23 Nov 2017

Volunteering

from the Hotham Village Square 
After spending 10 days at Kosciusko NP, we arrived at Victoria Falls campground. It  wasn't a great camp site but good enough for 2 days before we head to Mount Hotham to volunteer for a run event by Running Wild. It was the Dinner Plain Mile High Trail Run and True Spirit of Alpine Australia Run at Mount Hotham over the weekend. As volunteers, we get to stay at the staff lodge which was at the top of the mountain.
Walking up to our accommodation
A selfie on top of Orchard chair lift on check point duty
After Mount Hotham, we went to Falls Creek, which hosts another run the week after. The race organiser, PA arranged accommodation for us from Monday instead of closer to the run date provided we helped him with the preparations. There were lots more activities from Falls Creek. We were able to do bike rides and walk/run the trails. It is the most activities we have done since we started.
View from Heathy Spur 
My 26km solo ride
Short sunset ride to test our bikes

13 Nov 2017

Albury Stopover

After the drama of losing our car tow hitch resulting in an extended stay at Kosciuszko NP, we finally headed to Albury. It is by far the biggest town we have been since we left. Bigger than Dubbo.

The plan is to stay for 4 day with friends and get a few things for the caravan plus stocking up. Todd managed to book his car in for an overdue service as well.

Over the weekend, we went for a short bike ride along the old railway track in Victory. It was a scenic ride to Sandy Creek Bridge. The bridge is an old rail bridge which has been turned into a pedestrian/walking bridge. I think 1.35mil was spent on this.



11 Nov 2017

Blue Water Hole

We checked out Blue Water Hole campground one fine day. As per namesake, there are blue pools of water along the creek.

There are a few trails that you can do and we chose the Clarke Gorge walk which is 2.2km one way. It was a good walk following the creek in the gorge. There are a few creek crossings. This means getting our feet wet. At the end of the gorge, you end up at a waterfall.
Cool amine  homestead

Yarrangobilly Caves

We took a day trip to visit the Caves around Kosciusko NP. There are 3 Caves open and we chose two; Jersey Cave and Jellabenan Cave. Both are guided tours.
Jersey Cave has black and grey flowstones with display of stunning and diverse cave decorations i.e stalactites, stalactites. The tour took an hour and half.

Jellabenan Cave is possibly the oldest at Yarrangobilly. It has displays of delicate straws and shawls, cave coral, stalactites and helictites. The tour took an hour as its smaller and I believed the only cave with wheelchair access. This is fantastic as I am sure someone who is wheelchair-bound all their lives would never have seen a cave. I am definitely going to mention this to my nephew.

After lunch, we planned to take a dip in the thermal pool which is constantly at 27C fed from natural spring. However, two bus loads of school kids turned up to put us off. Maybe another day.

Kosciusko National Park

Camping by the Fire
From Lake Blowering, we drove towards high country. We are now in Kosciusko National Park. Not the northern side where the ski fields are but the southern end. The scenery and landscape is similar except there are free camping and no park fees. The Long Plain Hut campground is on a high ground with views. Given the high altitude, it is pretty cold. Getting to single digit at night. This morning, we had a bit of ice on top of the awning. Must have gotten to zero at some point. Luckily we were quite snuggly in our Podd under the quilt.
Long Plain Hut

Brumbies grazing
Overnight ice

Biking Day

Today, we decided to go biking. There are numerous trails to ride. We decided on the Mosquito trail. It was rocky and undulating up and down. Don't think I was fit enough to do the 50km loop as planned. We turned around after 10km and lunch. It was a wise decision as I cramped up on both my legs 100m from our camp. Total 26km done.