For a little
while now I’ve been slowly finding all the geocaches that had been published in
the year 2000-2001. Due to their rarity and sparse localities it’s turned into
a long-term goal.
With this in
mind there were 2 geocaches that needed to be found in the Kosciusko National
Park above the snow-line which means for a few months of the year they are inaccessible
and for the other part of the year I seem to always find myself busy with other
activities. So it was pleasing that I’d finally got the planets to align and I
was heading south for a walk in the Alpine region.
In early May I found
myself leaving home at 3am with a plan to drive straight down to Charlotte’s
Pass where I’d leave the car and head off for my walk along the Main Range. To
my pleasure I made good time and by 8am I was sitting in the carpark of
Charlotte’s Pass doing a final gear check before setting off. I started for the
Blue Lake under clear skies but very crisp and cool conditions. Puddles were covered
in ice and plants were crisp with frost. The conditions made walking a little
slippery, especially the river crossings where stepping stones were icy
slippery….. the last thing I wanted was an early morning dip in the Snowy River.
Making good time I was soon approaching the Blue Lake and my first geocache.
The 2-Dogs cache of “Great Southern Land GC26E4” was on my to-do list. After a short search perched looking
down on Blue Lake the cache was in hand.
With more
ground to cover I was soon gaining altitude as I headed towards the track
junction of the Main Range. Shortly after reaching this point I headed northeast
and climbed Mt Twynam where the 360deg views were amazing. The mountains went forever
and the valley’s disappeared into the abyss below, but I needed to keep going
as my ultimate goal lied atop of Mt Anton. The “Australia’s Used to Highest
GCF7” cache and my last year 2000 published cache were still ahead of me. With
Mt Anton in sight the weather started to change with a strong wind blowing in
high cloud and chilling temperatures, but alas it didn’t hamper my efforts as I
soon had the geocache in hand.
After the
obligatory photos it was time to start heading back, the wind had strengthened
and on a number of occasions the cloud blocked out all views and with so many
thoughts of bad luck stories rushing through my head I didn’t to add my own
chapter. Descend off Mt Twynam I was slightly disappointed to see the serenity
of my walk shattered by a massive school group that was tackling the Main Range
walk in the same direction I had hoped to do. I wasn’t in the mood to share
this walk with 60+ school kids so opted to bow out and head back to the car
where I could continue my adventure in a different direction.
5½ hours after
starting my walk I was back at the car having completed a 20km walk in some of
Australia’s most spectacular countryside…. I certainly wasn’t complaining.
