Duck

What can I say? The last snowdrifts are rapidly disappearing. The weather is warm, although we did get 10mm of rain yesterday morning.

I took a quick stroll out as far as Kosi Lookout today. My trusty camera decided to play up and so I have no photos of Mt Kosciuszko. Let me say there was not much left of the cornice. Actually the biggest patch of snow appears to be on the main face of Signature Hill. The upper third is still in tact but not for long.

The village is generally quiet despite a large number of kiddies on the metal track out from Eagles Nest. A few wild flowers are out. The frogs are croaking but their ponds are turning into cracked clay pans. It is hard to imagine how summer will turn out this year, being that it has arrived so early. If the drought is to break, we could see much rain and even snow over summer. If not, then we are looking at a very hot and dry time ahead.

Meanwhile I am hearing about unseasonably early snowfalls in the USA and Europe. Are they too, destined to have what happened in Australia this year?

Balls of fluff seen around the village

Central Spur - Thursday arvo

The Summer Drift breaking up very early

Signature Hill in the afternoon sun

Main face of Sig Hill - upper third looks like fun

North Face has gone but you can now see how steep it is

Speaking of my trusty Sony handicam, it is going to have to be replaced soon. I'm surprised it has taken the battering and drops and kept running as long as it has. If anyone knows of a digital camcorder as small as the Sony PC5E with good zoom and at least 3mega pixels still-photo quality, send me an email (richard@ciau.com.au). Nothing fragile, mind you - my current machine has dents, gouges and scratches all over it. Yes I plan to upgrade the quality of my photos but I will still be compressing them somewhat in order to keep download times to a minimum. Of course, this may delay my mountain bike purchase.

Don’t forget to do your bit to return Kosciuszko Park entry fees back to something reasonable? Click here. Annual passes are now $190 - well and truly more than double last year's fee of $88.