Monday 29/12/2025 Bullocks Flat – Thredbo River – Perisher Valley
Kosciuszko National Park, NSW
Ngarigo Country
Participants: Stephen Davies (Photos), Sue Davies (Report), Beth Davies, Pablo Ureña Vega
Beth had suggested we try this newly opened walk. She and Pablo would run in one direction, and we would start at the other and swap keys along the way.
We started under clear skies, and although it was around 8:30am, it was already getting warm, and we were walking uphill!
Max elevation: 1818 m
Total climbing: 719 m
Total descent: -127 m
Average speed: 3.53 km/h
Total time: 04:03:43
We parked near the trailhead at Bullocks Flat. We passed Bullocks Hut and then followed the clear waters of the Thredbo River.
We then started climbing gradually, and the vegetation changed markedly. There were towering rare alpine ash and mountain gum trees. There were still some wildflowers around, including yellow billy buttons and snow daisies.
Track along Perisher to Bullocks Flat Walk
We reached the Thredbo River lookout (80m off the main trail), where we could see where we had climbed from, Lake Crackenback, the Thredbo Valley and Monaro Plains. Nearing our destination, we walked through tangled snow gums and grassy flats before arriving at Perisher carpark.
This was an enjoyable half-day walk made better by doing a car shuffle! It was interesting to see the change in vegetation with altitude.
Amongst other photographically recorded observations during this walk, we were able to confirm sightings of each of the following species:
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The local landscape features, geology, scenic highlights, flora, fauna, Indigenous history, white history and other nearby walks in the area (Perplexity AI Model)
The Bullocks Flat–Thredbo River–Perisher Valley section of the Snowies Alpine Walk traverses a steep altitudinal gradient on the western flank of the Snowy Mountains, linking riverine flats near 1,100 metres with subalpine woodland and lower alpine environments around 1,700 metres in Kosciuszko National Park.
Landscape features and scenic highlights
The immediate landscape is structured by the Thredbo River corridor, with Bullocks Flat and Bullocks Hut occupying broad, gently sloping valley floors flanked by low granite and metamorphic hillslopes supporting open eucalypt woodland and scattered boulder fields. As the track climbs towards Perisher, it passes from these riverine flats through tea‑tree gullies and mossy alpine bogs into steeper country with increasingly extensive views of the Thredbo Valley, Lake Crackenback and, from designated lookouts, the distant Monaro Plains and Ramshead Range.
Scenic highlights along this newly opened walk include the clear pools and riffles of the Thredbo River against a backdrop of sometimes snow‑capped peaks, historic Bullocks Hut set beside an open grassy flat, and a series of vantage points where herbfields, grasslands and tangled snow gum woodland frame expansive vistas. In spring and summer, the hillsides and flats carry conspicuous displays of wildflowers such as yellow billy buttons and snow daisies, which provide strong seasonal colour contrasts with the grey–green eucalypt foliage and pale granite outcrops.
Geology and geomorphology
This part of Kosciuszko National Park lies within the Kosciuszko Plateau, underlain predominantly by Palaeozoic granites and related igneous rocks that weather to coarse sandy soils and produce extensive tors and boulder‑strewn hillslopes. Pleistocene periglacial processes and localised glaciation have further modified the terrain, smoothing some ridges, accentuating frost‑heave features and contributing to the development of poorly drained frost hollows that now support alpine bog communities along the walk.
The Thredbo River itself is a high‑energy mountain stream incising the plateau margin, with riffle–pool sequences and cobble beds indicating substantial seasonal variation in discharge, snowmelt influence and sediment transport. Terraces and alluvial flats near Bullocks Flat and Bullocks Hut represent former flood levels and depositional zones, offering more stable substrates for infrastructure and vegetation communities than the steeper valley sides that the track climbs as it approaches Perisher.
Local flora
Vegetation along this section reflects a transition from montane woodland to subalpine and lower alpine communities over several hundred metres of elevation. Lower sections near Bullocks Flat are characterised by snow gum (Eucalyptus pauciflora) woodland interspersed with grasses and herbs on better‑drained slopes and cold‑air drainage lines, while river flats support moisture‑loving species in riparian strips.
As the walk climbs, it enters forests of towering alpine ash and mountain gum, which form taller, denser stands than the more stunted snow gum woodlands higher again. Tea‑tree gullies and mossy alpine bogs harbour sphagnum moss, sedges and specialised bog flora, including habitat for several alpine frog species, while open herbfields and grasslands host a diverse wildflower assemblage, with prominent species such as yellow billy buttons and snow daisies blooming in the warmer months.
Local fauna
The Perisher Valley–Bullocks Flat corridor supports a typical assemblage of south‑eastern Australian high‑country fauna, with both forest and open‑country species represented. Wallabies, kangaroos, wombats and echidnas are recorded regularly along this walk, particularly in the more open sections near granite boulders and grasslands where grazing and foraging opportunities are greatest. The structurally complex subalpine woodlands and bogs provide habitat for smaller mammals and a wide range of birds, including honeyeaters, parrots, robins and raptors, which move across elevation bands in response to seasonal food availability.
The Thredbo River and its riparian corridor add further ecological diversity, supporting aquatic invertebrates and fish and attracting species that feed on or near the water, such as certain waterbirds and insectivorous birds. Conservation concerns in the wider area include the impacts of feral horses, deer and other invasive species on alpine bogs and herbfields, which are among the most sensitive vegetation types intersected by the new Snowies Alpine Walk.
Indigenous history and Country
The area now managed as Kosciuszko National Park, including the Thredbo–Perisher corridor, lies within the traditional lands of several Aboriginal groups, notably the Walgalu and Ngarigo peoples, together with related “People of the Mountains” whose Country encompasses the broader Snowy Mountains region. For thousands of years, these groups and their neighbours travelled seasonally into the high country during the warmer months to participate in large inter‑group gatherings centred on the mass emergence of bogong moths, which provided a rich food source and a focus for ceremony, trade, dispute resolution and social exchange.
In this context, the valleys and ridges now traversed by the Perisher Valley to Bullocks Flat walk form part of a complex Indigenous cultural landscape of pathways, storylines and resource sites, rather than isolated recreational features. Contemporary agreements, such as the memorandum of understanding with the Monaro Ngarigo people for co‑management input into Kosciuszko National Park, seek to re‑embed Aboriginal knowledge and authority in park governance and interpretation, although the visible on‑ground presence of this history along specific walking tracks remains uneven.
White history and recreation development
Non‑Indigenous use of the Thredbo and Perisher area expanded significantly in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries with European pastoralism, mining explorations and the later development of the Snowy Mountains Hydro‑electric Scheme, which reshaped regional hydrology and settlement. Bullocks Hut, built as a fishing lodge in 1934 beside the Thredbo River, is a tangible remnant of an early phase of recreational use focused on angling and retreat in the alpine environment, preceding the large‑scale ski resort development at Perisher and Thredbo.
In recent decades, management emphasis has increasingly shifted towards year‑round nature‑based tourism and walking, exemplified by the creation of the 56 kilometre Snowies Alpine Walk, of which the Perisher Valley to Bullocks Flat section is the final 12 kilometre stage. This new track, with its formalised lookouts, interpretive material and engineered crossings of sensitive bogs, both enhances public access to high‑country landscapes and concentrates foot traffic in ways intended to balance visitor experience, safety and the protection of fragile alpine and subalpine ecosystems on Ngarigo and Walgalu Country.
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A detailed, searchable trip list with links to reports, photo galleries
