We took the scenic route south from Tharwa to Adaminaby via the Boboyan Road. Whilst it is 60km shorter than following the main highway via Cooma, it has quite a bit of slow going sections. I don’t think we saved any time, however the Gudgenby Valley Lookout is well worth a stop and look and we enjoyed the road less travelled.
We stopped for lunch at Adaminaby. The bigger of the two little helpers (The Little Fisherman) correctly identified the giant fish which adorns the small park in the village as a Rainbow Trout. This of course is not from the actual experience of catching a fish, but the addictive iPhone application Flick Fishing.
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| From Ravine Camp |
We pushed on as we were keen to meet up with our friends who we had planned to meet at Ravine, on the Yarrangobilly River. Armed with the worthy directions of Craig Lewis and Cathy Savage we soon found our way to the perfect campsite on the banks of the river.
Yarrangobilly River at Ravine
We camped just downstream from the ruins of the Washington Hotel, in a lovely clearing with good access to the river. The bridge over the river has long been washed away, and the river crossing looked rather gnarly with large rocks and holes awaiting the unsuspecting. A couple of lifted Cruisers with much bigger tyres than us made it over during our time there, but we decided it wasn’t worth the risk of damage for the sake of driving over onto Lobs Hole Fire trail.
Instead we sat back - tried our luck fishing and enjoyed the serenity.
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| From Ravine Camp |
On our second day we decided to explore a little bit of the area, and ventured back up the hill. The views from Wallace Creek Lookout were very pleasant, although the little people seemed more interested in a line of cicadas on a nearby gum tree.
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| From Ravine Camp |
We then thought Three Mile Dam would be a nice spot for lunch, with the opportunity for The Little Fisherman to wet a line. How wrong we were. The weather at nearly 1500m above sea level is considerably cooler than at the 600m of our camp, and was not entirely unexpected. What was really unexpected the size and ferocity of the March Flies that commenced swarming as soon as we started putting lunch together. The kids were bustled back into the car, lest they be carried away by the monsters. Lunch was made hurriedly with two ‘swotters’ appointed to protect the sandwich makers, before we all beat a retreat to the safety of the cars to enjoy our lunch in some relative peace.
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| From Ravine Camp |
We headed down the hill to what is left of Kiandra and the relics of the heady days of the Gold Rush. It is great to see the old Kiandra Court House being restored, however much of what is left of the town can only be imagined from information plaques around the old town site. We tried our hand at fishing on the Eucambene River, however this time a large Tiger Snake discouraged further efforts and we returned back down the hill, our exploring efforts complete.
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| From Ravine Camp |
Sadly our friends had to leave us on day three, but we had two further nights down in the valley. It drizzled off and on, but thankfully due to our elevation, it wasn’t too cold. The little helpers even borrowed a bucket or two from the river to ensure the mud was just the right consistency for good old mud pies. Between the mud, bikes, matchbox cars and a totem tennis kit, we had plenty to keep us amused.
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| From Ravine Camp |
From Ravine Camp
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We thoroughly enjoyed our four days away, however were horrified at the news of the Toowomba and Lockyer Valley floods on our return to civilisation and mobile phones. We hope that those of you affected by this tragedy, and all the other flooding from Queensland to Victoria stay safe and well, and are back on your feet before too long.
Some more photos of our adventure can be found here:
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| Ravine Camp |
