Let the good times roll (and some cheese)

Yes, it has been  a long time since my last post on Australia day. There is no excuse other than that I have settled into a work/life routine that neglects blogging. I am still happy with my choice of moving back to Thredbo; work takes me to some beautiful spots every day for some physical exercise, mainly wielding shovels and mattocks. I am definitely getting fitter and had to punch a new hole in my belt because of a shrinking waist line.

A selfie during morning tea at work

In my leisure time I enjoy the tranquillity of the village in off-season, or attend some of the regular events that happen on weekends. Many of you are familiar with the main stream events, such as the music festivals or mountain bike races, but today is the inaugural wine and cheese festival, which has not been publicised as widely. The festival kicked off this morning with the first ever Thredbo Cheese Rolling Competition, a fitting first act to a day dominated by food and wine; after all, this is a place that offers many outdoor activities and a variety of hedonistic pleasures in close proximity, enabling a well balanced life style. 

The cheese rolling competition took place at the bottom of a relatively steep ski run. It was held in three categories: women, men and children. The women and men categories were racing after a rolling wheel of Swiss cheese down the hill, while the children raced towards a stationary wheel of cheese up the hill. There were just enough participants in each category to make for competitive racing. This was the first cheese rolling event that I attended and I can report that it is definitely a very entertaining affair for spectators, not least because there are many cheesy puns to be made.

The races were dominated by local employees, which took out the first three spots in both the women's and men's categories, despite the attendance of a very cheese-experienced Swiss team. Maybe the problem was that the wheel of cheese was made in Australia and didn't possess the exact rolling qualities of a much larger wheel of Emmental. As usual these days, in the children's category everyone was a winner (just someone was the first winner and someone else the last winner...)

A proud winner of the male category

The locals dominated all races

For those of you with devices that support mp4 streaming, below are some movies of the final races. Maybe they tempt you to start training for next year's race, so that it may grow into a major Australian sporting event.

Poetry and a free sausage

If you feel that I have neglected my blog you are right. Last Monday I started work on the mountain crew in Thredbo. The job fits in well with my new lifestyle, it involves mainly physical labour and it takes place outside, on the mountain.

But today is Australia Day, which means a day off. Thredbo and the National Parks organised a poetry reading and Australia's highest BBQ up at Mt. Kosciuszko. To prepare myself for a guilt-free sausage sandwich I decided to walk up to Kozzie without catching the chairlift. I walked up via Friday Flat and Merrits Traverse. When I got to Friday Flat I noticed some haystacks that got uncovered by a big thunderstorm a couple of days ago, so I decided to fix them first before starting my ascent. This cost me about half an hour and I got worried that I won't make it to the top of Kozzie in time for the poetry reading, so I walked a bit faster than usual. I made it from the bottom of Friday Flat in Thredbo to the top of Mt Kosciuszko in two hours and fifteen minutes, which I think is pretty good going for 11 km and one thousand metres of climbing. I worked up quite a sweat and was half an hour too early; I got very cold waiting on the windy top and ended up wearing everything that I carried in my backpack, including a fleecy top and my Goretex jacket. 

In the cold wind I ended up wearing everything I carried with me

The waiting was worthwhile and I got to listen to two very Australian Poems,  "I love a sunburnt country" and "The man from Snowy River", both of which I like very much (follow the links if you want to partake in some Australian folklore).

Nick Kirshner reading the poems

On the way down from Mt. Kosciuszko I stopped at Rawsons Pass, where Thredbo had set up Australia's highest BBQ. The sausage sandwiches were free, so I put a few dollars into the charity box. After enjoying the lunch I headed back along the iron walkway to Thredbo and caught the chairlift back down. Looking east from the chairlift I could see that there were low hanging cloud over the bottom of the valley and Jindabyne; once again we were lucky in Thredbo, staying above the bad weather. 

Australia's highest BBQ, sponsored by Thredbo

lLooking down the Thredbo valley at the clouds over Jindabyne

Thredbo Valley Track

Last week I went for a ride on my new mountain bike. I chose the Thredbo Valley Track, because it is marked as "easy" on the mountain bike map. The trail leads all the way from Thredbo down to Lake Crackenback Resort, about 17 km in length. 

On my bike ride I only went as far as the Old Ranger Station, which is about 6 km from Thredbo. The ride down the valley was easy enough, with only a few short inclines, but of course the way back up the valley was a bit more of a workout. I found out that my legs are much more used to walking and also that my bike needs some adjustments to the gear selection, which unfortunately happened fairly randomly on steep inclines, causing the chain to derail several times. But what I saw of the trail was enough to spur me on to do it in its entire length, which I did this week; on foot.

