Author Archives: Dearne and Rod

Our camp in the Alpine National Park

Our stop on Wednesday night in the Alpine National Park was wonderful. By 9pm the temperature was down at 22C and when we woke up Thursday morning it was a blissful 16.5C. The refrigerator was behaving as it should and the toothpaste was the texture it was when we bought it. We were on our own and the only noise around was the hundreds of rabbits and hares munching grass around us. We were very tempted to stay another night but the weather forecast and temperatures for the next few days on the coast enticed us to move on.

On departing our Alpine National Park ‘lodgings’ on Thursday morning we noticed it had a name. If you are ever travelling the High Plains Road up the middle of the National Park and need a free stop off, about 10km south of Falls Creek look for the sign saying Lansford Gap.  Drive off road between the two rock outcrops (there is plenty of width but it is a bit bumpy) and 100 metres later you will arrive at a very flat grassy area. There will only be you, the rabbits and hares, a few magpies and the crows. We loved the solitude.

Driving down the Alpine National Park -excellent roads, stunning drive

As we have said in the past, we are guarded about comments we hear about certain road conditions and the hospitality of some towns. While we listen to the comments, in the end we do our own research and make any decisions based on the research and the hearsay. Prior to taking on the Alpine National Park we had heard various stories about the road conditions and the drive.

Let us assure you, the road from Bright to Lakes Entrance via the Alpine National Park is totally sealed, the road itself is a little windy but is a very easy drive at the right speed.  The scenery is stunning. We have read that the road is closed during winter because of heavy snow conditions.

The real Lakes Entrance

We were going to stay at Lakes Entrance on Thursday night but ended up at a local reserve in the small seaside town of Metung, the next bay around from Lakes Entrance. We were soothed by a 10 kt sea breeze, an outside temperature of 20C and parked approximately 10 metres from the waters edge.

We awoke this morning to temperatures of around 30C, by 11am it was 40C and at 3pm was 44C.  The news broadcasts warned of a number of fires in the Victoria’s Gippsland region, the area we are currently travelling.  We have made a decision to stay out of Victoria’s National Parks and the inland areas until we have been advised they are safe.

One of the many Lakes Entrance beaches

In our travels today we made a quick visit to Lakes Entrance (we have since been advised they are under a Code Red fire danger).  It is a stunning piece of Australia and would be an easy place to settle if we found the urge to depart New Zealand. From there we travelled on the Princess Highway through Swan Reach, Bairnsdale, Delvine, Stratford, Airly, Sale then hooked a left at Longford to arrive at Golden Beach. Golden Beach is a small Tasman Sea seaside town and we are parked up with four other vans at the local town hall on a large blacktop area about 50 metres from the sea and well away from trees and dry grass areas.

Our plan is to stay here until at least Sunday and we can be assured it is safe to travel along the Gippsland Highway toward Port Franklin and Corner Inlet.

A lovely thank you to all our family and friends who are texting and emailing us to make sure we are safe. We would like to assure you all that we are continuously checking our Fire App and are listening to local radio broadcasts as we move through the region. There is no way we will move through an area unless we have been advised it is safe.

Loving the Australian sense of humour!

The hot weather continues! When we departed Parkes on Monday morning at 10am, the temperature was around 34C. By midday it was at 40C – and that’s outside of the motorhome. Our inside temperature gauge automatically shuts down at 42C and it has been doing that around 2pm everyday this week.

A few things happen in the motorhome when temperatures are this high;

– We never have to heat the water. The cold water in our fresh water tank is always better than lukewarm. It makes it tricky when you want a cold drink from the tap. Chilling water down in the refrigerator or buying cold drinking water on a daily basis is the way we are dealing with it.

– All food in the cupboards is either lukewarm or hot. We find we are buying less food but purchasing more often.

– Our plates and glasses are always hot.

– Our freezer is handling the heat very well but the refrigerator is really struggling to keep the temperature down – even on gas.

