Ravine - Kosciuszko National Park

With the sun shining, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Soundtrack playing and Matilda hooked up, we departed home and headed south for a four day camping trip back in the High (or as it turned out not so high) Country.

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.

From Ravine Camp

Giant Trout at Adaminaby

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.

From Ravine Camp

The Little Fisherman tries his luck

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.

From Ravine Camp

Wallace Creek Lookout

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.

From Ravine Camp

Three Mile Dam

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.

From Ravine Camp

Ore Crushing Battery at Kiandra

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.

From Ravine Camp

From Ravine Camp

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:

Ravine Camp

Kosciuszko National Park December 2010

Yet again following the directions of Craig Lewis and Cathy Savage we ended up packing for a weekend touring the northern Kosciuszko National Park. The weather looked unpredictable - and was, but we had an absolute ball checking out such a magnificient part of the Australian high country.

With good friends Nic and Dave coming along in their Prado, we caught up on Thursday night to make our final preparations for a timely departure on Friday. The rough plan was to head over the Brindabella Mountains and enter the park from the north via Broken Cart Trail.

We enjoyed lunch at Micalong Creek before backtracking slightly to enter the park. We slowly meandered our way south, driving on reasonable tracks that were occasionally rocky and sometimes muddy.

With the soundtrack from The Man From Snowy River playing, there is nothing better than coming over a rise and seeing a wide open plain with brumbies peacefully grazing.


Our first brumbies looking fit and healthy

We continued our trip south through Long Plain, and marvelled at human's ability to construct huge high tension power lines directly through the length of the plain. Whilst practically one can understand the considerations of the engineers who chose the plain as the most economic route for the lines, it seems a little at odd with our huge price we are willing to pay for visual amenity these days in other areas. Of course we consoled ourselves in the fact the lines are transporting electricity generated from the incredible Snowy Hydro-Electic Scheme.

With the day getting long and the little ones getting tired we decided to head for a campsite with a stream big enough to cast a line. After a moment of indecision, Yarrangobilly Village Campground was chosen as the destination. The village has long since gone, with the exception of the old post office, but the camping area was picturesque, if split by the Snowy Mountains Highway.


Yarrangobilly Village Campground

The little ones were happy. With their attempts to catch dinner in the fast flowing Yarrangobilly River not yeilding dinner, sausages were a deemed a suitable substitute, and we settled into a pleasant evening around the campfire.

Dawn was shattered by Tipper and Dog combinations providing road base all the way from Goulburn for the National Parks, even before the little helper alarm clocks decided it was time to be off - so we decided to move on. After breakfast we packed in record time, but that was due to the driving rain more than the traffic, and decided to regroup at Yarrangobilly Caves.

Not knowing what to expect we were very pleasantly surprised by the Yarrangobilly Caves. The Rangers were most helpful and we thoroughly enjoyed our explore of Glory Cave. The little helpers loved their first caving experience (albiet with lights, paths and rails), and we are looking forward to coming back and visiting some of the other caves in the area soon. It was also out of the weather, which was a big plus at that time, although it wasn't exactly dry inside the caves either!


The boys outside the entrance to Glory Cave

We then pushed on to Blue Waterholes for lunch. With a bit more time on our hands we visited Long Plain Hut and Coonibil Hut on the way. The hardships endured by the early graziers is apparent in these huts, and it was great to see them being respected by most visitors. We also visited Coolamine Homestead, a more permanent settlement. I could have spent hours inside the buildings, but the little helpers had more fun stalking the resident kangaroos.


Coolamine Homestead

Blue Waterholes is a part of a similar limestone formation that formed Yarrangobilly Caves, however in this case there are numerous springs and the creek passes into the impressive Clarke's Gorge. Normally the creek is dry upstream of the springs, however it was flowing nicely during our visit. We enjoyed a short explore around here before the thunder signalled an impending downpour and we beat a hasty retreat to the carpark, so we didn't get any better photos of the gorge or springs.


Down by the river, with a nervous eye on the black clouds forming

We set up camp just up the hill from the carpark at Magpie Flat camp ground, sheltered behind a ridge line. NPWS had provided a good amount of firewood at each fireplace, and with a bit of coaxing we soon had a warm fire going... even if it did hail on us! Roast lamb in the Cobb Cooker was delicious and we soon made our ways to bed, with beanies and thermals on!

We awoke at the crack of dawn on Sunday, not to the sound of trucks, but to a chorus of Kookaburras. Outside the tents a kangaroo and her joey were enjoying the mown grass around our campfire. It was an idyllic morning, and after a good pot of coffee and hot breakfast we were ready for anything.

We headed out of the park via Talbingo, and as we dropped into the village, so did the Incredible Hulk, an Erickson Sky Crane.


The Incredible Hulk - slightly smaller than the famous Elvis

The aircraft was on a ferry flight from Melbourne to Sydney when the weather closed in and they landed at Talbingo. The crew kindly showed us (and half the village) over the aircraft and even let our boys sit in the cockpit. The helicopter was a highlight for the little helpers who have drawn the helicopter and built amazingly accurate lego models since getting home.



The boys in the cockpit look out the bubble windows

And then onto Tumut for lunch, and Gundagai for the compulsory stop with the Dog on the Tuckerbox before heading for home.


Dog on the Tuckerbox
(A full history on the poem and history of Bullocky Bill's Dog on the Tuckerbox can be found here.

Special thanks to Nic and Dave for the company, wine and photos. More snaps can be found at my gallery on Australia4wd forum here.