Not necessary in that order. Visited the Thredbo river around the Lake and fished there for a morning. The flies were shocking. The fish weren't much better, although there were plenty of them but nothing big. Hooked 3 on floating beetle patterns - in the end the flies chased us out. Came across several Wombat holes, inhabited ones by the look of the fresh scratchings and Wombat poos. Wouldn't like to tangle with Mr Grumpy, they have a defensive mechanism which entails jamming their large tough bottoms in the front of the hole to protect themselves against predators like wild dogs which inhabit the area. The soft sand along the banks of the Thredbo river is ideally suited to their requirements. There are Emus here as well but we didn't see any. One evening down at the river I saw a Grey Kangaroo and a dark pretty-face Wallaby in the bush.
Today we drove into Kosciuszko National Park to the alpine village of Thredbo (toll is $16 per car). The scars from the disasterous mudslide that wiped out two chalets and most of their occupants some years ago, are still visible - the ground has never been rebuilt on.
The village caters more for residents in the many hotel/motel/chalet accommodations than the public due to the lack of parking space, even in off season, can't imagine the chaos in the winter. Using our senior's discount, we rode up the quad chairlift to the Eagles Nest restaurant perched on the edge of a cliff above Thredbo at a height of 1930m. Had a very nice cup of coffee there before we tackled the 4km round trip boardwalk up to a Mt Kosciuszko (alt 2228m) lookout platform. Because Australia is an old country geologically, the mountain has been eroded and worn down, smoothed out and now looks like a round hill you could play golf on. It doesn't stick out, but is still the highest point in Australia and we were not that far short of the summit. I was completely and utterly knackered at the top with a headache, nausea, and legs like jelly. Going down was almost a pleasure. Unbelievable but the flies even up there were all over us like a cheap suit, and I was the only one with a fly net because my dear wife lent me hers because I left mine behind in the wagon. This afternoon, I napped while CJ went for a walk around Jindabyne village.
