South Coast to the Snowy Mountains. Day 4. ( Sunday 9th February).

Most of today was spent going to the winter playgrounds of the the snow skiers.
 First we took the chairlift from Thredbo to the 'above the treeline walks' which start at 1927 metres (6322 feet),and, if you wish,  walk the 9 km's (5.5 miles) to the summit of Mt Kosciuszko, we didn't. We then drove around to the lookout at Charlotte Pass to obtain views of the summit. It was then time to head off to spend the night at Cooma.

Click on photos to enlarge.

Morning view of lake Jindabyne through the back door of the motel room. 

Nearing the top of the chairlift.

Mountain bikers having a rest on one of the downhill tracks.

And away he goes.

The Australian Alps Walking Track to the summit of Mt Kosciuszko.

I took the the track to Ramshead as this was a recommended spot to find alpine flowers.  

Alpine daisies.

Wind swept trees.

Billy-buttons.

This poor skink was a victim of some walkers footwear.

Mountain  Gentian, Snow Gentian.

Lynn makes a lonely picture waiting for me to return. She had sent messages with other walkers for me to hurry up.

Oh good, still smiling.

Has this trapdoor spider made use of modern materials to cover its hole?

Now back to those 'wind swept trees', they were really only small shrubs about 20 cm (8 inches) tall.

A waterway with no name.

Spotted Mountain Grasshopper, Southern Pyrgomorph    (Monistria concinna)  .

This is as far up the mountain we went.

Looking more like an erupting volcano, this month long out of control bushfire , burning in a remote area, creates it's
 own storm clouds.

Time to to descend.  You can see why parts of  the Great Dividing Range are called the Blue Mountains.

Hang on to your hat and close your eyes. Tell me when we're at the bottom.

"Hello", going back up to the top to hurtle down again.

It was nearly warm enough to go for a swim.

A warning for party goers.

Caught up in a stampede.

Kosciuszko Road to Charlotte Pass.

Boardwalk through the Snowgums to the Charlotte Pass Lookout.

Snow Gum.

Looking towards Mt Kosciuszko from Charlotte Pass Lookout.
 Mt Kosciuszko is the higher rounded crest to the left of center of the photo.

Mt Kosciuszko is the higher rounded crest just right of center of the photo.

Happy days.

47 years ago I stood on the summit  and stripped down for the photo on the left. This time the summit was a little too
far away and I certainly wasn't stripping down.

Who left the window open?  

It was very windy at the lookout.

There was a small patch of snow/ice still to be seen.

Not enough to temp any skier.

Alpine Mint-bush.

Looking down through Charlotte Pass. 

 Dead trees on the horizon from Sawpit Creek.

Tree skeletons from trees killed in the fires of 2003.

Grey over Grey.

Giving the mountain a greying on top effect.

Looking like a ghost town in summer.............

............but back in 1968 we had to get on long queues to get on the lifts.

The pipeline from the Jindabyne Surge Tank on the Jindabyne - Island Bend pipline. Lake Jindabyne in the background.

Lake Jindabyne and Jindabyne township.

Roads to nowhere.

There were a lot of these striking red-trunked Eucalypts on the road to Cooma.

The quaint White Manor Motel in Cooma was one of the most tidy and clean motels we have ever stayed in. As can
be seen the owner is a keen gardener.