Boxing Blind

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DAY 391


A 7.00 start again for me this morning, Andy is already up and tapping away at the Internet, my tea is handed to me so I enjoy a little while longer in bed drinking it.

Once I am up we have breakfast but heading into the camp kitchen we see that again there are a lot of crockery and cutlery lying about, after breakfast we make haste in getting packed up.

While we leave the base of the tent to dry in the warmth of the sun we head off for a shower, I hear Andy talking to someone in the kitchen, it is the lady from last night, she said “oh, no one has come to do the washing up!” I heard Andy respond, “you have to do the washing up yourself, the general rule is that you leave the camp kitchen how you found it and if you use anything you wash it,” there is nothing worse than cooking your dinner in someone else’s mess.

This lady was surprised, so made haste to do her washing up from the night before.

We finished packing and hit the road; we head to Kosciuszko National Park, so out of Wagga onto the Sturt Highway we head towards Tumut were we stop to pick up a few things in Woolworths, that bit is fine we stock up without any problem but then pop next door to fill up at the Caltex with Diesel, we find that the left hand side of the pump is coned off, so we drive through to the right hand side but because of the awkward angle of the pumps and the small forecourt we cannot get the Patrol close enough for the nozzle to reach right around the back.

I pop in to find there are two women in there one is clearly training the other, and is still dealing with the woman who went in ahead of us at the pump, with another man in front of me I had no option but to wait.

Eventually I explained our predicament to the woman behind the counter and she said, “oh, I can move the bollards now, the pump is fixed, I just have not had time to remove them since IT phoned!” Great that means problem solved but because it is all one way we have to leave the forecourt and drive round the block to start again, the bollards were removed but another person was now in place filling up, so we had to wait again.

Still we got there in the end and our journey continued into the stunning views of the Kosciuszko National Park, we checked out a couple of free camps on the way down the Snowy Mountains Highway, there are plenty of them so we were not worried about where we were going to stay tonight.

We decided to head out to Yarrongobilly caves and go in to the rangers station to find out what is available, the young ranger tells us we can use all the facilities including the thermal pool and the picnic area for $3.00 dollars a day.

Caroline is hungry so we decided to make some lunch before we decide on what we are going to do so we park the car over by the barbecue and picnic shelter, this shelter is completely enclosed with two gas barbecues and 3 picnic tables, it was a welcome shelter from the wind and allowed us to use the small gas stove to brew a cup of tea.

What a great little shelter although I am sure it is more for winter use when this area is covered in snow and skiers, it is clean and well looked after, with the barbecues being in first class condition.

Camping in the Kosciuszko National Park is free anywhere as long as you stick to the gravel roads provided and pick virtually anywhere you want to camp, though there are designated areas with the bush dunny provided and huts for emergency shelter.

After lunch, we grab our swimmers and towels and walk down the track to the Thermal Pools, which are heated to 27 degrees and are fed via an underground spring, at the rate of 100,000 litres per hour. The water felt quite cool to step into but the outside ambient temperature is about 34 degree’s with a cool breeze, but within seconds of immersing into the water it was comfortable, not too hot and not too cold.

The pool is covered in algae, I don’t think it’s too bad, they do try to clean it regularly but it does grow back quickly. The water is crystal clear except for the algae, which looks like fuzzy felt weeds on the bottom however which ever way you look at it we have swum in rock pools that are murkier than this and probably contain worse things too!

After our swim we need to find a site for the night so head off into the Mountains, we look at a couple of places and then chose the first one called Long Plain, and as we are looking at the map see that some of these places have hut that was once an old homestead, we thought one of the huts would be great to look at.

We drove out across the mountain range to Long Plain, the homestead is 4.5k’s up a track off the main road, there are two camp areas for with a horse and for those without. As we don’t have a horse we chose the area suitable for the trailer.

We drive up to the old homestead and park, the old place looks a bit creepy but we go on inside, its been renovated in places, it dates back to 1912 its fairly dark, but if the weather was bad outside it would be an excellent refuge for walkers or other travellers who are in need a safe haven, especially with the room that has the open fire and logs ready to burn.

My thoughts go back a couple of years ago when I and 10 other mates went dirt biking out in the Brecon Beacon in Wales, we had planned to stay at a ”Bothy” which is exactly what this homestead is, a safe shelter for travellers, and after a hard days dirt biking, then a wash in the nearby river we spent the night in this lonely Bothy in the middle of nowhere *rsing about and having great fun.

Anyway, I had said to Caroline that we could role the swag out in the old homestead, but honestly I don’t think either of us was brave enough, so we found a position fairly close to a good fire pit to set up the Wendy House.

We hope to see Wombats, we saw evidence of wombat poo down at the thermal pools, so could we be lucky?

