Visitor Information -- The Cooma Visitors Centre is at 119 Sharp St., Cooma, NSW 2630 (tel. 02/6450 1740; fax 02/6450 1798); or try the Snowy Region Visitor Centre, Kosciuszko Road, Jindabyne, NSW 2627 (tel. 02/6450 5600; fax 02/6456 1249; srvc@npws.nsw.gov.au). Another good website is www.snowymountains.com.au.

Getting There

From Sydney, take the Eastern Distributor road toward Sydney Airport and turn right just before the planes, following the signs to Wollongong, and then Canberra, on the M5 motorway and the Hume Highway. Follow the Hume Highway south to Goulburn, where you turn onto the Federal Highway toward Canberra. Take the Monaro Highway to Cooma, then follow the Alpine Way through Jindabyne and on to Thredbo. Tire chains may be necessary in winter and can be rented at service stations. The trip takes around 6 hours from Sydney with short breaks. From Melbourne, take the Hume Highway to Albury-Wodonga. Head east through Khancoban, and take the Alpine Way through Thredbo to Jindabyne.

Qantas (tel. 13 13 13 in Australia) has daily flights from Sydney to Cooma. A connecting bus to the ski fields takes about 1 hour and operates from June through October. It's run by Snowy Mountain Hire Cars (tel. 02/6456 2957) and costs around A$52 one-way. Alpine Charters (tel. 02/6456 7340) also runs coaches.

In winter only (around June 19-Oct 5), Greyhound Australia (tel. 13 14 99 in Australia, or 07/4690 9950; www.greyhound.com.au) operates daily buses between Sydney and Cooma, via Canberra. The journey takes around 7 hours from Sydney and 3 hours from Canberra. A one-way ticket costs around A$60.

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