Snowy River Area
Trip Start
Jan 06, 2009
1
11
28
Trip End
Nov 24, 2009
Mt. Kosciuszko, Australia
Saturday, April 11, 2009
We arrived in Corryong ("Man from Snow River" Country) in time for their annual "Man from Snowy River Bush Festival". The festival is a gathering of mountain riders, poets, artists and lovers of the Australian High Country and pioneering spirit. The poem "The Man from Snowy River" by AB Banjo Paterson is probably the most well known poem in Australia. We didn't try our hand at the brumby catching, but it was very entertaining to watch young stockmen try and catch the wild brumbies. The stock saddle buckjump competition was also great where the stockmen had to try and stay on these wild brumbies for 8 seconds. We sat around a campfire one night and listened to some old-timers tell stories, recite poetry and sing a few ballads.
After we left Corryong we went to Pine Mountain National Park and did a 2 hour hike to a "dry" waterfall. We were told before we left that it would probably be dry or just a trickle of water. The view at the top was magnificent so we weren't too disappointed. We took a scenic route drive through Tintaldra, Towong (where part of the movie "Pharlap" was made) and Khancoban where we winded our way up Mount Kosciuszko to Thredbo. We spent one night at Geehi camp area which has to be one of our favourite camping spots so far. It was right on the river with the mountains in the background. There were literally hundreds of wild kangaroos surrounding us. We could get within about 10 ft of them and then they would hop away. Wayne made a big campfire that night with old branches and kindle we found.
We spent the next day hiking to Mt. Kosciuszko summit (the highest point in Australia -2,228 meters). We took a chairlift as far as we could and then hiked the last 6 ½ km's to the top. The views were breathtaking. At the end of our hike we treated ourselves to some fresh home-made scones with jam and cream. They were the best!!!!
