Kosciusko National Park, located in the heart of the Snowy Mountains, offers almost 700,000 hectares of outstanding scenery. The National Park is the main drawcard to this area for visitors as it contains the snowfields Perisher Valley, Thredbo, Blue Cow, Guthega and Charlotte's Pass. This area is also very popular in summer for its beautiful wildflowers. The national park also contains Mt. Kosciusko, which at 2228 metres, is the highest peak in Australia. This region is on the border with Victoria and is flanked by the Murray River. The Snowy Mountains are also home to the famous Snowy River.

The town of Cooma is the gateway city to the Snowy Mountains from Sydney and has a small airport. Cooma was the hub for the Snowy Mountains Hydro Electric Scheme, a massive project which took over 25 years to complete. From here it is an easy drive to the towering wilderness of Kosciusko National Park and it's ski fields and alpine meadows.

Jindabyne is located just over 50km west of Cooma and is the main accommodation centre for the Snowfields. It has a small permanent population of around 1800, but during the ski season this figure increases dramatically.

Fact Summary

The first people known to ski in Australia were hunters who lived in Tasmania in the 1830's. The first skiing villages began to develop early this century and since then have advanced at a rapid rate.

The Kosciusko National Park covers an area of 6900 square kilometres. It is New South Wales's largest National Park.

The largest commercial trout farm in Australia is situated in Tumut at the Blowering Dam.

The Snowy Mountains scheme was started to irrigate arid areas west of Kosciusko and to generate hydro-electric power in the region. Two of the power stations built, one is situated on Alpine Way, the other north of Cabramurra are open to the public.

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