Here we are again, on our annual sojourn in Thredbo for five glorious nights, and they will be glorious – regardless of the weather which looks a little iffy – because it is such a lovely place to be.
We arrived yesterday and it was a beautiful day. I can’t remember a time when the day we’ve arrived has not been lovely but perhaps there has been such a time. It’s an easy drive from Canberra, through the gorgeous golden Monaro and on into the mountains. We stopped for coffee at the popular Lott in Cooma and then drove on through Jindabyne to the Alpine Way and the Wild Brumby Distillery and Cafe, which has been our arrival lunch spot for a few years now. Their menu hasn’t changed but they have expanded the cafe over the years, and there always seems to be something new in the grounds to look at, because this is the home not only of a schnapps maker but an artist as well. It’s always a cheery, buzzing place which adds significantly to our enjoyment. We didn’t taste any schnapps this time … though there’s always an opportunity, should we suddenly have the urge, on our way home!
Doing the Bridle Loop (Day 1)
We broke with tradition this trip and instead of chair-lifting it up the mountain and walking down on our first afternoon, we decided to do a more level walk on the edge of the village, combining the Bridle Loop with the Pipeline Path. It’s not all flat, but is mostly so, with some gentle undulations. We ended up walking – according to our Map My Walk app – 6.35km, at a rate of about 14 mins per km (for those of you interested in stats). It’s a very pleasant combo-walk, though it was a warm afternoon – around 25°C. We were pretty tired by our return, but felt virtuous!
We did not, however, break with tradition for the evening. Having lunched at Wild Brumby, we didn’t need a major meal in the evening so a drink and bar-style food on the terrace at Bernti’s was, as always, the perfect way to end our first day in Thredbo.
Coming’ down the mountain (Day 2)
We woke, as expected from the forecasts, to an overcast day but one that looked perfectly fine for walking. But, which walk? Thredbo has produced a number of self-guided walk brochures – and we’ve done and thoroughly enjoyed most of them, such as the artwalk, the heritagewalk (which focuses on the fascinating architecture of the village) and the memorialwalk. But, we hadn’t done the ecowalk. Correction, we have done this walk, because it is the Merritt’s Nature Track which comes down the mountain from Eagle’s Nest – but we haven’t done it with the brochure in hand.
Now, there are three main ways of coming down the mountain – Dead Horse Gap combined with the Thredbo River Track (the longest), Merritt’s Traverse (the most gradual), and Merritt’s Nature Track (the steepest). We haven’t done Merritt’s Nature Track for a few years, preferring, for our knees’ sake, to come down via the more gradual Traverse. Dead Horse Gap (with the River Track) is our favourite walk in the Thredbo area, but in recent years we’ve done it in the upwards direction, again for our knees’ sake. So, what to do? Will our knees bear it? We decided to go up to the top, via the chairlift, have breakfast at Eagle’s Nest (which opens at 9am) and make the decision then. Nothing like a bit of procrastination, after all!
Once fortified, it was time to come down, time, that is, to make a decision. Well, you know that saying – fortune favours the brave – so guess what we decided? Yep, we would do the ecowalk and come down the steep route. What a lovely walk it is, and how well, it turns out, our knees managed. Whether it was the hiking poles, or the leisurely pace (with stops for Len to read the points of interest), or our improved fitness (ha!), we don’t know, but 6.8kms later (according to you know what) we were at the bottom and in very good shape. The overcast, mild conditions probably helped too.
We spent the afternoon relaxing in our lovely studio apartment – reading, blogging (as you can see), and so on – before going out to dine at our favourite (most of the time) Thredbo restaurant, the Terrace in the Denman Hotel (which is just across the road from our apartment complex.) And, it was a delicious meal, with a gorgeous view, a beautiful breeze through the open door, and two lovely servers, one from Margaret River and the other from Las Vegas via Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort. You meet interesting people in these national park areas.
Dear Sue and Len:
Looks like some wonderful hiking you are having. Can I say bushwalking? I don’t quite know the distinction. Anyhow, I congratulate your knees for holding up for that long hike downward. Great pictures too.
Love, Carolyn
Thanks Carolyn, glad you liked the photos.
Re your question you, can call it either but in Australia we’d generally use the term “bushwalking” where you’d use “hiking”, ie for longer walks in rural or country areas. I ight often just use the word walking, but if I were categorising a blog post or photo I’d use bushwalking.
When I was young Carolyn I don’t think the term bushwalking had been invented – we always went hiking. Is that an American term? I think bushwalking here usually implies camping as well – perhaps brother Gums can confirm, WG.
Anyhow we are enjoying your blogs, etc. Have fun.
No, I don’t think so Mum… I think here now bushwalking is what you called hiking, ie any long walk in non urban areas. That’s interesting to me that it’s clearly a fairly new term here. Does the Macquarie give its etymology?