Snowy Mountains/Canberra loop

 Mon 22 May – This is part two of our journey. We will head inland into the Snowy Mountains passing Kosciuszko and looping thru Canberra then back to the coast. Well that’s the plan!! A beautiful sunny day with no wind as we drove thru Eden on the coast and headed inland climbing up a steep winding road up over the Great Divide, onto a barren plateau around 1000m altitude. We camped at the Gateway to the Snowy Mountains, Cooma. We walked 1.5kms back from our camp down the main street. A very cold night with our heater running and 0C outside when we woke.

Tues 23 May – Another glorious day for a short drive to Jindabyne, a ski and tourist resort town with ski hire and restaurants. It is on a hydro lake formed by the flooding of the Snowy River Valley, the start of the Snowy River Power Scheme. We are camped on the shore of Lake Jindabyne overlooking this lovely lake. This area reminds us a bit like the McKenzie country. We cycled a track around the waterfront. Very beautiful!

Wed 24 May – 0c but sunny as we drove out of Jindabyne and straight into the mountains with snow in sight. We got a free pass into the Kosciuszko National Park and stopped at the large ski resort of Threbo with its chairlifts (not running) and many ski lodges. The lifts run up Mt Kosciuszko nearly to the top. This is the highest mountain in Australia and is about the same height as Mt Hutt (2,280m).

 We drove up to Dead Horse Gap (1582m) with a little snow on either side of the road and started a very long and steep descent into the valleys. It was a long windy and hilly drive out of the National Park to another hydro lake at Khancoban and a camp. Perfect cool weather and a fantastic drive. We walked back into the town which was built for the hydro schemes in this area and designed a lot like Twizel in its early days.

Thurs 25 May – Cold and heavy fog as we drove up the valley and eventually broke out of the fog for great views of the mountains around. A couple told us of a waterfall we should not miss where the Paddy River dropped from the mountains into the Murray River.

 Our camp for the night was at Tumbarumba. We cycled part a rail trail thru the NSW high country for about 18kms. Down hill out and a slog up hill back!

Fri 26 May – Much warmer this morning for our last drive in the Snowy River area. At around 1000m in the Batlow area, where were apples grow as far as the eye could see. The town off Tumut is the end of the Snowy River roads as we turned north away from the mountains to historic town of Gundagai. Many songs and poems have been written about this town, the most famous being Slim Dusty’s “Along the road to Gundagai”. We are camped on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River beside an old railway trestle bridge. We walked up into the town with its lovely old buildings.

Sat 27 May – A short drive to the statue of the “Dog on the Tucker Box” then a very fast trip on the Hume Hwy to Yass. In the past 4 days we have driven around three sides of the Snowy Mountains. Its been a great trip. A very cold cloudy afternoon spent inside cleaning, reading and some minor repairs.

Sun 28 May – As it was only a short fast trip to Canberra we decided to do some sight seeing before checking into our camp. We parked in a free area near the info centre where a very helpful lady gave us maps and booked us in for a tour of the Australian War Memorial Galleries and the Last Post Ceremony tomorrow. We could see the Houses of Parliament on Capital Hill so we set off walking, across a bridge over Lake Burley Griffin, and up the hill. We spent quite a while inside the beautiful Parliament Building visiting the House of Representatives (green seats) and the Senate (pink seats). Back to “Andy” passing the Old Parliament and it’s Rose Garden. We checked into our camp for two nights.

Mon 29 May – We have discovered that today is a public holiday (Reconciliation Day). Our original plan was to catch a bus into the city as we thought parking and traffic would be an issue, however have changed our plans and drove “Andy” back to yesterdays parking spot. We walked into the CBD of Canberra and were surprised to find most of the shops open. The main shopping precinct is a pedestrian mall with nice open areas, cafes, bars and many statues. 

Back to “Andy” for lunch. Canberra has Lake Burley Griffin (man-made) separating the commercial and shopping areas on one side and all the government, museums and art galleries on the other. We hopped on our bikes and rode across one of two bridges crossing the lake, along the lake shore and across the other bridge, and back via the opposite lake shore a total of only 5kms but very lovely. Many families enjoying their holiday.

 We drove to the Australian War Memorial and found another park. We wandered the many galleries exhibiting stuff from many wars with big dioramas showing the action. Lots of big exhibits, tanks, planes and at the Vietnam area a Huey helicopter with full on light, vision and lighting effect as it dropped off troops. At sunset (around 5:00pm) we assembled at the Reflection Pool for the Last Post Ceremony. All very solemn with the sing of the National Anthem, laying of wreaths, the reciting of the “Ode’, a piper, and a bugler. Each day they feature a soldier, display his photo, read out this biography and war record and how he died. A very moving ceremony which occurs every sunset. We drove back to our camp in the dark, a rare event.

Tues 30 May – A fast run from Canberra to Cooma where we were camped 9 days ago, even back on the same site. We visited the Snowy River Hydro Discovery Centre with its interesting models explaining the 9 power stations connected by a series of dams and tunnels. Cool but sunny, so we sat outside for some time.

Wed 31 May – We retraced our route from last week back across the plateau and down towards the coast ending up at Bega, 40kms north of where we turned inland. Our trip around the Snowy Mountains and Canberra has been 800kms, but well worth it! Bega is a farming service town and we are camped in the showgrounds with only a short walk into town. Suddenly the temperatures felt balmy!!  Amazing how descending nearly 1000mts can change the temperature.