The Australian Alps

Yes, it's true, there are Alps in Australia, a little less high and spectacular as their European counterparts but still (and surprisingly) beautiful. After our Mini Golf Tournament we decided to not go along the coast (being pretty spoilt with pretty coastline in WA anyway) but to take the 'Great Alpine Road' which should lead us through the Alpine National Park in Victoria and the Mt Kosiuszko National Park in NSW. Our first stop was a little village called Omeo where we could already see some first signs of being close to skiing resorts (ski hire shops and chain fitting stations). In the evening we had a few beers and a meal at a closeby pub. It again was pouring down that evening so staying inside with a logfire blazing was pretty comfy.

The next day lead us further into the mountains to Falls Creek, Victoria's most expensive skiing resort apparently, in summer completely empty though. We didn't stay long, just took a few photos of the lift stations, had a bit of a chuckle about what Australians think a proper skiing slope is and on we went on the Great Alpine Road through Mt Beauty onto Bright where we found a nice brewery. Surprisingly enough it was not raining today so we made our way up to Mt Buffalo National Park and as time allowed also climbed 'The Horn' from where we had a fantastic view over the entire alps and all the highest peaks of Australia.

Falls Creek

On Top of 'The Horn' (Mt Buffalo National Park)

And of course, the next morning we woke up to pouring rain again. Our plans of doing a few more walks were hereby cancelled again. Instead we made our way towards the Milawa Gourmet Region, had a nice cup of tea and some cake, and tasted our way through the area, olives, mustard, cheese, wine, beer, cider, you name it. In Beechworth we found another little brewery where Stefan was in tasting heaven again with almost too many beers to choose from. We also met the owner of the brewery who turns out to be from Austria - no wonder the beer was fantastic :)

Thredbo Ski Resort

Monday we didn't do much other than drive to Thredbo, another popular ski region, this one already in NSW. And we were surprised as Thredbo looked a lot 'better' than Falls Creek with a lot more slopes and lifts and quite a number of apres ski bars and restaurants. The normal population of Thredbo is about 300, in winter it increases to over 10,000. From Thredbo it is also possible to climb Mt Kosiuszko, with 2228m Australia's hightest mountain. Unfortunately, we arrived there too late on Monday to start the climb, so we searched for a nice little rest area close to the village and next to the Thredbo River to have a little picknick and enjoy the scenery.

9am the next morning we were already on our way up the mountain. To say we 'climbed' the mountain is actually quite exaggerated. The first few hundred meters are done with the chairlift (with $33 per person not really on the cheap side...) and then there's a steady slightly inclining 6.5km boardwalk all the way to the top. So not the most exhausting climb, but still, we made it :)

On Top of Mt Kosiuszko

We rewarded ourself with a Hot Chocolate at the cafe at the chair lift station (Eagles Nest - Australia's highest cafe, lol). They actually also had proper Schnaps (e.g. Obstler, Baerenjaeger, Jaegermeister, Feigling, etc) but with $9 a bit too expensive we decided.

On our way out of the Alpine Region we were listening to a local radion station which happened to talk about a closeby Schnaps destillery, so of course we had to go there. And i don't know if this stuff is meant to be, but the owner of the destillery was again Austrian, Monika, who then also convinced us to stay for lunch as they had proper Austrian food on the menu. Gulasch for me, and Schnitzel for Stefan, on the day we climbed Mt Kosiuszko - happy happy! And the story won't end here! The radion show talking about the destillery was actually broadcasting straight from there out of a little caravan, and while we were enjoying our lunch Stefan got asked if he wanted to do a Schnaps tasting live on air in exchange for another pint of beer and a discounted bottle of schnaps. I don't have to tell you what happened next... :)