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

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.

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.

Lake Blowering aka Blowering Dam

After 4 days at Weddin Mountains,we headed south towards the Victorian border. We passed through Young hoping for an early season of cherries. No such luck. We saw cherry trees with green or at best orange coloured fruits.

Lake Blowering

We arrived at Lake Blowering, in a state forest 50km from Tumut. This is snowy river country. The rain hit just as we were preparing dinner. With the rain, came gusty winds. It was a sight watching the storm over the lake. It rained on and off from evening till the next morning. Then the sun came out to play just before lunch. We decided to stay another day and enjoy a lazy day inside.

The sun is out!

Weddin Mountains

The campground in the park is called Ben Hall Campground. Its a nice area with facilities. There are a few walking tracks from the site.

Weddin Mountains 

Our campground is called Ben Hall campground at Weddin Mountains National Park. From here, there are a few walking tracks, which we did for a couple of days.

View from Eualdrie Lookout 

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The first trail we did is to Eualdrie Lookout, about 9km return. We also went to Peregrine Lookout, 900m further, where we met a school group from Cowra. The kids hiked from the other side of the mountains to camp at Ben Hall. In the end, we did about 11km walk, which is the furthest I have done for a while.

traffic jam ahead on way to Grenfell

Onward Again

We finally had the Podd sorted after a week and half. On the road again. 

Our first destination, Parkes. Guess what is the biggest and only attraction here?

Hints: NASA, Neil Armstrong, Moon....

Answer: Radio Telescope or famously known as The Dish, featured in the movie starring Sam Neil. The Dish played an important part in the moon landing as it was used to beam the pictures of Armstrong walking on the moon. There are 3 things that I have always wanted to see, Mount Rushmore, Punxsutawney Phil and The Dish. I have covered them all, Yay..

Our campground is in Weddin Mountain National Park, near Grenfell. Nice site with toilets and BBQ. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to light fires although there are fire pits around. Must have been a recent change as there were burnt wood and collection of wood around our fire pit.

Short Break

Due to the unfortunate situation with the Podd, we are stuck in Dubbo. Hence a short break to our travel.

Making the most of it, we spent a couple of hours kayaking the Macquarie river. The river itself doesn’t look fantastic, brown and murky. It was still good to get out and about.