Leaving Canberra took us into the Australian Alps; though getting there was a bit of an adventure itself. I didn’t double-check the route that the GPS decided to take, other than a quick glance. In general, it looked like what I recommended; but as the road got smaller, I realized that the GPS had not taken us on the route I had thought. Instead, we were on a narrow, windy road that was currently participating in a bicycling event. So, we dodged cyclers as they punished themselves by cycling insane distances up steep inclines. At least it was pretty country.
The road even turned to dirt at some point. And we saw a fat goanna lazily making its way across the road. In fact, I got and was able to even touch it with my shoe! Must have been a bit cold for him still.
Because Australia.
These mountains, like many others, once had gold, and there were remnants of mining operations throughout the park.
It was rather destructive to the hillside.
And quite a few invasive rabbits.
It was here that we spotted our first sighting of snow in Australia. Of course, I had to take a picture (or two) to memorialize it.
Originally there aren’t any large lakes in these mountains, but there was an extensive hydroelectric project conducted here to provide electricity to nearby cities. We stopped occasionally to observe some of the aspects of this scheme.
The snowy mountains are actually in this picture but are hidden by clouds.
We took a walk towards Geehi hut in the beautiful landscape.
More of the ubiquitous invasive rabbits; even a black variation.
We decided to camp at the valley before Kosciuzsko that night so that we could get an early start walking the next morning. As we whiled away the evening hours, a small snowstorm came through.
Only a small amount of accumulation the next morning.
Since Kosciuzsko is the highest mountain on the flattest continent, I thought it was a great opportunity. We would likely never be able to claim we have hiked the highest mountain on any other continent (normally requires all kinds of training and gear), so I really wanted to do it. However, I was very anxious. The round trip was 18 km, and we had never walked that far in one day before. Plus, I hadn’t had too many opportunities to really test my knee. I felt like we could do it, but just wasn’t sure. Fortunately, the hike was a nice easy climb (only 468m over 9km).
The goal is the far left peak.
When we started off, there was a warning about snow across the path. Sure enough, there was.
Lots of water flows with icicles.
The path on the south side of the mountain was nearly indistinguishable, especially since we were the first to cross it that morning.
We made it to the top.
We ate lunch at the peak and got back to the van even earlier than I was expecting. I wasn’t even hurting as much as I was expecting. And my knee was completely fine! My knee had been feeling pretty good since we had gotten back from the States in August, but I had not really tested it. At this point, I definitely called it fully healed.
FUN FACT: We hiked the mountain on Halloween Day, which is observed here in Australia. Thanksgiving is not, though (remember that is a holiday that Americans made up). So, Christmas decorations and advertisements start a few days before Halloween here. Must say that it is really weird hearing songs about a white Christmas in a country so warm, especially as Christmas is in their summer. Additionally, since it is their summer, no turkey and stuffing here for dinner. Instead, they have things like prawns (shrimp) and ham and Christmas pudding. Other fresh summer foods like mangos adorn the table.
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