A Weekend in the Snowies

 A group of 9 of us drove down to Jindabyne for a weekend in the Snowies, which, as it turned out, was a very apt name. The weather was ferocious, with a lot of wind, intermittent rain and at times sleet/snow for short periods.

However, the enthusiasm of the group was not dampened by such inclement weather. On Saturday we did a car-crawl, which was fortunate since the rain at times was quite wet, but we could escape back to the cars and drive a bit further. We did not even get out of the cars at the first stop at Spencers Creek, but turned around and came back down, stopping near Perisher. We then headed to Guthega, where we spent a pleasant time along the road verge in the middle of Guthega, finding Ozothamnus alpinus, various olearias and the interesting Acacia alpina.

We drove back along the road, stopping to admire the fabulous drifts of brilliant yellow Bossiaea foliosa and purple Hovea montana scattered under the snow-gums, which were interspersed with various white-flowering Olearias. Back at the lodge we puzzled over the epacris yet again, since all our sources were not clear on how to separate E.breviflora and E.paludosa.

Sunday’s weather was slightly better, and we managed a 3-hour walk along the Rennix Trail, admiring the many water-loving plants in the boggy-patches. We particularly admired the tiny white Ranunculus millanii, and yellow R. pimpenellifolius, and the trailing tiny plant, Lobelia surrepens. and especially the small but beautiful Pimelea biflora. When it started to snow we retired back to the sunny banks of the Thredbo River for lunch and then wandered along the new bike-trail to the trout hatchery, noticing the Correa lawrenciana and a very tame wallaby along the way.

Thanks to everyone for diligent ID’ing skills! Maybe next time we’ll be able to walk the new alpine trails.