Kosciuszko Info

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During our hot summer the Kosciuszko National Park is a favourite destination for many bushwalkers - me included.

This park, about five hours drive south of Sydney contains part of Australia's Alpine Region.

Australia's tallest Mountain, Mt Kosciuszko resides here. As luck would have it the mountain is 300 metres too low to have perennial snow.

Most summers there are some patches of snow still left in January and there are lots of open grassland.

This makes for pleasant walking.

The more popular area for the day tripers is the southern area of the park, where Mt Kosciuszko is the destination. Personally, I find a more interesting day trip is from Charlottes Pass to Mt Tywnam.

It amazes me the number of people who start off in shorts and a T Shirt and little else and find themselves in freezing gale force winds and rain or snow by mid afternoon. Most Australians haven't a clue about the fickle nature of our Alpine region.

A region favoured by bushwalkers is The Jagungal Wilderness, in the centre of the park.

The main attraction being that it is Wilderness. Camping is great, the views are good. The water is plentiful; although, I have heard of reports of Giardia, a waterborne parasite, in a couple of places.

Mt Jagungal is usually the destination of most trips and it can be approached from all directions. Quickest access being about a five hour walk from the Round Mountain Fire Trail entrance.

This region is best enjoyed on a four or five day walk. There are a number of old cattlemen's huts throughout the region. It is recommended that you take a four season tent, thermal underwear and a stove. Campfires are not allowed in the alpine region in summer and they are not necessary in summer as the sun goes down about 8:30pm.

Recommended books with good trip reports and sketch maps are "Bushwalking in the Kosciuszko National Park" by Charles Warner and "Snowy Mountain Walks" by the Geehi Bushwalking Club.

I have put together a trip report on a couple of my walks to try and give you a feel for what it is like. (Trip reports are normally written for bushwalking club magazines to give fellow members some idea of what a place is like). You can find this at my Trip Reports page.

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