NSW Road Trip 2025 Part 1: Snowy Mountains to Kandos

Mainland Dusky Antechinus

We headed off for a 19-day autumn road trip through eastern NSW on March 5, 2025. Kicked off with the first night in Grafton as Cyclone Alfred threatened to flatten our Sunshine Coast home and the rest of SEQ and north-east NSW. Then it was on to stay with our friend Kathy Haydon in Wyoming, on the NSW Central Coast, before moving on to the Snowy Mountains. We had two nights in Jindabyne and three nights at Charlotte Pass in Kosciuszko National Park.

Kosciuszko National Park - Rainbow Lake

Kosciuszko National Park - Rennix Gap

The only place to stay in Charlotte Pass in summer is the Stillwell Hotel. I’m afraid I can’t recommend it. Nice views but that’s about it. Pokey, unclean rooms with no facilities like a bar fridge, forcing you to buy meals from their expensive restaurant with its ordinary (and that’s being generous) and often unavailable food offerings – unless you come up with a plan to circumvent at least some of this.

Rocky scree below Rawson Pass

Snow gums on Mt Stillwell

Snowy River from Mt Stillwell

The gorgeous scenery is what makes a summer visit to the national park a treat. The ever-present snow gums always impress, especially at higher altitudes. We viewed Australia’s highest mountain from the north from atop Mt Stillwell – as well as the Snowy River - and from the south after taking the chairlift from Thredbo village. Thredbo is a hike of a few kilometres from Charlotte but a two-hour round trip to drive there. 

Mt Kosciuszko from Mt Stillwell

Mt Kosciuszko summit above Thredbo

Thredbo lift

We visited Rennix Gap, Rawson Pass, Rainbow Lake, Sawpit Creek and other sites. The pictures speak for themselves.

Rainbow Lake

Rennix Gap

Birds were not surprisingly scarce at high altitudes. A pair of Red-rumped Parrots looked good in the early morning light at Jindabyne. Flame Robin, Australian Pipit and Little Raven were the most common birds high up when woodland gave way to alpine meadows. A “murder” of Little Ravens of more than 200 birds near the summit of Mt Kosciuszko is the biggest concentration of corvids I’ve seen in Australia.

Part of a 200+ flock of Little Ravens near summit of Mt Kosciuszko

Red-rumped Parrot

I searched boulders and alpine fields with my thermal imager at night with zero success around Charlotte in my quest to spot a Broad-toothed Rat or Mountain Pygmy-Possum. The rat is sometimes seen during the day on the summit track between the ski lift above Thredbo and Rawson Pass. I saw none, but plenty of rat runways were evident under the metal walkway.

Broad-toothed Rat run

I found Bush Rat quite easy to spot around the Stillwill Hotel. I located a Mainland Dusky Antechinus (A. minnetes) near Jindabyne.

Bush Rat

I found a couple of juvenile Guthega Skinks (Liopholis guthega) at 2020m on Mt Stillwill. They have a distinctive spotted pattern, which evidently makes it easier for them to predate their favoured insects. This endangered species occurs above 1800m and is confined to a small number of sites in alpine NSW and Victoria.

Guthega Skink

Towards the mountain summit I also located quite a few Kosciuszko Galaxias, G. supremus, a small fish also confined to the highest reaches of the mountains. How they survive being buried under metres of snow during winter remains something of a mystery.

Kosciuszko Galaxias

One of the few surviving Mountain Pygmy Possum populations occurs close to the ski lift base at Charlotte Pass. When I was there the base was being prepared for the winter ski season. I saw 10-12 vehicles parked where there was little parking available; they were parked over alpine heath, meadows and rock crevices. Heavy earth-moving equipment was being used. The area resounded with the defeaning din of noise associated with the work. I was frankly astonished that the national parks custodians, the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, gives its stamp of approval to intensive earthworks so close to the pygmy possum population.

Charlotte Pass

We moved on to a few days in Canberra, where Gang Gang Cockatoos were surprisingly common throughout the suburbs. Crimson Rosella is abundant but one posing is hard to resist.

Crimson Rosella

Gang Gang Cockatoo

Next stop was the quaint town of Kandos, near Mudgee and at the top of the famed Capertee Valley. Not much time for birding here but on offer were lots of Eastern Spinebills and Musk Duck on a dam.   

Eastern Spinebill

Musk Duck