Into the Mountains

I will try to continue the story of our holidays...

Picking up our new caravan

On Wednesday morning we woke to a cold, windy day. Today we were treated to a special cooked breakfast by the caravan park. We enjoyed our bacon and eggs, toast and pancakes, and then packed up our camp to head off north into the mountains. From Traralgon it was pretty much uphill, with beautiful mountain roads.
Going up and up


We stopped off for lunch at Walhalla, a gorgeous little town nestled in a tiny valley with a little river flowing through the middle of it. The kids had fun throwing rocks into the river, exploring the riverbanks, and finding remains of the mining they used to do there. This town was the last in Australia to receive power to it... not until the 1970's!!! After lunch we walked through the local cemetery, located on the mountain side at a 45 degree angle!! It was a pretty amazing place.

Stopping for lunch


Playing by the river

The cemetery on the hill

From Walhalla people had told us to back track and go on to Jamieson via a different route as the track through the mountains was very narrow and steep. With a caravan we'd never make it. Well, Dave was eager to try out our 4 wheel driving caravan and after chatting with a 4 wheel drive tour operator, we headed on up the road to Beardmore. Yup, the track was very narrow. At one point, to make a bend, we had the front wheel of the Suburban hanging off the side of the mountain and our caravan still hit the edge of the mountain on the inside. It was rather tight!! But our caravan pulled through, with a dent in the door as a souvenir!! We also met someone coming in the opposite direction who thankfully backed up until there was enough room for us to pass. All in all, although my fingernails made indentations in the handle of the car, it was a very beautiful drive through the mountains. After stopping at some lookouts and doing the sight seeing things, we made it to our first free camp of our holidays.

The narrow mountain track

Enjoying the view over Lake Thomson

We set up camp at Snake's Reserve, a lovely campground with a clear mountain river running behind. Dave and the boys tried their hand at river fishing with no success, but it was so peaceful and beautiful, the results didn't matter. Even better, we were allowed to have an open fire so the kids had a ball playing with the fire. Being New Year's Eve, the kids got to stay up late, and we had a lovely, relaxed evening. At midnight some rednecks shot off their shotguns and rifles (they were also camping in Snake's Reserve), scaring the kids half out of their wits!! Welcome to the year 2009!!!

Snakes Reserve camp


Enjoying the fire

Brett and Dave trying their luck at fishing

Travis playing by the river

Cody rinsing dishes
The next day Dave wanted to do more four wheel driving so back into the car we went, locked up the caravan and set off for more mountain tracks, this time without the caravan. We took a gorgeous track up throught the mountains which, to my dismay, started off with a river crossing. (unfortunately, my eyes were shut tight, and my hands were hanging on for dear life and so I have no photos to show of our river crossing ;(! What an awesome track though, winding through the mountain ranges. At some points we were driving right along the ridge of the mountain where we could see for miles from both sides of the car.

We made a stop at Jamieson for some hot chips and sat by a wide, slow moving river and enjoyed the scenery. Then back to camp for more fishing and camp fires.
Friday was Brett's birthday. After giving him a few presents I had managed to cram into our suitcase, we packed up camp and headed off to Marysville. We drove along Eildon National Park, checked out the dam at Lake Eildon, stopped for lunch at a lovely river (we really were falling in love with all the water and greenery there!!) before we reached our destination. Having a caravan was proving to be wonderful. We could stop anywhere and before you knew it, lunch was made, even warm lunches like cheesies!! Wow we felt spoiled!!!
We camped for 3 nights at Anderson's Mill; which ended up being our best spot for the trip. It was down a little dirt track, off the not so little dirt track, outside of town. When we arrived there was just 1 other family there. It was green and grassy, with a little creek running behind it. Absolutely idyllic, and FREE!! The girls pitched their tent to find two small tree ferns framed the doorway to their tent. The boys found an old concrete tank that had loads of baby tadpoles in it, that amused them for ages. And of course the campfire was a great hit!
On Saturday we went to Healesville Sanctuary as a special outing for Brett's birthday still. There we saw lots of animals that had been rescued from the bush: a huge monitor lizard, koalas, reptiles, birds, a baby wombat in the animal hospital, wombats, echidnas and a huge tank with platypus in, dingoes who were conveniently fed dead rabbits as we were watching!! We also enjoyed a Parrot show and a Birds of Prey show. We saw how the birds crack open an egg by repeatedly throwing a rock on it until the shell breaks. While we were watching the eagle perform, a wild eagle started circling and challenging the eagle. It was pretty amazing to see but it cut our show short because the keeper couldn't release the eagle anymore and had to call an end to the show. Fortunately, we had already seen most of the birds. I think we missed out on the owl. Then we had a show on boomerang throwing and bought a hand made boomerang that actually works. After a few tries the kids were throwing their boomerangs and catching them in nearly the same spot. So no more "my boomerang won't come back!!"
Sunday we enjoyed a relaxing day around Marysville. After listening to a sermon, we headed out to Steavenson's falls and enjoyed a relaxing walk to the base of the falls. After that we just lazed around the river in town and had lunch there, while the kids waded in the clear water. Then back to camp for another relaxing and enjoyable evening around the fire before we headed back into civilization the next day.
PS I'll continue uploading photos for this blog later. It's time for me to go to bed now!!