Part 1
Mt Feathertop via The Razorback (Bright, Apline National Park)
Day 1
For 4 to 5 weeks we have had cloudy and rainy days so I was hopeful I could escape Sydney for a change.
As usual I didn't enjoy pre-excitement about upcoming journey due to lots of things I had to take care of before we left.
On the day we left it was gloomily cloudy and at last we were caught in a big torrential fall when we passed Yass.
We deserted the road to Canberra and turned to Yass way before midday when I started feeling excited about our Victorian trip.
This time we expanded our boundary further to the Victorian State for the first time.
I've reached an age it's not easy to come out of your comfort zone but it's actually exciting to see new places based on
your interests.
I want to see and experience new places(new mountains or new hiking courses) as much as possible.
In a frugal/thrift way.
Which gives me deep content.
Road trip with Eddie was peaceful and free from stress and daily life routines including mother's responsibility.
I was overwhelmed our 14 years old car was sturdily carrying on its duties too good and we were too far away from home with this loyal car together.
It was a long 7 and half hours trip to Bright covering 655 kilometer's distance.
After we passed the border between NSW and Victoria it got clear like a good omen.
We used google map apps through his mobile phone that day but later we mostly used our Garmin GPS for directions.
Now we are living in times you can not get lost on the road with these gadgets.
It was a brilliantly warm sun shiny autumn afternoon when we arrived at Bright.
Mostly unlikely this time Victoria has had a better weather than us.
I instantly fell in love with its slow leisurely peaceful ambience there.
At the same time I was excited I landed at Victorian soil finally after all the years.
I heard Bright and neighboring country towns are famous for maple trees but it was still early then.
We went to our accommodation straight and then after check in we went a simple grocery shopping to woolworth.
We called it a day early after a simple dinner I cooked.
We had a surprisingly quiet and peaceful night considering the buzzing busy caravan park we stayed at.
Day 2
We decided to hike Mt Feathertop by doing the most iconic Razorback Walk on this day.
(After debating between Mt Bogong and Mt Feathertop.)
We only stayed here two days because our aim was to taste the essence of Victoria
during 9 days.
Mt Feathertop was the second highest Mountain next to Mt Bogong(1989 meters)
in Victoria with the height of 1922 meters.
I remembered one of my acquaintances regarded this place highly.
It was 22 kilometer's distance in return and the officially estimated hiking time was 8 hours.
Personally I liked this route just like Mt Kosciusko and Mt Ben Lomond in Qeenstown NZ
which gave us an open clear 365 degrees of view.
I am always impressed how vast landscape and unfathomable scales of mountains this country has!
Understandably we feel quite liberated only being there.
However this is like two sides of the same coin.
As much as I enjoyed clear magnificent view we had to endure scorching heat all the way
till we finished our hike.
I shouldn't complain actually as we welcomed and enjoyed this unusually warm sunny day
especially on our first hike in Victoria.
Mt Kosciusko and Bright are in different states but they're not too far from each other geologically.
We only visited there for hikes in summer time but like the picture below they're famous destinations
for skiing.
I couldn't imagine these mountains covered with thick sparkling white snow
and a crazy frenzy with people equipped with glamorous ski gears on that hot day though.
Everybody has different interests and craziness about things.
We decided to set off early morning ,say 7.
It was a fine day with top temperature over 30 degrees Celsius unbelievably.
It was autumn and in Victoria!
Around 7 am we drove to Harietville under the canopies of the big old green leafy trees
which would turn into beautiful and colorful autumn scenery later like a picture below.
Image from Internet
Morning was wet and foggy with understandably low temperature.
When we drove the quiet town road tranquil villages were still deep in sleep.
After passed small heritage village, Harietville we turned into a zig zag mountain road bound to Mt Hotham Ski Resort.
By the time we almost there we suddenly saw that our petrol metre was dangerously low for the return trip.
Eddie hesitated but turned our car back to Bright where the nearest petrol station was.
It was over 20 kilometer's distance between Harietvill and Bright and we were already far away from Harietvill too.
We went back to Bright for petrol and came back which made waste our precious 2 hours.
We finally managed to start our walk around 10 am instead of 8.
I ruefully thought I missed my cool refreshing morning walk.
Mountain was great from the beginning in terms of hiking route and views
as I expected.
After one hour's walking we caught up with a big group of old people
whom we didn't see again on the way back from the top.
Maybe they spent that night at Federation Hut.
I thought it was a good idea for them to enjoy hikes in a more reasonable
pace.
I liked seeing old people still do this challenging walk very much.
I suggested that we eat some snacks and apples on the go instead of stopping and cooking lunch
because I wanted to make up for the time we lost in the morning.
(We were supposed to cook our dehydrated food for lunch.)
As the top got nearer I felt the mountain top kept moving away from me.
Once you climbed up on one hill another one hidden came up to me
and so on and on....with the top in the same fixed position.
Maybe time delay made me rush unconsciously to the point I couldn't concentrate on
the hiking itself.
Hindsight realization.
After numerous hills the mountain top showed its haughty figure finally from hiding.
It's after we passed Federation Hut and turned our direction into right hand side.
There were long steep inclines to reach there.
That's why some people used the word 'tackle' to hike this mountain
especially the last part.
We arrived at the top 1:30 pm.
It was beautiful and magnificent.
There didn't need any word, only being there.
We decided to have a cup of coffee instead of lunch appreciating being there.
It's hard to leave only after capturing a few photos.
Strong hot black coffee with biscuits at the beautiful mountain top was out of this world.
Around 2 pm we had to turn back and diligently walked back to the car park without any break.
I was tired and hot but my pace was stable.
It took 3 hours to be back to where we parked our car.
It was a real shame we couldn't enjoy it leisurely.
Mostly we prefer not to do the return route but walking back the same route always gave you
a different perspective towards same scenery from the other direction.
As usual I went straight to do our laundry with coins back at our accommodation.
Washing machine was not working when I confidently pushed the start button
after I put clothes and some liquid detergent.
I didn't have enough coins any more except for dryer.
Reception was already closed so I couldn't change coins.
Nor could I report this problem.
What did I do wrong for this simple washing machine I used million times before.
I grabbed one gentleman walking by and asked him if he knew why.
LOL
He suddenly fetched his wife who tried to fix my problem nicely and suddenly gone to her caravan
next to the laundry room and came back with 2 two dollar coins.
She didn't ask me anything.
She genuinely gave me the kindness without expecting any return from me.
I know it's only 4 dollars but to me it's more than 400 dollars' worthwhile kindness.
We made another washing machine working successfully and I of course excessively
thanked them.
I ran to my cabin, got 10 dollar note and 2 cold beers and went back to them.
Their kindness made my day.
I loved Bright very much sleeping pleasantly that night.
Unfortunately I couldn't get back 4 dollars from the office like the nice old couple recommended
because we left Bright the next morning 7 am ,2 hours before office opened.