Charlotte Pass

Yesterday was another reasonably sunny day, so we drove around to Charlotte Pass - another winter ski destination in the Snowy Mountains but also the trailhead for several nice hikes. There are several thousand brumbies in this area - ie herds of wild horses, the descendants of domesticated pack horses that either escaped or were released into the bush about 100 years ago. Didn't see any, even though we scanned the surrounding hillsides with the binoculars when we stopped for lunch.



We initially intended to walk this track to a local feature called Blue Lake, but upon arriving at the river below we found the water swift flowing and too deep to safely ford on foot. My boots are waterproof but Rita's are not, so we decided it was a bit too risky to venture across, especially if any rain further up the valley swelled the stream any more than it already was. So...we headed back up the trail and set out on an alternate route along the crest of the hill back towards Mt. Kosciusko - or Kozzie as the locals call it - the same place we hiked to the previous day, but from the other direction.




The Man from Snowy River (Also a famous Australian poem).



...and the Woman from Snowy River.







Heading towards Seaman's Hut - built here after a couple of local blokes perished in a blizzard back in the 1920's. You see lots of these remote shelters in this area - a testament to the freaky nature of the local weather. Guess they can get a sudden snowstorm up here any month of the year. There were a number of cautionary signs on the way up warning hikers to be prepared when going into the back country...which this most certainly is.




And a closer look at the emergency shelter.


Here are a couple of views of the Snowy River from the picnic spot where we stopped on the way down the hill.






There's a local fish that lives in the river - even this high up - that apparently is known to crawl up on the rocks to sun themselves on sunny days. Supposed to be Yabbies (crayfish) too, although we never saw any. Kept looking around for Platypus while we were having lunch, thinking one or two might have worked there way up here feeding on the Yabbies...but no luck.



Although most of the area was alpine tundra and totally devoid of any trees, we did pass thru this forest of Snow Gums on the way back to the trailhead.


We're here for another couple of days before heading down out of the mountains, and the forecast is gloomy - more rain until Saturday. Oh well.