With only a short drive today we allowed
ourselves two hours extra kip. Prior to leaving Canberra we walked around the
outside of the National War Memorial – an imposing and austere shrine facing
Parliament House across a long wide boulevard; its location designed to act as
a very visual and sobering reminder to all politicians of the sacrifices having
to be made in enacting their foreign policies. We then made a quick ascent of
Mount Ainslee for panoramic views of the city and surrounding countryside,
before then heading off in search of an open petrol station – a challenging
task given the entire city seemed to have shutdown for Xmas. Following a
fruitless search of the suburbs Astrid came up with the bright idea of going to
the airport, as there are always petrol stations close to the car rental outlets.
Fully refuelled, we headed out of town under
very cloudy skies towards Jindabyne, a ‘short transit’ of just 186km along the
Monaro highway, with only five other vehicles encountered along the entire
route! On the way I opened Xmas presents, which Astrid had sneaked into the car
in Brisbane. While elated with my stash of goodies, I also felt very guilty, as
I had not bothered buying any
presents for Astrid :-(. 
On arriving at our cabin we
offloaded all the food and clothes, and then immediately headed up the Alpine
Way to Thredbo, with the aim of hiking to the summit of Mount Kosciuszko. Once there, however, the place appeared deserted, but after traipsing to the other side of
town we found that the Express chair lift was indeed open. Given the cold, wet
conditions Astrid elected to purchase a fleece jacket and hat before heading up
into the mist. Unsure of whether the summit was also clouded in mist Astrid
elected to stay at a restaurant at the top of the chair lift. So as not to keep
her waiting too long I then ran to the summit and back, a round trip of 13km
along a well-marked trail. Thankfully, the summit pyramid rose above the
clouds, affording spectacular sunny views of other Snowy Mountain peaks poking
through the cloud layer.
Following a (very) large beer to replenish lost
fluids we then both descended the mountain via the Merritt Nature Trial, which
traverses beautiful alpine, sub-alpine and forested terrain. We then headed
back to our Cabin at Jindabyne, where Astrid prepared a sumptuous Xmas feast, replete
with Xmas crackers and brightly lit snow man. Dinner was washed down with a
bottle of Champagne, which we had brought with us from Brisbane just for this
occasion. A great way to end a great day!
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