The Snowy Mountains region forms part of the Great Dividing Range and is located in south east New South Wales. The region includes New South Wales’ ski fields, alpine areas, mountains streams and glacial lakes through to rolling plains and farmland.

Kosciusko National Park, located in the heart of the Snowy Mountains, offers almost 700,000 hectares of outstanding scenery. The National Park is the main drawcard to this area for visitors as it contains the snowfields Perisher Valley, Thredbo, Mt Blue Cow, Guthega and Charlotte’s Pass. This area is also very popular in summer for its beautiful wildflowers. The national park also contains Mt. Kosciusko, which at 2228 metres and is the highest peak in Australia.

The area is not just a winter wonderland. When the snow melts there is still plenty on offer throughout this region. The most obvious is the bushwalks on offer around Kosciusko National Park, there is also plenty of horse riding on offer and for the adventurous there is mountain bike riding which is becoming quite popular.

This region is on the border with Victoria and is flanked by the Murray River. The Snowy Mountains are also home to the famous Snowy River as well as the towns of Jindabyne, Cooma and Berridale.

The town of Cooma is the gateway-city to the Snowy Mountains from Sydney and has a small airport. Cooma was the hub for the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme, a massive project that took over 25 years to complete. From here it is an easy drive to the towering wilderness of Kosciusko National Park and it's ski fields and alpine meadows.

Jindabyne is located just over 50km west of Cooma and is the main accommodation centre for the Snowfields. It has a small permanent population of around 1800, but during the ski season this figure increases dramatically.

New South Wales lies in the temperate zone and the climate is generally free from extremes of heat and cold. The greatest heat is usually experienced in the north west and out back regions of NSW. The coldest region is the Snowy Mountains, where winter frosts and snow are experienced over long periods. Rainfall varies widely over the state, gradually diminishing to an annual average of 180 mm in the far north west.

The climate along the coast is temperate and slightly humid in NSW and the temperatures get cooler the further south you travel along the coast. The deserts of the outback regions experience hot days and cold nights. Irregular floods and droughts occur in the north and western regions, some times due to the El Nino effect.