The Top of Australia

  Mount Kosciuszko, Australia
Saturday, May 31, 2008

Last weekend the bottom of Aus, this weekend the top.  Mt Kosciuszko, 2228 metres high - but we weren't beginning at sea level, it's not a particularly hard route, and my muscles had improved: absolutely guaranteed to finish before dark this time, then...

another free glass of plonk...

in the saddle

  It took us a couple of days to get to the trailhead: a long drive from Melbourne to a cosy cottage on day one, with stops for wine-tasting, cheese-tasting, mustard-tasting and olive-tasting... what a civilised, not to mention tasty, part of the country!  Oh, and a stop to get the required tourist shots of  the 'Big Ned', an enormous statue of the outlaw, Ned Kelly, between whose mighty thighs I posed for a photograph!  The next morning began with porridge by a

Big Ned

groping Ned!

roaring fire (fair play to you, Cinderella Riley!) for protection from the the heavy frost outside but it had thawed by the time we climbed into the saddle for a two hour ride through the bush on 'brumbies' (ex-wild horses) and we got in a few good canters, ducking to avoid the swishing branches and hoping our steeds didn't slip into the huge wombat holes.  After  such a strenuous morning, the most sensible option for the afternoon  was obviously a beer-crisps-chocolate picnic and snooze in the sun on a rug by the lake in Jindabyne...


 

crossing the river

the lake

So... day three: we parked at Charlotte's Pass, rock-hopped across the river and headed uphill at a fair lick (with a couple of very scenic pee-stops en-route!)  It was colder than I had imagined Australia could be when we stopped to refuel on gummy snakes, with a stunning view down over the frozen lake below.  The sky was clear and bright, with the sunlight sparkling on the surface ripples and glinting off patches of snow, while layers of mountains faded away towards the horizon. As we

on the mountain

picnic shelter

climbed higher, the trail disappeared under a layer of crunchy white, and my balance was tested as I wobbled across a steep slope of icy snow, sinking with each footfall, aiming for where the route became discernible once more.  On a stretch where the snow had melted, a pile of boulders provided shelter from the cold wind for our picnic break and then it was onwards and

steep bit!

at the top!

upwards again.  Arriving at the trig point, I was disillusioned to learn that John had been telling whoppas and there wasn't actually a kangaroo living there, ready to pose for photos with foreigners... but he managed to redeem himself by producing a packet of Tim Tams to munch at this, the highest point in Australia.





 (The next disappointment hit me on arriving at a stone toilet building, which had been calling to me from the 'summit', only to find a sign declaring it 'locked for winter'... maybe  Australian bladders hibernate during winter, removing the need for such public conveniences... thank God, yet again, for my 'she-wee'!!!)
 
And then I experienced a rush of deja-vu as we began the descent: looking at my watch and at the sinking sun, knowing that we had  plenty of kilometres yet to cover, I realised we would be ending the hike in the dark... yet again...  ah well, it was becoming a habit at this stage...  It became seriously cold when that sun dropped below the mountain behind us but, lured by the promise of Sweetwater Golden Bitter in the cool bag, I power-walked it, working up a serious sweat which made the brew taste all the better when we arrived.

 

Canberra's Parliament Building

Highest point ticked off my checklist, we drove on to Canberra where we guzzled Tony and Shelley's best red and wiped out their cheese collection... it was so good!  Despite the freezing clear morning temperatures in Australia's capital city, things eventually warmed up  enough the next day for us to head up Mt. Ainslie, with its commanding views of the carefully designed city below.  Back on the ground we visited the impressive Parliament Building, where I wasted no time in complaining to Kevin about my visa limitations... unfortunately he was only volunteer guide Kevin, not Prime Minister Kevin, but hey, he was really interested... I'm sure he was...  
I nearly fused my neck vertebrae standing on the roof for an age, camera trained up at the national flag on it's alien-spaceship-style pole, waiting for the bloody thing to flutter for me... it didn't... about as co-operative as the immigration office... ah well, it's not much of a flag anyway, I mean, it's got a union jack on it, for God's sake!
 
The drive from Canberra to Sydney flew as we played 'The Minister's Cat' with variations... Jenny, I wish you had been there, it was just like that time Rab and I dropped you down to Fermanagh on Christmas Eve, you would have loved it!  Naturally, I won the most gummy snakes, and if anyone suggests that it was because I kept changing the rules to suit myself, don't believe a word of it...
 
P.S. Fiona, thanks for the tip-off, I was stunned and delighted to pick up the Martin Hayes cd in Canberra... he's as good as it gets!