Track head at the entry into the National Park near Bullocks Flat

The track would make an easy day walk in each direction, but because I had to get back home, I broke it into two separate return trips, ending up walking the entire length in each direction. On the first day I walked from Thredbo to the Ngarigo Camp Ground (9.3 km each way) and on the second day I parked my car at Ngarigo and walked to Lake Crackenback Resort and back (7.6 km each way).

The track from Thredbo to Ngarigo crosses the Thredbo River five times. The bridges are numbered beginning at the Thredbo end, with Bridge number 5 just before you get to the camp ground, and Bridge number 4 at the Old Ranger Station, to where I cycled last week. If you want to shorten your ride/walk, there is access to the main road at the Old Ranger Station. 

Bridges one, two and three are suspension bridges

Bridges four and five are arches

The section of the track between the Old Ranger Station and Ngarigo Camp Ground is the newest one and about the same grade of difficulty as the section from Thredbo to Bridge number four. Along the way I saw a group doing river sledding, which looked like fun. There are guided sledding tours available through Lake Crackenback Resort, definitely something that I will add to my list of things to do.

River sledding, I could hear their screams when they got to the next set of rapids...

Just before Ngarigo is Bridge 5, which is the last crossing of the river. After that the track remains on the eastern side (road side) of the river. The 4.6 km between Ngarigo and the Diggings camp grounds looked the most challenging to me. Here the valley gets narrower and, by my judgement, has the largest drop. It is also the section where I saw most wild life and got some great views of the river. I have to say that I did this section on my second day, which was after some heavy rainfalls, and the river was carrying a lot of water.

Rainbow and power lines over the fast flowing Thredbo river

I was being watched 

There are still some smaller bridges across difficult terrain

From the Diggings to Bullocks Flat and Lake Crackenback Resort the Thredbo Valley Track diverts away from the river through some new growth forest and grasslands, but there is the option to take the Bullocks Track, which keeps going along the river, but is more suited as a walking track than for mountain bikes, albeit I did see at least one tyre track along it. The section of the Thredbo Valley Track between the Diggings and Lake Crackenback Resort is by far the easiest one and well suited for mountain bike beginners. Both of these tracks join back together just before you get under the bridge where the Skitube crosses the river. From there it is only about 15 minutes walk to Lake Crackenback Resort where you can get food and refreshments.

Skitube crossing the river

  

Lake Crackenback Resort

I think that National Parks have done a great job building the track. With its many different access points along the way you can really section it off to your own desire and ability. I have met people along the way who just did a small section as an afternoon stroll and I have met keen mountain bikers who did the whole track up and back in one go.

Persistent Rain...

... makes for running waterfalls and brings out the features of the snow gum trees.

Snake Stomping

Today  I decided to walk from Dead Horse Gap to the Cascade Hut, an easy walk of just under 10 kilometres each way. The walk leads up along the Thredbo River and then crosses it to Bob's Ridge, before descending to the Cascades. It is all along a well managed track that is suitable for walking as well as mountain biking.

Only about 2 km into the walk, just after crossing the Thredbo River, I encountered the first snake of the day. It was sunning itself right on the walking track. On all the walks that I have done over the past month I only encountered one other snake, and that was on a cold morning, when one was warming itself on a sewerage manhole cover just below the house where I live. 

Came across this one early on today

I don't like snakes much, especially when they are not behind glass, and I don't know what the official rules are for an encounter. I follow my own 5 step procedure, which had served me well so far:

Step 1: Stop dead in my track and try to maintain control of bladder and bowel
Step 2 (optional): With slow movements reach for camera and take picture
Step 3: Slowly walk backwards to a distance of about 10 metres away from the snake
Step 4: Stamp my foot to make the ground vibrate, the snake usually buggers off
Step 5: Continue on track

If the snake doesn't move in step 4 I would look for an alternative route, but so far I always had success. And just to test it out again I came across another larger snake just before Cascade Hut, and the technique worked again. This one took off up a grassy slope and I could see how fast they can move (maybe 10 metres is a bit short of a safety distance...)

Came across this one near Cascade Hut

Other than that the walk was very pleasant with some good views and a group of brumbies down on the open plain near Cascade Hut, including a little foal and another mare that looked like she was getting close to giving birth.

Brumby with foal

Cascade Hut

Inside the hut

View over boggy plain towards Chimney's Ridge (another walk on my list)

View from track to Bob's Ridge over to Ramshead Range

Happy New Year

Another year ticks over, and with it the first six months of my gap year come to an end. I spent New Year's Eve at the Thredbo Village Square, where people gathered to have a few drinks, party and listen to a live band. The band was quite good and played a lot of well known songs for people to sing along and dance. I stayed until about half past midnight, which is a great improvement from the previous year, where I spent the evening at home and fell asleep on the sofa together with my two dogs.

