Christmas in the High Country

Christmas in the high country

25/12/12

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

We left home at 12.25 after a lovely Chrissy breaky with the family and headed to Traralgon Maccas for a coffee.  Bumped into another couple who also had a Barbara at home and we had a quick chat and compared notes with them while I  was impatiently waiting to zoom off!!!  I’d only had 2 cuppa’s this morning, we were so busy doing Christmas and getting Barbara ready. 

I was the designated driver, and GM spent the whole of the trip from Darnum to Bairnsdale sending Christmas wishes on his phone!  He would’ve made a perfect call centre person if he could only master an Indian accent!!!  His version of an Indian accent is hysterically bad :D 

We spotted Santa playing footy in a paddock between Stratford and Bairnsdale (someone went to quite an effort to set this scene up) it was really well set up, and then we saw a tree stump painted and dressed up as Santa in the middle of nowhere in the hills :-) 

We turned off at Bruthen and headed toward Omeo following the Tambo River all the way along the Great Alpine Road.  
 

Lunch in the hills

The first half of the drive was exactly how we pictured it, but we were totally unprepared for the Tambo River Valley and how open and beautiful it was.
 

Tambo River Valley

 We did a quick detour through Omeo and what a gorgeous old town.  They have maintained their old buildings to perfection and the Post Office is spectacular “Old Australian” :-)

Main Street of Omeo

Omeo Post Office

We turned off onto the Tallangatta Road and a couple of Km’s down we turned onto the Omeo Valley Road.  It was so quiet and eventually turned to dirt.  GM had to get out and open and close a farm gate.....yes, we were on the right road. :-)   We drove over cattle grids and past some fabulous looking camp sites along the Mitta Mitta River and then it got serious.  We were now in National Park and 4WD country.  I am now a fully qualified 4WDer!!!!  I even did my first river crossing.....far easier than flood waters!!!!  The second one was a breeze after that!!!! GM will probably exaggerate and tell everyone they were only about 2 inches deep and 4 feet across, but don’t listen to a word he says ;-)  I was very tense and couldn’t see coming over one rise which was on a bend.  Scared the crap outa me as I was sure we were going to plummet over the edge of the bank!   We had tiny quails trying to get out of the way of the car, they were so cute.  Anyway, I am pretty awesome....I got us here in one piece!!!!  It was about 300km from home and took around 6 hours.

Taylors Crossing.......You can come in with 4WD the way we did, or 2WD via the Benambra Road which is a much better option, but you have to carry your stuff in by foot.  So they say, but at this time of the year we could have come in that way and across the river as it is pretty low at the moment and is the only place you can cross the river other than the bridge at Omeo :-/
 

What a perfect place!!!!!  Beautifully cleared, with a toilet on the other side of the river for day visitors.   The water is crystal clear and there is only one other couple here.  Richard and Katrina, and they have one of those fantastic OZ Tents....great setup :-) They’re leaving tomorrow so we’ll probably get others staying here. It’s quite comfortable for two camp sites, but you could probably put a couple more in here, they’d just have to share the fire pits.  We had stew that I cooked this morning and popped in the dreampot.

Swing Bridge at Taylor's Crossing

The track we came in on.

GM having a wee break

The Mitta Mitta River upstream of the Dartmouth Dam

Taylor's Crossing on the Mitta Mitta River

And just as I finished writing this I turned to see a dark shape of an animal standing next to me....it took me a moment or two to remember we don’t have wolves here....it’s a very friendly Kelpie  who keeps nudging me and licking my ears while I’m trying to type this.  It’s very dark here so I hope it’s not lost.  It’s very clean and healthy and driving GM nuts LOL.   Comes to command very well too.....maybe I should keep it???? :D  It’s freezing cold now and time for bed.  All the excitement and late nights from Christmas have caught up with us!

26/12/12
 

We woke about 7.15 to a beautiful sunny morning in the high country and had weeties for breakfast.  We set our new sun shade/event shelter up that I got at Door Busters for an absolute bargain.  It’s UV proof, and is great to sit under out of the sun. :-)  Our neighbours were packing up and leaving to go elsewhere and mentioned Kennedy’s Hut to us.  So off we went to Kennedy’s hut about 2 minutes up the road.  What a great place!!!! Good for camping with tents.  Has the hut and a bit of history, a toilet block and the best kayaking river around!!!   We kayaked upstream until it got a bit too shallow and rocky then we turned and headed back downstream.  GM had to stop and put sunblock on so I kept heading downstream.  It was so calm and peaceful, with only the sound of birds and water.  The water was so still.  I scared a few ducks that were hiding in the bushes, but other than that, I was alone.....not even a jet stream.  The river seemed to go on like this forever, and I probably would have kept going, except I heard a howly sort of noise and visions of Dead Calm and River Wild came to mind.......then I realised it was probably GM.....hopefully just calling to me and not tipped out into the water!!!!
 

