Trip report: Coxs river from Dunphys campground

 

Dates: 12/03/2021-14/03/2021

Participants: SUBW and me

 

This was my first time co-leading with Aidan in a refresher trip. This year, we were going to the Coxs river through Breakfast creek. Some of us camped at Dunphy's campground the day before. Although it was a lively night with earsplitting laughter from one of the other groups, we were able to enjoy the beautiful sky and saw some shooting stars before heading off to bed.

Morning was no less beautiful

The morning started with Aidan realised that he had a flat tire after going back to his car. Although other campers came to help, he wasn't able to take the tire out. Even worse, he couldn't have his breakfast due to that. 

 However, with only one dropped out, the trip started joyfully. 

We started on Carlons creek track. Heading down, we noticed that the track was quite wet and thus it was slippery stepping on rocks. The place seemed to be recovering quite well after the bushfire, with lush green vegetation, some grew higher than our heads. 

The track got eroded at one part and we had to turn back to find another way going down Breakfast creek. But before we reached our rest point, the group got attacked by leeches! Or that we only realised that there were leeches along the track now since it was wet and humid. Since the group mostly consisted of beginners, a number of us got panicked and we had to stop in order to get rid of the leeches. However, it was quite useless since we got more as soon as we started walking again so I suggested waiting until we arrived at our rest point.

We soon reached Breakfast creek and had our first snack and water break there, under the sunlight which we would miss the day after. 

 

From Breakfast creek it was a straightforward way to Coxs river. Crossing the creek was quite a challenge for the group, as everyone got wet after, some even fell into the water! Stopping for lunch, a few of us decided to take a dip in the creek since it was still sunny. 

We passed a flat area which possibly was a campground following the creek. 

After some more creek crossings, we arrived at the Cox river and our campground - a flat area by the river. 

The Coxs river

We set up our camp and went to take a dip in the river. 

Some even brought cider with them while chilling in the creek. How luxurious! 

Iris brought some marshmallows and shared them with us when we sat by the campfire. 

Although we didn't have any stars at night, dinner was still nice with Aidan's jokes and people chatting. Ethan decided that he would have Japanese curry with noddles at night! Since it was very likely to rain soon, I set up my tarp in other to keep my stuff dry and a cover for the next morning. As soon as I got into my bivy, it started to rain. 

 

I had chocolate chip buttermilk pancake the next day for breakfast. Having pancakes under the rain was amazing, though there wasn't as much rain compared to the night before. 

Iris and Ethan also came by my tarp to cook, which made it turn into a cooking corner! We were able to pack our stuff and left just before the rain got heavier. As Aidan felt his knee was doing well, we decided to take the Ironmonger hill track back to Dunphy's via Ironpot mountain. 

The ascent was quite steep, and doing it in the rain made it also slippery. 

We had to stop a few times for the group to catch their breath. It got colder and windier as we ascended, so we had to add more layers to keep ourselves warm. 

After a while, some asked, "How long until we reached the top?", of course, the answer would always be "not long", but its truthfulness is questionable. Nonetheless, we still reached the top as there were more rocks on the ground. The visibility was very low as we were at a higher elevation while raining. Walking along the top, we didn't have any views which was a bummer, but we still had fun. 

Getting back to Dunphy's campground and changed into my dry clothes was the best feeling ever, most of us got back by carpooling. Another fun trip ended but I hope everyone enjoyed their first overnight trip.

Trip report: Kociuszko huts overnight

 

Date: 17/02/2021 - 18/02/2021

Participants: My neighbour and I

 

Day 1:

 

Another overnight trip to the snowy mountains! This time we explored 4 huts in Kociuszko national parks. Arriving at Guthega power station quite early, we had breakfast at the picnic site nearby and waited for the fog to clear up. 

Although the trail was very easy to see and wide, right from the start there was a steep ascent. It is very interesting to see how alpine vegetation thrive in this part of New South Wales. I love the colour of the alpine flowers, together with white tree branches, which I was not sure whether they were alive or not. 

Shortly after the long ascent, we arrived at Horse camp hut. 

The inside of the hut looked very cosy and there were also bedding inside! 

There was also a log book so I quickly wrote the date and that we arrived. My favourite parts of the hut were the red door and how the fireplace looked. 

Because it wasn't very far, we decided to head straight to White River hut instead of stopping.

We took the Horsecamp hut aquaduct trail instead of going back to Schlink pass road to continue the trip to White River hut. Then, when we got closer to the hut, we joined Schlink pass road back again. 

There were plenty of snow gums 

The hut was bigger and more spacious than Horsecamp hut, with more tables and also more firewood! There was also another log book which I recorded my stay again. Interestingly, I found SUBW club member wrote that they visited this hut before heading to Valentine hut for Valentine's Day! 

This was its toilet

Plenty of fireweoods

The common area 

Another bedroom

Since we would return back to this part if we decided not to camped at Schlink Hilton hut, we decided to set up my camp at White River hut and headed to Schlink Hilton. 

Our campsite in sunset, a fellow bushwalker also made his way from the other side of the ridge, we had some wonderful talks about his trip!

There were many snakes along the way!

We did not expected that Schlink Hilton would be even bigger and had a nicer toilet! However the hut was locked so we couldn't go inside. 

Returning back to our camp at White River hut, we spent the afternoon chilling by the Munyang River. 

We had a comfy evening by the campfire using the branches around while having Woolworths vegetarian Pad Thai. 

Sunset was colourful

My favourite part was looking at the night sky. As there was no cloud that day, stars covered the whole sky as soon as the moon set. Because I was on a mountain, there were even more stars than normal, filling up the entire dome above me. 

 

Day 2: 

 

We had an early morning and set off as soon as the fog cleared up on the mountain. Taking the Disappointment spur trail, we arrived at Disappointment spur hut not long after. 

Along the way, there were a lot of gutters running down the ridge. With Guthega on our right side, the walk was very scenic. 

Disappointment spur hut was not a big hut, however, there was enough facility to make it look comfortable. 

There were a big Kociuszko National Park map on the wall and also a log book box! After logging my short stay, we headed back to Guthega power station. 

At the end of the trail, we arrived at the Munyang river. The bridge crossing the river has been removed, so we had to rock hopping to cross the river! It was really fun! 

After that we arrived at the power station! It's sad to end another fun trip but we will definitely come back to explore more hut in Kociuszko!