What happened when a non-outdoorsy gal went on an outdoorsy holiday.

Hey Thredbo,

I know you won’t believe me when I tell you this now, but I’m not exactly what you’d call an outdoor-sy kind of gal.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good hike as much as the next person, but a day in watching Netflix would usually trump if given the option. So when I was asked to visit your alpine village I must admit I was hesitant. I mean, surely you couldn’t entice me as much as watching a season of Friday Night Lights in two days?

You really proved me wrong on that one, huh?

My friend Han and I decided to do you in a weekend (and no, I’m not insinuating any dirty business, unless you count the muddy legs I got from mountain biking. I was really roughing it then).

We drove down from Sydney on Thursday night after work, the five and a half hour drive flew by as we listened to Shania Twain, Adele and The Spice Girls.  A few wrong turns later and we finally made it to you. Knackered, we turned in ready for the back-to-back activities we knew were before us.

I don’t know what I was expecting when I woke up the next morning, but it certainly wasn’t to draw our blinds and find myself nestled in a valley with lush green bush and, I kid you not, a babbly brook. We were living inside a children’s book.

That first morning you treated us with a hot buffet breakfast (why is it as soon as we see ‘buffet we automatically equate that to three plate loads of food?). After, we began our two hour guided mountain bike through Kosciuszko National Park. As someone who hasn’t looked at let alone hopped on a bike in around a decade, I was honestly just hoping to get to the end of the trail in one piece. The downhill was surprisingly easy except for the part where I hit a rock and thought this may be the end. The uphill? That was another story all together.

Our Site Producer @laurajanehampson is visiting Thredbo this weekend. What are your long weekend holiday plans? @thredboresort #Thredbo #ConquerKossie

A photo posted by mamamiaaus (@mamamiaaus) on Mar 24, 2016 at 10:04pm PDT

Our guide, Kellie, a fourth year physio student who works in your town over her uni break, was an absolute champ and didn’t seem to mind the glacial pace at which we were heading. It was only once we hopped off the bikes we realised we could barely walk. So that’s why everyone was standing on the pedals as they rode down. It all made sense.

That afternoon, in our hobbling state, you really turned it up for us Thredbo. We felt like kids again on your toboggan run and clambering up the steps to your waterslide in the leisure centre. Even just wandering along the river’s edge was a highlight. It’s only once you get out of a city you realise how much you appreciate fresh air.

As the sun rose over the mountains the following morning (and as we ate our second buffet breakfast), we were up and ready to start our 12km return walk to Mt. Kossie’s peak, the highest point in Australia. Thankfully, for our bodies and souls, your chairlift took us halfway up the mountain and we started our trek from there. Surprisingly we weren’t alone. We were one of the first at the beginning of the trail at 8:30am yet there were already dozens of groups starting their two hour journey up the mountain. From tourists to families to people wearing jeans, it was like an episode of the Amazing Race.

I must admit, however, I was highly sartorially unprepared for this walk. Sure I had lived in my exercise gear for the last day and a half, but other than my coat I had brought no form of insulation with me other than a thermal to fight off the cool air. I think when I was packing I momentary forgot I was scaling a mountain and you know, being high above sea level and all makes it a bit chilly. Luckily Han’s fancy jacket had two layers so I borrowed the inner layer. Good friend that one.

Thredbo, there’s honestly no better feeling than reaching your destination. Especially when that destination is a two-hour uphill climb. The first two kilometres were the killer, but after we passed the lookout things went swimmingly from there. On the way down we overheard a man say to his female companion, ‘Diane, think of it this way. On the way back it will all be downhill’. No truer words were said that day.

The views from the top were stunning, the weather gods were on our side that day, blessing us with a cloudless sky. We did the descent in half the time it took us to get up, stopping frequently to take in the gorgeous rolling hillside and the rock formations in every direction.

It was an almost melancholy journey back to Sydney that afternoon, Thredbo. Han and I had enjoyed ourselves so much we didn’t want to leave. Being immersed in nature is intoxicating, once we had a taste for it we just wanted more.

At least we had Shania to get us through.

Till we meet again,

Laura

Have you visited Thredbo in Autumn? Let us know in the comments below. 

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