Captain Birdseye

We had a good day yesterday at the Snowy's. It was snowing outside so I spent most of the day lazing around reading, eating and playing Nintendo.  I have been getting abuse from everyone as they think I am addicted to chocolate and that I shouldn't be able to eat the size of my heads worth of the stuff.

Early evening Chaz and Paul headed off down to the lake (Lake Eucumbene) to do some fishing whilst me and Emily prepared hot milk and Kahlua (coffee liqueur) to keep us warm whilst we were down there.  We almost left the house without a torch, but I ran back up to get one before we headed down.  However it wasn't very bright so we headed in the wrong direction into marsh land in the pitch black with our arms full with thermos flasks.  Luckily just as the panic started to set in we eventually caught sight of their fire and managed to find our way to the dirt track.

Just as we were all about to head back to the house as the fish weren't biting, the guys checked the rod for the last time and to Chaz's delight he had caught something; a brown trout. Paul knocked it on the head to kill it and Chaz stuck his fingers through it's head for the obligatory first fish photo. As you can see from the photo he was very chuffed and he didn't wipe the smile off his face for the rest of the day.

A few moments later Paul then caught a rainbow trout so this time Chaz wacked it on the head with his mag-light.  The fun bit came when we got back to the house and Paul taught us how to gut them, which Chaz handled very well, which was a bit of a surprise considering his issue with handling worms!

Anyway, it's fish in beer batter for dinner tonight and I think Chaz has now caught the fishing bug.  However this is quite appropriate as he is looking more like Captain Birdseye every day. 

Across the Snowy's

I'm writing this from the comfort of Paul's parents house in Angler's Reach near Lake Eucumbene at 7am on Monday 28th April.  It's about 2 degrees outside and there is a good blanket of snow on the ground so am glad I am inside and in a real bed for the first time in 8 days!

Working back to when Paul and Emily arrived at Police Paddocks; we left there on Friday and reached Nariel Creek (via Wodonga for supplies) for an overnight camp beneath some tall poplars in full autumn colour.  Camping beside the creek was extremely cold even with our huge fire, probably the coldest night camping we've ever done in fact - I am not sure but the temperature was probably only 3 or 4 degrees overnight.

Hopefully we have reached the end to a chapter now, that is our resident mouse appears to have relocated from the boot back to his native countryside.  After finding a pack of noodles attacked and us setting two traps baited with peanut butter, there has been no sign of him/her or his poop....

So in the morning we set off to Corryong, a pretty mountain town and home of Jack Riley - the Man from Snowy River - for a map and some supplies and then began our 4WD trek into the Snowy Mountains.  We were following a suggested trek itinerary published on a 4WD website.  After 30kms of tarmac the road turned into steep, winding gravel track which slowed our pace down to about 10-15kms per hour and mostly 2nd gear.  The track is usually used by logging trucks, but we didn't encounter any thankfully as it was pretty narrow in places!

Our first stop on the trek was at an old stockman's hut called Wheelers Hut.  The huts in the Snowy's were built by the early settler's (some have been destroyed by bush fires and subsequently rebuilt) and are still used today for emergency shelters.  They usually contain a few bunk beds and a fireplace with kindling and firewood always left by the last person.

Continuing up the track into the mountains we entered an area called Mount Gibbo Scenic Reserve.  The whole of the Snowy's are covered in Snow Gum trees, a few of which still show the burn marks of serious bush fires from 2007 and 2003.  The climb to the top of Mount Gibbo (1750m) was some serious 4WDing with steep inclines up rock faces with loose, sharp rocks aplenty to test the tyres! 

We made it to the top with only a few slips and slides.  It was an exhilirating ride!!!  And a great view from the top:

The descent was obviously steep too, but low gears and a steady pace helped us down.

Unfortunately at this stage I realised my rear left airbag (for the suspension) had not pumped up, so Paul and I had to whip the wheel off and do some diagnosis to find that a slow puncture (which had been there for some months - I just hadn't realised/noticed) was present and as we had been driving so slowly 4wding, the compressor had not kicked in to pump it up again.  After a cold hour in the mud and hail we decided we should get to a campsite before dark so limped down off Mount Anderson to Dogmans Hut campsite.  At this stage the airbag was alright again, but I'll have to order a spare part and replace it before we go anywhere more remote. 

When we arrived at Dogmans Hut there were a few local Aussie's camped there already and one old chap had a Land Rover Defender, he came over and commented on how good the Land Rover's were, which we all laughed at as we had just had this incident with the airbag!  Anyway he runs a business from home supplying spare parts to the locals who own LR's in the area and gave me his stubby holder so I have his number to give him a call to get my new airbag.  A funny coincidence when you consider how in the middle of nowhere we were.....

