#MtKosiuszko Jindabyne and Canberra

From Darwin Rich and I flew to Sydney on an overnighter. It is 4 and half hours in the air plus a 1 hour 30 time difference. We hire a car and set out for the Snowy Mountains area. Our intention is to trek to the top of Mt Kosciuszko - the highest point in the whole of Australia (Rich had done it before when there was snow on the ground). It is about a 5 hour drive to where we were staying - but we had plenty of time and had quite a few stops overs for sightseeing, naps and refreshments.

The Snowy Mountains (the Australian Alps) are south west of Sydney and surprisingly offer proper skiing from May to October. Amazing really given the average temperature in Sydney.

We are staying at Jindabyne - a lovely base camp town for the skiers and year round outdoor pursuitors . Jindabyne sits above Lake Jindabyne a massive man made freshwater lake created to feed the Snowy Mountain hydro scheme. (Jindabybe was originally in the valley which was dammed and flooded to form the lake) It is filled with trout and salmon and the lake is well used for boating and has beaches where it is safe to swim.

Next day we are up very early to take the Charlotte Pass route to the summit of Mount Kosciuszko - the highest point in Australia. It is at 7310 ft. Our Ben Nevis is 4413 ft. It is an 18km up and down walk on an established path. Despite it being summer and in full sun there was a cool headwind at times - a relief but for much of the time the sweat was coming off us. Amazing there were still large patches of snow in north facing areas going up.

It was a great thing for Rich and I to do together as father and son. We both got a huge amount from being in this beautiful place and for a minute or two the highest people in the whole of the continent of Australasia. Emotional and another big memory.

The advantage of an early start was a relatively early down. We stopped for a swim in Lake Jindabyne. The air temperature was very hot. The water was so refreshingly cold. A perfect foil for the walk.

We stayed at the Banjo Patterson Inn. A very entertaining place including live music. We met a full on group of locals and had a great time comparing notes about our relative countries. They are suffering much of the same issues but are probably dealing with them better than us. They have a terrible perspective of what has happened to our country - particularly Londonistan ! They might be right. They were both amazed and very respectful of young Rich for the work he has been doing in the Northern Territory (not somewhere most Australians get to.) In the end they concluded they live in the best place in the world - skiing - trout fishing - no big city hustle but Canberra only a couple of hours away if the big city is needed. The next conversation was about the smoke coming over the hill from the annual bush fires. Some years are worse than others ! The next morning early Rich and I did a decent Lakeshore ride. There were plenty of people out living the Oz outdoor life. Some very impressive tent set ups especially car top tents. Kings often seemed to be the makers. Everyone seemed so nice. And that was Jindabyne!

We have all-day to get back to Sydney so we could amble back. Our plan was to take a short detour into Canberra - Australia's capital city - its seat of government. We only spent about 4 hours there. It was a laid back Sunday. I wanted to see Australia's version of our Houses of Parliament. We were so pleased we could enter for a tour. I haven't quite got my head around their democratic system. However I understand their House of Lords - their second chamber is made up of Senators elected in each state based pro rata on the number of registered voters in the state - but please do not quote me on that.

A quick bit about Canberra. It is in the Australian Capital Territory - so neither New South Wales or Victoria. It is known as the bush capital as it is Australia's only major city not on the coast. It has a population of about 500000 and is Australia's 8th largest city. It is about equidistant from Sydney and Melbourne which is no coincidence - it is why Canberra exists.

Sydney and Melbourne - Australia's two premier cities were in bitter dispute about which should be the capital - the seat of government. In the end the only solution was neither. They built Canberra from scratch as a compromise. The government moved there in 1913. As a city it is totally planned - designed by American architects - heavily influenced by the "garden city" approach. Canberra is a success.- in a beautiful area with a huge lake - so plentiful water supply and for recreational use. As I said we visited their Parliament building - we sat by the lake and finally we went up to a famous look out point called Mt Ainslie to see Canberra spread before us as the architects of the new city envisaged. Mt Ainslie in many ways was from where Canberra was planned and designed. It was a short but worthwhile stop over.

Next stop Uluru. In the meantime here are some mob photos relating :-