It is the summer holidays here in Australia and the kids are
hot, sweaty and bored. So hubby and I decided to do what anyone else in this
situation would do and drive 4 hours away from our comfortable couch and go on
a 6 hour 20km hike up to the top of the tallest mountain in Australia and then
drive home again, all in one day!
So after wails of “My iPod’s flat, are we there yet?” from
the back seat, we finally drove into the Kosciuszko National park around
lunchtime and found ourselves amidst a very large group of hardcore cyclists.
These lycra clad exercise junkies had ridden up 30 odd kilometres of hilly
terrain just to reach the BEGINNING of the walking track that led to the summit
of Mt Kosciuszko. Once they arrived many of these cyclists, who were clearly not
yet content with their energy expense for the day, felt that they would then
RUN up to the summit and back. Bah, Fit People! 
We paused for a picnic lunch on the rocks before embarking
on our journey, sadly calling it a “quest to the top of Australia” did not fill
the children with much extra enthusiasm once they thought about how far 18km
actually was in relative terms, but spurring them on with promises of chocolate
muffins at the top, we took a quick group photo for the cycle warriors and set
off on our adventure.
We noticed the distinct lack of trees the higher we climbed,
not a single speck of ground was visible but for the walking track, with
mosses, shrubs and large rocks completely covering the landscape.
The
wildflowers were diverse and stunningly beautiful. Part of me immediately began planning a rock
garden project to replicate this at home.
There were abundant mountain streams and little springs
where we could refill our drink bottles with crystal clear, pure icy water.
Despite it being a perfect sunny day in the middle of summer and over 30degrees
Celsius, patches of ice and snow still covered areas of the mountains and the
light, cool breeze was refreshing and invigorating.
We peered over the low level concrete bridges along the wide
gravel pathway where fingerling brown trout were darting between the rocks in
the streams, chasing and fighting over the more uncoordinated dragon fly’s as
they landed briefly on the water surface. The children quickly made a game of
slapping the giant March Fly’s on each other’s backs and throwing them down to
the fish.
Many different walks of life made the same epic climb the
day we were there, there were the ultra-fit cyclists of course all dolled up in
their lycra bike shorts and backpack water sippy things, there were the
experienced hikers with their khaki cargo shorts, cotton shirts and huge
backpacks containing compasses, snake bite kits and rations for several days in
case Hollywood movie style bad weather was to suddenly to set in.
We saw the overseas tourists with their selfie sticks and
layers of clothing excitedly chattering in foreign languages while filming each other conquering this national
landmark. Older people made their way up too, slowly but surely in their long
sleeved shirts and broad brimmed hats with plenty of stops for photographs and
luke warm thermos coffee. 
There were quite a few families much like us, Mum, Dad and
the kids. Shorts, T-shirts and the smell of SPF 50+. Complaints of “My legs are
broooookkkennn!” “how much further?” and “I’m hungry!!” flowed from the
children while the parents forced smiles, ignoring their own burning muscles
and pangs of regret by trying to be encouraging “Wow we are nearly there! When
we get to the top we can have something to eat, look at the snow!”
Despite the different worlds we came from, as we stood at
the top of that mountain and looked at the most incredible view of this
beautiful country that I have ever seen, there were shared smiles and an
unspoken comradery between all of us that day, we had made it!
The walk from the summit back to the car may have nearly
killed my two youngest children aged 7 & 10 and they have vowed never, ever
to do it again but they achieved a sense of accomplishment and pride in
themselves that day and even admitted that it was actually a fantastic
experience. Particularly fantastic in retrospect while we were finally sitting
down at Mc Donalds on the way home looking at the photos of the stunning
landscapes and eating Big Macs and Sundaes without the usual guilt.
 |
| Awful, awful photo but the only proof I have! |
While we are still nursing our aching calf muscles several
days later and it turns out I might not be as fit as I thought I was, our little Mt Kosciuszko adventure was a big tick off my bucket list and a wonderful experience that I
am really happy I got to have and will never forget.
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