The Sea Cliff. The White Lion & The Tallest Mountain.

We did it!!! It was our last road trip in year 2005, so we've decided to conquer the tallest point in mainland Australia, Mt Kosciuszko, the tallest mountain in Australia. So Dave, Pete and me, the Three Amigos, took the car and drove down south to the Snowy Mountains and we decided to take the long way down via Princess Highway, so we could check out the newly opened Sea Cliff Bridge at Illawarra as well. The bridge is pretty cool by building the highway right next to the cliff with a fantastic sea view. We pulled over and thought perhaps we could take a few good shots of the bridge, but somehow it isn't a good photography opportunities spot the way it built. So we just got back into the car and headed further South.



The journey was long and boring down Snowy Mountains Hwy, I had a few snooze in the car and the cool air-conditioning definitely helped a little. But somehow, we ended up in Mogo, and decided to pay the Mogo Zoo a visit which wasn't in our itinerary. But we are glad we did it, the zoo infact is very well set up than I thought. It is not a big zoo, but there have a wide range of big cats in the enclosure including sumatran tigers, bengal tigers, snow leopards, Serval and a few rare white lions from Africa. Definitely worth a visit if you get a chance.



It's already around 7pm by the time we got to Snowy Mountains. We've already booked for an overnight stay at the Thredbo Alpine Hotel, a night rest will do us good before the big challenge up the mountain the next morning.

We thought perhaps we can have an early start in the morning but unfortunately the ski-lift won't run till 8.30am. So we had our breakfast in the hotel and headed to the ski-lift at 9am. The whole journey is 13km return, so lots of water needed, trust me. And also, insects repellants is a MUST if you are going to climb during summer time. The whole army of flies will just stick to you the whole journey up. Oh, sunscreen is a MUST too, thank god of my asian gene, I didn't get burnt as much as Pete and Dave, they both turned into lobsters, I just turned charchoal. If you can't imagine how far 6.5km journey is, well let just say is FUCKING FAR!!!! By the time we got up to the top of Mt Kosciuszko, we were knackered!!! Then, around 100 odd people fighting to take pictures on top of the mountains, also having their mobiles out trying to text and phone the relos and friends from the top. Quite a funny sight. We had bit of rest and a small snack, taking the almight scenery from the top before heading back down. You would have imagined walking down hill is easier then climbing up, then you are wrong!!! It was just as tough, the water supply is limited, the flies are annoying, and the summer heat is not nice. The walk seems endless when u are out of topics for conversation. We finally touched down at the based at around 2pm, satisfied, exhausted but rewarding. I am glad that we did it, but don't see we will ever do it again, unless they build the ski-lift all the way to the top.