We’d made it as far as Jindabyne. After a LONG day’s driving were faced with a gated, gravel track which meandered across rolling grassland for a couple of kilometres before diving steeply down to the Mowamba River. And our lodge. The view was magnificent.
No houses in view anywhere. And it’s only 15 minutes out of town. Luckily we had the place to ourselves. But “Oh no!” – the sign as we arrived …
“SHOES OFF INDOORS!”
The kitchen was extremely well equipped and provisioned. More opportunities to do nothing much with a beer in hand on the deck watching the kangaroos, and searching hopefully for wombats – there were large burrows on the property – but no actual animals made their appearance. On the other hand, there was at least one platypus making waves (or, at least, ripples) in one of the deep pools of the river. Two pet sheep, loads of birds up to wedge-tailed eagles but no visible tiger snakes made up the fauna of the place.
The lake front walk in Jindabyne was nice and gentle – if a bit hot.
Then coffee at Wild Brumbie with a garden full of sculptures …
… and a copperhead snake…
The following day we decided to go take a closer look at Mt. Kosciuszko. This meant tackling the park entry thing again. This time from the Jindabyne end. The busy, professional end. No such thing as a free entry for UK seniors at this end – and by the way, you need a pass even if you want to transit the park without stopping. It’s free, but you have to get one and stick it on the windscreen! Yeah, yeah! If you want to break into the park, I suggest you do it from the Khancoban end! Much more casual up there!
The cable car was not the gondola-style car that Glenda was hoping for. It was one of those open swingy things that she thinks she’s going to fall out of!
The Thredbo Express chair-lift rises about 570 metres from the valley. The walking trail then goes up a further 300 metres over nearly seven kms to the peak at 2228 metres. It’s a superb path.
Very accessible – just a bit long for us! We ran out of time about a kilometre short of the peak! But the views all round were fabulous – and we were so lucky with the weather!
Us reaching Rawson Pass at 2,100 metres. And some of the wild flowers…
Then it’s time for a cup of tea at The Eagles Nest, Australia’s highest restaurant.
Except, because it’s February, it’s already closed at 4 pm! Oh well, we can watch the maniac mountain bikers who spend all day taking the 15 minute chair-lift ride up the mountain and then blast back down in eight to ten mad minutes!
Anyway, so much for mountains. It’s time to head off to Bermagui to see my sister. Taking the back road (which turned out to be The Snowy River Way) (… and largely gravel) via Dalgetty. Arriving at Nimmitabel, we found the road a bit busy! For several miles!
And, on the edge of town, there was a massive encampment of what looked like “travellers”. Caravans, tents, wired enclosures and horses all over the place. Looked very interesting – so clearly we had to investigate. It turned out to be a “Camp-draft”. Testing the skill of horsemen and women against the odd cow or two. When we got in by the back gate it was the turn of the juniors to chase the steers round the ring trying to make them go where they really didn’t want to go.
…and the winners were:
The coffee and steak sandwiches weren’t all bad either! That was the day we saw our only emu wandering around a paddock – but he/she was off as soon as we stopped.
As we wound down the steep edge of the Dividing Range we “tangled with” big trucks howling down in low gear and multitudes of bikers in black gear. And so to Wallaga Lake where my siater Elizabeth (AKA Bij) lives with partner Chris. Allegedly the name Bij stems from my pronunciation of her name as “Bijbeff” when I was first introduced to her all those years ago. I thought you’d like to know that!
Tomorrow, in real time, we arrive at Sydney to fly to Queensland. Maybe I’ll have time to catch up a bit on the plane. We have already been told that our flight has been cancelled! (Yes. Really! Yan, where are you? – we may need a plane!)
By the way, the score on the “gold vs feathers weight thing” is currently a tie: Being the same weight and the feathers being heavier are neck and neck. With a high turn out votes the scores stand at exactly one each! Any other votes? Answer in next post.
STOLEN CAR
Jimmy runs in to the pub, and says, “Mick, Mick, I’ve just seen some bloke steal your car and drive it out of the car park!!”
“Oh no!”, says Mick, “Did you get a good description of the thief for the police?”
“No! But I copied down the registration!!”
John, just thought you should know that copperhead snakes are the 7th most dangerous snake in Oz. Be careful.
Copperhead venom is neurotoxic (damaging nerves), ruptures the blood cells and damages the cells and muscles.