When we pull up we sit and watch 2 kangaroos that are just ahead of us, one of them looks huge, most definitely a buck and one not to get into a tangle with, we see through the binoculars the size of his tail, it is so thick. Observing them for a while, they know we are here watching them but look completely unphased by us being here.

We set up, the kangaroos are still there, both now relaxing in the sunshine, the sun is still fairly high in the sky but Andy sets about making a fire, a fair priority as we want the fire to burn down while we prepare the chicken and vegetables to go in the camp oven.

I prepare the chicken, chillies and onion ready for frying up over the fire before adding the coconut cream and tomatoes etc. This has the promise of being a good hot curry.

I grab the camera to take a picture of Andy making fire, but I look up just in time to see two kangaroos in fairly close proximity just about to bound through our camp site, they move on quickly joining the others in the sunshine, we think they may be about to fight as they stand on their haunches, but no, they all settle down and carry on eating.

Over a short while we count 15 kangaroos as they all seem to congregate in the same place, just grazing, Andy grows concerned for a Joey who has not moved in a while and its mother has been standing by for a long time, we watch through the binoculars but eventually we see another set of ears moving so we both breathe again.

In the meantime a Crimson Rosella is intent on flying through our campsite, it goes from one side to the other, such beautiful red and blue vibrant colours standing out against this green.

The Kookaburra calls out in to the early evening, we don’t know if he signals he is off to bed or this is his territory, but what ever it is we feel happy to know they are around.

Our curry is on the fire and bubbling away nicely, it is great to have an open fire again. We did check at the visitor information centre and they did say there is not a fire ban, if anything changes the ranger usually goes round to the campsites to let people know or at the very least put signs up warning people.

I also heat up water in the billy for the washing up, better to use the resources that are already burning. We also boil the water for the rice and once that is done we tuck into a fine chicken curry, the only thing missing are cashew nuts, but never mind this curry is actually quite a hot one!

While we eat the mosquito’s decide to bother us, they are huge here and no doubt will leave a nasty bite that will itch for days after, Andy does a good job at killing them, I already have long trousers and shirt on as I knew that they would be out to get us tonight.

After dinner the washing up is done, everything is tidied away and the Patrol is put into position for the 12volt light.

We sit outside and watch the Kangaroo’s just grazing, one buck goes up to another and I think he asks him if he wants to fight, they are big creatures, one of them sits back on his tail, which where it meets his bum probably has a circumference of about 14 - 16 inches, he wallops the other buck in the guts with both feet, clearly not Queensbury rules, you never hit another fellow below the belt, they both have their heads tilted right back and are going at each other, its like they are boxing blind, as they can’t see what is happening but at least they won’t damage their pretty faces.

Caroline wanders slowly forwards with her camera, she is keen to get a shot, but cannot get too close as she does not want one of those things bearing down on her, so stealthily gets behind a bush to take a couple of photos, but the fight does not last long and they get back to eating.

You may think this a little over board, but in places when we are alone, we separate the truck from the trailer and park it in a certain way so Caroline can get in to it quickly if we need to make a hasty getaway, it’s part of our “Escape Plan” if ever anything ever threatened our safety.

The car keys are put in a certain place and the drivers seat in the car is adjusted for Caroline, as it will be her role to get out of the Wendy House via the back door, (Straight through the mozi netting and the side flap) then straight in to the truck, lock the doors, and get the motor running.

It would be my job to do what ever is necessary to subdue the threat and get to the car where Caroline would let me in (hopefully).

We do live in a very questionable world, we have never had any kind of threat whilst travelling, Australia seems a very unproblematic place, but you can never be too sure and they have had their problems in the past.

It is still fairly light but we sit inside the tent to read and finish the blog, there is no Internet here, but never mind, we will find some in the morning. Bit like the Wombats really, there are none to be found here, perhaps we will find some of those in the morning too.

It is a really cold night, we are high in the mountains so it is no surprise, we are completely closed in our tent, sleeping bags done right up and blankets well and truly up around our necks.

Join us tomorrow for another day in the mountains.

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Photos

Yarrongobilly Cave
Having a spot of lunch

Yarrongobilly Cave
The Picnic Hut

Yarrongobilly Cave
Th Algea fill pool, though the water was 27 degree's

Yarrongobilly Cave
The Algea Filled pool

The Old Homestead
Circa 1916

Comments

[Barbara Jackson]

Photos 21 to 27
Caroline, I wanted to tell you that the "mother and joey" picture is probably my favourite out of your blog to date... I love it! xxx

[kangaroojack]

Mother and Joey
Hi Babs! Glad you like the picture, there is something rather special about the Joeys trailing behind their mothers.........glad you love it.... C xx