Day 39 – Driving to the Snowy Mountains. It was a pleasant drive from Murranbateman to Thredbo – one of Australia’s skiing villages. We got there in plenty of time to watch the hard core mountain bikers risk life and limb doing tricks and do the 4km golf course loop hike.
The cool weather continued to be much appreciated, and we even used the in floor heating in the hotel! The mountains were true to their name and had small little snow caps – we felt right at home.
Day 40 – Concurring Kos. The (lofty?) goal for the day was to climb the highest mountain in Australia, Mount Kosciuszko. The truth is that it was fairly simple and not even close to the hardest hike we’ve done this year. Our day started with taking the chair lift up to ~1930m and having a coffee.
Then we did the 6.5km hike to the summit, just 300m elevation above us. The trail was almost entirely metal boardwalk – impressively installed. There were a few snow patches over the trail but in general this was an easy breeze to the top.
We enjoyed a lunch of peanut butter wraps while averting our eyes from the French couple who felt the need to take photos at the summit cairn pantless. The walk down was uneventful and we had a celebratory drink at the ‘highest restaurant in Australia’ before taking the chair lift back down.
Day 41 – Today we tried the Thredbo River trail which had options to go as far as +25km one way. Our plan was to go as far as the Ranger station at 7km and back. After the first few km we were sick of the hundreds of mountain bikers whizzing by and coating us in dust (the trail was a powdery dust bowl). It wasn’t their fault – it just isn’t the best trail for hiking.
New plan – do some trip planning while watching the many colourful parrots at the lodge. Bron has booked a trek to try and see wild orangutans in Indonesia while Brent will be checking out Western Australia for a couple weeks in April. We’ll meet back up in Singapore before heading to Malaysia and then Sri Lanka.
Brent And Bron Abroad 