Pilot Wilderness and Lower Snowy River, Kosciuszko National Park (Snowy Mountains and Canberra Trip)

Tuesday 17 December 2019 – 279 603

The day began by preparing Massaman Beef and Sweet Potato Curry and putting it in the slow cooker for the day.  Then we headed off to explore the “Pilot Wilderness and Lower Snowy River” area of Kosciuszko National Park.  This is accessed via Barry Way from Jindabyne.  Once back into the National Park the dirt road becomes extremely windy, as well as narrow and cut into the side of a steep hill. https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/-/media/visitor/files/pdf/brochures/kosciuszko-national-park/pilot-wilderness-and-lower-snowy-river-area.pdf

Wallace Craigie Lookout was our first stop, providing views into the ranges to come.  It is named after the man who was instrumental in having the road from Jindabyne into East Gippsland developed.  

https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/things-to-do/lookouts/wallace-craigie-lookout

We stopped in at all the various campgrounds – a total of two campers – in a variety of peaceful spots along the Snowy River.  The bush here is very different to the “Thredbo-Perisher Area” – much taller trees with little to no undergrowth.  The Snowy is a grand river and must have been much more so before 79% of its flow was diverted.

At No Name picnic ground (yes, that is its official name) we had a swim in water much, much warmer than Thredbo River, with brumbies grazing on the opposite bank.  I saw several wildflower types that I had not previously seen.  Jacks Lookout gave incredible views along and over the Snowy River.  

https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/things-to-do/lookouts/jacks-lookout  At the Victorian Border, we walked across from New South Wales into Victoria and back again.  We then retraced our route back to camp and enjoyed our curry.

Cascade Hut Trail (Snowy Mountains and Canberra Trip)

Friday 13 December 2019 – 279 321

Today we did our first walk on the Thredbo side of Kosciuszko National Park.  We hiked from Dead Horse Gap to Cascade Hut. This was a pretty walk through grasslands and open woodlands with large numbers of many different types of wildflowers.  

https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/things-to-do/cycling-trails/cascade-hut-trail  

We saw brumbies, including a foal.  Judging by the quantity of droppings there are many brumbies frequenting this area.  

The first 5km of the walk was uphill to Bob’s Ridge, followed by 5km of gentle downhill.  When we began the downhill, we met a lady who was approximately half was through walking the Australian Alps Walking Track and walked with her.  When we reached Cascade Hut, she continued.

https://theaustralianalps.wordpress.com/experience/aawt/

Cascade Hut is set in a lovely clearing above a creek.  It was a beautiful spot to rest for lunch.  After lunch, we retraced our steps and were able to admire the cascading stream as we descended the last 5km.  A very enjoyable walk.

View from Cascade Hut

A cold swim again this afternoon, and then some general organizing before dinner.

11 July - Kings Canyon Rim Walk and Mereenie Loop

11 July 2016 – 178 362

Kings Canyon Rim Walk and Mereenie Loop

This morning we packed up, it was freezing – it had warmed up to 4 degrees by 8am.  We then headed back to Watarrka National Park to do the Canyon Rim Walk.
https://nt.gov.au/leisure/parks-reserves/find-a-park-to-visit/watarrka-national-park This was amazing…… The beginning of the walk is a steep climb up to the top of the canyon walls, it looks very steep but due to the rock being sedimentary it forms good flat steps for secure walking.  Once at the top the view was great as we had beautiful clear weather.  The walk continued amongst the domes on the top of the canyon walls, these are said to represent young men in the dreamtime legends.  The lookout points gave grand vista views.  In some places the canyon walls are sheer vertical faces, in other places there are large overhangs where the deeper, softer sandstone has eroded leaving the upper harder layers unsupported.  We saw some interesting rock formations – there are areas where the sediment layers do not run parallel to each other, there were also some great examples of ripple stones, formed at the edge of lakes.  The Garden of Eden was a very steep descent but was such a contrast to the top of the rim with its waterhole and luxuriant plant life.  I am glad I didn’t have to build the steps in and out of this.  This was a truly amazing walk, although there was not a single section of even ground.



To get to Hermannsburg we drove the Mereenie Loop.  This travels through aboriginal land and requires a permit ($5.50).
https://www.discovercentralaustralia.com/visitor-information/driving-permits
It is beautiful and constantly changing country with a dirt road, that is quite corrugated and has some big dips in places.  Some small parts have bitumen but this is quite potholed and has big bumps to come on and off.  One particularly big dip which has a standard road sign advising you to slow down, but closer to it from each direction there is also a forty-gallon drum which says “LIFT UM FOOT”.  We saw many brumbies, which looked in terrific condition. We stopped and checked the van and vehicle a number of times due to the roughness of the road, and this being our first time with the van in this type of conditions.  The first 150km were fine, but when we arrived at Hermannsburg we found a van leg had vibrated down and we had lost one foot, the cable adapter between the van and vehicle must have vibrated off then we had lost the plug from the van end along with the Anderson plug.  We will need to arrange an autoelectrian. On the side of the road there were monster sized piles of manure, which were presumably camel, some of these would have come more than half way up my shin in height and were just as wide.  

Approaching road train

The dust cloud after - why it is always best to pull over and stop when a road train
passes you on the dirt!

We are camping the night at Hermannsburg Heritage Precinct which is an old Lutheran mission.  There are only a very small number of vans here.  Hayden had a quick fire in the fireplace after dinner.  http://hermannsburg.com.au/
Mum