Kosciusko Huts
The Christmas/ New Year holiday is welcomed by many Club members as a time to head for Kosciuszko National Park and enjoy the relaxed company of fellow members, work on a local mountain hut, and drive some of the tracks. David and Gerda Hosking arrived at Old Geehi camping site on Christmas day where they met up with Gerda’s brother and his partner Mandy from Melbourne staked a claim to the site and unfurled the Club banner which assisted in driving strangers away. Others began arriving from
Boxing Day and next day started work on Keeble’s Hut. Time had taken its toll on the timber wooden window frames and members commenced sanding back the old paint, applied undercoat and reglazed several of the windows with the glass, putty and paint supplied by NPWS. Over the subsequent days the windows and doors were given a top coat but the putty supply ran out before we had completely finished. Fortunately we were able to make the building weatherproof but will have more to finish off next time. Recently the roof had been replaced after severe storms had blown it off and during repairs the building underwent several extra fixes. A low rock wall has been added to the edge of the veranda, repairs were made to the chimney although further work needs to be done to make the hut smoke free, and the non-original iron lean-to outside the back door has finally been removed .
One of the highlights of the week was sitting around a cooking fire at night telling stories, catching up, and gazing at the stars and satellites in the sky above. The other highlight of the week that has become a tradition is to drive to the Khancoban Country Club one night for a meal. After a swim in the Swampy Plain River and a freshen up, 46 people set off for dinner where once again, the kitchen was stretched the dark of night on the graded old Geehi Road through the National Park.
A trip to see the mud walled Major Clews Hut was encouraging with ice comments in the visitor’s book about the good condition of the hut. visitors appear to be respecting the building and are not destroying or disfiguring anything. From across the river we also managed to see the work being done in reconstructing Doctor Forbes Hut and look forward to working on that in the future. The week is not all work. Two trips were organized for members, one to Mt Pinabar and another to Davies Plain Hut and beyond in the Victorian High Country.
A trip to Thredbo to climb Mt Kosciuszko and shopping trips into Corryong were also popular. Th
e culmination of the week was New Year’s Eve, and after our happy hour John brought out paper and talked everyone through the art of making paper planes which were then launched. Anthony Cross managed to fly his the furthest. Just as it came time to cook dinner, the heavens opened and people disappeared into the dry of their tents to finish cooking and to eat. With rain still falling, everyone made their way to the Old Geehi Hut where Anne, Pat and Suellen had made a she
rry trifle for all to share and over a drink or three, with sparklers and glo-sticks, the New Year was welcomed in at the usual time of 10.00pm (with deference to New Zealand where it was midnight). The disappointment on the night was that the blue moon wasn’t visible through the rain clouds. New Year’s Eve moon was a blue moon that occurs every 2.7 years and won’t appear again on 31 December for a very, very long time. All good things eventually come to an end and next morning the sun was shining, tents were dry and it was time to pack up. Some returned home by various routes, others went on to visit family and friends, and some went on a recce through the Victorian
High Country for a trip to be run at a future time – but that’s another story.
This was the eleventh year of the Club working on the huts and I thank all those RRC members and LROC members who have taken the time and opportunity to lend a hand.
Mt Pinnibar Side Trip
One of the great things about camping at the Old Geehi hut over the Christmas/New Year period is that there are plenty of things to do, should you want to. This includes the side trips and this year John and Tracey decided to r
un a side trip up to the top of Mt Pinnibar. The convoy headed off to Tom Groggin, where you drive across the Murray River and into Victoria. There is a little trick to crossing the Murray where you have to drive downstream first and then turn back upstream to avoid the deeper water if you were to drive straight across. This year the river level was fairly low so no one had any trouble, but we followed the usual approach just in case. Once through the river, the convoy turned right and skirted around the edge of Tom Groggin station before turning onto the Mt Pinnibar track and beginning to climb, and climb, and climb.
The Mt Pinnibar track is fairly steep and by the time you get to the top, you’re at an altitude of 1765m which is one of the highest points you can drive to in Victoria, if not the highest. As we progressed up the track the terrain changed from tall mountain ash to open alpine plains and low-lying snow gums. With the change in vegetation came some spectacular views across the alpine region.
The convoy all made it to the summit without incident and a high altitude lunch was taken. After lunch the convoy engaged low range 1st gear and gently eased our way back down the hill towards the Murray River, and eventually back to Old Geehi. A very enjoyable and scenic day.
Thredbo Village Side Trip
The weather was perfect for the 1 hour drive to Thredbo and a ride on the cable car to view (hopefully) the summer blossoms of Kosciusko National Park. Thredbo was a hive of activity on New Year’s Eve. parking was eventually found and we all proceeded to the cable car for the 10 minute trip. Lots of mountain bike enthusiasts joined us.
Arriving at the top a Devonshire tea/coffee was ordered by most of us at the café. After photos we all headed up the boardwalk, some only walking 10 minutes to take in the view.
Three of us proceeded further into the valley and after numerous photo opportunities we headed back down to meet the rest of the crew for the trip back to Thredbo village. A quick lunch by some and then back to our cars for the journey back to camp.
A very pleasant few hours