Inland to Canberra

8th Feb

Rainy 22 degrees

The big decision about the route has been delayed until the crossroads at Cann River. There’s a bit of Brexitisis creeping in to our decision making - delay until the last possible moment until you have no other choice and let the Gods decide. Spin that wheel, flip that coin, ha ha! 

A torturous journey to Cann River, not helped by some maintenance on the A1, the Princes Highway.

Cann River is a crossroads: one road goes coastal, the other goes inland, OK a triangle-roads. The town, a settlement actually, reminds me of a roundabout in Norfolk, where first there is a petrol station, then a cafe, then a shop, bakery, bottle store and so on. We stop at the Relics Cafe to make a decision. Relics Cafe is well named and has some curious souvenirs. So what do you do with a dead kangaroo’s testicles? Why, make them into a bottle opener of course, complete with certificate of authenticity. Proudly made in Australia and a snip at $20. Disgraceful.

We choose the inland route. 1. Weather forecast is worse on the coast for the next two days. 2. Roadworks on the A1. 3. Inland for a change. 

The road is so much better. Less traffic, much less caravans. More relaxing with a decent surface and great scenery. Before Cann River we were in rain forest, miles of it. Rutted, potholed roads, rain, big ascents and descents. Now, we’re in open scenic country, taking a gradual ascent over The Great Divide. Mostly we are over 1,100 metres with tufty grass and sheep as company.

We U-Turn when we see a sign “Platypus Reserve 3km”, and follow the track down to a river, the Bombala River. A lovely peaceful spot with an information board about how the Aboriginal people used this river and lived using all the plants for food and medicine. Unfortunately the platypus is like the koala - sleeps a lot and moves around at dawn and dusk, so we didn’t see one but it was a nice diversion.

We’ve found Australian workers to be very chatty. We stopped for lunch at a little spot called Nimmitabel with a lake/pond and ate our sandwiches. A trucker (trucks in Oz are big. A big truck towing a big trailer, 2 to 3 times the length of a UK articulated) wanders up and explains the picture he wanted to get of Kosciuszko (kos-i-uzko) was not as good as a month ago, when there was snow on it. We talk about geography, fish, and bizarrely, his last girlfriend who was from Cooma, where we are headed and according to him, a bit of a horsey town. Well each to their own.

We descend into Cooma and find it has a rodeo competition tomorrow. The i-information centre chatty lady tells us it starts at 2pm and persuades us to detour to Jindabyne to have a look at Kosciuszko - the highest mountain in Australia at 2,228m and a ski resort. You won’t regret it she says.

So we obediently drove along the Snowy Mountain Rd to Jindabyne. We had a pitch with a view of the Lake. 

However soon after our arrival the heavens opened and we had to have a cosy in van supper evening. 

By the way Carol has tried to create a warm ambience using a large scarf to cover the worn and torn cushioning, and an additional cushion souvenir from Melbourne adds that certain je ne sais quoi.  Here we have the table at coffee table level... 

9th Feb

Cloudy 22 degrees 

We have a morning to kill before our trip back to Cooma and the Rodeo.

So we set off to view the highest mountain in Australia. We drive through mountain passes with ski hotels and chalets, ski hire shops etc scattered liberally along the wayside. To get to Thredbo the nearest village to Mt Kosciuszko we entered the National Park entrance and had to pay a $17 toll for the privilege!

As we approached the village at the edge of a lower ski slope a mountain bike competition was in full swing. Competitors had just one run with their bike on the chairlift and then hurtle down the mountainside as fast as they could! They seemed to enjoy it, but we heard mutterings of “I should have gone faster”, “I braked too much on the hairpins”, etc.

But my goodness it was cold and blowing a hooley - less than 10 degrees - it was at least 10 degrees warmer in Jindabyne! We wrapped up and went in search of a coffee and a mountain view. Sadly neither was achieved - no coffee shops open and the chairlift to the viewpoint closed due to the high winds.

So back in the van and a drive further up the mountain road to Dead Horse Gap. All too much for some of us.

Which did give us a view of some of THE mountain - but we’ve been spoilt with Mt Cook NZ and were a little underwhelmed. The peak is the jagged bit centre picture.

Although the area seem to promise many interesting mountain trails- there were many young hikers readying themselves for a long one, we decided to head off back to Cooma for the main event.

We decided to break the journey back in Jindabyne, it really is a lovely relaxed rather classy little place. After an excellent coffee and cake Carol decided to pop in to a fashion shop with a sale - as she was trying on an item the owner chatting to Graham let it drop that due to the heavy rain last night flooding the Arena - the Rodeo had been cancelled - WHAT ! We looked so shocked the owner said we could go to his house later for a BBQ if we’d nothing else to do... There ain’t nothing a few beers can’t fix he says.

