Rather than retreating back past Island Bend, the GPS showed a road which lead to Smiggin Holes. This, too, was a dirt road, and somewhat rougher than the roads I had been on. Still, a little care and I arrived in Smiggin Holes without incident. And that was also the end of the dirt road experience - sealed all the way to Charlotte Pass.
From Smiggins, the road continues on through Perisher, and across Spencers Creek to Charlotte Pass. This is both a ski resort, slightly off the road, and which I did not visit, and the end of the sealed road, which is also as far as one is allowed to drive, as the road past here is blocked to all but National Parks vehicles. I am sure I have been driven past this point, but that makes it a long time ago!
At the end of the road is a small parking lot, 30 minutes maximum, and a facilities station. There is also the Snowgums Boardwalk. So, naturally, having come all this way, it was time to take a hike!
From Charlotte Pass end of road location, this is the view roughly south west to Mt. Kosciuszko, which is one of the far peaks on the left of the image. Also visible is one of the service roads from Charlotte Pass, probably headed towards Blue Lake.
There is a boardwalk at Charlotte Pass which highlights some of the snowgums in the area, and leads to a lookout. This view is from that boardwalk, close to the parking area. Mt. Kosciuszko is about where the red arrow points. I have a number of photos taken at this time, but Australia's highest piece of ground was always obscured by cloud! The apparently taller mountain to the right of the image is Mt Clarke, which is quite a bit closer, and hence perspective makes it appear higher. By comparison with some mountains, Kosciuszko is no more than a blip on the landscape. In exchange for which, Australia is free of volcanoes!
A view from the lookout at the end of the boardwalk. The river is the Snowy River, headed from here to the dam at Guthega. Mt. Kosciuszko is to the left of the left fork of the river, and still covered in cloud!
The Snowy River runs through this valley towards Guthega Dam. This photo was taken from the same location as the one above, but about 90 degrees rotation to the right.
One of the snowgums along the boardwalk. Not only is it gnarled, it's also growing "out of the rock", or more specifically a crack in the rock. The bleached white looking trunk appears to be a dead part, killed by a fire, many years ago.
Another snowgum along the walk. Note that the left hand photo has display board with some details about these trees, including a photo of one of them with snow around it. Well, I wasn't going to see something like that at this time of the year.
My car at the parking area at Charlotte Pass. The ski village is below the road on the far left of the photo. There's nothing too exciting about a Corolla, but it does give a size comparison for the snowgum immediately in front of it.
To Charlotte Pass