– Our iphones, GPS etc. just shut down in the heat

– Our bathroom products i.e. toothpaste,  liquefy.

–  When using our aircon unit, the poor thing battles for a very average result. If it’s 40 to 43C outside, the best it can do on its’ coolest setting of 16C is maintain a 31C temperature inside.

No complaints tho’ – it’s all part of the journey.

On leaving Parkes we made our back down the Newell Highway through Forbes then onto West Wyalong, Grong Grong, Coolamon and into Wagga Wagga. We decided we had had enough at the wheel for that day so we located a free camp spot about 500 metres from the main street of Wagga Wagga at Wills Park. It was nice and flat, a few large trees for shade and there was still enough green grass to settle on.

Our swimming hole at Oxley

On Tuesday morning after a wander around Wagga Wagga, it was back in the van and onwards. It had been recommended to us that we make a point of visiting Oxley on our way south. So on leaving Wagga we made our way west to Wangaratta then southeast into Oxley.  It was a beautiful little place and we lucked in with a free park at the Stan Allen Reserve directly beside the King River. Again with the temperatures hovering around 41 to 44C, the river was a welcome relief. We just lay back in the water along with a few locals and other camping couples for an hour or so.

Main Street Bright

This morning we continued south along the Great Alpine Highway to Bright. Again it is a place that was recommended that we visit and very much worth the recommendation. It is a stunning little town – more like a small English village rather than an Australian town in the grips of a heat wave.

Our view at the Alpine National Park

We made a decision to try and get away from the hot days so hooked a left on leaving Bright and followed the Bogong Alpine Way across to Kiewa Valley Highway and into the Alpine National Park.  It was the best decision we ever made. Once on the Kiewa Valley Highway we followed the road through Mount Beauty and onto the Falls Creek ski resort some 1700 metres above sea level. We are now tucked (hidden) in a little side road on a flat metal area about 15km south of Falls Creek and in the Alpine National Park. Barring a visit from an over enthusiastic ranger, we hope we will be here for the night.

It is 6pm in the afternoon and the outside temperature is 26C and cooling. Love these mountain areas.

We are keeping a careful eye on the fire situation in Victoria while travelling through. We are constantly referring to our Fire App and are ensuring that each night we are well away from trees and high dry grassland. We always park with the van facing the ‘out’ road and everything is put away at night so we can make a quick exit if needed.

Relaxing at 5 o’clockers

Our Parkes visit has been memorable in a number of ways. Of most importance were the number of wonderful people we met and the number of new friends we can look forward to catching up with as we travel Australia. Parkes was also our first experience of some fairly rugged weather on Wednesday night and Thursday – high winds, thunderstorms and heavy rain. The inclement weather lasted thirty-six hours so making sure everything was put away outside and tightly shut inside was the key to no damage.

While Parkes is renown for its annual Elvis birthday celebrations, it is also home to the iconic CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope made famous by the hit movie, ‘The Dish’.  While the telescope celebrated its 50^th anniversary in 2011, it is still in the forefront of scientific technology.

Renewing of wedding vows – a festival event

The theme of the 2014 Parkes Elvis Festival was Elvis’s 14^th film, ‘Kissin Cousins’, released in 1964. The festivals VIP was Cynthia Pepper who played opposite Elvis in the film as ‘Private First Class Midge Riley’ – Elvis’s ‘love interest’. Cynthia appeared at many of the festival’s functions talking about her friendship with the King.

Because we were staying at the Showground, and the trotting park is within the grounds itself, we were in the right place to attend the town’s local trot meet on Wednesday night. It was a great party atmosphere with plenty of Elvis impersonators in attendance but the night clearly demonstrated again how little either of us knows about the harness racing industry. Not one victory all night!

One of the highlights of the Festival is the annual pilgrimage that hundreds of Sydneysiders make each year to Parkes by special train from Sydney Central. The train is decorated for the occasion and food and champagne is served to the five carriages of Elvis fans. We wandered down to the station on Thursday at 4pm to watch the train come in – there was some messy passengers rolling off that train.

