’d made that decision it influenced a certain birthday person and we were to head off to the right, into Gunning to the Merino Cafe for lunch. We know they will make me a vegan lunch and they have a dairy free dessert, so we were sorted.

There could be photos but I’m not sure. However, the menu hasn’t changed so it’s likely that most readers have already actually seen the food and don’t actually need a photo. However, Stuart had the vegetarian frittata which was deep, layered and topped with sweet potato mash. I got the standard roasted vegetables in a toasted wrap. It’s very tasty but it’s my only option and it’s getting a little boring now.

After lunch we headed onto the Hume Highway and south west towards Melbourne. Our next stop was to be at a roadside cafe (excellent vegan options and always seem to be adding new ones onto the menu). A change of driver followed and before long we headed off the highway and onto the Snowy Mountains Highway. We were to pop into the Yarrangobilly Caves Visitor’s Center to establish it was too late in the day to take a dip in the thermal pools, so we headed off to make camp. Yarrangobilly Village camp was dismissed because we had driven through the middle of it (literally) and it was busy. So we headed off down a dirt road I had long been trying to go down. The first camp we decided against, again it was busy and we thought we could get a quieter camp. We had a few others we could investigate but we decided on Ghost Gully for our first night. When we got there, there was 1 other set of people and their horses, ideal. That was it.

The camp was ideal. No drinking water (very common but not a problem), toilets, BBQ sites and plenty of places to tether a horse or two.

This camp also had a road through the middle of it and you had to cross the road for the other set of toilets. The first set were being hogged by the horse people. But the road was best described as “quiet”. In the morning, we were to venture that way.

But for tonight, this was our “new” tent.

Our evening meal was “ready made” from the night before, a dairy free and exceptionally good macaroni cheese with peas.

Then after a great sunset, it was time for a game of cards (cribbage) or two, and bed. It was dark by 7:45pm!

Australia, Collector, NSW, Corryong, Victoria, Kosciuszko National Park, NSW

Last day & the Alpine Highway

Our short 3 day break was over.  It had flown passed but the final morning was to be a beautiful start to the day.

Another glorious start to the day with the mountains just peaking over the fog/mist and clouds..
Foggy or is it misty? Whatever it was it was slowly clearing, and was also catching the morning sunrise.
Catching the first rays of the sunshine

By this point, Stuart was up and about.  I had knitted some more of his socks and he was to get up and tell me about the wonderful sunrise.  I didn’t point out that he had missed most of it!

The view from the from veranda was wonderful

But I was to capture this image as a result.  Breakfast was a little later than usual but was in front of a fantastic fire.

The slow combustion stove in the kitchen/dinning/sitting room.

We were up and out by 9am.  We had opted to drive the long way home, knowing that we would be getting home around dark by doing so, but the weather was good, some of the tops were clear and there was a chance of seeing something on the Alpine Highway, unlike the day before.  So.…

But just be fore we left, we explored the onsite vintage motor museum…

The on-site vintage car museum. This vehicle was on the road until 10 years ago.
The restoration team need to work a touch harder
And you may have some additional passengers!

And so by 9am we were on the road, ready to climb and hoping for the good weather to last.

First stop was… well a corner on the road. I just had to grab a photo

Sometimes you just have to stop on a bend and get that photo…. there are mountains over there and they have snow on the tops. Is this all we will get to see of them today? You just never know.

And so we hit the Alpine Highway. But before long we were to come across the Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric visitors centre.

Yep – that is it. You would have thought that they could have cut back some of the vegetation for us to see it wouldn’t you?
Stuart finding the information board very stimulating

And so we left it to drive into yet more trees and see, well more trees actually.  In fact unless you actually stop at the dedicated viewing points, the likelihood of actually seeing anything is close to nil.  Actually if you are the driver, it really is nil.  Oh and the noticeboard nicely informs you that the road is now entirely sealed.

The top of this particular section of the Alpine Highway. Not a lot to see unless you really like seeing 100’s of kms of Eucalyptus trees.

So when we spotted a rest stop, we knew we had to stop.  If only to rest from the winding nature of this road.  It covers a lot of km’s to go pretty much nowhere.

This is the road. You don’t need to guess what you can see from it!

And at the rest stop there are the obligatory toilets, BBQ point and picnic benches.  And luckily a viewing platform!

We get to see something!
Actually the view was stunning and we were so fortunate with the weather! You are looking at the Kosciuszko National Park and Mount Kosciuszko … is in there somewhere. Just pick what looks like the highest summit.

It was worth it as you can see!  But there are only so many Eucalyptus trees I can show you. Honest.

This is a typical view along lots of roads in most national parks around here!

And so we carried on, winding our way up and down, round and round and round again.  This is one of the few times we do actually find the sat nav and GPS in the car quite useful.  It gives you a heads up of the nature and seriousness of the bend ahead.

And eventually we get to a river crossing, the Swampy Plains Creek in fact.  And there is the nation parks camping site, and a tiny view of something other than eucalyptus trees.

A camping area at the side of the swampy plains creek.
A tiny bit of a view to the left,
and to the right. It reminded us of the river flowering through Pitlochry around the Kinloch Rannoch turn off.

And to the next opportunity for a view… but this is stop in the road job.  However, it was Stuart that chose to stop this time, but he had other ideas on what the stop was for.  Now what was the alternate name for our attempted world cycle tour?  That’s right, scent marking his way around the world…

Byatt’s Camp. A view, and a good one at that. Now there is some history about this area all dating back to summer grazing of cattle and who created the access.

Not a bad view.

From there it was another climb back up and out of the area.

Looking back the way we had come from.
The road ahead and onwards to the ski resorts and the way home
Dead Horse Gap. Now was it the fact that your horse was dead on its feet by the time they got to the top (1,582m or 5,190ft) or was there the skeleton of a dead horse up there? I’ve no idea, but there are plenty of skeletons of dead trees from the deadly forest fires that swept through the area 15 years ago.
The place was eerie with all the dead trees around.

From there it was pretty mundane except for our lunch stop at the side of a lake and for the fact that I alone was to see 4 emu.  Stuart, as the driver, totally failed to see the 2 that were standing less than 10m from the side of the road!  And I can tell you one thing, they are huge!