Can you believe that from Wauchope we went to Tamworth which just happened to coincide with the Tamworth Country Musical Festival? We managed to find a caravan park about 15 minutes out of town and drove into Tamworth each day. We caught a lot of the free shows and paid for two - Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson with Troy Caser-Daly and Sara Storer as their special guests, and Tania Kernaghan who had Lee Kernaghan as her surprise guest. It was a great four days. We joined the Wests Leagues Club for $6 each and got that back the first night with discounts on food and drink, plus you didn't have to line up each time at their two venues.
Brian in the middle of the main street where all the buskers perform
Country Music Hall of Fame
On the way from Tamworth we stopped at Wallabadah where Brian did his aerial lines training with the PMG in 1964.
The First Fleet memorial in Wallabadah which commemorates the arrival of the first fleet and names all those on board from officers to prisoners
From there we stopped overnight at Morissset before driving to Canberra where we visited all the usual tourist destinations. The War Memorial is still one of the most moving places to visit.
The central reflection courtyard at the War Memorial
A diarama depicting the battle at Mont St Quentin in 1918
View down Anzac Parade to Parliament House from Mt Ainsley
The Australian/American memorial is in the background overlooking Lake Burley Griffin
Parliament House forecourt
The Australian Coat of Arms with the flag in the background
The flag on Parliament House which is "bigger than a double decker bus"
From Canberra we drove through Cooma where Brian's Uncle Ron used to be the manager of the Rural Bank (circa 1958). Brian managed to identify the old bank building and residence.
Old Rural Bank building
From Cooma we travelled on to Lake Jindabyne and fell in love with the Snowy Mountain region immediately.
View over Lake Jindabyne from our caravan
Entry to the park
We decided to walk to the summit of Mt Kosciuszko and needless to say Brian chose the longest and most difficult route. It took us 4.5 hours to reach the summit, a distance of 12.5 km starting from Charlotte Pass. The route was almost entirely uphill and very taxing, but the scenery was so spectacular it was worth it. We passed glacial lakes, alpine flowers and herbs and mountians as far as you could see. After the summit the route home was relatively easy along the old road but still another 9 km. Total distance was 21.5 km which took us 7.5 hours.
The beginning of our mammoth trek - that was my last smile for 4.5 hours!
Catching our breath at one of the lookouts
Mountains as far as the eye can see
Beautiful tiny alpine flowers
One of the glacial lakes
Brian at the summit at last
Helen at the summit
Seamans Hut was built by the parents of a man who perished in a blizzard back in 1928. It has a slow combustion fire, fire wood and sleeping platforms for emergency overnight accommodation only
The headwaters of the mighty Snowy River
A view of the beginning of the track to the summit taken from the road on the way back. There is a 400 metre change in elevation from the start to the summit with the first 300 m in the first 4 km
One of the beautiful snow gums
This one is for Matthew! Sponars Chalet was where Matt worked for a season
On a walk to Porcupine Rocks we saw this unidentified snake
More lovely flowers
Rainbow Lake
We visited one of the power stations in the Snowy River Scheme - Murray 1. This whole building is manned by only three people.
This is the site of the terrible Thredbo avalanche which occurred 11 years ago.
Thredbo village
Brian took a fly fishing lesson at Lake Jindabyne, and of course then had to buy the appropriate rod and reel. this is him practising at Thredbo Diggings. Still waiting for the first trout- hopefully in Tassie
We are currently in a little town called Marlo on the south coast of Victoria at the mouth of the mighty Snowy River.
No comments:
Post a Comment