On Walkabout At: The Geehi Flats

From Tom Groggin Station the Alpine Way continues through the thick bush country of the Snowy Mountains.  Along the way my wife and I could occasionally catch a glimpse of wildlife in between the trees:

The Alpine Way eventually comes to one of the best places in all of Australia to view native wildlife, the Geehi Flats:

The Geehi Flats is a large camping area that used to be an open plain deep in the Snowy Mountains where stockmen used to drive their cattle to, to graze.  With the state now in control of the land, there is no longer any cattle grazing, but herds of kangaroos instead:

A few looked quite surprised to see us drive up:

Others just continued to itch their butts without a care in the world:

The old homestead that the stockmen used to use has been restored in this incredibly scenic area:

Near the old homestead there is a number of historic pictures on display.  Here is what the Geehi Plain looked like many years ago back in 1929:

This plain pretty much remains the same to this day since there has been no development in this area because it is part of the Kosciuszko National Park.  Here is another historical photograph of stockmen residing at the homestead at Geehi Flats:

After checking out the homestead my wife and I continued to walk around and check out the herds of kangaroos that live here:

One of the joeys was so scared when we approached that it ran and jumped head first into the pouch of its mother.  You can see the joey’s feet hanging out of the pouch:

This plain besides being a grazing area was also at one time an airstrip.  I believe this airstrip was used as part of the Snowy Mountain Scheme.  Anyway to add to the scenery in this area is the fact that a beautiful river flows right by the homestead, which provides plenty of fresh drinking water for the local wildlife:

This river is know as the Swampy Plains River:

This duck seemed quite at home in the river:

These two large kangaroos lounging by the river seemed quite at home as well by the river:

During this trip down the Alpine Way the sky was overcast and thus prevented us from seeing the Snowy Mountains:

However, this is how these beautiful mountains look from Geehi Flats when the sun is out:

For good reason the Geehi Flats is considered by many to be one of the world’s most beautiful places.  I tend to agree because this area just continues to cause me to return over and over again. 

From the Geehi Flats the Alpine Way continues to wind through the dense eucalyptis forests of the Snowy Mountains:

The Alpine Way is quite narrow and judging from this 1953 photograph it is a big improvement compared to back then:

Evenutally the Alpine Way exits the dense bush and eventually turns into the Murray Valley Highway that took us back into the grazing country of Victoria:

That is Lake Hume you see pictured above, which is quite a sight to see after traveling through so much bushland.