Me Kayaking

GM Kayaking

Kennedy's Hut

When we had finished our kayaking, we sat in the shade and had choc coated strawberries and cherries and a lovely cold drink, then back to camp for a lazy afternoon playing with the cameras and drinking ginger beers for me and bourbon and beer for the man.  We met some people from Canberra.  Ally, her Dad, and boyfriend.  Ally is doing the 650km walk from Walhalla to Canberra to raise awareness of Lyme Disease, which sounds pretty horrible when you hear about it.  
 

She’s just turned 16,  and the men are the backup crew on motorbikes setting up base camp and keeping her safe.  They seemed like very nice people and Ally has a web page attached to this adventure.  www.allydurr.com ....  Will have to check it out when I get internet signal. :-)  We now have new neighbours Maryanne and Pete and their daughter Asha, they’re from Albury and seem very nice.  Maryanne comes from Sale originally and they know this area very well, so we’ve been getting some great info from them.  They’re here with friends and are expecting a couple more carloads later today.  They had actually seen a special on Ally and her mission on the telly! :-) There have been a lot of 4WD’s go through this afternoon.  The last couple wanted to stay here I think, as the woman in the lead car gave us a bit of a filthy look or as GM put it....Gee, she wasn’t a very happy camper!!   Oh well, too bad hey!!  There was plenty of space if she’d been sociable enough to ask but you’ve really gotta pity the poor bugger who’s sharing a tent with her ;-)

I discovered a new bird that I’ve never heard of or seen before.  A friar bird......strange looking thing but not in the least bit shy.  There are Gang Gangs, Wrens, Currawongs, Kookaburra’s and of course, quails :-)
 

A Friar Bird

 A Friar Bird

We spent the rest of the day lazing around camp and discussing whether to stay or find somewhere else.  GM had a great time discovering what his new beaut GPS was capable of and I just lazed about....it was pretty tough going.
 

27/12/12
 

After another early night (this fresh air is knocking us senseless) we woke to another glorious morning of bird sound, water and sunshine.  A delicious breaky of crunchy nuts, then off we went to explore the area.  We crossed the river (GM has been hanging out to do this) and went to Omeo via Benambra which is far quicker than the way we came in.

There is so much grazing land, we still find it a surprise as you just assume the hills are going to be thick bush.  There is a massive amount of feed and beautiful healthy looking Hereford cattle up here that would look delicious in my freezer!!!

We stopped at Mc Millans Lookout for a breathtaking 360^O view of the world.  We could see from Mt. Bogong to Mt. Kosciosko and everything in between.......truly spectacular.

Looking out over Lake Omeo to Mt. Kosciosko

Mt.Bogong in the Background

We stopped at Omeo and got rid of our recycled stuff (GM’s empty bottles and cans ;-) ) and then the IGA for some butter, the post office for a paper, the coffee shop for a coffee and the local gift shop for a lovely pair of leather shoes that were calling out to me! ;-)  Bumped into our next door camping neighbours who told us about some touristy stuff in the area.  We went and looked at the old courthouse and jail....this is a museum and is well worth a look.  

I'll stick with my Laundry at home thanks :-)

The old Court House

 

A heap of old guns donated by a couple of local families.....don't think they'd really be allowed to have them in goal with them :-)

GM behind bars

Lookin' good mate ;-)

Hmmmmm....................

Ok, I've had enough now.....

Old wooden wheels

Unfortunately there was no water in the creek to make this work.

The curator was getting around with some other people, and he has a pet goat and dog who are both extremely friendly and love a good scratch behind the ear :-)  They had a couple of old telephone exchanges there and some old Gippsland Phone Books.  There I was.....Taylor, R – 10 Tanjil Pl, Yallourn – 622124, our phone from 1972 to 1980 :-)

We then went and had a look at the local caravan park......definitely a future place to stay!

