The Mount Everest of Australia...

 Drove from the Blue/Misty Mountains for about 6 hours to reach the base of Mt. Kosciuszko, the highest mountain on the continent of Australia.  The Everest of Australia, if you will.  I started out at primitive base camp-

 My vehicle is not the truck, btw. 

And decided to do the hike without oxygen bottles or even a mittens or goggles. I took a good 10 minutes to acclimate and stretch and then began my climb.  I soon reached camp 1 and then started in earnest over the very rough and barely marked terrain-

As befits a rugged explorer,  I was pretty much alone in this vast and silent terrain with little help of rescue in case of an accident-

(They were repairing the trail).  

Despite the poor visibility and rugged terrain, I marched onward where, strangely amidst that hostile and desolate terrain,  I stumbled into some other valiant, tho somewhat elderly (late 70s), mountaineers who kindly offered to take a picture of me amidst the clouds and swirling snow-

They were Aussies, who taking time out from their survival hike, handed me a piece of Australian fruit cake- a traditional hiking gesture according to the man (alas the Australian version is no better than the US version, tho it was a kind gift)  asked me about Trump.  For the most part, they appeared representative of what the polls- according to the quite liberal Australian Broadcast Corporation (which I listen to in the car)- had reported about the Aussies- that 70% had wished for a Hillary election.  They asked whether every Muslim in the US was likely to be deported and if I was worried about being let back into the U.S….

I continued onward seeing the summit up ahead-

Finally reached the harsh, deserted and desolate roof of Australia-

The route I chose to hike was not particularly difficult, but it was long- 22km and there were actually very few on that trail.  Most people took a much shorter route via a chair lift. 

On the way down, I did run into a famous river, tho ‘the man’ from there was nowhere to be seen (an Aussie movie reference for those not in the know).  Not exactly the Mississippi here-

The good news is that I returned from the summit of the Everest of Australia before 3pm, stowed all my gear,and in time to continue my drive to my next wine region, the Yarra Valley just outside Melbourne.