The Snowies, Kosciuszko and Canberra

March 2013

Alpine National Park

We ended our time in the High Country in the manner in which we entered it....on a harrowing (unplanned) 4WD adventure. We set out under clear skies to explore the scenic, historic Ingeegoodbee Track, used by Aborigines, early settlers, stockmen and 4WD nuts to traverse the Great Dividing Range.

 

Yay, we made it to the top..and the kids are so thrilled.

I'll drink to that. The views of rolling mountain ranges in every direction were worth the bumpy climb......but we wouldn't be celebrating for long.

As we glanced south, we saw the black clouds massing behind us. "Oh &*@%"  said mum and we jumped back in the car hoping in vain we may escape them.

Alas, a little further along the track from here, while perched atop the steepest descent of the journey, the heavens opened up. We watched in dismay as the precipitious road ahead of us turned into a waterfall. Going forwards was not an option. So we sat it out playing "I spy" and singing silly songs to create the illusion of a fun family outing while Paul was looking most serious and Leanne was practicing her deep breathing.

Rowdy Moments

The Good: Wonderful bush camping alone in the wild mountains and that feeling of being five very small beings in a vast forested land.
The Bad: The way-too-close brush with an enormous bolt of lightening (during the above-mentioned deep breathing session) which struck the ground with an enormous crack about 100m from our car. We were suddenly grateful for the pouring rain - otherwise we would have been in the middle of a bushfire!!! Hmm, maybe we should go back to the beach now.
The Ugly: The day the music died. The vaporising of about 1200 tracks from Leanne's Ipod for some inexplicable, Apple-typical reason. Thank goodness for Donna, Dunns, Mark and Nelson's discs and Mary's hard-drive of tunes.

Snowy River National Park

 The Snowy Mountains served up some lovely scenery, swimming and respite from the more perilous drives of the Alpine National Park.

McKillop Bridge towers above the Snowy

And the last trace of Leanne was her red coffee mug mysteriously perched beside the Snowy River.............It was a lovely morning dip.

 

The good old "Barry Way", obviously named after my dad, was a cruisy meander alongside the once-mighty Snowy.

Leanne takes the wheel, but only if we're going forwards. After 10 months on the road, she still can't reverse the damn thing.

 

A little poem

There was movement at the station, for the word had passed around that the man from Hairy River had arrived.....

He tamed the tall mountains, Kosciuszko and the rest, taking challenge after challenge in his stride. 

In Perisher, Smiggins and Thredbo his conquests were highly famed.

But, there remained three wild beasts who simply wouldn't be tamed.

 So he drove them to Kosciuszko's peak where the wind blew brisk and chill.

 

 

And finally, cold and beaten, he got them to sit still..........the end. 

Oh, and then they ran away again......and where the heck is Archie??

Jindabyne - while the East Coast was awash with floods in late February, we got off pretty lightly in the mountains. But, it was good to have the raincoat on the camper. The great Aussie tarp is the mainstay of East Coast camping and no one goes anywhere without one. So, when in Rome.....

 

 

Amazing what a difference a day makes.

Our attempt to view Mt Kosciuszko from the Mt Thredbo side didn't quite work out, but resulted in a family treat when we decided to ditch the camper for a night and stay in a modest ski chalet and dine in a restaurant....only our third motel stay in 10 months (probably due to the many nice house stays we've enjoyed).

After viewing its humble beginnings, we revisit the slightly larger River Murray near Mt Thredbo on our way to Australia's highest town, Khancoban

 

 Paul picks up a building project - note the fine workmanship!

 

 That is a very, very tall dam wall.

Be very, very careful young man

Our very last night of c-c-c-cold c-c-c-camping in the mountains. The alpine lakes beyond Khancoban were beautiful, but the thermals made another attractive (not) appearance. Oh yes, and so did the tarp.

Snags and red wine....the great Aussie dinner!











Canberra

The nation's capital gave us all a chance to indulge some passions. Paul spent a day at the War Museum, Leanne spent her day at the National Art Gallery and the fab Toulouse Lautrec exhibition, the Portrait Gallery and the War Museum (I move a little faster than Craigy at these places).



Meanwhile, the kids had a ball at Questacon (an amazing science and technology investigator centre over 4 levels). This is definitely the best place in Canberra to take kids (apart from Parliament House during Question Time where they would fit right in!!) Riley had a go at free-falling...and another one, and another one. Hmm, I guess it's going to be sky-diving next.

Riley and Paul had a good father-son outing at the War Memorial. He entered and was enthralled by the planes, submarines and battles, but left a few hours later with an appreciation of the sacrifice and with the simple question "if we're all friends now, why did we have to fight?"