Well, with Christmas over it was time to load the camper again............
After a busy run up the highway to Bairnsdale I turned North to head towards Omeo. Just North of Tambo Crossing the heavens opened...........lightning, thunder and torrential rain, the road was awash. By the time I arrived at Omeo the sun was out again, but thunder rattled around the hills throughout the night.
The weather cleared the next morning as I headed towards Taylors Crossing on the Gibbo River. I had read several reports about how great this place was, so I wanted to have a look for myself.
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| Taylors Crossing |
While it was quite a pretty place I thought it lacked clear areas for camping and think there are better places, but that's my opinion.
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| Taylors Crossing |
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| Taylors Crossing |
This dictated my campsite for the night, it was pretty hot and it was the first time in probably 25 years I had to physically change the wheel to continue. I set up the camper, grabbed a cold drink from the fridge and set about changing the flat. Stacey's Bridge was not my choice of campsite, with the oldest, most run down longdrops in existence, but it served it's purpose.
The next morning was a short drive into the tyre service in Corryong, as the day was forecast to top 39c with extreme fire danger, I decided to overnight in Corryong.
Next morning was the long drag up onto Kosciuszko. First stop was Tooma Dam.
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| Tooma Dam |
Next stop was Bradley's Hut.The hut was built by Jack Bailey in 1952 before the Tooma road was developed. It was originally used for grazing.
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| Bradley's Hut |
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| Tumit Dam |
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| Tumit dam |
After another long climb I arrived at Cabramurra, Cabramurra is the highest permanently inhabited town in Australia, established in 1954 using Prefabricated houses, as part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme. The town was moved some 500m and 20m vertically to a more sheltered position, its current site, in 1974, leaving the original site as the lookout. The original houses were either demolished or relocated to Talbingo, Adaminaby and Jindabyne. The new houses were built with Besser blocks to a design specifically tailored to the environment. Long steep roofs allow snow to slide off, and the interiors are designed around a central heater.
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| Cabramurra |
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| Cabramurra |
As the day rolled on I began looking for somewhere to camp the night, and decided to have a look at 3 mile dam. A welcoming committee of March Flies greeted me upon getting out of the vehicle. After I set up I watched the unending stream of campers arrive until dusk with my bemused neighbours, a lovely couple from Lamb Island in Queensland. 3 mile dam would be a lovely place with a couple of hundred less people, but I suppose at holiday periods you have to expect this..........Surprisingly full mobile reception and TV reception was available here.
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| 3 mile dam campsite |
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| 3 mile dam campsite |
From 3 mile dam it was a short drive to Kiandra. Kiandra is an abandoned gold mining town and the birthplace of Australian skiing. In November 1859, gold was discovered by mountain cattlemen, the Pollock
brothers, and by March 1860, some 10,000 miners and storekeepers had
raced to the scene. Initial returns were very good. A 9 kg nugget was
discovered in river deposits under what became known as New Chum Hill. The area at its peak accommodated around 15,000 people, served by 25
stores, 13 bakers, 16 butchers, 14 pubs, several banks and four
blacksmiths, nevertheless by 1861, the Sydney Morning Herald was reporting a "mass exodus" and the easy pickings were exhausted.
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| old Battery at Kiandra |
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| Kiandra |
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| old cottage at Kiandra |
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| Kiandra Ruins |
Next morning was a quick trip across to Jindabyne for a drive down one of my favourite roads in Victoria. The Barry Way here I come......I know I have covered this trip serveral times before on my blogs but it is an awesome drive which I never tire of driving.
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| Wallace Craigie Lookout |
Dropping down off the plateau to the Snowy River was very slow, the road here is narrow with big drops off the side and with the added danger of Christmas traffic going to fast and cutting corners.
New Years Eve was spent at Pinch River campsite with couples from Drouin, Albury and Port Stevens, with Alan from Port Stevens providing the evening entertainment.
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| The Mighty Snowy River |
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| Suggan Buggan Schoolhouse |
In 1865 Edward O'Rourke constructed the old school house which
still stands today. The smaller of the two rooms was for a tutor
named Ballantyne who was hired to teach O'Rourke's thirteen
children. From Suggan Buggan I climbed back up to Black Mountain Station, took a right turn and headed along the Limestone Road towards Mt Wombargo.
It is a long drag up over Wombargo before tonight's camp at another favourite of mine, Native Dog Flat on the headwaters of the Buchan river.
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| Native Dog Fat |
There is just something about camping in a park like area, beside a beautiful alpine stream and listening to the Brumbies snorting and calling each other all night.
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| Native Dog Flat |
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| Flame Robin at Native Dog Flat |
I tore myself away from Native Dog after a pretty windy night and headed to Omeo keeping an eye on the sky.
The remnants of a Tropical Cyclone was passing through so the weather was not to be ignored. From Omeo I headed up to Mt Hotham to all the cyclists doing the high altitude training which seems to be all the rage at the moment.
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| Menacing skies over Mt Feathertop |
Turning off to the Dargo High Plains road first stop was Lankey Plain hut. I remember spending an extremely cold night here in 1986.
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| Lankey Plain Hut |
Dargo High Plains road was very dusty after all the holiday traffic, but dropping from Grant down to Dargo was the real test. With probably 800-900kg sitting on the back it was slowly slowly in second gear to try to save the brakes from cooking. About 3/4 of the way down I stopped to see if a Nissan Patrol needed assistance, he had cooked the brakes and had to slow using the handbrake. I took the opportunity to let my brakes cool a bit and stopped for a chat, then followed him to Dargo making sure he arrived safely.
From Dargo it was a straightforward run to home, another good trip completed. Apart from the flat tyre an uneventfull trip. After taking on 120 litres of diesel in Bairnsdale on the way, and with 95 litres of water, solar panels, Waeco freezer it was the first trip away to test everything fully loaded in readiness for the big Gulf trip. The little ute certainly knew it was loaded up but handled everything with ease, I topped up the main fuel tank in Cooma, from Bairsdale to Corryong, Cabramurra the Cooma, which included more than it's fair share of long slow climbs I got 10.4L/100km......pretty happy with that.
The next trip is hopefully in about 4-6 weeks, heading to Yorke and Eyre Peninsula's then up through Central Australia to the Gulf Of Carpenteria until about November.............stay tuned
Bye for now...........
