Part 1 - Snowy Mountains

21 -23 December 2023

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Thursday 21 December 3pm. Ready, set, go! After hours and hours of packing, we finally hit the road! Bye bye Crows Nest!

Jindabyne

On our trip from Sydney towards Melbourne, we chose a 3 hour detour to pass through the Snowy Mountains. This region is famous for its snow and ski (very rare in Australia). Arriving at 9pm we are lucky to find an cosy bistro to dine and almost feel like being in winter in the Alps 😍. The spaghetti is delicious and the glass of wine double size as in Sydney. We sleep on the campground next to the lake and get our fleeces out of the bags as temperature has dropped 10 degrees (!) since leaving home this afternoon.

Mt Kosciuszko National Park

At Charlotte's Pass we are as high (1835m altitude) and as close to Mt Kosciuszko as we can get by car. We are enchanted by the Alpine fauna (a cute red Flame Robin with 2 little white stripes on its wings) and flora (the colourful bark of the Snow Loving Gum, the only tree surviving at this altitude) and last but not least the patches of white snow on the flanks of Australia's highest mountain tops. Magic !

Thredbo

Thredbo would be just a pit stop for groceries & picnic before starting the remaining 5hour drive. But when we saw the chairlifts going all the way up... We just wanted one thing, going up up up .... !

What a wonder having our feet dangling in the air, hairs waving in the wind, the sun on our face, taking in all the beautiful scenery. At 1937m altitude surrounded by Alpine flowers, our picnic was most tasteful.

On the road

Friday 22 December. Sleep over in a motel at Benalla. Next day more driving but still fun with Doudou playing guitar and Aiko putting rings on her toes.