The US Army girls in the festival parade

The Festival’s parade took place on Saturday morning in stunning weather. The Temperature was around 30C and not a cloud in the sky. We had a fairly ‘heavy’ night on Thursday night so we made sure we did not get quite so excited on Friday night which made getting up in time to attend the Saturday’s parade far more relaxing. We still haven’t got the hang of ‘pacing oneself’ in times of excitement!! You would think it would come with age but apparently not.

Sunday morning, along with about 1000 other festival goers, we attended an ‘Elvis Gospel Celebration’ in the underground ‘Wooly’s Carpark’. It was a very entertaining hour or so with the mixture of gospel singing, movie cuts from Elvis’s life story and of course a fairly upbeat church service.

Overall we have had a brilliant week in Parkes. The festival was very much like Whangamata’s Beachhop with lots of venues and bands, continuous day and evening entertainment, good markets, great weather and new friends.

More shots of the parade and our Parkes adventure HERE .

Tomorrow morning we depart Parkes and start our journey south toward Lakes Entrance. It will probably take us a few days to get there as we are bound to find lovely places to stop off for a night or two.  But as we always say – no firm plans.

Mc Feeters Car Museum at Forbes

We had a very relaxing two days in Forbes. It is a lovely town consisting of ‘the old’ and ‘the new’ in terms of buildings and it is also famous for the McFeeters Car Museum. Located on the Newell Highway at Forbes, the museum is a stunning new facility purpose built for displaying a vast collection of meticulously restored motorcars. Cars range from veterans to custom cars, rare, common, hotrods and a few motorcycles. If you are in the area, the museum is worth a look.

We have said this ‘a number’ of times in the past, but we continue to meet some great people on our travels.  It happened again at Forbes. Our travel intentions after our Forbes visit was to meander our way south to Lakes Entrance on the Victoria coast, hopefully arriving there around mid January. However during our two day stopover at Wheogo Park in Forbes, we meet a group of six or so vanners who were heading to the town of Parkes, a 30km drive north of Forbes, to celebrate the birthday of “The King – Elvis Presley”.

While its has been 36 years since Elvis ‘left the building’, 2014 will be the 22nd anniversary of the Parkes Elvis Festival.  The town is expecting 18,000+ Elvis fans to gather in their town, doubling the population to celebrate Elvis’s birthday. The festival features a 5-day program of events including a Miss Priscilla Competition, the Elvis Street Parade, Cars of the Era Show, free main stage entertainment, look-a-like contests, Tribute to Elvis Competition, Elvis Gospel Service, Renewal of Wedding Vows, Busking Competition, Poets Breakfast, displays of Elvis memorabilia, Wall of Fame, and over 150 unique Elvis-style events.

Our new friends informed us that as a result of a cancellation, they had a site available at the Parkes Showground for our motorhome if we were interested in joining them.  They had attended last years’ celebrations and it sounded a bit like Whangamata’s Beach Hop. An unscheduled management meeting was called and after a ‘very brief’ discussion we decided to join our new travelling companions at Parkes.

So here we are, Monday night, tucked up nicely at the Parkes Showground and mentally preparing ourselves for a week of festivities. While the formal programme does not start until Wednesday, because travellers such as ourselves get here early, they have ‘pre programme’ entertainment for the early birds – in addition to the 5 o’clockers of course.

We will put up photographs of our ‘Elvis week’ on the next blog update.

Our plan is to stay in Parkes until next Monday (13^th) then starting heading to Lakes Entrance.

New Years Eve in Canberra was a very low-key affair for us. Not sure why, but the thought of spending New Years Eve at some ‘social event’ in the city with the well lubed public spilling happy juice all over us just does not turn us on any more. A quiet evening on the couch at brother Chucks abode in Canberra watching the fireworks in Sydney on television accompanied by a few wines and rum and cokes was far more enticing. Happy New Year everyone – we hope your New Year was as relaxing as ours. Did we make any New Year resolutions? Yep – to stay happy, healthy and solvent. Does anything else matter really?

