Kosciusko NP Camping

After being cold and wet for days we almost ended out trip and headed home... the thought of sleeping in a tent in the cold mountains is not terribly appealing when you can't remember the last time you felt warm. We decided that we would give it one night and see how we felt so we drove up to Koscuisko (pronounces Koz-ee-os-ko) National Park. Ironically it was sunny, warm, and dry in the mountains. Go figure. I can't get used to this Aussie weather.
We hung up our wet clothes, soaked our stinky, mildewy shoes in oxyclean, and pitched our tent:

Our tent site was wonderful. It faced a field that had a large mob of 10-20 'roos. These kangaroos were much more wild than the ones in Murramurang but some of the females would let you approach them. Especially sweet was a 'roo that some of the girls named Flicker and her two kids - Lucky and ??. Lucky had a badly broken leg so he was quite shy... Flicker and the bigger toddler were happy to eat apples from your hand:

Because the kids' shoes were soaking and then drying they ended up spending a day in their thongs. BIG mistake. First Ben got stung by a Bull Ant twice on his toe right at our camp site. Even with ice the sting hurt so much that he whimpered for an hour.
Then Nik got stung the next day. We went on a naturalist led hike for kids and Nik got stung on his toe, panicked, and fell INTO the nest and got stung on his hand. Luckily the ranger had a gel that made it stop hurting quickly. We decided the boys needed Aussie footwear so we drove an hour to the nearest mid-size town. There were no kids' hiking shoes to be had for love or money. Finally we found a pair of hikers one size too big for Ben and some awesome cowboy boots for Nik:

Our very own Cowboy Small!

Out tent site was one of the few that didn't have a fire pit but our neighbors generously let us use theirs:

We had such a wonderful time. We befriended the neighbors on both sides of our tent and spent wonderful evenings sitting around the fire and chatting. The kids made a gaggle of friends who would all come around after dinner for marshmallows and tag.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Another "Oh how cute" picture of Ben with the 'roo.
Nik looks great in his Aussie boots.
How did he get the bruise on his eye?
Olga

Katya said...

I was so busy looking at the boots I didn't look at Nik's face...
That's not a bruise it is soot because he was playing with the charcoal from yesterday's fire.

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear it is just a soot.
Poor kid has more damage to his beautiful eyes than most.
Olga