We’d done some volunteer work with brother Peter in March at Dr Forbes Hut on the Swampy Plain River in the Kosciuszko National Park, and were keen to see the finished building, so we drove up for the day of the official opening. The hut had been more or less destroyed in the 2003 bushfires with much stone work needing to be totally redone. The builders worked from original and more recent photographs  and the rebuilt hut looked great, with the new roof, shutters, doors and doorposts, paths and stairs all finished. They’d cleared and removed more trees and brush from around the hut and hopefully that’ll protect it from future infernos! (The only thing missing is a toilet and that’s apparently still to  be built – they did have a Portaloo for the grand opening.)

It was a glorious sunny day. The tops of the crags above us were just obscured by cloud, but it was lovely and warm down below. At least 60 people attended (quite a few from the Kosciuszko Huts Association, of which brother Peter is a member, and of course many National Parks rangers and administrators) and it was all beautifully organised. There were several speeches and we heard about the early days of the hut from the son of its original owner and a family friend.  It was good to see Gary and Geoff get credit for all the hard work they’d done over only 55 working days, and to have the contribution of the volunteers also acknowledged. Finally  the ceremonial cutting of the ribbon took place. Everyone chatted, took photos and mingled.

After a picnic lunch we headed back home, stopping for a taste of schnapps at the schnappserie near Thredbo on the way.