A lazy start for a good day… coffee/breaky courtesy of Ivica & Co, I packed and departed Canberra at around 10:30. My original plan was to camp at Geehi Flats campground in Kosciuszko National Park, but decided to aim for hard cover due to weather (again!). Man-o-man – the crap weather just seems to keep following me. The forecast for tonight in the area is rain, storm, and snow to 1200m. So, I figured that even though I’d been spoiled by Ivica’s family for 2 days I should treat myself to something in Thredbo. So, off I went…
First stop was Cooma and a visit to the Snowy Hyrdo Discovery Centre. Of course I was aware of it – who isn’t – but some of the detail was quite interesting.
Next, Jindabyne. The open plains meant for some very strong gusty cross-winds (I was prepared – I did see 75kph in the forecast).
Entry to the main townsite is actually via the dam wall.
It’s obviously off-season – so it was pretty quiet. I grabbed a pass to the park and kept going. The ride to Thredbo was interrupted by a visit to the Wildbrumby Schnapps Distillery to buy (& post) a little “something” for Ellie – she can guess what it might be.
To my surprise, the roads were pretty good. My experience of Canada and the UK winters was that roads that have snow-ploughs running over them and cars with chains leaves those roads in a nasty state. Not here – in some areas they almost looked like Bathurst. I can only wonder if they’ve already repaired them since the winter season ended, with mountain biking season about to start.
Anyway – nice gentry twisties on a gradual ascent up the mountains. I had already done a bit of research and found that the cabins/hotels were furkin expen$ive, even in the off-season. So, I figured I’d quadruple the average age at the YHA in town by staying there. The rate was OK and the facilities not bad, but no parking for the bike and trailer. I would have had to leave it 10mins walk away. Since I wasn’t prepared to do that, and since Thredbo resembled a ghost-town anyway, I decided to keep going – bypassing the camping ground and heading for Khancoban.
This equated to around 70 km of twisties and steep ascents & descents through the Great Dividing Range. With the trailer, and my old-man instincts, it took about 2 hours. To complete the trip.
Just before getting to Khancoban I stopped for a quick piccie at the Murray 1 Power Station – which is part of the Snow Hydro system:
The length of time it took me to make the last 70 km suggests I may have under-estimated the ride from Wangaratta to the ocean via Mount Hotham. No doubt, plans will change if need be.