Driving through the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, Australia

We had only really gone through Canberra for one reason – To go to the Vietnamese Embassy to get our visas for our future trip. I was glad that we had made the choice to go here as the Australian War Memorial alone was a good enough reason to visit the city.

From Canberra, we planned to drive down the Monaro Highway and then head up into the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, which would have quite pleasant temperatures during March.

The drive took us through high country farmland past the town of Cooma to Jindabyne, where the Snowy River has been dammed to create the spectacular Lake Jindabyne, the perfect spot to stop for a picnic lunch. I imagine that this place would be even more beautiful in the winter when there is snow on the tops of the mountains nearby.

Lake Jindabyne

From Jindabyne, the road began the steep climb up into the highest part of Australia around Mount Kosziusko. The road signs changed to warn of snowy and icy conditions, with warnings of putting snow chains on your vehicle before continuing. The temperature in March when we were there was about 15 degrees Celsius, so we had nothing to worry about.

As we climbed higher, the vegetation changed to alpine trees and plants as we passed through the Kosziusko National Park gate. Since we had a dog, we could only get a transit pass that would allow us two hours to pass through the area without stopping.

View towards Thredbo in the Snowy Mountains. In a few months time this will be covered in snow.

Near the top of the road is the alpine village of Thredbo, which in the winter would be a hive of activity typical of a ski resort, but at this time of the year it is extremely quiet. The little alpine cottages must look amazing during the winter when snow is all around, and I would love to return to this area one day during the ski season.

The alpine road took us high up through the beautiful national park, covered in the greens and greys of the alpine vegetation, with bare rocky summits where snow would sit on top of the mountains in the winter.

View down an alpine valley near Thredbo

The road down the other side was much steeper and windier, so we had definitely chosen the right direction to head in. The protected area is beautiful, with lush eucalypt forests and views of the surrounding mountains.

When we finally reached the bottom at the town of Khancoban, we crossed the mighty Murray River for the first time, which acts as the border between New South Wales and Victoria, its fast flowing waters travelling a good part of Australia to empty out into the ocean in South Australia.

We camped for the night on the New South Wales side of the river near the village of Towong, which is actually in Victoria.

Our camp site on the Murray River

View of the Murray River from our camp around sunset

The Snowy Mountains may not have been snowy when we were there, but they were still absolutely beautiful and are definitely worth checking out at any time of the year.