New Zealand Adventure: Back to Australia

So no, we did not go back to Australia, but the blog is now going back to our Australia trip or else it will never get finished! Besides, we have not even gotten to the highlight of the whole Australian trip which was climbing Mt. Kosciuszko. Mt. Kosciuszko (Ko-zee-os-ko) is the highest peak in Australia (2228m/7310ft). If you think that the name sounds a bit, well Polish, that is because it was named by a Polish explorer after a Polish patriot. I had done a little research about the mountain and had discovered that there was a metal boardwalk over the delicate alpine flora that allowed one to bicycle up the mountain if one so desired. So in other words, not very high, not very steep, and not very rugged. If you want to get technical about things, Mt. Kosciuszko is considered by some to be one of the "7 Summits" or highest mountains on each continent. Some mountain climbers aspire to climb all 7 peaks and a select few have accomplished this feat which includes: Mt. Kilimanjaro (Africa), Mt. Elbrus (Europe), Mt. Everest (Asia), Denali/Mt. McKinley (North America), Aconcagua (South America), Mt. Vinson (Antarctica), and Mt. Kosciuszko (Australia). Now there is actually a great debate among the hard core mountain climbers who feel that Mt. Kosciuszko just is not worthy since it is ridiculously easy to climb. These individuals include all of Australasia as a continent and therefore mark the Carstensz Pyramid (Irian Jaya) as the highest peak of this "continent". Anyways, controversy aside, I am happy to count Kosciuszko which gives me 2 of 7 if anyone else is counting. ;)
We awoke in our lonely hostel and had a hardy breakfast of baked beans on toast before heading off on the short drive to Thredbo. Thredbo is basically a ski resort village and it is here that you catch the chairlift up to the head of the trail where there is a restaurant and nice bathrooms. Now the more adventurous can start right at the bottom and add an extra 2 hours of walking but we really did not feel the need to do that. The walk from the top of the chairlift is about 6.5km/4mi at a relatively easy upward grade and there are convenient bathrooms near the summit. On the way, you will pass the start of the mighty snowy river, which is a bit less mighty near the top. You also should choose your time of year carefully, as the peak is covered with snow in the winter months...and there can also be some snow in the spring like when we went.
Now despite the forecast of rain, it only rained for about three minutes and it was almost more trouble actually putting on the panchos than it was worth. But sadly it was a bit chilly and also cloudy, especially at the summit, so we did not get the best photos. We also could not spend too much time up on the mountain as the last chairlift down was a bit early due to it being the off season.
The alpine landscape was still quite beautiful and we even saw some wildlife in the form of what we like to call goat birds, which were big, ugly, black birds that made sounds like angry goats. There were large flocks of them along the trail and they seemed to mock the hikers.
I skipped over the chairlift ride a bit. It was mildly terrifying. Very high and quite a long trip (10-15ish minutes). This may not seem like much at all for those of you fortunate few who have skied in Colorado or the Alps, etc. but for me it was a bit far. I wondered what would happen if they forgot you were on it and stopped it while you were in the middle hanging 60-100 feet off the ground in the icy wind all night.

And up we go.

This is not the right stop.

At the top of the chairlift.

The "trail" begins.

"Oooo take a picture of me with snow in the background!"

The iron mesh walkway is meant to protect the delicate alpine flora.

Apparently we were a bit early in the season and snow was not all that rare.

The mighty Snowy River.

Oooooo, ahhhh!

A bit more snow here across the path.

Some other hikers with full packs were also trying to traverse this bit of snow and many of them had slid down the snow slope. Fortunately, it ended at a flat patch of grass and technically you could have walked around the snow patch, however, not only is that no fun, but we also wanted to protect the delicate alpine flora.

We made it!

Lovely view from the top.

Back across the snow field.

Lake Cootapatamba. Australia's highest lake.

Goat birds.

Dead bug on the snow.

Good thing we bought those panchos for the 3 minutes of light rain.

On the nature trail back to the chairlift.

A long way down.

Anyways, after we were safely back in Thredbo, we were a bit peckish for a late lunch but could find no place open until dinnertime. With grumbly bellies we bought a few T-shirts and said goodbye to Thredbo in search of nourishment. After driving for quite some time, we passed a restaurant with a maze in the back yard. Since I am a sucker for mazes I got Scott to stop for what at this point was "linner". I had a goat cheese tart and Scott had barley bacon soup. Linner was good, but I was most excited to scamper out into the maze. Scott was less excited about the maze as we (i.e. HE) still had several hours of driving ahead and we were burning daylight. In the end my whinging won out and we tackled what was proclaimed to be the largest timber maze in the Southern Hemisphere...hmmm really? Pretty sure the one at Puzzling World is much bigger, but oh well, I still had fun. There were also some riddles and quotes posted inside the maze which made it more interesting.
Back on the road again, we decided to take the northern route through Canberra (the capital of Australia) instead of the southern route along the coast that we had taken to Jindabyne. Unfortunately, we had no time for sight-seeing in Canberra, but we did see some interesting sights along the roadway. Namely, there were a whole bunch of stuffed animals tied to the trees including a stuffed bunny rabbit in a neck brace. I am not making this up. We also saw many neat animal crossing signs (i.e. kangaroo, wombat, and emu), but sadly no actual animals other than those of the stuffed variety. We arrived at Bateman's Bay around 8:30p.m. and could gone for a bit of supper there, unfortunately only Mickey D's was open that late, so we ended up scrounging a bit of food back at the condo before crashing for the night.