We checked out the town and the next day headed up to the Snowy Mountains.    For Kiwis, think of the Desert Road in summer, tussock grass, alpine flowers and bushes, stark, dry brown ground with nary a glimpse of green.   Beautifully rugged!   No snow in these mountains however.   Not for a couple of months yet, when the whole region will be blanketed and take on a new lease of life.   In the meantime, we were happy to drive these fantastic roads where the 60km just melted away and we found ourselves in Jindabyne where the whole town, apart from one or two houses, which were relocated, was submerged in the Snowy River when it was dammed as part of the Snowy River Scheme.

This is a great place year round by looks.  Kiwis – think of Taupo.   Lake Jindabyne is beautiful and in winter the skiers use this town as a base to ski Thredbo and Perisher, some 30km away.

After a walk around an area of the lake it was off again and soon we were at the entrance of Kosciuszko National Park.   A day pass for $17 and higher we went, arriving at Thredbo .   Elevation is around 1365m above sea level, so not overly high but certainly high enough to appreciate the higher mountains around us consisting of Mt Kosciuszko and other smaller mountains.

So onto the ski lift which I estimate to be around 1.5km long and what a view from the top.   Amazing, but I reckon in winter it would be even more beautiful.    We wandered around at the top for a while, loving the breeze, which wasn't that much cooler than at the base, still damned hot!

Sister Yvonne, I am thinking of you and all our treks through Tongariro National Park and all our times together in regions similar.

I also can't help but think of my gorgeous 3 year old grandson Coen in these snow prone areas.   He is very much into the kids animated TV show, Paw Patrol, where seven pups are in training as heros in everyday jobs, like police, fire, snow rescue etc   All I see in the National Park are signs and trucks saying Ski Patrol!    I can’t help myself, every time I see Ski Patrol, I burst into tune "diddle-a dit-di-doo", as in the bugle call and think of Paw Patrol!   Oh dear!

So we started to head back to Cooma, after a coffee and, yes you guessed it, a pie. At Jindabyne we decided it wasn't really all that far to Perisher Valley and Charlotte Pass. What the hell, we are here, we must go.   Another fabulous alpine drive to Perisher where there wasn't much to see, so on to Charlotte Pass where we climbed (physically – not in the car) up and up to a high lookout overlooking the pass between all the mountains and the start of the Snowy River, where it is nothing more than a little creek.   At this point, if you know where to look amongst this vast array of mountains making up the range, you can see.   It is known really only for being highest mountain in Australia and obviously higher than its counterparts although not that much higher and unfortunately, being part of the Great Dividing Range (which really is great), does not stand out in any way.  Well, not to me anyway.   It is 2,228 metres above sea level and part of the range so just appears to be part of the overall beauty.

Quite a big day all in all, but really fantastic.