New Years Day (Wednesday) it was back in the motorhome and dealing with the adventures of 2014. We drove northeast with the goal of spending a night to the small country township of Cowra.  Our overnight spot was the Cowra Reserve, a free camp area just out of town and beside the Lachlan River.

Dearne at the Japanese Garden in Cowra

The town has a very interesting history. In 1941 the Australian Army decided to establish a prisoner of war camp on the town’s outskirts. At its peak, the camp held some 1100 Japanese prisoners of war. On the 5^th August 1944, the Japanese prisoners staged a two-wave breakout that resulted in the deaths of some 230 Japanese prisoners and 107 other ranks wounded. Australian military casualties were one officer and three other ranks killed and four other ranks injured.

What makes the history of the event even more remarkable are the actions and efforts of the people of Cowra in the years following the breakout. These include the fight to have the bravery of two of the Australian soldiers killed during the breakout recognised and the caring actions of the Cowra Sub Branch RSL who informally maintained the graves of the Japanese soldiers as a mark of respect for an enemy who were fighting for their country. The energy of the township now focuses on the spirit of reconciliation for future generations. A truly inspirational town.

During our Cowra visit we spent a respectful few hours at the site of the POW camp, the Cowra War Cemetery, the Japanese War Cemetery and the Cowra Japanese Garden – 5 hectares of stunning horticulture.

A few more photographs of our Cowra visit HERE .

Carcour Dam Free Camp Site

On Thursday morning we departed Cowra and continued our drive inland making our next stopover the Carcoar Dam.  The dam is situated 6 kilometres north of the NSW township of Carcoar on the Belubula River and in the Lachlan Valley. It is another free camp area of approximately 7 hectares of grassland on the edge of the dam waters. The site is pet friendly, provides drinking water, toilets and ‘cold’ showers. It is a stunning spot and a credit to the local Council who manage the site. We ended up staying for two days.

As an aside, we are loving the free camping opportunities in Australia and are partly here because of that generosity.  We estimate that 70 percent of our overnight stops are free stops, 20 percent are low cost stays i.e. $10 to $20 per night per vehicle and 10 percent are formal campgrounds. We have to be thinking that Australian Councils and Shires seem to be far more in tune than their New Zealand counterparts about the growing  ‘grey nomad’ industry in their country. There were approximately 50 motorhomes and/or caravans at the dam while we were there. Most have to go into the local town during their stay to get supplies/water/diesel/petrol. Work that out on a daily basis and what do you think happens to the income generation in the local town? Not rocket science really.

We agree that freedom camping can come with its issues however believe these issues are manageable with the help of sound and  ‘enforced’ codes of practice (or legislation as a last resort).  We see the same ‘knockers’ of freedom camping existing in Australia as they do in New Zealand. They are usually publicly elected officials (local and central) and who probably wear a green tie and hate seeing people happy. Their goal is to rid the world of all people and animals who fart (with exception of themselves of course) and be left alone so they can continue growing their ‘veges’ and making dandelion wine. Knocker number two is the person who invests heavily in a holiday park then wants to ‘force’ all RV’ers and caravans visiting their town into their investment so they can meet the mortgage or grow their bank account. They totally overlook the fact that we do not like being crammed in tiny spaces with a 1 or 2 metre gap between each van or pay $35 to $40 for a piece of grass to park on for the night.  As you can see we are passionate about this issue and will do our utmost to defend the opportunity to be able to freedom camp. Here endeth the political broadcast.

We departed the dam this morning and decided to visit the township of Blayney. We needed a water top up as we were not quite sure where our next overnight stop was going to be. Another thing we love about our journey in Australia is that most Councils provide a fresh water tap at their main building for travellers such as ourselves. The tap in normally within easy reach of our fresh water hose and you can always guarantee the water is good.