The camp at Dogmans Hut was a superb evening under the stars with loads of thick snow gum logs on the fire, a tasty curry cooked on the fire, and a few beers had. 

In the morning we left the Snowy's via our first river crossing - in this case the Murray River which will be considerably colder than any up North!  Paul did the depth test in his shorts!  We both crossed no problem and the water was probably just up to the top of the tyres at its deepest:

As we continued out of the mountain range we saw many grey kangaroos in the rain and had a snow storm on the roads which was a fitting end to an awesome trek across the mountains.

Heading on then to Anglers Reach via Thredbo and Jindabyne which was about a 2 hour drive on tarmac.  We'll come back to Thredbo later in the week to do the walk to the top of Mount Kosciuosko (Australia's highest mountain - see the itinerary to the left).

First Bush-shower Taken and Bread Attacked!

Since leaving Aireys Inlet on Sunday we have been camped at a beautiful spot called Police Paddocks near Rutherglen on the South side of the Murray River - the border of NE Victoria and NSW.  It is called Police Paddocks as the police used the 1000 hectare island - which we are facing from our campsite - to spell their horses during the 1880's apparently.  The island is in the background in the pic below and the tree behind our gazebo looks about 500 years old in our expert opinions:

It is now Wednesday and we have started to chill out and enjoy the pace of the natural day.  Using solar energy and river water today we experienced our first bush shower!  We bought a $10 black bag with a hose attached which we put in the sun for 3 hours, then hung it off the roof of the car and between a couple of tarps took a well deserved shower in the heat of the day. 

I think there is a Kookaburra in the picture above, no prizes for spotting it I am afraid.

It was all go earlier in the morning as when Em took out the kitchen boxes a mouse hopped out from its comfy bed (of one of our tea towels) and disappeared under a tree.  On further investigation we found he had been at our bread and left poop in several places in the back of the car.  This also explains why we were woken up twice during the night by the car alarm as the motion sensors picked up the little blighter having a ball with our fresh bread.

Apart from that we have been doing a little fishing (no luck yet); Chaz caught a shrimp with his Swiss army knife(!) which we used for bait until it fell off.  We then caught another shrimp using a homemade net out of a mossie face net and cable ties.  Still the fishies evade us though.  And we arent quite sure what to do with one if we catch it anyway.....

We are expecting Paul and Emily to join us in the next few days to begin our trip over the Snowy's.

Leaving Today!

This post is mainly for my new tyres, but also to say we are getting on the road proper today!

We're leaving Aireys Inlet at around lunchtime and heading to the Rutherglen region of Victoria for a few nights camping, ready to meet Paul and Emily in Corryong once they have finished working on the camper.

Yesterday we took some snaps of the cars as mine is now trip ready and Paul's almost - except for the camper:

 

For those interested in the pimp factor; we both went for Mickey Thompson All Terrain tyres, although I have a complexion about mine as they are smaller than Paul's, so no comments about size please.

The next post will be whenever we can get near an internet connection.  Cheerio for now!

Last Day at Work

We are now both officially unemployed! I don't think it has quite sunk in yet for either of us.

We had a good leaving party at the pub last night so today was a bit slow, and still lots of packing to do tomorrow after an early night tonight.....

OK, here is my pimped ride:

The Disco with it's new 2" body lift:















Lovells heavy duty front springs:















Lovells shock absorber and the air suspension spacer kit:















Finally here is a snap of Paul and Emily from a previous weekend after working on kitting out the interior of their camper:

Pimped Rides, House Turmoil and Last Day at Work

Well we both got through our penultimate day at work today which was fun...and the house is now in complete turmoil....chairs taken apart, boxes piled high, Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares on TV....We can't figure out what tyres are legally allowed on the car (as I am replacing the highway tyres for more all terrain type tyres)....Paul and Emily cant decide on a domain/email name....oh and the bloody graphics card has died on the laptop, so I am writing this through a slightly blurry screen. Awesome timing Dell, thanks.

Good things are the car now has a 2" suspension lift, with new front springs and four new shock absorbers. Also new rear brakes and shiny new coolant AND - I almost forgot - no more oil leak! What a relief as it was leaking very badly. All thanks to Paul's dad Bill for a busy weekend on the cars last weekend. Paul and Emily are getting there with their camper too. I will upload some pics of our newly pimped rides soon.

So just tonight's sleep to go and an easy last day at work tomorrow. Move furniture day is Wednesday next week, clean the house and hand the keys back is Thursday, then we are officially homeless!