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| Lake Tabourie & Crampton Island |
We left Melbourne accompanied by our son Dale. Each year we camp on the New South Wales south coast at Lake Tabourie. It is a very popular spot during the Christmas New Year period and we decided that as we wish to continue camping there during this time for a few more years yet, we had better ‘hold our spot’ and camp there once again this year.
On the way there we decided to free camp in the Victorian high country as this is an area we have often wanted to visit.
Our first stop was Sheep Yard Flat on the Howqua River near Mount Buller. We accessed it via Mansfield and Merrijig. It was a lovely spot and the weather was nice and hot. We had a campfire at night and during the day time were able to cool off in the river, although the water was very cold.
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| Dale snorkelling in the Howqua River |
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| Howqua River Sheepyard Flat Victoria |
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| Dale fishing |
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| Marty trying to fish |
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| Afternoon sun on the Howqua River |
The next stop was Toorongo Falls Reserve near the Toorango River and falls. This site is located near the little town of Noojee between Yarra Junction and Moe. We were joined by Dale’s friend Naomi at this site. The drive there was beautiful as we passed through some magnificent forests. Again it was a lovely camping area which allowed open fires although this time the river was too cold. It was very hot, about 39 degrees, so Marty decided to try cooling off. However, after leaving the water he was unable to warm up his feet so wondered around in ugg boots. Nevertheless we celebrated New years Eve in this lovely spot. We walked about 3.2km to the falls. The Toorongo Falls is a picturesque area beside the Toorongo and Little Toorongo Rivers in tall mountain forest. The main feature of the Reserve is a circuit walking track to the Toorongo Falls with a branch to the Amphitheatre Falls.
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| Toorongo Falls |
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| Toorongo River |
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| Amphitheatre Falls Toorongo River |
The walks beside the streams are most pleasant, with rock formations and many species of ferns and grassy areas along the river.
From there we travelled via Bairnsdale to McKillop Bridge, a beautiful area, high up on the Snowy River near the NSW Vic border near the town of Buchan.
The 29 km dirt road in was very steep and narrow. It was signposted as “not suitable for caravans” but as we don’t have a caravan we decided to give it a go. It was very narrow meaning that passing a car coming in the other direction was impossible without lots of reversing and negotiating. But the trip was worth it. It was 42 degrees in the day and only got down to 22 at night so there was lots of swimming in the Snowy. The Snowy offers thrilling canoeing or rafting with rugged gorges, rapids, flat sections with sand bars and beautiful scenery. Marty and Dale decided to bounce down the rapids for extra fun. The Snowy has some wonderful wide sandy beaches with shallow rock pools between the rapids making this a great swimming spot. They survived but not without a few bruises. Marty spent his 55th birthday in the Snowy which he reckoned was a highlight of the trip. Dale also did a hike along the self-guided 18 km Silver Mine Walking Track which in that heat was quite an achievement. We also witnessed a fantastic storm: lots of lightning and thunder but we didn’t get much rain. A further highlight was the entertainment of the Bega & District Historical Machinery Club Annual “Great Snowy River Tractor Stampede” with about 60 or so tractors, some towing caravans or trailers, going past our camp site.
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| McKillops River over the Snowy River |
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| McKillops River over the Snowy River |
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| Looking through the road on the bridge |
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| Looking upstream from McKillops Bridge |
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| The Snowy River |
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| “Great Snowy River Tractor Stampede” |
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| “Great Snowy River Tractor Stampede” |
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| some towing caravans or trailers, |
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| “Great Snowy River Tractor Stampede” there were about 60 of them |
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| Go Girl Power |
Then we went to Lake Tabourie, via Bombala and Brown Mountain, where we caught up with our usual holiday camping ground friends. It is great to see them each year and catch up with what has happened in their lives. Dale left us for Melbourne after a few days o it was back to just the 2 of us again. Whilst there we bumped into family friends Eric and Coral Kirchner who had retired there from Canberra a few years ago. We spent our time there swimming and walking on the beach. Marty water bombed a few of the other kids and taught geocaching to some others. He always seemed to be ducking off somewhere but now I know to look in the TV room for him when the cricket is on.
2 comments:
that shot of the Howqua river is a ripper!
Dale
Ta glad you like it
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