After topping up with water and purchasing of few groceries, we headed back down to Carcoar , hooked a right at Mandurama and followed a country road through Walli, Canowindra, Eugowra and into Forbes. Gee it’s dry through the backcountry. How the farming communities survive here amazes us. We may think we have got it tough in New Zealand from time to time but really, ‘we don’t know how lucky we are mate’. We think there’s a song there somewhere!!

Our free campsite beside the Forbes River

We found a lovely ‘free’ park up area in Forbes called Wheogo Park. The Park is directly beside Forbes Lake and approximately a 300 metre walk to the centre of town. Weather permitting we plan to stay here until at least Monday. In saying that, we are about 10 metres from the waters edge and note the lake seems quite high so we will be keeping a wary eye on water levels overnight.

Like any sailing programme, everything is subject to change.

It is the 31 December 2013 and our last day in Canberra. It has been a wonderful relaxing couple of weeks visiting friends and family in Perth and Canberra but it is time to continue the journey.

An Echidna at Mulligan Flats Regional Park

We have spent the last two days stocking up the van, going for the occasional walk and generally taking advantage of Chuck and Ali’s hospitality.  We went on a 7km walk yesterday morning through Mulligans Flat in Canberra. Mulligans Flat is one of the 30 reserves throughout suburban ACT. We came across our first ‘live’ Echidna on the walk (the only others we have come across have been roadkill). For the Kiwi’s reading the blog, an Echidna looks like a hedgehog but about four times the size – it could be a hedgehog on steroids!!

The weather continues to be wonderful. Daytime temperatures have been around the 25 to 30C and no rain at all. We hear our hometown of Whangamata has been getting a beating with the weather so we are hoping all our friends and neighbours down there have survived the downpours.

We leave here tomorrow, New Years Day, and are heading northwest back through Yass and westward to Cowra. School and work holidays are in full swing so we intend staying off the coast for at least the next two weeks. We find the inland area of Australia a great novelty and we meet some real characters in our overnight stops. Around mid January we will start making our way to Lakes Entrance on the coast.

Have a great New Years Eve everyone and take care if you are planning to have one or two. We will toast you all at midnight.

Our Christmas week in Perth has been super relaxing – it’s been all about catching up with extended family and friends and enjoying the many ‘social’ aspects of the festive season.

Leading up to Christmas Day we spent far more time in the shops than Rod was happy with.  However those of you who know us well are aware I have a ‘Rod shopping strategy’. I sit him down in a café with the latest newspaper and a coffee and that normally gives me an hour and a half of ‘free time’.

Rod and Greg at The Wine Tree

Last Sunday we drove down to the little village of Dwellingup to visit our good friend Greg Caswell. Greg and Penny joined us in New Zealand a couple of years ago and we completed a motorcycle tour of Northland, Auckland, Coromandel, Bay of Plenty and Taupo. Not only is Greg a fellow motorcycle enthusiast, he also owns the very popular Dwellingup fruit winery  – The Wine Tree. We spent a very pleasant sunny afternoon with family and friends at the winery sampling Greg’s excellent products.

Dearne and Jude at The Wine Tree

Our lovely friends Jude Loza and partner Bruce caught up with us at the winery. Jude served in the Navy with us and hails from Dunedin. They made the move from Dunedin to Rockingham about two years ago to be with family. It was brilliant afternoon.

We had a very relaxing start to Christmas Day. Tiffany and partner Charles popped around in the morning for the ceremonial opening of gifts then at around midday we joined cousin Penny and family at their place for Christmas lunch. As usual we consumed far too much food and ‘happy juice’ over the day and by 5pm when we got back to the apartment we found it very difficult to keep our eyes open. A great day and thanks Penny and girls for your hospitality.

Christmas Lunch at cousin Penny’s in Perth

What happens on Boxing Day? Of course – it is the Boxing Day sales. Dawn had hardly cracked and the girls were out of bed and heading down town to be first in line for any bargains. Luckily we have the rule in the van where if something new comes in – something old must go. I think we may be at the tipping point!!

