The white painted concrete Esplanade Hotel could be a monstrosity but it isn’t. Beautifully renovated, it is simple and stunning. Apparently it used to be pink.
We parked up in the van and I went to see Peter, who was a man of few words judging by our phone conversation earlier. Effortlessly deadpan, he took the money and gave me the keys.
“Is breakfast included”
“No”
“Can we buy breakfast”
“Yes”
“How much is it”
“Depends what you eat”
“Ah. So there’s a menu?”
“Yes”
“Is the coffee good?”
“No. It’s crap”
That evening we dined across the road at the very well appointed Soldier’s Club. Bright lights, bar, restaurant, pokey machines and a sobering memorial wall. No-nonsense ladies of a certain age served us our meal. Politely efficient they weren’t much for smiling or small talk. Probably the end of a long day. I phoned Doug who confirmed that there was enough snow in the Snowy Mountains and that the weather was good. However, the problem was the wind caused by huge depressions in the Southern Ocean.
This wind stayed with us throughout but thankfully didn’t stop us achieving our main objective which was a ski traverse of the three highest mountains in Australia, 2195m Mt Twynam, 2209m Mt Townsend and 2228m Mt Kosciuszko. This is a big, but manageable day which we enjoyed on variable snow and with strong winds throughout. The sun shone and the views were sensational.