Kosciuszko National Park
One of the few things I really wanted to do in Australia was to climb Mount Kosciuszko. In order to do that I took a flight to Canberra, the capital of Australia. From there, after failing to find any form of public transportation, I reluctantly hired a car. On the plus side, when I got to the rental company they upgraded me to a hybrid car, which as far as I was concerned meant I’d be spending less money on fuel. And so, I put my bags in the car, asked my smartphones for directions, and started driving. Pretty quickly I left Canberra behind me and started to relax, enjoying the sunny day and mostly empty road. The most eventful thing that happened was coming across a sign that told me I’m leaving the Australian Capital Territory and heading into New South Wales. It took about 3 hours, and after getting confused for a little bit with the parking situation, I was finally able to check into a hostel in Thredbo. For once, it appeared to be a proper hostel, with other travelers. After settling in, I took some time to relax and headed to bed.
The following morning I got up, chatted with another traveler in the hostel, and ate some breakfast before getting back in the car. Driving around the national park was quite nice with a fair few bends and twists along the way. It took about an hour to get to my starting point at Charlotte Pass, and then I had a choice to make. The road was splitting into two, the first path was heading straight to the peak of Mount Kosciuszko, while the other option was doing a loop on the way to the summit, which was longer and seemed more challenging. As I was told by a couple I met there that the loop can be quite cold and I wasn’t sure I was geared for it, I decided to do the easier trail, which was still supposed to be around six hours.
I started walking along the dirt track and pretty much immediately had a view of some hills and peaks and the area, dotted with white patches of unmelted snow on my right. To the left were a bunch of trees and plants which were far less interesting. The road itself was pretty comfortable to walk on, with barely any bends. As I went along the voices of the people and the sounds from the engines of different vehicles had faded away. Instead, I heard the wind, water flowing down the mountain, and the birds. Even though the view didn’t change too much I still found it more enjoyable than Mount Wellington down in Tasmania. There was something about it that just felt different, and the white snowy patches provided a nice break from the shades of green and brown.
As I walked along I wondered how long it would actually take to get to the summit of Mount Kosciuszko and if there will be a sign along the way before I actually get there, I came across what appeared to be a couple of concrete bridges. And then I saw a sign telling me I’m at a point marked as “Snowy River”. There was a sign there that talked about the history of the river, but not much other than that. I went on my way and a few minutes later I looked up to see a little house. It took me a while to get to it, and as I got closer I saw there were two small cabins. One was a toilet, and the other was “Seaman’s Hut”. There I finally saw a sign that told me how far I still am from the summit. This was also the point where the lonely road started to be less lonely, as I came across a few travelers, both on foot and on bicycles, going back down.
The higher I went up the mountain, the more travelers I saw, going both up and down. At some point along the way one of those white patches of snow was just by the side of the trail, so I could reach it with my hand and touch it. I knew I’m getting close to the summit, that there wasn’t much left, and then I was there. Despite the clouds up above, there was a clear view of the mountain in pretty much every direction. It was a nice view, and although I was hoping for more, I still found it pleasing. I rested at the summit of Mount Kosciuszko for a while, looking around and relaxing for a little while.
Then it was time to go back down exactly the way I came. Gradually, I saw less and less people as I made my way back. Going up and down the mountain took me just under six hours, and was a lot easier than I expected. To me it felt less like a hike and more like a stroll. From there I drove back to Therdbo, got some rest, and made my way back to Canberra where I returned the car to the rental company and was free to start exploring the city.