We fly back to Canberra in the morning (Friday) to stock up the van and make a decision on ‘where to next’. We will probably avoid the coast until at least mid January when most people are back at work but will let you know.

As yet we are unsure of our departure date from Canberra. It may end up being on New Years Day – a symbolic gesture – new year, new start.

We departed Canberra airport at the ‘crack of dawn’ this morning on our journey to Perth for the Xmas break. Many thanks bro’ for the ride to the airport at such an unsocial hour – and Ali for letting you drive her new car.

We have two golden rules when undertaking air travel:

Rule 1. Never travel in the school holidays and

Rule 2. If you do, always travel business class or at least premium economy.

On our trip to Perth this morning, we broke both of them.

The consequence was that we were surrounded by families with young children. One wee lass who sat directly behind us, screamed from the time of her arrival on the aircraft until the time we got off – 3.75 hours!!! The little thing was still screaming as we exited the plane. We have yet to find a set of earphones that will drown out such noise. The temptation to have wine with our breakfast was almost too much.

However we are now in Perth and received a lovely whanau greeting on our arrival.  We are looking forward to spending the next few days socialising with family and friends in Western Australia.

Keep safe and we hope Santa is kind to you all.

Under the Puhutukawa Tree at Tathra

This is our sixth month on the road in Australia and we are still having a brilliant time – no regrets.

In our time here we have certainly gained a respectful appreciation of Australia’s vastness and her very different climatic conditions. We have become experts in ‘on the road’ maintenance (personal and mechanical) and have a total respect for the motorhome’s many technical features that help make our life comfortable.

We are currently in Canberra having the vehicles serviced and to do a bit of ‘clean up’ on both. They get a bit of a battering on the Australian roads. Our plan is to leave the motorhome in Canberra while we fly to Perth on the 21^st December and spend Christmas 2013 with some of the family. We will return to Canberra on 28 December, pick up the motorhome and continue our journey.

So what are our plans for 2014?

Loosely our plan is to spend the rest of the summer exploring the coastal and inland areas of New South Wales, Victoria and ACT.  We are making a quick trip back to New Zealand in March (our visit just happens to coincide with Beachhop Weekend in Whangamata!!) to check on property and touch base with children and grandchildren.

In early May we will make the journey up the middle. Our start point will be Adelaide and driving north through Port Augusta, Coober Pedy, Alice Springs, Tennant Creek and on to Darwin – a distance of 3032 km. How long will it take us? With planned stopovers we think it will probably take us six or so weeks. There is plenty to see and it’s not a race so we will take our time.

Once in Darwin we will stay in the area for about two months (perhaps with a wee break in Bali for five or so days). There is so much to see in Northern Territory especially in the numerous National Parks. In late August we will meander our way from Darwin down the east coast of Australia and back around the bottom of Western Australia and across the Nulabor into South Australia. By this time it will probably be around Christmas 2014.

However, like all plans we have no control over what tomorrow may bring. We have learned to expect the unexpected and what will be, will be.

If any of you are planning a trip to Australia and are going to undertake your journey in a motorhome or caravan, we would love to have you tag along with us for part of our journey.

Christmas will not be the same without having the children and grandchildren with us but thank goodness for Skype. As a family we are scattered over the world this Xmas but we will do our best to catch up with everyone.

We would like to thank all our family and friends who are following our travels via the blog. While you may not be close by, we do feel like you are all with us.

Take care everyone and we both wish you and your families a very happy Christmas and a safe and prosperous 2014.

After bidding Bruce and Lyn farewell on Wednesday morning at Cann River, we turned right onto the Monaro Highway and motored north towards Bombala. It was a gradual climb through the Coopracambra National Park and amongst some of the most stunning scenery. I think we may have made the journey in the best time of the year as we were told that in the depth of winter the temperatures can drop to minus 15C and in the summer rise to 40C. We had none of that on Wednesday. I think the temperature would have hovered around the 22C all day.

