New Years Eve 2019 was to be an experience to remember, with an overnight hike along the Main Range Walk in Kosciuszko to be the highlight.

In the end it was a New Years eve to remember but not in the way I intended.

This is what happened….

We left our base camp early, I wanted to start on the track as early as possible so we didn’t have to push ourselves especially since my youngest two had never attempted anything like this before. I checked online any alerts that existed for the track (none) and arrived at Charlotte Pass, ready to tackle the challenge ahead.

The well formed stone path started going downhill towards the Snowy river, in which we crossed balancing on the stepping stones. The kids parctically ran across the stones, their back not affecting their balance at all, while I took it easy… and with the kids guidence made it across with dry feet!

The Main Range Walk then heads uphill, and this is where my youngest decided that it was going to be harder then she anticipated. She likes to take her time, while my son is faster then all of us, so our walkie talkies came in very handy. My son could go ahead, waiting for us letting us know where he would be, while I could encourage my youngest via the walkie talkies when she lagged behind.

Before too long we reached the intersection on the track that led down to the Blue Lake, and a welcome snack break! After munching on our peanut butter and rice cracker snack we decided to leave our packs and stroll down to the lookout. On a clearer day then what we encountered the lake apparently looks very blue due to the fact that it is a glacial lake. You can continue down further but we decided to admire the view from the lookout before heading back up to our packs.

The Main Range Walk continued towards our first of three snow drift crossings. I had expected a few (the NSW National Parks website had said a few where still presented… even in January!) so we were prepared to cross. Our hiking sticks were a great help for these crossings and by following other hiking footsteps we made it safely across every time. We had ran into a few people along the track that were heading in the same direction as us, so this gave us motivation to keep going and before long we were all sitting up on top of a mountain together, taking the opportunity of phone reception to text / call / facetime our family!

I was really was awesome that we had meet up with a few people because further down the track having a few people around us was a blessing.

As we left the mountain we were having a break on, I noticed that in the far distance there was smoke. NSW had been having some bushfire threats in recent times so although it looked a bit daunting I knew it wasn’t too close to cause any issues at this stage. The Main Range Walk became a metal boardwalk… this part was hard for the kids. We decided to rug up, putting on our jackets and long pants as the temps dropped and we braced ourselves, trying to stay upright on the boardwalk, as the winds picked up and the rain sharply hit our bodies. It was as we were tackling this that the Helicopter first flew over.

In the back of my head I thought “they are doing a head count, to see who is out here” and as my eyes followed him I caught a glimpse of possibly why… the smoke in the distance behind us had gotten thicker. There was no doubt in my mind then, that when he flew back with his sirens going, that we weren’t going to being staying on the mountain that night.

We had a chat to our accidental companions on the track, and we all decided to push on till we got to the base of Mount Kosciousko, where we were confident that we would come across a Park ranger. The kids at this point became these amazing troopers, who even though they knew what was going on, they showed no fear or anxiety and powered on, ahead of me with two of the hikers who took them under their wings. I couldn’t have been prouder then them.

We hiked past our intended camping spot, towards the base of Mount Kosciousko where we were, as anticipated, met with a park ranger who broke the news to us that we were all expecting…. that we had to leave the National Park because it had been closed down due to threat of Bush Fires. It wasn’t too urgent.. we could have walked down the track that led to Charlotte Pass, but the kids where very excited to hear that we could also catch a lift down in the back of the rangers Ute… no more hiking!

And so that’s how we finished our day on the Main Range Walk… in the back of a Ute, watching the track and mountains disappear behind us, while waving goodbye to our “friends” as we passed them by!

What: Main Range Walk, Kosciouszko National Park, NSW, Australia, 20 km round trip for day hiking or multi night hikes.

Where: The start of the track is at Charlotte Pass, to the right of the toilet block.

Need to know: Be prepared for all weather … even in Summer, bring plenty of water and use water purification tablets for water you access along the way, let someone know where you are going and check all alerts on the NSW National Parks website before leaving, use hiking poles and have sturdy hiking shoes, walkie talkies are very handy for when you have children who walk at different speeds,

In the end it was a very memorable New Years Eve!!

We will be back to have another go that’s for sure!

Safe Travels

Kerrie