No one really knows why they are alive until they know what they’d die for – Martin Luther King Jr

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It was the beginning of long holidays at the start of the year, in Australia. Melbourne has all its holidays lined up at the first half of the year. So I took it as a sign to plan something great. Since my last hiking trip in Wilsons Promontory, I loved it so much that I wanted to do another one and make it a challenge! So what a better way to level it up by conquering the highest mountain in Australia? I’d say, challenge accepted!!!

It wasn’t easy to plan this (as we had a big group of people). It involved a lot of driving (SERIOUSLY A LOT) and camping. It was tough, some of us weren’t prepared, especially for the cold. We were up at 1800m above sea level camping and the weather was not forgiving at all. However, at the end we survived and we didn’t do ANYTHING that we have planned out to do. Haha. But that probably made the best trip I’ve had in Australia.

Let me walk you through our amazing 4 days journey.

Thredbo Diggings campground

We started off our journey from Melbourne city, taking the Hume Freeway, M31 heading up north towards Wodonga. That was our first pit stop. After a quick break, we continued on the same highway to reach our camping ground. The skies were quickly turning dark, so we had to pitch our tents, fast – this means day 1 is already over. We split up, a few started the cooking and others to pitch the tents. I must say, we had pretty good teamwork that day. All of our hungers were greatly satisfied.

What we didn’t expect: Temperatures hit a low -4°C that night. The lowest temperatures are during the wee hours in the morning, usually around 4 to 5 am. We were freezing to our bones! Even with our thermals on, it did not help. We woke up to morning frost, ice on our tent, frozen contact lens solution, and longing for the sun!!!

Initially, we had plans to do overnight hikes up the mountain. However, considering how cold it got and how unprepared we were, we decided to back out of that plan. Instead, we spent another night at Thredbo, this time by the campfire, getting some of that heat!

The Hike

Day two – Starting early in the morning, we drove towards Mount Kosciuszko to start the exciting hike up Mount Kosciuszko. Mount Kosciuszko, for those who do not know it yet, is the highest mountain in Australia. Located in New South Wales a the border to Victoria.

There are two bases at which you can start the hike up to Mount Kosciuszko:

• Thredbo village
• Charlotte pass

It is known that the easiest way to get up there would be to start from Thredbo Village. You could even take a chairlift up to skip the walk! The more challenging and scenic route would be to start from Charlotte Pass. Of course, we couldn’t say no to this! It was all about the challenge! From Charlotte Pass, there are two routes which leads to the summit. They are: Summit Walk and Main Range Walk.

Summit Walk
Length: 20.4 km return
Time: 6 hours
Grade: Easy – Medium

We did the summit walk, simply because the Main Range Walk was about 25km return, we didn’t want to risk returning to base after the sun sets. Additionally, the Main Range Walk is better explored through an overnight hike rather than a day trip. Either way, we had a lot of fun hiking up via the summit walk. It was mostly a gradual inclination throughout and the paths are properly laid out. There weren’t much maneuvering involved, just a clean, straight forward path. Most people come here with their bikes and kids. It was a relatively easy hike, you could take your time to do it and you would eventually reach the peak.

The summit walk encompasses views of the vast grassland that makes up mount Kosciuszko, deep green valleys that reaches far down and crossing the snowy river that stretches across the summit walk path. As we walked further up, we reached a popular landmark known as ‘Seaman’s Hut’.  This walk is well maintained and it even have toilets half way through the walk. The best part was that you could still receive network coverage! Amazing!

Once at the peak, you could stand on a stone block, located at the top of mount Kosciuszko and just for a moment, declare yourself the tallest person in Australia. The view was worth the tiring climb. Looking down over the flat valleys was surprisingly satisfying. It was a moment of solitude and reflection. I could never forget the feeling of reaching the top and seeing what was beneath me. I felt great and powerful and I think that is what hiking does to me (especially when you have a peak to reach for)

During my research, I found an extremely useful website that has everything you need to know about climbing up Mount Kosciuszko, click here for more information.

Buchan Caves Reserve

Day three – Driving from our previous campsite, Thredbo Diggings, we continued to drive down south, heading towards Lakes Entrance. Spending a night at Lakes Entrance, gave us the option to explore Buchan caves. Buchan caves is one of the beautiful things to visit in East Gippsland of Victoria. It is over 300 million years old and very well maintained. It is definitely worth a visit if you’re up to do some cave exploration.

At Buchan caves reserve, you can opt camp and stay on for further walks and other activities. Unfortunately we could only afford a day trip to the caves, since we needed to head back to Melbourne. Perhaps an open option for the next camping adventure!

Lakes Entrance

Day four -Before heading back to Melbourne, we stopped by Lake Entrance town for a quick lunch. We discovered Miriam’s Seafood restaurant.  It is located in a corner, near the pier, serving up some delicious mains! The food is fairly fresh and reasonably priced. Lake Entrance is a beautiful town, lots to visit and see. You will need at least 2 days to explore this town. I would recommend a weekend trip. Unfortunately this time round, it will only be a lunch pit stop.

This epic four day trip was full on! We drove approximately 1300++km, crossing from Victoria to New South Wales. We covered a good portion of Victoria, heading up north, east and south. So many times we almost thought we could not make it, so many times we got lost and so many times we had no idea what we were doing but we made it! It was one of the craziest trip of my life! Sometimes the best part about travelling is not knowing what you’re going to do or doing until you’ve done it! :)