Day 27

27 February 2013

Today we woke to rain, rain and more rain. We were planning to walk to the summit of Mount Kosciusko today so we decided to take a drive to Thredbo first and see what the weather was like there. From our campsite it is about 15 mins to Thredbo.

At Thredbo it was raining even heavier and we were really not prepared with the right gear to walk in this weather. Joel had no rainproof jacket and we were going to get soaked. We went for a bit more of a drive past Thredbo to see what else was around. There are a lot of different walks that can be done along this road however none of them are pleasant in the rain.

We decided that there would be no point in coming here if we didn't attempt Mount Kosciusko! Back to Thredbo we had a look in a few shops hoping to pick up a cheap jacket, of course they were all about $500! We then went to the sports centre to buy our tickets to the chair lift to start our summit walk. They had a few jackets on sale and there was a full waterproof, wind proof, breathable snow jacket on sale for $80! So Joel got this and we were then ready for our walk.

Something to eat in the cafe before we go up on the chair lift. World's biggest Anzac biscuit $4, and sausage roll for $6.50. Now onto the chair lift, the pass is $32 each for an all day pass on the chair lift. The chair lift was pretty cool, you can imagine when it is snowing how much cooler it would be but there was still some good views and it was an experience (for people that haven't been on a chairlift before). This was made even more of an experience as it was pouring rain and we were both just hiding in our rain jackets hoping we would be at the top soon! Made it to the top and we were soaked! Still pouring rain, wind is getting stronger we push on to our first destination the Mount Kosciusko Lookout which is 2km from the chair lift.

I would love to say we just loved the views and it was an amazing walk....the truth is we could barely look up as the rain was pounding our faces and if we did look up all you could see was all the fog overtaking the view anyway! There is a steel boardwalk all the way to the lookout and it is an easy walk. We made it to the lookout and looked out and saw ....FOG! At this point we decided there was no point in pressing on to the summit as it was another 4.5 km plus getting back and we wouldn't be able to see anyway and we were already wet and freezing! This was so disappointing!! I really wanted to do it and just seemed like an epic fail but we decided we would like to come back in ski season so we will get another chance to climb. (Some comfort).

My big Anzac biscuit (ok half of it, I was hungry!)

 

We headed back to the restaurant at the top of the chair lift to try and find some warmth. I found warmth in a hot chocolate...mmmm and Joel found warmth in a $8.50 Kosciusko beer (which he was not very keen on)!

Back down the chairlift and the fog lifted and rain cleared for our ride down so we could enjoy it a little more. At the bottom we are wet, cold, disappointed and ready to get into some dry clothes so headed back to camp for a quiet night.

Carly & Joel

 

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