We decided to crack on and head off to Canberra and beyond - driving through varied stunning countryside for miles and miles and miles.... along the Monaro highway, but it was hard going against the wind.

 We finally decided to stopover at Goulburn north east of Canberra to find a “complet” sign up - no sites. We go in anyway and manage to bag a cancellation - the last en suite pitch - a small mercy.

Passing Canberra was not at all interesting until you realise that this was a new city built practically from scratch in 1901, because they couldn’t or wouldn’t decide between Melbourne and Sydney for the capital city of this new country. So they built Canberra in the middle of nowhere. Sadly we did not make it into the centre, but boy have they spent some money on concrete on the outskirts. One can’t help but think why? Surely it would have been cheaper to tag some parliamentary buildings onto an existing city. It struck me, and I may be wrong here, that it was like, imagine not building Holyrood in Edinburgh, but being unable to decide between Glasgow and Edinburgh they decide on, oh, say, Clackmannan. First you demolish tiny Clackmannan, then you build the Parliament building, in a park say, some nice houses for the MPs and their nannies, some lakes and parks, shops, hospital, offices, then you need to have the best museum (it is a capital city after all), posh hotels, theatres, infrastructure, motorway to Glasgow, Edinburgh, and why not Sterling as well for good measure. That would cost a fortune, which makes Holyrood seem quite cheap by comparison at £414million. I don’t know what the residents of Edinburgh were complaining about.

We digress, as Graham chatted to another couple in reception they told him about a free shuttle bus in to town - they were going to the RSL club - would we like to join them. The bus was arriving in 30 mins - so a quick cuppa, change into glad rags and off we went. Apparently it is the annual Blues Festival this weekend (so that’s why the campsite was sold out). The bus driver gave us a voucher for $10 towards a taxi fare home - as a way of preventing drink driving - excellent!

Rob from Wales and Jan from Somerset educated us about these RSL clubs - they’re like an upmarket British Legion and there are clubs in most towns around Australia. It seems they are an institution in OZ. Families pack in on the weekend for food, alcohol, and gambling, sorry I mean gaming. We showed our driving licenses which were scanned and we were issued with a temporary membership slip. The place appeared enormous to us but our new friends informed us it was smaller than most. There was a large bar area, 2 large dining areas and lounge areas and rooms and rooms of Pokies! We thought Pokies were pies but they’re actually slot machines!

I never realised but the beer fills from the bottom. The glass has a hole in the bottom with a metal ring just larger than the hole. Beer flows in and when full, gravity keeps the plug in place. I never realised until the glass was empty and I thought “what’s that at the bottom of my glass?”

We had an extremely good value meal and a couple of drinks and then left in search of the music. The place seemed dead .... we eventually found a place with music but was informed that as Rob and Jan were wearing “thongs” - flip flops in English not what you thought .... they did not pass the dress code! However the friendly doorman tipped us off where we would find music.

It was a large bar - it was heaving .. several bands played very good blues music throughout the night. We had a great time - sometimes the unexpected spur of the moment occasions are the best! And the taxi cost $7 between us with the use of that voucher...... perfect!

Tomorrow we head for the Blue Mountains. We have managed to book 2 nights in a site in Katoomba so will be able to have a more relaxed couple of days ahead - this touring lark is tiring! 

Sunday 10th February

Hot, clear blue skies, 28 degrees.

There are two routes to the Katoomba in the Blue Mountains, long fast route via Sydney, and slow scenic route. We chose the scenic route. We drove through woodlands and quite lush farmland, with little man-made catchment ponds for the livestock.

After a slow 3 hour drive we reach the main road that goes through the Blue Mountains to Sydney. Well it was like meeting the main York to Scarborough road - busy!

We imagined a small village with a hikers shop or two, but no, this is a major tourist destination with tour buses and hoards of selfie sticks. Well it was Sunday so it may be quieter tomorrow. We walk into town and check out the shops and save the mountain sightseeing for tomorrow. We’ve just missed the Annual Blue Mountains Ukulele Festival - a big event, but our luck was in - a few of our fellow campers and participants of the festival were so hyped up after their performance they had a jam session in the campsite, oh joy! After 20 renditions of the three chord “Land Down Under” by Men at Work (their favourite) it can get a bit like tinnitus. However they completed their jamming session just after 8pm so we had a lovely tranquil evening... and we don’t have to get up and at em early tomorrow..hurrah!