By midday, we’ve come a long way since the morning, walking over the ridge from the ‘peaks’ on the horizon. That’s what makes the area so very unassuming – you can hardly tell Mt Kozzie from any other peak, and it’s often mistaken with Mt Townsend, a few kilometres away.

You can see there were still plenty of snow drifts in mid-December, and we had to navigate through perhaps half a dozen of them through the course of the morning. Having hardly been in snow before, it certainly was a novel experience for me.

Beyond Lake Albina is a view that takes your breath away.

Look closer however, and the view tells of tragedy. In the summer of 2003, forty fires caused by lightning strikes raged through the park, burning over half the area. The effects of those can still be seen seven years later in the bare trunks of mountain ash and snowgums, that from a distance look like snow.

The fires kill mountain ash outright, but new growth is spawn from seeds. The snowgum however is a little more ingenius – the roots of the tree remain alive, and new growth shoots above ground from them.

Our route the next day was on track, taking us on a tour of the 5 glacier lakes in the park – and the only glacier lakes on the Australian mainland (all the others are down in Tasmania). The most beautiful of these was Lake Albina, set in a little valley of boulder strewn heath, overlooking the steeper vales below.

Full-up on nibblies, dinner and dessert, we wobbled our way 2km up the track to the top of Mount Kosciuszko to view the sunset. Mt Kozzie in summer is usually full of people, so it was a complete luxury to be at the top of Australia in the company of only four others, nibbling on Ferrero Rocher’s while the sun sets. The golden light beautifully illuminated the granite boulders strewn across the summit, as well as the layers of hills that seemingly stretched forever. In the quiet of the closing day, I felt very blessed to be able to experience such a scene.

When the ground evened out a little, we left the track entirely and tramped over the heath, through the Rams Head range – a collection of giant granite boulders and tors.

With the wind blowing at a steady 25km/h, there was certainly a bit of Wuthering Heights going on. The landscape was treeless, consisting of the boulders and tors, a smattering of pure white wildflowers, criss-crossing streams, and heath that was spongy underfoot.

The only trace of snow were the grubby snow drifts (grubby due to the dust storms of recent months).

I loved walking through this landscape, especially the boulders; its weathered, mottled surface warmed by the sun so that little ferns can grow at its base.

There was a beauty in this starkness, and a certain romance too, when you think that this was Man From Snowy River country.

The highlight of my trip was the overnight alpine trek. Except for walking from the top chairlift at Thredbo to Mount Kosciuszko and back, I’d never walked in the Aussie Alps before. This trek was fully guided, and we didn’t have to carry more than a day pack because everything else was done for us! My favourite way to camp…

Anyway, the journey started from Dead Horse Gap, a couple of kilometres west of Thredbo. Ours was a small group of three, led by a great guide in Nick. The gap he said has probably been used as a gateway to the high country by animals and people since who knows when, including brumbies (wild horses), hence the name.

It’s a bit of an uphill trek as we climb through the strands of snowgums, with views all the way to the Victorian border.