Photo Gallery
History.
Snowy Mountains history is famous in song and verse (The Man from Snowy River by A.B. "Banjo" Patterson). A flourishing aboriginal culture existed long before pioneering by European settlers; the online publication Polish Patriots and Bogong Moths tells the history of the aboriginal tribes who once lived here. Also available online is 'SNOWY- The Making of Modern Australia' by Brad Collis.
There are many old homesteads like the one shown here. Near Jindabyne the famous Crackenback Cottage welcomes visitors.
The Old Currango Homestead is another one worth visiting.
The old township of Jindabyne was flooded in 1964 by the rise of Lake Jindabyne as a consequence of the Snowy Hydro Scheme; prior to flooding most of the homes were packed onto trucks and removed to the present site of the town of Jindabyne. The Snowy Mountains Authority has an excellent film called "The Jindabyne Story" which shows the whole process .
The handbook Snowy Mountain Walks provides a wealth of information about local history, geography, wildflowers, walks, etc. This handbook, produced by the Geehi Bushwalking Club, is available for purchase from the Snowy Region Visitors Centre in Jindabyne. A great source of historic and cultural information can be found in the book Searching for Snowy by George Seddon.
There are also many historic huts maintained by the Kosciusko Huts Association and used as refuges for walkers and skiers in the Kosciusko National Park.
The Snowy Mountains main range.
From Jindabyne the best place to get wonderful views of the Snowy Mountains main range is at the Charlotte Pass car park (toilet facilities available), which is accessible via the Kosciusko Road at the head of the Perisher Valley. In 1881, Charlotte Adams was the first European woman to climb Mt Kosciuszko, lending her name to what was to become the village of Charlotte Pass.
(Map from Perisher Blue website at http://www.perisherblue.com.au/summer/maps/)
The photo below, taken from the Charlotte Pass car park (in mid-summer), shows Mt. Kosciusko, Australia's highest mountain at 2,228m. (7,308ft.), which is almost twice as high as Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the UK at 1,344m. (4,409ft.). The area covered by winter snow in the Australian Alps is larger than the whole of Switzerland.
The summit of Mt. Kosciusko is easily accessible as a day walk from several starting points. Protective winter clothing, food and water should always be carried as snow and freezing conditions can occur at any time of the year. The round trip walk from the Charlotte Pass car park along the old Summit Road (which is closed to cars) is about 22km. An alternative walk from top of the Crackenback chairlift (at Thredbo) to the summit is a 12km. round trip and is perhaps better suited for the less fit amongst us (see section on Thredbo below).
Up in the alpine region (and adjacent to the Charlott Pass car park) you will see the beautiful snow gums (Eucalyptus pauciflora), their characteristic twisted and weather beaten trunks showing many colours ranging from reds and yellows through to white, grey and green.
Many other popular walks start from the Charlotte Pass car park. The guidebook book Snowy Mountain Walks produced by the Geehi Bushwalking Club has many details, pictures and maps included, and is available for purchase from the Snowy Region Visitors Centre in Jindabyne - the short boardwalk shown in the photo below goes to a nearby lookout where you can get some more panoramic views of the main range. The photo was taken in mid-summer (on 23 December 2004) and you can still see some snow patches.
From the Charlotte Pass car park you can see nearly all of the ten highest mountains in Australia including Caruthers Peak at 2145m (shown in the photo below), often still snowcapped in mid-summer.
The Blue Lake walk (shown in the photo above) leads from the Charlotte Pass car park steeply down for 1km. to the headwaters of the Snowy River (shown in the photo below) - a beautiful picnic spot on a summers' day !!
The Blue Lake walking track then crosses the Snowy River on stepping stones and climbs up steeply to the Blue Lake below Mt. Twynam (2,195m.).
The Blue Lake, photo by J.Hart from the book "Snowy Mountains Walks" produced by the Geehi Bushwalking Club.
In winter, Blue Lake provides a challenge to skiers and climbers.
The Snowy River.
