Mount Kosciuszko is mainland Australia’s highest mountain, at 2,228 metres above sea level. Reaching the top of this sounds like an impressive bucket list type achievement but surprisingly it wasn’t that difficult. We drove to Thredbo and then got on the chairlift and from there walked the 13km round trip to the summit and back. The trail was very well marked and well traversed. It’s amazing that summiting the highest peak in Australia has been made so accessible.

On the day we went, it was beautiful blue skies but only about 4C. The temperature would have been freezing overnight as there was some icy snow on the ground.

This is not a serene trail where you can be alone with nature. There were lots of people at all parts of the trail and especially the summit. There were also lots of hardcore mountain bikers riding down trails of varying difficulty down the mountain. It’s great to see this winter town thriving at times when there is no snow.

Jindabyne is the town that serves as the hub for the surrounding towns including Thredbo and Perisher. It sits by the beautiful Lake Jindabyne.

Not far from Jindabyne is the Gaden Trout Hatchery. The government breeds trout and salmon to restock cold water lakes for anglers as sport fish. The tours are really interesting and informative.

An hour drive from Jindabyne is Adaminaby. This tiny town hosts the Snowy Scheme Museum which contains an interesting collection of items and information of the project. The opening hours are extremely limited. These information boards are available outside the museum if it is not open.

After visiting the museum, it’s worth a drive to Old Adaminaby to see a small part of the massive Lake Eucumbene, a dam, part of the Snowy scheme.

It has been a pleasure to see Australia’s alpine regions and to understand a bit more about how large and complex the Snowy hydro project was and is.