In driving to Bombala we had every intention of making it our overnight stop but  it was only midday when we arrived in the town so we decided to carry on.  After a bite to eat and a wander around, it was back onto the Monaro Highway.

A typical Snowy Mountain Farm Cottage – for sale if you are interested

About an hour later we came to the little village of Nimmitabel. Nimmitabel is set at 1070m on the Monaro Plains at the southern end of the Great Dividing Range in the Snowy Mountains.  The main street has 11 buildings and at the last census the population was 237 people. We were quite taken with the quaintness of the town and as they offered low cost stays, we decided to take advantage of their hospitality. An open paddock with power and nice showers sealed the deal.

Bearing in mind we are in the Snowy Mountains, we had been told to expect the temperature to drop to 4C overnight. We thought the diesel heater might get a bit of use.

Thursday morning and the heater was not used at all.  We think the temperature may have dropped to about 11C but with an extra blanket we survived the night. We set off toward Cooma and again with no real plan in terms of our next overnight stop. The discovery of gold in the 1860’s at Kiandra bought about a permanent increase in Cooma’s population.  In 1949 the start of the Snowy Mountains Hydro Electric Scheme changed the character of Cooma with the influx of many thousands of workers from post war Europe.

We arrived at Cooma before midday so we had a quick bite to eat and because it was still so early in the day, decided to continue toward Jindabyne. Jindabyne is perched on the edge of Lake Jindabyne and is known as the adventure basecamp for the Snowy Mountains. It is also the closest town to the Kosciuszko National Park, New South Wales largest national park and Australia’s most extensive alpine region.

The view from our campsite at Thredbo Diggings

While we were in Jindabyne we made contact with Rob (Dearne’s cousin) and Karen’s’ daughter Sally who recommended we make camp for the night at Thredbo Diggings in the Kosciuszko National Park.  What excellent advice!  While the winding gravel road down to the campsite was a little ‘testing,’ once we arrived, we found the Diggings were on flat grassy ground, amongst very mature gum trees and on the edge of the Thredbo River. It was a beautiful peaceful spot with only one other van and a couple of tents on the site.

Snow in sight on our Thredbo Village visit

Friday morning we climbed back up onto the Alpine Highway and made our way toward Thredbo. We found it a typical ‘winter sport village’  – very quite and not very much going on in the summer months. The town was trying to give itself a boost in the summer by marketing mountain bike rides – up in the chair lift and down on two wheels.  There were quite of few riders on the mountain but being Friday 13^th, we elected not to give it a try!! There were also a number of walking tracks available but time was not on our side. After a wander around the village and trying a local coffee, it was back in the motorhome and returning the way we came.

We drove back through Jindabyne, hooked a left at Berridale onto Middingbank Road for 31 km then another left onto The Snowy Mountains Highway. We will stay on this Highway until we get to the Hume Highway.

Our run along the Snowy Mountains Highway and through the top end of the Kosciusko National Park reminded us very much of driving across the Desert Road in the Central North Island of New Zealand. The vegetation was mainly tussock and many of the trees had been killed off by the cold and snow. They probably get new leaves in the summer but they were not on display on our travels.

She will find her gold yet!!

We stopped for the night about 50km south of Tumut at a little roadside camp called Yarrangobilly Village. There was one house (vacant), a flat grassy area, a nice little river running beside us and we were on our own.  By 5pm we were settled for the night with a nice Merlot and pork scotch fillet steaks for dinner. We were joined at about 6pm by a couple in a caravan but they parked from 100m from us so we never really saw much of them.

We departed Yarrangobilly this morning and are continuing toward Tumut. There are a few little villages we want to pop into on our travels today so we will probably spend most of the day on the road.

We are not quite sure where we will be tonight or Sunday night but we do know we have to be in Canberra on Monday.