A Perfect Australian Morning

---

DAY 392

It was a very cold night, I woke up with cold feet at one stage and wished that I could easily get my hands on a pair of socks, but that meant getting out of bed and getting even colder, that is the price we pay for being up in the mountains on Kosciuszko National Park, we could not expect it to be any different even at this time of year.

I think Andy was out of bed first, he usually is, however a little later than normal but who can blame him, the bed is warm and cosy. We both have our fleeces on for a while to keep the morning chill out.

Out on the grassy areas ahead of us we see the kangaroos again, they are all there in abundance some eating some lying around and others just watching, wandering around in patches are groups of Brumby’s, some people call them feral horses but they are beautiful and wild, seeing them reminds me of the New Forest in Hampshire, England.

We sit and enjoy this perfect Australian morning for a while, we read, have breakfast and make another cup of tea.

In the meantime one of the rangers turns up with a sit on mower on his trailer, he is soon whizzing around the camp site keeping the grass low for campers which I am sure will be expected in abundance in the not too distant future with the school Christmas/summer holidays fast approaching.

We make a plan to pack up and head further into the Kosciuszko National Park, we want to see the Currango Homestead on the way, which is a good example of a complete homestead with its earliest buildings dating from 1851.

We head out, just in time for another pack of Brumby’s to wander across the track in front of us, they are in beautiful condition, we see a couple of foals amongst them.

Across the plains we watch with binoculars as another herd of Brumby’s run from the grass into the cover of the tree canopy, there must be hundreds of them around this morning.

The gravel track takes us through fabulous scenery, which has been burnt at some point in its life with several dead trees still holding on to their piece of ground, we find the Tantangara Dam, but it is far from full of water here, it is boggy but the gravel track takes us over a small causeway and up the other side, the scenery is breathtaking.

We see a corrugated shed with a rusty old traction engine housed inside, we wander around for a look, we find a rabbits foot lying around outside and a large skink nearby, we think the skink is dead, he looks pretty mangy but it turns out he is still alive and just hiding in the long grass.

We drive up to the Currango Homestead, three of its buildings are now used for single or group accommodation purposes mainly for hikers, horse riders or just touring the high country, however it is open for day visitors too so we park up and wander around this well kept homestead, one of the houses is actually used for the caretaker.

We head up to Daffodil Cottage and find a couple of kangaroos grazing in the shade, one of them looks like a rather large buck but closer to the cottage I see a Wallaby, she is just watching us, I take a photo, but I crouch down and creep slowly forward, as long is I approach carefully she may not move, I moved behind a bush and edged out staying crouched and she is still sat there perfectly in my sight. I got my picture but as soon as I moved to stand up she shot off around the back of the cottage.

Taking Pockets Saddle Road, we start to drive with the Tantangara Dam on our right hand side, the scenery looks ghostly with all of the dead trees, we see more kangaroo’s and more Brumby’s.

The dam is low and perhaps only evident because you can see the existing water line from I don’t know how many years ago and around by the dam wall the water level is well below the top of the spillway. In the distance we can see a group of canoeists heading out onto the water.

We then pick up the Tantangara Road and soon we are heading North again on the Snowy Mountains Highway and now looking for a potential campsite for the night, we stop at a little place called Sawyers Hut.

Sawyers Hut has been rebuilt in 2008 after being damaged due to vandalism and also the 2003 bushfires, It has been really well done and has been lovingly restored, so we sit inside and make our lunch and boil the kettle, we read the information on Sawyers Hut which is very interesting, including the finding of 2 dead bodies in 1952, they had accidentally drunk arsenic thinking that it was wine. There is a whole story behind it, they had stolen a truck load of farm materials which contained the bottles that they thought was wine.

Sawyers Hut serves as a sheltered picnic place during the day or an emergency stop for travellers overnight, we sat inside and made some lunch with a welcome cup of tea, while we were sitting there plenty of people came in for a look at the hut and one guy was so excited about this place he said he would come back and roll his swag out in here overnight. There is plenty of wood and paper to make a roaring fire to keep the mountain chill out.

We enjoy the facilities that were provided and after our well deserved break we push on, it is early afternoon and too early to stop, so we enjoy the availability of lots of good camping area’s and don’t rush in to choosing one.

We see wild flowers growing on the verges at Kiandra, and we turn for Mount Selwyn to see a winter playground for Australians, a very deserted ski resort (day use only), the cable cars and chair lifts covered over for winter and abandoned ski slopes that are enjoying the colours of spring, the car park is huge and empty only for one grader and one roller awaiting to start work again, oh and perhaps just us.

Eventually we pull up to Yachting Point, a camp site that we had passed on the way down, we decide that this was where we were going to park up, so we pulled in and set up the Wendy House and settled in with a cup of tea.

The parks services are still allowing fires, so we decided to heat last nights curry on the open fire.

We started talking to a couple who walk past, they are two Australians, Oliver and Camilla from Melbourne, who have been travelling since March and were now under pressure to get home for Christmas.

After dinner we went inside for a quick game of cards, Andy annihilated me again, but I didn’t mind I just wanted to curl up in bed with the book I am reading (Sheryl McCorry’s Stars over Shirralee).

In bed the trailer moved, for the first time since we have had the trailer and even though we have joked about it in the past, this could suddenly be a reality. There was a squeaking noise and a jolt as the trailer suddenly moved, we lay still, then Andy said, I will have to check, so carefully got out of bed to look.

We had only put one “Chock” under one of the wheels and as the Jockey wheel was point in the right direction, the trailer had pivoted around a little way, we joked saying that if we had rolled far enough we and the mob of Kangaroo’s would all have been sleeping together tonight, not sure that they would have been happy with that though!

The evening was much warmer than it was last night, Andy got into bed with his t-shirt on and soon he threw it off saying he was too warm, the stars were beautiful again tonight and again it has been a full and exciting day.

Tomorrow is another chapter in our adventures, we will be happy if you come along with us, so until tomorrow we bid you a good night on this perfect Australian night.

---

Photos

The Cleanest
This has to be the cleanest dunny we have seen in the bush.

Horse Camping
Just tie up and roll out your swag

Old Shed
with its rusty traction engine

Burn't out tree
The result of lighting

Grain Store
Circa 1917

Pretty Faced Wallaby
Caroline sidled very carefully up to her, bofire bounding off

Comments

[Mum and Dad]

We wish!
Hiya...Yes, we wish we could join you, but you wont be surprised to hear that we will be returning to Orba in Spain in the not too distant future. We have to wear our wellies in the garden as the water now goes over our shoes....Glad to hear that you are happily back at Woodstock. Dad says that he has great admiration for Andy and his work on the farm especially how quickly he mastered the machinery. Sorry to hear about the hernia and the length of time it will take for a repair. Take care. Love you xx

[kangaroojack]

Orba
Hi there, not surprised you will be heading back to Spain, I am sure that you only went home as the villa was booked out to someone else after you.... We keep hearing how bad the weather is in England so very grateful that we can still enjoy the sunshine.... despite the bad weather we had recently although a blessing for many people in this area as the water is much needed and yet still not enough to break the 8 year drought.... Andy says thank you for Dads comments.... he did work hard and he did enjoy driving the tractor, but I dont think he will be looking at being a farmer anytime soon...... We will hopefully find out more on 17th about Andy's results and that may give us an indication of how soon the op needs to be done.... Catch up soon. lov and miss you both. C xx

[Annie Coutanceau]

lovely photos!
Hi, my name is Annie and I'm looking for a photo of an old Australian shed to put on a dvd that I have made. I was wondering if i could use your photo of the little shed with the rusty tractor?