The Snowy River runs from the base of Mt. Kosciusko down through the ski village of Guthega (and the Guthega hydro-electric power station, part of the Snowy Hydro Scheme) and through Island Bend down into Lake Jindabyne, where it is joined by the Thredbo and Eucumbene Rivers. The southern outflow from the lake is the Snowy River.
Lake Jindabyne has many islands and safe (no sharks) sandy (great for kids) beaches like this one right out the front of Rosella Townhouse. The trout fishing is fantastic.
After flowing out of Lake Jindabyne the Snowy River enters a spectacular gorge (which is easily accessable by road 30km. from Jindabyne) - here there are lots of good facilities (including toilets) for picnics and camping adjacent to the river.
The gorge narrows down and the Snowy River becomes a wild cataract in places ...
... and in other places there are some long stretches of quiet water, great for canoeing, swimming and trout fishing. The border between New South Wales and Victoria is only about 10km. away from here, as the Snowy River travels on its journey down to the sea near Orbost in the East Gippsland region of Victoria.
At Thredbo.
At the alpine ski village of Thredbo, about 30km from Jindabyne along the Alpine Way, you can take the chairift to the top of Mt. Crackenback, where there is an excellent restaurant providing meals and refreshments all year round. In the photo below you can see some of the grassy slopes that are covered by winter snow for skiing. The World Cup Crackenback Supertrail ski run is the longest (about 6km.) and highest (over 6,000') in Australia.
From the top of the chairlift one gets spectacular views down over the Thredbo village and the Thredbo Valley. The chairlift is accessible to elderly people and children - the friendly staff will stop the chairlift for everone to be safely seated. The elderly chap in this picture said he was 85 not out and had never been on a chairlift before, so if he can do it, anyone can.
The very popular boardwalk from top of the the Crackenback chairlift to the Kosciusko Lookout is about 4km. round trip, while the full walk to the summit of Mt. Kosciusko is about 12km. round trip.
The Thredbo River starts near the Thredbo village and runs about 30km. down into Lake Jindabyne. A trout fishers paradise.
The Murray River.
On the other (western) side of the main Snowy Mountains range are the headwaters of Australia's longest river, the Murray (which flows to the sea at Goolwa about 2,520km. away in South Australia).
This photo of the upper Murray River was taken at Tom Groggin about 60km. from Jindabyne), one of many delightful picnic and camping spots that include Geehi Flats (old Geehi Hut) and Leatherbarrel Creek, in the rainforest between Jindabyne and Khancoban along the Alpine Way. A little further downstream from here towards Khancoban are the kayaking and white-water rafting adventure centres. The Murray River in this region forms the state boundary between New South Wales and Victoria.
This cute little fella' (grey kangaroo) might drop in at your picnic anytime.(Photo taken at Tom Groggin picnic and camping area). Perhaps you might also see a wombat, echindna or perhaps even a platypus - who knows! Please don't feed them though, or they'll get too dependent on handouts.
Throughout the Kosciusko National Park you will find a profusion of wildflowers in late Spring and Summer (November to April), ranging from sub-alpine (around 3000ft.) to alpine (5000ft. to 7000ft.). A handy guidebook, available from the Snow Region Visitors Centre in Jindabyne, is the Wild Guide - Plants & Animals of the Australian Alps by Barbara Cameron-Smith.
The photo above shows the Twiggy Mullein (Virbascum virgatum), an introduced species which is prolific in the middle Snowy River gorge.
Patches of Sky Lilies (Herpolirion novae-zelandiae) shown in the photo above are found in the sub-alpine woodlands.
The Gunn's Alpine Buttercup (Ranunculus gunnianus) (above) are found in the alpine herbfields and tussock grasslands and put on a wonderful golden show.
Eyebright (Euphrasia collina subsp. diversicolour) are delighful in late Summer in the lower drier parts of the Kosciusko National Park and Snowy River gorge.
All photos above (unless otherwise stated) taken by Tony Kiek using a Minolta SRT101 camera with a Super Ozeck 30-100mm auto-zoom lens and a Hoya skylight filter.
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