Oh Deer Bogong High Plains

hello all 
Yes, deer is spelt correct and will become apparent later on......
 On Tuesday the 8th I saddled up one again and headed off into the wild blue yonder.......
It was a hot windy trip up the Hume highway with a scorching northerly head wind. Heading from Myrtleford across to Mt Beauty the road was littered with sticks and twigs blown off by the wind. A hot night was spent in the Mt Beauty Caravan Park with, it appeared several thousand other people.
Next morning was the drive up the hill. After a quick detour into Bogong Village, I arrived at Falls Creek Ski Resort.

the Main range

some of Falls

 I travelled across Bogong High Plains road in 2008, the year before they sealed it, I think the view was blocked by dust on that trip as I had forgotten what a magnificent drive this is. The drive over Bogong is not as dramatic as Hotham but you get to drive around up on Bogong to Pretty Valley and Mt McKay. 
So off to Mt Mc Kay it was, I held my breath and went for the summit........I drove to the highest drivable public road in Australia and took the Camper along.

Mt Mc Kay

Palomino on top of Victoria (Mt Mc Kay)

1825 metres above sea lavel

 The view was amazing from the top.

looking Towards the Kiewa Valley

towards Mt Nelse

towards Pretty Valley Dam

towards Rocky Valley Dam

top of ski run just to the left of dam

My camp for the night was down from the 1825 metres summit of Mt Mc Kay to about 1600 Metres at Pretty Valley Camping Area. Bloody hell it was cold  that night..............it was 6c INSIDE the Camper when I woke up from my sleeping (shivering) To Kevin and Tania at Palomino RV Australia...tell everyone the gas heater works a treat with the battery removed from the smoke detector. I was soon able to regain feeling in my fingers and toes with a white frost outside.

camp at Pretty Valley 1600 Metres

 Now let me paint a picture....I am tootling along the Bogong High Plains sealed road probably no more than 10K out of Falls Creek. The road curves around to the right and rises disappearing amongst the snow gums. Parked on the apex of the curve are 2 four wheel drives about 200 metres ahead. To my left is 3 guys standing in the middle of open ground, I am looking at them thinking what are they doing? I look back towards the corner to discover, not more that 15 metres from their vehicles is a fully grown wild doe (female deer) I hit the skids  already had the window down and always drive with my camera on the passenger seat ready.

oh deer

deer

I managed to peel off a couple of shots before it bolted off into the snow gums. The things you see......
A bit further up the road is Wallaces Hut, I walked in there last time so gave it a miss this time and walked into Cope Hut instead.

Cope Hut

view from Cope hut

I really enjoyed my leisurely drive over Bogong but it was down the other side to Big River Camping Area at Glen Wills on the Omeo Highway. A relaxing afternoon was spent preparing my roast chicken and roast potatoes in the camp oven, followed by desert of ice cream. Gee I love camping with a freezer.........
This Morning was off to Glen Wills Historic site, it was and old gold mining area.

a photo of the sign

The photo of the DSE sign above is what I remember the area looking like when I first visited many years ago. The 2003 fires ravaged the area and destroyed most of the buildings. So much of our history has been lost to fire. Below is a photo of what it looks like now.

DSE built roof

the old compressor

mining relics

I continued along the Omeo Highway, they have sealed a lot of this road but there is still a few rough patches, over Mt Wills, through Mitta Mitta and Tallangatta. Tonight I am in Albury, I was starting to smell so bad even the flies where staying away......tomorrow I haven't decided yet, so this isn't finished yet as I don't have to be home until Monday..........now where is that map?
Well the weather clouded over and not much happened after here. I had planned to go to Corryong, then south to Taylor's Crossing and Benambra but the road climbs back up over the ranges and with overcast skies I didn't like the idea of photos of fog.......
Instead I cruised through Yackandanda and Beechworth but didn't take any photos as I have been there before, then down the Hume to home.
I don't have any trips planned, and have a week of appointments etc and a weekend in Melbourne next weekend with friends from Perth. I reckon soon after that I will be getting itchy camper legs so stay tuned....
bye for now