Some get to Rawson Pass en route to Mount Kosciuszko for the record.  Others do it for the challenge.  And still others do it just because it’s there.

100 metres or so below the Mt Kosciuszko summit, the Rawson Pass Public Amenities block does a roaring trade. Back in the good old days, being a mountaineer was as easy as taking a short trip in the car.  Back then, ‘climbers’ attempting the summit had to take their chances with the dunny of the great outdoors.

We’d toiled along the undulating 6 km (~3.5 miles) track, gamely fighting off persistent altitude sickness, or was it lack of fitness? We’d been suffering it since alighting from the Kosciuszko Express chairlift, a speedy 600 metre rise in altitude from ski village Thredbo.

Cash-strapped governments regularly threaten to cause irreparable damage to the delicate alpine environment by re-opening the Kosciuszko National Park to pastoral leases.  But apparently the threat posed by the waste from the 100,000 annual mountain climbers has been enough to warrant the purpose built trail ending at the pass.

I guess the toilet cleaner’s job description didn’t involve mountaineering? At least the bunker would double as a shelter in an unexpected snowstorm emergency!

Back at the bunker we took pleasure in doing business as HIGH as possible in an OZ public amenities block.  From there, we looked out from Australia’s HIGHest (and arguably MOST scenic) loo to OZ’s HIGHest peak not so far above. And tried not to think of the 6.5 km walk back to the Kosciuszko Express station!

• Climbing Mt Kosciuszko
• The other HIGH loo that made me a LIAR!
• Kosciuszko National Park
• MORE Mt Kosciuszko Photos on Flickr

The post Rawson Pass: Scenic Public Loo #37 appeared first on Australia by Red Nomad OZ.

STOP PRESS:  Tragically, the Sugar Pine forest was burnt in the horror bushfire season of 2019/20. The Sugar Pine walk has been closed pending removal of the trees which are a danger to visitors.  I hope this glimpse into my past experience inspires readers to get out there NOW and explore Australia while you can.  Don’t leave it – tomorrow may be too late. 

Sugar Pine Walk or Portal?

I’m convinced the Bago State Forest has a portal into another world. Or at the very least, to a parallel universe …

Travel a few hundred metres down Kopsons Road, off the main road between Batlow and Laurel Hill on the South West Slopes of the New South Wales High country.  There you’ll find yourself in a part of Australia that doesn’t look anything like anywhere else in Australia.

Then take just a few steps into the forest – and the world as you know it disappears …

For a start, the pine needles – probably inches thick – muffle the sound.  Not that there are too many sounds under the pines with a canopy so far above you could break your neck trying to spot it!

Incidentally, fellow Australians concerned that I’ve reverted to the distant past by my lapse into the long abandoned imperial measurement system of yesteryear need not fear.

I’m just paying homage to the provenance of the magnificent Sugar Pines (Pinus lambertiana) towering above me.

Where are the Sugar Pines from?

Sugar Pines are native to the US Pacific Coast and common in Yosemite National Park, where ‘Yosemite Giant’, at 82 metres (269 feet) high, was the tallest recorded specimen until it succumbed to a bark beetle attack in 2007.

I’m also paying homage to the great age – greater even than mine – of these spectacular Sugar Pine specimens. Planted in 1928, the trees were still going strong during our one and only visit in March 2013; hardly surprising given their life span in their natural habitat has been estimated as up to 800 years.

It’s a tragedy that this forest was destroyed by fire in the 2019/20 Australian summer – who knows for how much longer these gentle giants would have lived if left to their own devices?

Besides, saying the carpet of pine needles is centimetres thick just doesn’t have quite the same ring to it!

How did the Sugar Pines survive?

So what’s a forest of North American timber doing in a country where the ubiquitous eucalypt – only genus in the world found in every habitat from Coastal to Alpine – is far more likely to be the tree du jour?

And when the Sugar Pine is so prized for its timber that a forest would normally be felled long before reaching this stupendous size or age??

AND when past experience reluctantly informs us that cash-strapped governments aren’t always known for planning beyond the next election, let alone leaving a lucrative 2.4 hectare stand of Sugar Pines uncut for 85 years???

Maybe it just shows there really IS magic in the air …

The Sugar Pine Walk

Wandering the walk – thankfully short, our 13 km Kosciuszko challenge was just a few days ago – through the Sugar Pines, time stands still and the warmth of the day does not penetrate. A family enters the forest behind us, children uncharacteristically quiet, and take a side track.

