the 'oz experience' - in thredbo, mount kosciusko

After driving through the Snowy Mountains we arrived in Thredbo around 5pm and stayed at the Lakes Inn (I think that's what it was called), which opened just for the Oz Experience groups. It was our group and the other group on the same trip pass but coming from Melbourne and going to Sydney. They probably don't open until the winter season starts because it's in a ski town.

A few of us girls jumped into the hot tub which was relaxing just before dinner. Then we got read and had some dinner and some drinks. Played a few rounds of 'Shot-Ski' where 4 people had to take shots from a ski. The 2 people in middle couldn't use their hands and the person at each end of the ski could only use one hand to control and lift the ski up so we could all take the shot. Me and the girls from the bus did one together.

A few drinks into the night, we all called it a night and got our rest for our hike the next day.

We left the Inn around 8:30am and got to the base of Mount Kosciusko by 9:00am and got on the chair lift by 9:15am to start our hike to the top of Mt Kosciusko! It's about a 6.5km hike from the top of the chair lift to the top of the mountain. Our guide said it would be about 13 km or a 3 to 3.5 hour hike return. It is located in the Snowy Mountains in Kosciuszko National Park. With a height of 2,228 metres (7,310 ft) above sea level, it is the highest mountain in Australia.

It was quite a breezy hike. There were a few small snow patches here and there. Lots of huge granite rocks around. It was beautiful scenery and it was different from what I'm used to with the Rockies.

We made it to the top! Yay!

At the summit!

After the hike we made our way to Lakes Entrance. Along the way we stopped by the Snowy River and there was a great rainbow which made it even more picturesque with the fall colours and rain clouds.

On the other side of the bridge