My Favourite Chair

My favourite chair would have to be a chair on the ski lift at Thedbo. It is not a very comfortable chair and getting onto and off the ski lift provides lots of laughter and sometimes embarrassment. The chair lift does not wait for people who are slow or nervous but the attendants are very helpful and certainly let you know if you do not obey their instructions. However, I love the chair lift for the views it provides and the anticipated happiness I will get once I’m at the top.

We usually visit the Snowy Mountains in January and stay for a week in a ski lodge at Perisher. We bush walk along tracks in the High Country for most of the week but one day is set aside for the annual visit to Thredbo’s chair lift which leads to several walks once we get to the top of the mountain. The drive follows the Thredbo River past farms, restaurants and ski resorts. It is a very pretty drive and the countryside is steeped in cattle and sheep history.

Once we have bought our tickets for the ski lift we are eager to get to the top. Nevertheless, the ride is exciting. As the chair approaches we have our back packs on our front, beanies on our head and warm jumpers protecting us from the cold breezes that we are about to encounter. As we sit on the wooden benches of the chair lift, the safety bar is pulled down for us to hold and we are off.

My camera is secured around my neck or wrist ready for photographic opportunities as the scenery is spectacular. The seat rocks to and fro if it is windy and as it passes each pylon, the stalling sounds make us wonder if we will be left suspended. Very occasionally the lift will stop and we will be swaying twenty to thirty metres above the ground.

Native shrubs and gum trees cover the land on either side of the chair lift until we reach the snow line. As we look at the ground below, alpine grasses sway, dance and embrace boulders of granite. A few silver snow daisies left over from spring flowering can be seen hugging the ground. Half way up we still cannot see the top where the restaurant has steaming mugs of cocoa or coffee ready for our arrival. A few crows fly overhead showing their mastery of the air beneath the blue sky. They are noisy, aloof and rather regal birds as we enter their territory.

As we reach the top of the range, there is much consternation as we have to negotiate our exit from the moving chair very quickly but we make the transition without any problems and head for the promised cup of coffee or cocoa. Inside, the restaurant is warm and inviting and the many glass windows offer a nearly three sixty degree view. People buzz excitedly while mugs and cups clink adding to this atmosphere of grandeur. However, delightful this pastime may be, the next activity of walking into Ramshead Range is the one that we love to do.

Ramshead is a magical, mystical, cathedral-like place of huge boulders tumbled on top of one another and where little pockets of everlasting Alpine Sunrays can be sought out. It is a quiet spiritual place only interrupted by the little Richard’s Pipit if we get too close to its grass cupped nest. Chirruping, it flies low in little swoops over the heath to lure us away. A mass flowering of yellow Billy Buttons surround and contrast with the sky- blue reflection of Lake Cootapatanga. Mount Kosciusko can be made out in the distance, not a very awe inspiring mountain but our much loved highest.

We cross many trickling steams as we make our way across the heath to Ramshead. I love to look into the streams hoping some day that I will find a corroborree frog which is endemic to the region but up to now I have been unsuccessful. It is a striking black and yellow striped frog and it is the symbol used for the Kosciusko National Park. The streams are lined with small ferns and moss and are continually fed by seepage. Parts of small crustacean shells lie amongst the small rounded pebbles in the pools. Mountain celery and spiky Kosciusko Pineapple Grass, found in wet boggy areas, both have male and female plants which I like to be able to identify. These streams and marshes are marvellous little eco systems.

Every year I look for the Mountain Gentians which have white crocus like flowers with purplish veins. They would have to be among my favourite flower to photograph in the mountains. They are so delicate and pretty. My other great love is to find native ground orchids and here in Ramshead I have found the Alpine Leek-orchid and the Mauve Leek-orchid. I am yet to find the rare Mountain Caladenia orchid. Heath flowers are very small and attract small insects and nectar eating birds which are very hard to identify as they are small, brown and fly away very quickly.

Crows sit on top of the huge boulders looking for the Bogong moths that arrive each year to breed in the crevasses. In times gone by, the aborigines would also arrive to feast on the protein rich moths. Now, only the crows enjoy them. They are very hard to find as they are dark brown, almost black and seek out deep crevasses. Small marsupials live amongst the heath and boulders but as they are nocturnal, I have not seen one. However, I did experience a snake one time as I stepped over a rock. I don’t know who got the biggest shock, me or the snake. I gave the loudest scream so I guess you would have to say I did. Snakes live in the mountains but are rarely seen as there are too many hiding places.

Occasionally, the mountains will be shrouded in fog so we keep to the main tracks. Sometimes we walk down the mountain to Thredbo on the Dead Horse Gap track which is a great walk through snow grasses, through small shrubs, through tall gum trees and finishing the walk along the Thredbo River. We miss the chair lift down the mountain of course, but our walk down allows us to admire the flowers and trees up close. Another walk we like is to Kosciusko Summit. We walk on a protective iron grid several feet above the heath. It is hard walking on this track but it still provides wonderful views and a great sense of achievement when reaching the summit.

After a day of walking, my favourite chair takes us down to the village and again we experience the excitement of bumbling on and off the chair. However, the chair allows me to contemplate the grandeur, silence and beauty of this wonderful panorama before me. I feel very privileged to ride on my favourite chair as it is ride to and from the place that I love and hold dear to my heart, the Snowy Mountains.