Do they reappear? Not while we’re watching …

… perhaps the portal worked and they were beamed away somewhere??

Childhood obesity solution!

Whatever.  I’m too intrigued by the potential solution to the first-world dilemma of childhood obesity to be found in these prodigious pines.

For Native Americans, the sugary sap from the heartwood was a delicacy, with its crisp, candy-like beads.  But the trees had an inbuilt, sure-fire way to prevent overindulgence.

Eat too much, and the natural laxative properties of the sugar would kick in!

Here’s a fat kid solution so obvious I bet no one’s actually thought of it!

Maybe that means there’s a consultancy opportunity heading my way???

The staggering natural beauty of this plantation of the largest of the pines is enough to warp time and give the visitor a taste of a universe where things work differently.

And a glimpse of what could be in such a world.

Perhaps that’s the portal’s REAL magic.

Want MORE?

• Forestry Corporation Sugar Pine Walk Press Release (post bushfire)
• Sugar Pine (Pinus lambertiana)
• Bago State Forest
• South West Slopes BioRegion
• South West Slopes General

The post The Pines, the Portal and the Parallel Universe! appeared first on Australia by Red Nomad OZ.

‘Good on ya, love,’ a bloke sang out, one of a trio of pensioners trotting past me as I trudged wearily up the last slight steady impossibly steep incline before the Mt Kosciuszko lookout. Leaving the summit behind I only had 2km of the 13 km (8 miles) round trip summit hike to go, and altitude sickness was kicking in.

At least, that’s the only way I can explain the shortness of breath that had turned this last uphill stretch into a taxing climb.

‘You’re the only person we’ve passed all day,’ chirped the pensioner in the exact tone of voice that made me want to slap him silly as the trio left me in their wake.

Cheeky beggar!

Pedantic peak-bagging purists don’t include Mt Kosciuszko as a valid ‘climb’ for the 7 Summits despite it being Australia’s highest point.

Puncak Jaya (aka Carstensz Pyramid) in Papua, New Guinea is more than twice as high, they say.

And the Australian continent includes New Guinea, they say. And the island of New Guinea is on the Australian continental shelf, they say. The purists climb both, thus extending their 7 Summits to 8 peaks. That SO makes sense … NOT!

Although that COULD be the terminal laziness that dogs my footsteps talking …

The smart money says the REAL reason to exclude Mt Kosciuszko has nothing to do with peak bagging and everything to do with mountaineering elitism.

The ambitious scope, rigorous training schedule and technical skill required to complete the 7 Summits make it a challenge so great that only ~350 climbers have completed since it’s 1985 conception …

… compared to the estimated 100,000 climbers who conquer Mt Kosciuszko each year.

So hardly a mountaineering exclusive, although people like me DO take training seriously and prepare for the rigours of the 2228m (7313 ft) summit ascent by a test climb on Mt Wycheproof, the world’s smallest mountain!

Yes, you heard it here: The summit climb is embarrassingly easy!

Especially given the most difficult section of the climb – the 600 m (1982 ft) elevation from ski town Thredbo to the Eagle’s Nest restaurant (highest in OZ) – can be completed by chairlift.

YESSSSS!

From there – a tiny 3.5° C (38° F) the day we climbed – we were above the tree line with a 6.5 km (one way) trek to the top undulating upwards over a 300 m (991 ft) elevation.

Its place in the 7 Summit pantheon isn’t the only controversy surrounding the mountain. A neighbouring peak was originally thought to be the highest and dubbed Mt Kosciuszko, with the current Mt Kosciuszko called Mt Townsend. When a survey showed the mistake, the names were switched so that Kosciuszko remained the name of Australia’s highest peak!

Although ‘peak’ isn’t the right word – it’s more of an imposing rounded dome rising above the surrounding landscape often enough to provide a tantalising glimpse of journey’s end. Or at least the half-way mark because the shortest way back is to return to the chairlift the way you came.

But all that is well in the future at the start of the hike with spectacular views WAAAAAY down to Thredbo and up along the rocky Ramshead Range. The kilometres pass quickly along the raised metal walkway that took 17 years to construct that protects the fragile alpine heathland.

It’s a nostalgic moment as we cross the headwaters of the Snowy River. Pastoral country until being phased out in 1969, Aussie poet ‘Banjo’ Paterson’s classic poem ‘The Man From Snowy River’ superbly captures the legend of this wild high country before the National Park was proclaimed in 1944 and the river harnessed for the Snowy Mountains hydro-electric scheme from 1949.

