G'day everyone! Sorry for not writing for a while! The end of last year was pretty hectic with work in ED, carols and Christmas services at church and so forth! It was a nice break then to go away over the New Year period to the Snowy Mountains!On 29th December, we set off on our roadtrip leaving from Josh's 1st birthday party! Our troupe included Yoke, Sel, Andrew, Di and I! We left mid afternoon and headed down the M5 towards Canberra. It was weird driving past Campbelltown and not making that Narellan Rd turnoff...and yet SUCH a good feeling! We were on another adventure!!!
We reached Canberra in the late afternoon and checked into our Formule 1 hotel on the outskirts of the nation's capital! That evening we had dinner in Dickson at a local Thai place. Then we checked out Parliament House by night! The following morning we went back to Dickson to stock up on groceries for our trip from Woolies and the local chinese supermarket yeah! 
Our drive that day took us south of Canberra to Cooma where we had a lunch break. Bought my inflatable camping mat there and after a picnic lunch, we headed on to Jindabyne! The lake was inviting with its shades of blue and green and the heat was sweltering! After checking out the information centre we entered Kosciuszko National Park and checked in at Kosciuszko Mountain Retreat camping/caravan park! We found our plot of land and pitched our tents! It was my first camping experience in a long long time and I was rather excited about it! That afternoon we went on a 5km walk from the campsite towards the river where we had left one car. The walk provided nice views of the valley! That night we had yummy Mee Goreng with dumplings for dinner before calling it a night!
On New Year's Eve, we woke up early and drove to Charlotte's Pass to the start of the Main Range Track walk, a 22km circuit walk! It was hot and there were quite a few other people doing the track. It started with a nice descent towards a creek but soon we were climbing the other side of the valley and the heat and flies were already getting to us! That's when I remembered that I had an umbrella in my back pack and out it came baby - mobile shade! What a relief! I stopped whinging and whining and began to enjoy the walk somewhat! 
After walking about 5km, we reached Blue Lake, a lake formed by glacial movements! It was weird to see ice in places despite it being so hot!!! We walked down towards the lake and had our packed lunches near a stream flowing from the lake. 
After lunch we plugged on and climbed peaks and descended into valleys and enjoyed the spectacular views of the Great Dividing Range! We battled flies which seemed to follow us in a perpetual cloud and with weary legs we pushed on! Every drink stop was a welcome relief but soon we were running out of water and had to ration it! That's when Di and Andrew thought it'd be a good idea to fill up their water bottles with some ice from one of those ice patches! They filtered out the dirt and bugs and hey presto - it tasted kinda good!
Refreshed, we pushed on and soon were climbing the pinnacle to Mt Kosciuszko itself! At the top of Australia, we enjoyed 360 degree views and the satisfaction of knowing that it was only downhill from there! However, soon dark storm clouds began rolling in and we decided it'd be wise to start heading back as we still had a good 7km from that point to the car! As we descended the hillside it started to hail!!! Out came my trusty umbrella again and we kept walking towards the sanctuary of a half built block of toilets nearby as pebble sized hailstones pelted down!
Thankfully the storm abated rather quickly and with the sun setting, we made quick work of the easy downhill firetrail back to the car. We reached the car around 7pm and boy was it nice to sit down and rest those weary legs! That night we celebrated NYE with a Tom Yum steamboat and some wine! We were so tired that we decided not to stay up to see the new year in but instead played with some sparklers to celebrate!The next morning we packed up and checked out to begin our drive back home. It was a leisurely drive back but an unforgettable experience! Can't wait till our next trip!!!