GM wanted to go to Anglers Rest to see if he could find some friends of his that always holiday there, but we couldn’t see them.  We did see lots of lovely camping and day spots by the river and stopped at Glen Wills Cemetery.  Between 1896 and 1920, 97 people died, 40 of them were infants.  The whole place is all unmarked graves.  The conditions here must have been so horrendous.  It was a really sad place.  Well worth the effort of looking up its history on the internet.  http://members.pcug.org.au/~chowell/glenwill.htm

We turned off the Mitta Mitta Rd not long after this and onto Knockers Track (an old Cob and co. Track) that the GPS said would take us back to Taylors Crossing.  It wasn’t too bad to begin with, and then we saw a sign that said “Knockers Link Track”   I assumed it was named after someone called knockers, but after just a few minutes I realised that it was coz your knockers knocked together :-O  Holy Moly, never again!!!!  It took us an hour to travel 15km and the beast handled it very well indeed.....GM says it’s because “it has the drive chain of a truck, a super-grunt motor and a Fabbo Navigator!!!” (I’ll take his word for it ;-) ) and after lots of bumps and scratches we finally reached a half decent 4WD track....8 mile loop track.....  I’m sure I’ll wake up tomorrow with blood in my urine, my poor internal organs are so battered and bruised!!!! But GM had a wonderful time.....he’s such a bloke.......and has been hanging out for some decent 4WDing.....he just needs to install an “oh shit” bar for me so that I don’t get thrown around so much.

We got back to camp around 3.30pm and had lunch/dinner.....we were starving!!!! 

A truck came down the Benambra road with a shipping container on the back.  One of the local land owners.  He had his kids and dogs with him and he needed to get the load across the river, so he had an excavator ready to help pull him up the road (which is very soft and sandy).  Our neighbours and us decided this was a very important event in an otherwise calm place, so decked with comfy chairs, drinks and camera’s, we enjoyed the whole event.  The excavator couldn’t pull the truck out, so he used it to dig the road up instead, and John from the next camp drove the truck out to great cheers from the crowd.....

 

this ended in a very social evening with crackers, cheese and booze with the neighbours :D  I’m sitting here enjoying a scotch while GM is sitting by the fire reading about Victorian Ghost Towns.   The sky is the most glorious shade of peach to the west.  Looks like tomorrow will be another beautiful day.  Camping is a tough life :-)

28/12/12
 

We woke to what was a surprisingly cloudy overcast morning after the sunset we had last night.  GM cooked up one of his spectacular enormous breakfasts and we spent the morning lazing around camp taking our jumpers on and off.  GM read his outback survival book while I did all the puzzles from yesterday’s Age.  I also christened my camping washing machine....works a treat and is far quicker than the front loader at home!!!

I was pretty impressed with it.....we won’t have to take nearly so many changes of clothes when we go to the Kimberly.  We cooked up toasted sangers from the leftover Chrissy ham and then we went on a wee excursion with our neighbours to the other side of the river a couple of km’s south.  GM and Rob (from the next camp) were doing a run down the river rapids in the kayaks.....I was too chicken....give me calm.....I’ve had way too much rough shit and excitement in my life already, so it really doesn’t interest me anymore.  Pete (from the next camp) is a bit of an expert on kayaking, so he gave the lads a few hints and tips and off they went, dodging rocks and trying to stay afloat.

I drove back to camp and sat on the bank waiting for them......forgot the bloody camera dammit!!!!!  It would have won the $100,000 funniest home videos!!!!  They finally came into sight and GM dumped himself right in front of everybody.....you know when you laugh so much you snort like a pig????  Well, it was one of those moments.  He was in knee deep water and couldn’t stand up to save himself........and being such a caring compassionate person, I just sat there and snorted like a pig!

We had a cuppa, then loaded both kayaks and took them down to Kennedy’s hut to go kayaking my style ;-)  By this time the sun was well and truly out and we were in for another glorious Aussie summer day.

We could have happily gone all the way to wall of the Dartmouth Dam, but I don’t think we would have been back before dark.....tomorrow night!  It is so beautiful and calm and completely isolated.  I had a kingfisher flitting back and forth beside me but the cheeky beggar wouldn’t stop for his photo!