We climb up to a saddle from the river, and now the Australian records come thick and fast.

Lake Cootapatamba – highest lake and one of 5 mainland glacial lakes; Rawson’s Pass, overlooking highest permanent settlement Charlotte Pass, and location of highest Scenic Public Toilet at 2100 metres; then the final ascent – a relentless climb along the old Charlotte Pass road circling round the dome to the top.

And the staggering 360° view over the Main Range, Monaro tablelands and Victorian High Country.

Explorer Count Paul Strzelecki, whose commemorative statue in nearby Jindabyne portrays him as a cross between previous OZ prime minister Bob Hawke and Dracula, was the first to actually record a climb in 1840, although the peak is likely to have been climbed beforehand by local Indigenous people, who called the mountain Tar Gan Gil, and white settlers.

Until 1974, when the road was closed to traffic to help preserve the fragile environment, visitors could drive to the Mt Kosciuszko summit.

And I’ll bet the couple who pushed a pram all the way, and the young man carrying two small children in a backpack wished the road was still open …

Waiting our turn for the obligatory summit shot while an endless stream of school groups took more than their fair share of time at the marker cairn, the clouds rolled in – and justified the winter clothes we’d bought in far below Jindabyne! Although it was worth the purchase price to hear the young salesman describe his phobias – Snakes and even a recent snakebite didn’t bother him; but Spiders? No way! Mad fool!! But I digress …

The return trip punctuated by the obligatory tinkle in the highest public toilet in OZ, countless rest exhaustion photo stops, and a voluntary go-slow when I tired of the student wisdom pouring out like … well, lets just say waste … behind me.

‘Sir said life is short,’ one adenoidal youngster stated to a gaggle of giggling comrades. ‘That is incorrect. Life is the longest thing you do,’ he concluded triumphantly.

Words to live by? Words to live without … they passed me, chattering inanely …

The only cure for altitude sickness is to lose altitude quickly, which the Kosciuszko Express chairlift descent delivers in spades.

It’s almost impossible to take photos while indulging in a long, silent scream with both hands locked in a white-knuckled death grip on the ‘safety’ bar – the only thing between me and the 600m drop to Thredbo …

And just like that, my birthday present Kosciuszko adventure was over, leaving me with a fine sense of anti-climax and an almost irresistible urge for a tacky piece of memorabilia like a ‘Kozzie’ snow dome or a ‘Get High’ T-shirt to mark the occasion.

But I settled for posting some photos on Flickr and writing this blog post instead.

Besides … I’ve been to the Mt Kosciuszko summit before!

As shown by this photo from the year … well, I’m sure it’ll be immediately identifiable by the superb example of what the well-dressed mountaineer – a random stranger lucky enough to be captured by Dad’s camera – was wearing! A small clue – we apparently drove to the top …

Tragically, this means I can’t claim to have climbed it twice – but even if I could, it probably doesn’t count if I can’t remember it …

So I’m claiming Kosciuszko as Peak #1 in my 7 Summit Challenge! But don’t hold your breath for the next instalment – I’m going for the slowest 7 Summits ever!

Want MORE?

• 7 Summits
• Climbing Mt Kosciuszko – Route Alternatives
• Climbing Mt Kosciuszko – Flickr Photos
• Kosciuszko National Park
• Mt Kosciuszko Inc
• The Man From Snowy River by Andrew ‘Banjo’ Paterson
• Mt Wycheproof – World’s Smallest Mountain
• Charlotte Pass

The post Aussie ABC: M is for Mount Kosciuszko appeared first on Australia by Red Nomad OZ.

Aglow in the setting sun, the Khancoban Pondage encircled with impossibly high mountains* was a calendar shot just waiting to happen**.

So picturesquely pleasing, the scene seemed perfect.

We looked out from the vantage point of our campsite in the Khancoban Lakeside Holiday Resort. Perhaps instead of crossing the River Murray border from Victoria into New South Wales, we’d inadvertently stumbled through a portal into another country.

Was this REALLY Australia?

Who knew what may have been unleashed when the tunnels deep beneath the Snowy Mountain Range towering behind us were blasted over 60 years ago?

The Snowy Mountains Scheme was ahead of its time and considered one of the engineering wonders of the modern world.  The complex series of tunnels, lakes*** and dams that harness and divert the Snowy River for irrigation and hydro-electricity flow ever downwards to the Khancoban Pondage.

