Well, as I mentioned in the last post, I had a very long drive from Bendigo, about seven hours. I zipped across northern Victoria, crossed over into New South Wales, and drove the twisty turny roads up into Australia’s Snowy Mountains, specifically, the little ski resort town of Thredbo. I checked in, got dinner, and prepared for the next days activity. I came here for one thing and one thing only, to hike Australia’s highest peak, Mt Kosciuszko. The hike starts with a ski lift ride first, though.

Before you get all judgmental about the ski lift, keep in mind it’s an eight mile round trip with the lift ride. Nevertheless, it’s a pretty easy eight miles. The climb is gradual and they laid down this metal walkway for pretty much the whole route. Of the big seven highest continental peaks, this is by far the lowest (at 7,310ft) and the easiest to reach. There were even families pushing strollers up to the summit. You can’t do that on Mt Everest!

It’s almost a mile and a half into the hike before you get your first look at Kosciuszko. In the pic below it’s the big mound dead center. Interestingly, these mountains weren’t created in the usual way. There’s no tectonic plates here to collide with each other. Instead, scientists discovered that there’s too much gravity here (I didn’t know that was even a thing) and that gravity combined with the heat of the earth’s mantle pushing up from underneath created this incredible mountain range.

Here in Australia right now it’s late fall/early winter. I was trying to get here early enough in my trip to beat the snow (I was kinda worried about it) and thankfully I made it. The weather this day was perfect. Sunny skies and a chilly breeze. About two thirds to the summit you pass by this really scenic lake, Lake Cootapatamba.

My original plan was to hike out to another lake first and then summit at the end, but I took a wrong turn down the wrong side trail and then had to backtrack. That added a little over three miles to my day. After correcting that mistake I really needed a break, so I just went up to the summit and had my lunch. There was a very long line to get pictures at the summit marker. I just quickly snapped a pic of it in between people climbing all over it. There it is, the top of Australia!

This area is more like high elevation rolling hills than ridiculous steep mountain crags, so the views are a bit different, but it’s still a really beautiful landscape.

After my break at the summit I headed off down the correct side trail this time and eventually made it to that other lake, Albina Lake. The trail started from really close to the summit, so it was all downhill to the lake. It sure was pretty though.

Now the fun part. Before I could hike back down to the ski lift, first I had to climb up almost all the way back to the summit. There were a lot of steps of doom along the way. At least I got some cool views of the backside of Kosciuszko, though. In the pic below, that peak on the far left is Kosciuszko. You can also make out part of the trail on the right.

Finally back to the junction, which is only about 200ft below the summit, NOW I can start hiking back down. The whole way down that metal walkway I kept wondering why was I so exhausted and sore. I was monumentally spent. I consulted my hiking app later at the hostel and realized that with the summit, the lake, and my wrong turn, I hiked about fifteen miles today. Of course I’m wiped out! Duh!

It should be no surprise that I was very relieved when I finally got back to that ski lift. I got some great views of Thredbo on the way down. At the bottom, I made my way back to the hostel and a much needed shower, then went out for pizza.

After a ridiculously good night’s sleep it was time to check out and move on to the next stop. But since the next stop is only a little over two hours away, I decided to do another hike first. I drove out of Thredbo to the other nearby ski resort, Perisher Valley, to do the Porcupine Rocks hike. I forgot it was Easter weekend, though. As I was leaving Thredbo I couldn’t believe how many people there were all over that town. And as I was driving out the amount of cars and cyclists still pouring in was mind blowing. And I seemed to be the only one leaving. Ha! Looks like I’m getting out just in time!

Perisher Valley isn’t really a town, just a smallish ski resort, so it wasn’t as crowded, but there was still quite a bit of people on the trail. It was a really beautiful hike though.

At the end of the hike are these really cool rocks with a great view of Perisher Valley below. Not a bad way to spend the morning.

Now I can move on to the next stop. It’s time to take a short break from hiking and enjoy some city life for a change. Stay tuned…