For this route, we had decided to take the more inland roads, ironically aiming to make the trip shorter. We were driving in Amber's twenty year old cherry red Daihatsu. It's not surprising that the car didn't last much longer after this trip.
Thredbo
Things started off pleasantly. After driving past Canberra (which most tourists would probably want to stop and see) and then staying the night in Cooma, we drove up to Mount Kosciuszko National Park. In winter, Thredbo becomes the major skiing destination in NSW. In summer, the gondolas continue to run people up and down the mountain. On a nice warm day we took a gondola up to the mountain top. All I can say is this place is totally underrated. The Blue Mountains can absolutely step aside for the glory of best mountain range in NSW, they've got nothing on Kosciuszko!
On the mountain top, in summer, lies a rocky green-fuzzed landscape with mountain peaks in the distance, valleys spotted with low shrubs and streams and fairy dust. You can hike to the absolute top of the mountain. By the time we got about a third of the way, we were at a viewpoint where you can see the tallest mountains in the range.
We were also able to view the three electrical storms closing in on the mountain. As much as I'd love to stay and soak in the beauty of that view, I figure the top of the tallest mountain in Australia is probably NOT the best place to be during a lightning storm, or any storm for that matter. We ran back to the gondola to catch it before they stopped them from running. On the way down in the gondola, we got drenched in rain, but we missed the lightning so I'll still call that a win.
Snowy River Road
NOT to be confused with The Snowy River Way. We actually stopped by Jindabyne on the way to Melbourne, to top up with fuel. So forever eternally infinitely grateful that we did this. From here, I even correlated our current MelWays Victorian map with the GPS instructions. All looked good - we were headed towards a highway.
WRONG!!
As directed by both maps, and with the GPS reassurance, we headed down the Snowy River Road. Oh how could we be so fooled! Don't get me wrong, this road drives like a dream... If you have a 4WD fully loaded with fuel, snacks, and a few hours to kill. The beginning of the road is deceptively normal. About 20km down the track, you enter the national park with a turn down a steep hill. The steep hills continues for a while... all thoughts of turning back are gone, since reversing up that hill is not an option. It took 10km of driving before we found a rest stop to pull over and figure out what was going on. Some lovely people were out with their 4WD, having driven the other direction - they showed us a map. We were on a 100km long unimproved road. Now, at this point, it hadn't taken us that long to drive 10km. We though, if this is what the road is like, sure, we'll be fine to keep going. I can't help but sigh as I write this.
We persisted. The road is worse than a dirt track, it's a corrugated dirt track covered with slippery foliage. In some parts the road barely fits two cars to pass each other, and it features steep cliffs with no barriers for safety. This would be fine if it weren't for all the vehicles ploughing through the hairpin turns and nearly pushing us off the edge of the road.
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| No image stabilisation in the world could make a focussed picture when driving on this road. Oh, by the way, that dirt track edging off the cliff IS the road. |
Needless to say, I spent about 4 hours of this drive checking for reception so I could inform my parents where to send the search party. No reception. We passed many a campsite - awesome place to camp backcountry by the way - places like No Name (really) and Suggan Buggan. We drove to the tops and bottoms of these mountains. Our GPS couldn't locate us (this was 2008 by the way, and back in those days GPS couldn't navigate a signal being bounced around in the mountains).
The drive through the 100km trail alone took about 4-5 hours in the little Daihatsu, but it felt endless. There was no place to switch driver, and poor Amber was at the edge of her seat concentrating the whole time. Then, a sigh of relief as we hit a flat dirt road. You know when you drive on a poor quality road for so long, that a pot-holed dirt track feels like smooth sailing? Well... that's how bad the Snowy Mountain Road was. We hit a town called Seldom Seen. The only business in the town? Why, the Seldom Seen Crash Repairs, of course.
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| Maybe it was the adrenaline induced delirium, but they were some pretty mountains. |
Eventually we reached a tar road (cue a heavenly angelic choir here), and kept along our way to Melbourne, stopping in Lake's Entrance for the night.
Now, in an appropriate vehicle, I would love to drive this road again. I've never seen a forest like this in Australia, and honestly, it doesn't even feel like Australia to be in these mountains. There were several backcountry campsites that we passed that looked adventurous to say the least.
The moral of this story: Never trust the GPS.
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