It’s in a setting so soporifically serene it’s hard to imagine what’s buried within the mountains behind. We fell asleep only to awaken to the rising sun, lighting the pondage from the other side.

Yes, it really IS too otherworldly.

BUT … there’s good reason for it.

Just a few kilometres up the road is the start of the Alpine Way traversing the Snowy Mountains to link Khancoban with the much higher skiing village of Thredbo.  There, the Murray 1 Power Station viewing platform looks down to an astonishing sight.

Through its windows far below, we spotted them.

Yes, although they’re cunningly disguised as generators, their distinctive and unmistakeable shape would never fool a die-hard Dr Who fan for a moment!

Daleks? At Khancoban??

Did the Snowy Mountains Scheme blasting that tunnelled under the mountains apart crack open a portal? Maybe the influx of 100,000 overseas workers who helped build the Scheme included some aliens? Or perhaps they’ve been enslaved – doomed forever to produce clean, green energy for Australia, the uncanny perfection of the Khancoban Pondage a distraction from what lies beneath.

Although the authorities will doubtless deny that the Snowy Mountains Scheme is just a front to contain a Dalek invasion of Earth, it’s surely not impossible.

Is it??

* By Australian standards!!

** But not for long …

*** aka ‘Pondages’

Want MORE?

• Khancoban
• Snowy Mountains Scheme
• Kosciuszko National Park
• Red Nomad OZ at Mt Kosciuszko

G – this one’s for you!

The post The “Daleks” of Khancoban Pondage appeared first on Australia by Red Nomad OZ.

The road wound ever upwards through rocky peaks and alpine meadows studded with non-operational chairlifts.  The temperature dropped, then dropped some more. Fresh from the 39°C of an Adelaide autumn heatwave, we’d plunged (right along with the temperature!) into a parallel universe.  We’d gone all alpine near Charlotte Pass in the Mt Kosciuszko National Park in the heart of Australia’s High Country.

What’s in the Alps?

At the 1835 metre (6020 ft) mark, the road stopped. From here, tracks led in several directions. Down the road to ski resort village Charlotte Pass, at 1760 metres (5774 ft) Australia’s highest permanent settlement. Along the ridge to the Main Range lookout. Up to the chairlift and lookout point across the Snowy River to the – yes, Aussie imagination runs wild – Snowy Mountains. And a track to Mt Kosciuszko, Australia’s highest point.

Named for Charlotte Adams, the first non-indigenous woman to scale the mountain, Charlotte Pass was a crossover point for the last 9 km (~5 miles) for what used to be the drive – yes, the DRIVE – to the top of Mt Kosciuszko’s 2228 metre (7310 feet) peak. Now it’s the starting point for one of several walking trails to the summit – from here, an 18 km (~11 mile) round trip.

Of course before you go, you need to GO, right?

The Convenient Conveniences

So here on Charlotte Pass at the trailhead to the Mt Kosciuszko summit is a conveniently placed public amenities building – at 1835 metres and just below the tree line, ALMOST Australia’s highest Public Toilet!  But unless you catch the Kosciuszko Express chairlift from Thredbo, or climb Mt Kosciuszko from the chairlift summit, it COULD be as high a loo as you’ll get in OZ! That’s TOP #1!

Completely snowbound in winter, Charlotte Pass also trumps the rest of the country with Australia’s lowest recorded temperature, -23°C (-9.4°F) on 28 June, 1994. I’ll pause for a minute for the Northern Hemisphereans to stop laughing … but that’s TOP #2!

From the Main Range lookout, the highest of the high Snowy Mountain range forms a magnificent backdrop to this isolated amenities block.

With Mt Kosciuszko and Mt Townsend (Australia’s 2^nd highest peak), and a whole bunch of other really high mountains (by Australian standards) visible to the right of the Charlotte Pass conveniences from the Main Range Lookout, that makes TOP #3!!

So if my planned assault on Mt Kosciuszko later this week is foiled by lousy weather or terminal muscle meltdown, at least I’ll have had the pleasure of doing my business in ALMOST the TOP little toilet in OZ!

UPDATE:  I DID manage to get to the top of Mt Kosciuszko after writing this post AND got to visit Australia’s highest public amenities block!  Read about that adventure HERE!

Want MORE?

• Australia’s Highest Permanent Settlement
• Australia’s Highest Mountain
• MORE Australian Scenic Public Toilets!

The post Australia’s TOP Toilet! #33 – Charlotte Pass, New South Wales appeared first on Australia by Red Nomad OZ.