Hawks Nest – 25 to 29 March 2012

We by passed Sydney and Newcastle and drove to Hawks Nest.

Hawks Nest has two beaches, an ocean beach and a bay beach both within easy walking distance.

The caravan Park is set behind the Ocean Beach and we had a great site. It is the kind of holiday place you dream of. 

We visited family here and had a great time.

Moss Vale – 24 to 25 March 2012

We visited a friend at his magnificent historic property in Moss Vale. This is a very beautiful area in the Southern Highlands south of Sydney.  It was settled  in the 1820's and is still a popular tourist destination.

Canberra–21 to 24 March 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were in Canberra briefly to visit friends and relatives.

It has been some time since we visited Canberra and we spent a lot of time walking, seeing old sites and visiting the newly housed National Portrait Gallery. 

The view from Red Hill still provides a great panorama of the original Walter Burley Griffin layout for Canberra.

Jindabyne via the Alpine Way–18 to 21 March 2012

We drove the Murray Valley Highway to Upper Towong and Corryong. 

The heavy rains had closed the highway beyond so we took the Alpine Way to Thredbo and Jindabyne.

This was a challenging drive.  The sign at Dead Horse Gap at the Jindabyne end of the road proclaimed, “Alpine Way Unsuitable for Trucks, Buses and Caravans”  Perhaps we missed the sign at the Corryong end of the road?!!

The Alpine way was built to service the Snowy Mountain Hydro Electric Scheme and the Murray 1 Power Station is an impressive example of the scheme’s engineering.

 

 

We camped at Jindabyne. The Dam was the highest that had been seen in living memory so we had a waterfront site, the rest of the sites were underwater. The water was not going to rise higher as it was over the spillway.

This was very pleasant and Tricia spent a happy afternoon wading and swimming around the caravan park.

While we were at Jindabyne we walked to Mt. Kosciuszko, the highest point in Australia.

We drove to Thredbo, took the chairlift to the plateau, walked in on the metal mesh pathway and had a picnic lunch at the peak.

 

 

The mesh pathway is known as Australia's longest lightening conductor but it does conserve the fragile Alpine Vegetation. The scars from previous paths can still be seen. It is also very easy to walk on.

Rawsons Pass just before the last rise to the peak has Australia's highest toilet. This is an attractive very ecologically sound design nestled into the surrounding countryside.

We were too late for the chairlift back and walked down the face of the plateau to Thredbo on Merrit's Nature Trail.  This is well sign posted. 

It comprises stairs set in the side of the face and the risers are rather high. This exercised some little used muscles and we were tired when we got to the bottom. 

We actually slid down the last bit of ski run and had a nice dinner at one of the pubs. We really enjoyed being up on the peak of Kosciuszko when no one else was there but Tricia thinks if she were to do it again, and wanted to stay late, she would walk in from Charlotte Pass.  This is longer but less steep at the end.

The Hume Weir [Albury] – 17 to 18 March 2012

We enjoyed our time in Healesville and around Melbourne but it was time to head north again.

It was great to travel past a succession of water storages, full after being almost empty over the last years.  We stopped at Lake Eildon and had lunch at Lake Nillahcootie.

 

Our first camp was a very nice campsite at Ebden in the Boathaven Holiday Park on the Hume Weir at Albury.  Tricia has visited this area many times and has never seen the Hume Weir so full, which was exciting.  After all the floods the weir is truly full.

In the morning we drove to the Weir wall and went for a walk around the Lake Hume Tourist Park where Tricia and the children spent many happy days swimming  at the little beachfront, now mostly underwater.

Walkerville to Healesville – 24 February to 17 March 2012

We drove from Walkerville to Melbourne, stopping at Kilcunda on the way for lunch and a great swim in the roiling surf.  The surf break was so sandy our bathers were completely full of sand.

We had a break from the van in Melbourne while John did his Professional Development courses.

Then we returned to the Caravan Park in Healesville where we had originally set up the van for our travels.

After more than three years of faithful service our reversing camera had become temperamental and had to be replaced, although not before we discovered that Tricia could give John accurate guidance for hitching up without the camera, which is good to know for the future.

We serviced the Toyota in Healesville, and walked, enjoyed the lovely Yarra Valley, the wonderful Restaurants, and visited friends and relatives.