We did a few km’s and then headed back to camp in time for a champers and dinner.  My turn tonight......Chicken Parma’s.  Pretty good :-)  GM cooked the vegie’s......we’re a pretty good team by now :-)

Dinner in the High Country

29/12/12
 

After another good sleep, we awoke to a bright blue sky and noisy kookaburras.  We had weeties and toast with Mum’s homemade cumquat marmalade.  (GM’s cumquats!!!) Then we started to pack up camp.  It took us no time at all and after saying our “Happy New Years” and “See you on a mountain top hopefully someday soon”, we said our farewells to Pete, Maryanne, Asha, Rob, Will, John, Rick, Pam and Taylors Crossing.

We left at 10.30 and headed off to Anglers rest where we were going to stop for coffee.  Their setup was crap and really only suitable as a restaurant for lunches.  There was supposed to be a cafe and general store but it was closed.....11.30 on a Saturday morning during the holidays????? So  instead we got a cold drink and nibblies out of Barbara which kept us going until we stopped at Falls Creek for Lunch.  The drive up was great, it just seemed to go up and up forever.  We passed a lot of cyclists (they’re more prolific than blow flies) and then we arrived in the high plains....it was just magic!!!! The wind was very fresh that high up and we weren’t really dressed for the chill....it was quite hot everywhere else.

The Bogong High Plains

Rocky Valley Lake

Barbara on top of the world

Racing bikes across the top of the plains

Mt. Beauty Township from far above

We arrived at Falls Creek and had a tasty lunch and the most delicious coffee.  The view was worth millions and the place was full of skinny people that were there for running camps and boot camps and all that crap.  GM and I certainly looked like we were in a much better paddock than most of them ;-) 

We headed off down the road to Bogong and had a look around the Village.  I couldn’t pick which house it was that we stayed in as kids, but the place still looked the same....very pretty, but a lot more tourists.  We stopped at a roadside stall and bought fresh cherries and walnuts and then on through Bright and Porpunkah and through to Myrtleford.  The roads were excellent and very windy and slow.  We turned off at Myrtleford and on down to Lake Buffalo.....no camping of course, so we kept on down the road and have found probably the only place left in the area that will suit us.  There are very few places to camp, but the one we have is very dusty with very little ground cover.  We’re right on the edge of a river crossing on the Yarrabula River, but it is also the very beginning of the calm river that flows into the Lake, so we can kayak all the way down and into the lake.

We had BBQ for dinner and then sat around the campfire trying to figure out how to take night vision photo’s.  Had quite a giggle. 

GM on fire!!!!

Our first night on the Yarrabula River

30/12/12
 

We woke around 8.30 and it is very quiet here.  No kookaburras around, just lots of little birds.  Bacon and eggs for breaky, and then we were off on a kayaking adventure.  I lost my balance on the slippery rocks, and ended up with a wet bum!  But eventually managed to drag the kayak over the rest of them before hitting deep water.  It was very hot and sunny and still on the river.  We passed a couple of other Kayakers and finally reached the lake where there was a bit of a breeze and a couple of water skiers, jet skiers and fishermen.  We paddled across the lake and stopped at the Myrtleford Fishing Club.  It’s just a picnic spot but a very nice little setup with signs telling everyone to keep out.  As they weren’t using it, we decided we should.  So we sat there and had a nice cold drink and some cherries and lollies.

View from Myrtleford fishing Club

Then we headed back upstream to camp (spotting a pair of Wedgetails on the way).  The whole adventure took about 2 hours and we were roasting by the time we got back so we dumped ourselves in the shallows and squealed like little girls.....the water was just a wee bit crisp, and yet it will be quite warm by late afternoon with this sun on it.

GM went for a drive into town to send some text messages and bring me back a surprise, so I spent the time sitting in the river trying to read a book on the ipad, but a whole heap of 4WD’s decided to do the river crossing, which was very distracting when you’re trying to read.   

My feet are actually under water here.....it's that clear you can't even tell!!!!

Upstream view of the Yarrabula River

Downstream view of the Yarrabula River

Visitors in my patch of river

 There’s something special and incredibly social about this lifestyle.  I’m sitting on a camping chair with my feet in the river, and having a great laugh and chatter with all the people that were crossing the river :-)  One bloke even told me he was having a "grouse" time :D  They are always smiling and ready for a quick laugh and a chat.....no misery guts in this type of life style :-)  GM came back and pulled up a chair and joined me.  We sat in the shade with the river pouring over our feet and ate icecreams (my surprise :-) ).

