06-02-10 to 17-02-10

From Jindabyne we travelled to Bombala in southern NSW where we were hoping to catch up with some friends we made along the way. Unfortunately they were in Sydney at the time we were there. After two days of rain, we drove into Victoria and stopped at a little coastal village called Marlo.




A calm day at Cape Conran, near Marlo
From here on a clear day you can see the oil rigs in Bass Strait







From Marlo it was only a short drive to Lakes Entrance which is a very popular holiday destination for Victorians - and we can understand why

View from the lookout over Lakes Entrance

We had booked to go to a country music festival in Whittlesea, about an hour north of Melbourne in the midst of where the fires occurred the previous year. At that time the festival was actually on the Black Saturday weekend resulting in everyone being evacuated on the Saturday afternoon. Needless to say it was a very emotional time for the locals and the contrast in the weather couldn't have been greater - quite cool, a bit of rain and very cloudy, but we still had lots of fun there from Friday through to Sunday when the main concert was on.

The McClymonts - great performers

Troy Cassar-Daley who was the headline act

The finale with some of the performers on stage together

After Whittlesea we had two spare days so decided to visit Mornington Peninsula - we now wish we had allowed a lot more than that as it is a really delightful area. The weather was bright and sunny and the water in the bay calm and blue.

We did the walk out to Point Nepean where there are several old forts dating back to the 1800's and also where the first shots were fired by Australians in both WWI and WWII.

From Point Neapan, a view of the entrance to Port Phillip Bay

Along the walk we came across the memorial to Harold Holt PM who drowned at Cheviot Beach in 1967

The Harold Holt memorial

This is Cheviot Beach on a very calm day and it doesn't look at all inviting, so you would have to wonder why anyone would venture in there on a very rough day! (Maybe we was meeting a Chinese submarine?)






On the Mornington Peninsula we stayed at the village of Dromana, and visited Arthur's Seat which is a lookout above Rosebud (what a cute name for a town)

Helen on Arthur's Seat

And Brian on Arthur's Seat

We loved all the little decorated boatsheds along the bay and actually saw people using them. They store deck chairs, tables, canoes and all manner of things in them.



From Mornington Peninsula we drove to Port Melbourne to catcb the Spirit of Tasmania to Devenport. We had a few hours to kill along the way so stopped at St Kilda

St Kilda Beach at 4.30 pm on a Wednesday, blowing a gale (like a very strong Freo doctor), and still lots of people on the beach sunbaking - funny people these Victorians!

View of Melbourne skyline from St Kilda pier with kite surfers in the foreground - if you squint you can just see them

The famous kiosk at the end of St Kilda Pier. It was destroyed by fire back in the 80s and restored to its former glory

We left Melbourne at 7.30 pm and arrived in Devenport at 6.00 am the following morning. It was a good crossing, although we were a bit worried about the forecast 2m swells on the bay which is less than a quarter of the journey.

Our luxurious cabin on the Spirt of Tasmania.

Our next blogs will show some of the wonders of Tasmania.

15-1-10 - 5-2-10

From Armidale, we took a side trip to Wauchope to visit Helen's sister, Sue, where we had a chance to catch up with that side of the family over dinner which was great.

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.