Since my arrival to Australia I was keen to explore Snowy Mountains and after spending 2 months in Sydney I went there for 1 day skiing but unfortunately the trip was unsuccessful due to extreme wind, fog and rain. For this reason I couldn’t even see how these mountains look like and promised to myself to come back in summer time for hiking. As expiration day of my visa was coming soon, I lost my hope in visiting the place but my friend Majid made my dream come true, even though he didn’t know about that.
On the way to Snowy Mountains we stopped in Canberra, the capital of Australia. It was Australia’s Day. We visited Parliament, rode around, and had lunch and the city left the quiet and boring city status.
When leaving Canberra challenges started. We needed a petrol station and on the way there were none so we needed to come back to the city center and we were lucky to reach it because we had fuel left for 2 kilometers only.
We were supposed to take the nice windy road to which we lost turns few times and when finally being on the right way we reached the gravel road, we had to turn back and return to Canberra from where the other way could have been taken.
Coming closer to Jindabyne we noticed bushfire smokes nearby but hoped they wouldn’t affect our trip. When we saw the sunset over Lake Jindabyne it took our breath away. It was a magical view which in 10 minutes disappeared in the smokes. We were lucky to come there on time and see that beauty.
Our room had to have the view of the same lake unfortunately it was just smokes.
After a long day we headed to the center of Jindabyne for the beer at Kosciuszko Brewing Company and some pizza and after that we fell asleep like babies.
We woke up around 7:30 am and the smoke didn’t promise much. While having breakfast weather conditions improved and sun came out so we decided to take Kosciuszko Express Chairlift (which cost 42$/person for single lift!) and due to limited time to go just to the lookout of Mount Kosciuszko instead of the summit. However the lady at the entrance of the National Park highly recommended completing the whole 13 km return walk to the summit because of stunning 360 degree view and perfect current weather conditions.
At the beginning of the walk we had to go against the wind which made the hike more difficult and Majid almost gave up at the lookout point but fortunately we continued. Colors, shades, rock formations and other tops of the mountains were creating fabulous beauty for our eyes. Friend was even feeling high due to the power of nature and its beauty!
Unfortunately at the summit we couldn’t clearly see all mountains and panorama around due to smokes but anyways the spirit of mountains kept us excited. It seemed like nothing else existed at that moment.
While we were walking, it was just 18 degrees and windy so we felt chilly and forgot about the sun which reminded about itself 1 hour after the walk when we saw ourselves in the mirror! I have never burnt my face and neck so much in my life!
The road to Tumut was amazing! Every turn was revealing beautiful views and it felt so peaceful even though most of the areas we passed were affected by the recent bushfires which added the sad touch to all other positive feelings the nature gave me during those two days.
At the back of the motorbike I had time with myself, my thoughts and mixed positive
feelings. I felt so grateful for meeting my friend Majid from whom I was learning how to enjoy every moment and be positive all the time, and that the simplest things can bring you so much happiness. Even though I am the nature lover ant it excites me a lot and makes me alive, there are still things to be learnt how to enjoy it even more! Thus I felt so happy and even though I was tired and my butt was sore I couldn’t stop smiling.
Healing power of nature and mountains was a key to a perfect weekend getaway!
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