Jyndabyne

Am I the only person in Australian that did not learn about the Snowy Mountains Scheme ? Well, I was totally blown away by this amazing project. 

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So, the story goes like this ...Since the 1800's   There has been a need to have a better supply of water from both the Murray and Murrumbidgee rivers, so after lots of planning  the Snowy Mountain Scheme began. The Scheme consists of sixteen major dams; nine power stations; two pumping stations; and 225 kilometres of tunnels, pipelines and aqueducts that were constructed between 1949 and 1974.  The brains behind the Scheme was a man called Sir Will Hudson who was chief Engineer. Apparently, it is the largest engineering project undertaken in Australia.  Construction started on the 17th October 1949 and took 25 years to complete, so it was officially completed in 1974. 

 

I went to visit the Snowy Mountains Center in Cooma and was totally blow away by the  whole project however ....this is the amazing part .....To make the scheme work they had to move the original town of Jindabyne to where it is today  so in 1959, according to the Old Jindabyne website 250 residents started preparing for the relocation of their town to allow the filling of Lake Jindabyne. It was eight years later  that the waters started to rise and by this time everyone had been moved out of the original village and into modern houses in the new town.

A few houses were relocated to the new site while all other buildings were demolished leaving only the foundation stones and some steps, such as those at the old Roman Catholic Church which appear when the lake drops to a low level. As well as some houses, the headstones in the cemetery, the memorial gates and all recoverable human remains were relocated.

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As a symbolic farewell to the old town a pageant was organised on December 19th 1964 and the town’s people ceremoniously crossed the old bridge for the last time and travelled up the hill to their new homes. In 1967 an army demolition team then blew up the bridge with gelignite and many people cried to see the link with pioneering heritage blown to pieces.

In spite of this the move was taken in a positive spirit and most people were happy to have new houses with electricity, sewerage and modern kitchens and bathrooms. Within three years the new town’s population had doubled and land sales surged due to the fledging skiing industry’s demand for accommodation.

 

Today Jindabyne is a bustling town that attracts people to the major ski resorts in the Snowy Mountains and the superb facilities it offers to trout fishermen. It is the perfect place to stay as it is close to the ski runs at Thredbo, Perisher Valley, Blue Cow, Guthega and Perisher Valley. 

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Things to do..

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- Walk around Lake Jindabyne 

- Eat in the many cafes, pubs and restaurants 

- Fish for Trout in the lake

- If you like schnapps and gin, I highly recommend you visit Wildbrumby distillery cafe.

- Visit Threadbo... and  Mt Kosciuszko  

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Interesting information Links

Power Stations and Dams - https://www.snowyhydro.com.au/generation/the-snowy-scheme/
 

Place to stay.

There are many different styles of accommodation in Jindabyne however, I stay at the NRMA Holiday Park.

I was luck to have a camping spot right infant of the lake. The park had friendly stuff with excellent facilities and the manager had a camp firer going every night.

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