(^16) FLYLIFE
in summer. We might even have it to
ourselves. And we can take our moun-
tain bikes.”
PERISHER
So we piled into the Gladesville
Gang’s big 4WD and began the six-
hour drive south. It was great fun rem-
iniscing about previous long drives
together when the kids were small,
and making up silly songs, playing
number-plate games, interrupting Ste-
phen’s driving with plenty of exagger-
ated I-need-to-pee’s, I’m-bored’s and
Are-we-there-yet’s.
Perisher Valley is sub-alpine, though
rivers of cold air flow from the moun-
tain tops, so tiny Perisher Creek is
flanked by open moorland. Connor and
Zoe had no trouble spotting rising trout
from the car window, and insisted that
we go fishing immediately. Their cast-
ing was a bit rusty at first and some
reminders were in order: stop the
rod vertically, wait for the line to lay
straight out behind, make the forward
cast with smooth acceleration, extend
the arm fully forward, snap the wrist.
And soon they were catching fish.
We took several home to eat, and
Connor seemed to enjoy learning how
to slice boneless fillets as much as he
enjoyed the fishing itself.
Then, after dinner, it was card
games: Five Hundred, Canasta and,
best of all, Killer Bunnies.
UPPER SNOWY
Early next morning we drove a few
kilometres uphill to Charlotte Pass and
walked 1 kilometre downhill to the
Snowy River. We encountered liter-
ally dozens of day-walkers, many of
whom were doing the alpine circuit
incorporating the spine of the Great
Dividing Range between Carruthers
Peak and Mount Kosciuszko. But we
Kosciuszko Kids... continued
The Snowy River upstream of the Main Range Track.
The bigger pools on Club Creek held numerous half-pounders.
WITH NO SCRUB TO IMPEDE THE BACK-CAST
THE KIDS SOON GOT INTO THE RHYTHM
OF UPSTREAM FISHING.
lu
(lu)
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