We had spaghetti Bol for dinner, and a lovely shower than GM rigged up on the beast as it was too  dusty in the ensuite tent....would have turned everthing to mud!!  So we bared our bums and washed in the great outdoors.....thank goodness no-one was coming across the river :-)

Cooking Spag Bol with our shower hanging over the beast in the background :-)

Happy New Year's Eve Eve!!!!!

Another chilly night around the campfire and then off to bed.
 

31/12/2012
 

We woke early and decided to go for our final kayak down to the lake and back.  It was extremely fresh outside and the water was icy when we first stepped into it.  We dragged our kayaks down the rapids, then hopped in and paddled quietly down the stream.  The water was so still, and there was thick steam rising from it.  The sun hadn’t reached the water yet, and there was no movement in the other camps, but quite a bit of heavy snoring from one of them :-)  We rounded a bend and saw a bit of movement in the water.  At first we thought it might be the trout feeding, but then realised it was a couple of platypus.  They’re very shy and quite hard to see in that light, but you could make their heads out quite distinctly.  We didn’t paddle while they were there, it was so exciting, but we didn’t see them on the return trip :-(  I was dragging the kayak in and was about 1m from the bank when my feet went out from under me....straight on my bum up to my waist in bloody cold water.....GM didn’t try very hard to keep his face straight or his mouth shut......payback I suppose ;-)

We had a quick breaky, then packed up camp and headed off around 9.30.  We had to be in Eildon around mid afternoon.  We ended up on the King Valley Road and saw the familiar sites from our Easter trip.  We turned off and headed to a place called Merrijig where we caught up with who could just possibly be the “original Barbara”  Seems she was always hearing “bloody hell Barbara” when she was growing up (and this could be where GM got the expression, and is where the Amazing Barbara Tvan gets her name from).

We had a lovely cuppa with the lovely Barbara and kids and dogs, looking up at Mt. Buller (great place and spectacular view) and then said our goodbyes and headed onto some off-the-beaten-track road and then finally onto the Mansfield-Woods point road down to Jamieson.  

Lake Eildon....pretty spectacular :-)

The Howqua Inlet, Lake Eildon

We drove around the bottom of Lake Eildon and got to our destination at around 3.30 (after stopping in Eildon for some much needed provisions).  Daryl was there to meet us and ferry us out to the “Mesmerise” for New Year celebrations.

Our Ferry

New Year Celebrations........the early part ;-)

 (My memory of the rest of it is strangely fuzzy ;-) )

We left Eildon around midday on the 2^nd January and had a very uneventful trip home other than a quick stop at Taggerty for some Cathedral cherries and cherry ice cream which was quite incredibly decadent!! :-)

Summary
 

Overall an extremely good adventure with some fabulous camping spots that have been noted for future reference.  We didn’t seem to forget anything important this time, but we have lost our tin with the clothes line and pegs and cold and flu drugs in it.......musta fallen out somewhere.  Nothing irreplaceable!I am now immune to long skinny spiders and any bug under 1cm long.  Everytime I looked, there was at least one of these either crawling along my body or hanging from my hair......I got tired of screaming or shuddering and can now brush them off as cool as a cucumber!!! ;-)

Barbara handled the Mitta Mitta Crossing like a pro and just seems to dance along behind us in the rough stuff.  We’re getting smarter with our food supplies and used up any leftovers very wisely.  The only thing we threw out was the left over spaghetti bol.  We didn’t go great distances, but the roads we took were either very windy or very rough.  Made our Vic Roads seem like luxury!!!!!

GM also seemed to have a bit of a moon fetish on this trip.......nearly time for the nursing home ;-)

The moon over Lake Eildon 31/12/2012

GM is about to start a new job with very little time off, so it could be quite a while before the next adventure :-( so I’ll just have to spend my time planning for the next!

Just a few extra pics of bits and pieces :-)

Meet Sanchez....the newest member of our entourage....with the flowers GM picked for me.....he's sooooo romantic ;-) <3

My bruised and bloody shin where GM tried beating me up with his Kayak :-/ OUCH!!!!!

I can't remember the last time I saw a Christmas beetle......and this was taken on Christmas night :-)

A pretty picture of an old fence

Gang Gang Cockatoos......so cute :-)

An Alien

Me raiding the fridge ;-)

Another Alien

Sanchez on the Mitta Mitta

Shaving my legs in the Mitta Mitta......bet there aren't too many out there that can boast about that!!!!