A relaxed start to our delightful journey as we meet at our Sydney hotel in the early afternoon.

After check-in it’s off to meet the Bush Church Aid (BCA) Sydney Office team for Afternoon Tea followed by Evensong at St Andrew’s Cathedral, when the cathedral’s world-famous boys and men’s choir sing to the glory to God. Tonight, is a chance to get to know your fellow travelers during our first Group Dinner.

Overnight: Sydney

We leave the “Big Smoke” behind as we travel south via the Southern Highlands, Lake Bathurst and Tarago before arriving at the small town of Bungendore. Enjoy lunch before taking a look through the multi-award-winning Bungendore Wood Works Gallery which specialises in entirely Australian made wood craft, gifts, furniture, fine decorative art and sculpture.

Our destination is Cooma, our home for the next 4 nights and the gateway to the Snowy Mountains and the Kosciuszko National Park. At almost 700,000 hectares in size, the National Park offers a landscape of rolling hills and great peaks, relics of a 100-million-year-old geological rift. The park is home to snowfields and ski resorts plus a multitude of natural attractions including Mount Kosciuszko, Australia’s highest mainland peak, several large lakes and beautiful waterways including the Snowy River. It’s time to explore!

Overnight: Cooma

Originally settled in 1823 Cooma became the headquarters for the building of the Snowy Mountain Hydro Electric Scheme; commencing in 1949 this was the biggest engineering project ever undertaken in the world. We enjoy morning tea at the Snowy Hydro Discovery Centre, a state-of-the-art visitor facility that showcases the amazing story of the Snowy Mountains Scheme from the early construction days to the role the Scheme plays today in the development of Australia. The project improved agriculture, changed our economy and the skills required to build it brought more than 100,000 men from over 30 different countries to work on it, transforming Australian society. Many migrants brought their families and Cooma, which was a sleepy farming town prior to “The Scheme”, ballooned to a population of over 10,000 to become the birthplace of multicultural Australia.

In Centennial Park we see the Mosaic Time Walk depicting the life of the Monaro from its origins through to the present as well as a statue of Banjo’s Paterson’s immortal mountain man, “The Man from Snowy River”.
After lunch we have arranged a visit to the historic Cooma Corrective Service Museum, which highlights the varied 200-year history of the Correctional Services in New South Wales from the First Fleet to the modern day. With its historical displays, real life perspectives from trained inmate guides (subject to availability) and the opportunity to purchase products made by the prisoners the Gaol Museum is a surprising and thought-provoking experience.

This afternoon you have time at leisure to browse Cooma’s shops, connect with a new friend over a coffee or simply relax back “home” before dinner.

Overnight: Cooma

We have a very special Sunday planned in Adaminaby, one of two townships relocated for the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme. We join Rev Edith Mayhew, Colin Mayhew and the small, local congregation for worship and fellowship at St John’s and hear how the church was moved stone by stone prior to the creation of Lake Eucumbene.

Colin & Edith Mayhew are long time locals and former tour operators and we are blessed that they are keen to share their knowledge of the area with us. Adaminaby and the surrounding district have a rich history, from the first inhabitants, the Aborigines who moved through the mountains in the summer months, to the first European settlers with their livestock seeking sweet high-country pastures, the Gold Rush which brought fossickers seeking a fortune and the timber getters who helped build the townships.

We visit the Memorial Hall to see the glorious Stage Curtain; handcrafted by senior members of the community and local school children over a two-year period it brings local scenes and history to life through fabric. Colin will act as our guide as we visit the Snowy Scheme Museum which contains much of the heavy machinery & earth moving equipment actually used in the construction. You will see examples of the tent accommodation erected in camps throughout the mountains to house the workers, a display that gives a sense of the enormity of the scheme and the hardships endured by the workers. We visit the original site of Old Adaminaby & view Lake Eucumbene which flooded the old town – over 100 buildings were dismantled and re-erected and Colin has some great stories to share.

The coach will then climb into the mountains towards Kiandra, the birthplace of skiing in Australia and the site of goldrush in 1860. Learn why this goldrush was unique compared to all other Goldrush events in Australia. Colin is keen to share his knowledge and identify any Alpine Flora we see along the way. Back in Adaminaby we farewell the Mayhew’s and get a photo with another local resident, the Big Trout, before returning to Cooma.

Overnight: Cooma

We travel to Jindabyne, a popular alpine township located on Lake Jindabyne, and visit the Snowy Region Visitor Centre to see a short film presentation on the region. Jindabyne is a BCA Ministry and we hope to catch up with Trent & Alice McGrath from Bush Church Aid.

From Jindabyne we join the Alpine Way and travel to Thredbo, a village situated in the heart of the glorious Kosciuszko National Park. Europeans who came to work on the Snowy Hydro were instrumental in the creation of the modern ski industry and Thredbo is home to Australia’s longest ski runs as well as great mountain bike and hiking trails. We have a local join the coach for a guided tour of the Village before we take a return journey on the Mt. Kosciuszko chairlift to the highest peak in the country (2228m). The ride takes 15 minutes one way and rises 560 vertical metres offering breathtaking views of the surrounding mountains and valleys of the Kosciuszko National Park. Enjoy lunch at the café – sit back and soak up that scenery! Then it is back to Cooma with some time to relax before dinner.

Overnight: Cooma

This morning we say goodbye to Cooma and travel to Cabramurra, the highest town in Australia to stop for a morning break. This township was constructed to accommodate people employed to operate and maintain the power stations and pipelines in the area.

We visit the Yarrangobilly Caves that offer some of the finest calcite formations to be seen in the world, before a picnic lunch at the reservoir in Talbingo.
Our destination is Tumut, the most northern town in Snowy River Scheme. The district around Tumut grows the highest-grade broom millet in NSW and 90% of the State’s requirements come from this area so a visit to the Tumut Broom Factory is an absolute must.

We check-in to our hotel and relax after a day filled with wonderful experiences.

Overnight: Tumut

This morning we have a short drive to of Adelong, a little village of 900 people whose main street is classified by the National Trust. Learn about the area’s goldrush history at the Adelong Alive Museum, Adelong Falls and Gold Mill Reserve.

We travel onto nearby Batlow, now famed for its apples the town owes its existence to gold discoveries made in 1854. Gold deposits were quickly exhausted, but farmers found the area better suited to a variety of crops and fruit trees. We make a stop at Wilgro Orchards for a talk and an opportunity to visit the roadside shop to purchase some yummy apples.

We arrive in Tumbarumba, a delightful town largely untouched by the modern world.
Our lunch is at the Pioneer Women’s Cottage which includes an excellent collection of domestic artefacts, agricultural machinery and local crafts. Enjoy a guided tour of the area before we return to Tumut for dinner.

Overnight: Tumut

Time to turn for home but not before enjoying some delightful activities on our way back to Sydney. Our first stop is Jugiong, a charming country village, nestled between the natural beauty of the surrounding hills and the Murrumbidgee River. When gold was found in Adelong in 1853 the road to Sydney became a popular haunt for bushrangers and Jugiong was the site of an infamous hold up by Ben Hall’s gang. This morning we are joined by a local “Bushranger” who will be our guide to the village’s historic past, from relating tales of notorious bushranger exploits to showing us such historic buildings as the bush school attended by Richie Benaud.

We head to Yass for lunch before our final stop in Goulburn, one of Australia’s oldest inland cities. Enjoy a guided tour of the historic St Saviours Cathedral, the mother church of the Anglican Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn and one of the most beautiful Gothic Cathedrals in Australia. We return to Sydney at the end of a delightful holiday, blessed to have shared some wonderful sights and experiences with new friends.