Party in the village square

When I woke up at 7 am this morning I felt a little bit guilty for drinking several cans of rum and coke, which doesn't fit all that well in my "get fit" regime, so I decided to do some uphill walking to work them off. I walked from home up to the top of the Cruiser Chairlift, which is the eastern most lift in the resort, and then kept going until I reached the high plateau behind the ridge from where you can see across to Mt Carruthers and Mt Twynam. There was no one else about and I enjoyed the peace and quiet among some lush fields of wildflowers. 

Lush fields of wildflowers

View east towards Lake Crackenback Resort with Mt Crackenback
in the background

I then followed the ridge towards the middle slopes and took some pictures of the Village from some more unusual angles, before walking down the Merrits Nature track. I have been breaking in some new walking boots over the last few days and have some deep blisters on the right foot. Today I decided to revert to my trusty old Red Backs to give the heel some time to heal; I will try the new boots again, once I have some skin back.

View of Thredbo Village

Blue shoes are giving me blisters

As you can see

Rise above it!

The last couple of days we had some heavy rain and thunderstorms here in Thredbo, keeping me indoors reading my books. Last night the setting sun illuminated the last of the storm clouds with a red glow, giving me hope that today would be a clear day, you know "red at night, sailor's delight" and all that sort of stuff...

Last night's weather check from the balcony gave me hope

But when I got up this morning the day was damp and grey. I thought that it was raining, but it was only moisture from the trees dripping onto the tin roof of my living room. The balcony weather check revealed that there was no mountain and the village was shrouded in fog. 

The mountain is hidden in fog

I haven't had a decent walk in three days, so I decided to head up the mountain anyway, in the hope of it clearing up later. I stuck to the lower slopes and headed up the maintenance road to Merrits restaurant and from there up to the top of the Gunbarrel chairlift, where I took a break to cool down after the steep ascent. As I was standing there the fog started to clear and I caught a glimpse of Kareela Hut across the other side of the slopes. It was revealing itself from clouds like it was on an island. Within minutes the sky above me started to turn blue and I was bathed in sunshine. The village below still hid itself in the fog and I was glad that I made the effort to rise above it.

Kareela Hut making an appearance out of the cloud

Followed by the whole top of Crackenback

While the village remained hidden in the fog below

Mt Twynam, only third highest, but the best views

Yesterday I returned to Charlotte's Pass to take a walk up to Mt Twynam, which is about 9 kilometres away along an easy to find route. You basically walk along the main range track in an anti-clockwise direction until you reach the pass below Carruthers Peak, where you take a sharp turn to the right and walk up along the ridge in the opposite direction to the main range track. There is an easy to identify track that was used by the Soil Conservation Service when they stabilised the slopes of Mt Twynam to stop erosion and the silting up of Blue Lake below. 

The Soil Conservation track is easy identifiable all the way

Looking back down to the saddle with Carruthers Peak behind it

Along the way to Mt Twynam you get good views either side of the ridge, but nothing like the views from the top. Because it is the third highest mountain in the range, and set apart a few kilometres from its colleagues in the "high league" you get uninterrupted views in all directions, with a splendid display of the highest peaks towards the south-west. I tried to name them all for you in a couple of my photographs (the green ticks are the ones that I have walked to over the last couple of weeks and published photographs in earlier posts).

Left of Kosciuszko

Right of Kosciuszko

Of all the summits I climbed so far I spent most time on Mt Twynam. The weather was perfect, with hardly a breath of wind, and the views in all directions made me feel on top of the world.

The trig point on top of Mt Twynam

The view towards Guthega and Blue Cow

The view towards Charlotte's Pass with Headly Tarn in the foreground

The view to Mt Jagungal and the ACT ranges

The one thing that you can't see from the summit of Mt Twynam is Blue Lake, which is directly at its foot and hidden by an outcrop above the steep rocky cliffs that fall down to the lake. On the way back to Charlotte's pass, along the same track, I took the short detour down towards the lake to take a picture with Mt Twynam in the background. The difference in elevation between the lake and the top is about 250 metres.

Blue Lake, backed by Mt Twynam and Little Twynam

Having done all these walks since I got to Thredbo seems to have had some benefits for my fitness. I dreaded the steep ascent from the Snowy River up to Charlotte's Pass at the end of the walk, but I didn't have to pause once and hardly raised a sweat.

"Heart Attack Hill" was easier than I expected