Travelin’ to Canberra: Wildlife and Forest Fires

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Travelin’ to Canberra: Wildlife and Forest Fires

Day One: Mansfield

We left Melbourne with the idea of taking our time to get to Sydney. We had spent a good amount of time on the coast and wanted to see some of the interior of the country and, therefore, chose to drive through the Great Dividing Range on the way to Sydney. Our major stop along the way would be Canberra, the nation’s capital. We had met a couple in Vietnam that were from Canberra so were hoping to stop by and see them while in town.

Before we left Melbourne we had some administrative details to take care of, namely we needed to get in touch with Emirate airlines to change the dates on some of our tickets. When we initially booked our flight from Frankfurt to Bangkok and back we had arbitrarily picked early May as the date of our return to Europe. Since that time we changed our plans in order to spend more time in Asia and Australia/New Zealand. While we had changed our minds about when we were returning, we had yet to actually change the flights with Emirates. With less than a month to go before our scheduled flight back to Europe, we really needed to get with a rep of Emirates to change the flight before it was too late.

After checking out of our hotel we headed north to the airport. When we arrived there was no one at the Emirates counter. We were worried that we might have to wait until the only Emirates flight of the day left, which was late afternoon, to actually meet with someone who could help us. Thankfully one of the workers from another airline pointed us to the Emirates Airline office upstairs. After wending our way through seemingly endless corridors above the check-in terminal we found the office. A nice lady helped us - if a little grudgingly at first.

After taking care of our flight change, which surprisingly only cost us about $100, we felt like a weight had been lifted off our shoulders. We stopped in the airport and got lunch before hitting the road to head further north. It was pretty strange to hang around and eat in the airport when we weren’t there for a flight or there to pick someone up.

Back on the road by about 1:30pm, we felt ready to see some of the back roads of Australia. Our heading was West/North West going toward the mountains. We had no bookings for hotels which left us free to travel as much or as little as we wanted to before the day was over.

As you drive through Australia it becomes apparent after only a small time that the scenery and countryside is constantly changing and varied. While in Adelaide the surrounding country was arid and very similar to the landscape I would expect to find in places like Lebanon. Once on the way to Melbourne the coastal cliffs of southern Victoria remind me of California. But as we traveled into the foothills near Melbourne the landscape changed yet again and reminded me of the mountains near Charlottesville, Virginia. Of course there were differences and the terrain would change yet again as we continued on our way to Canberra.

As we were approaching the mountains, thinking that we were entering the Australian version of the Shenandoah Mountains we expected to see huge oak trees and similar ground brush as we do at home. As soon as we drove under the tree canopy we were surprised to have entered a land of huge ferns and tall trees. The road that drove through the forest was small and windy which didn’t allow me to stop long enough to take pictures but I promise you that the forest was amazing and beautiful.

After driving the twisty roads for 3 hours we decided to stop in the next decent sized town, Mansfield. We stopped at the tourist information booth in town and were surprised to find out that they will actually help you book your hotels. We were lucky to have this help because the information workers had to call about 5 hotels before they found one with space. We had been told that everyone would be on vacation during Easter, but with it being Monday we assumed everyone would be heading home after the long weekend. Instead we found out that the school holiday lasted throughout the coming week and that families would be all over the mountains for the next 6 days. This meant that everyday we would have to struggle a bit to find accommodation.

Day Two: Mansfield to Bright

While we had seen some pretty mountains and forests while driving the day before we decided that we wanted to take some time to actually get out of the car and explore. Our major destination for the day was Mt. Buffalo National Park. We drove for about two hours to reach the park and then had to drive another 45 minutes to get far enough into the park to find something worth hiking to see.

We finally settled on a lake at the top of the mountains that offered a pretty place for lunch. We ate some food we had bought in the nearby town of Myrtleford and then took some time to hike and enjoy the scenery.

While the lake area was pretty it wasn’t what we would have hoped for due to the lack of rain in this part of Australia. Since 2000, some say even before that, parts of Australia have been going through a drought the likes of which we’ve never seen in the US. Some places are having so many problems with lack of rainfall that it is affecting their ability to have clean drinking water for their inhabitants. While we’ve been aware of the drought due to constant advertising and water restrictions, nowhere has the drought been more evident to us than here in the Great Dividing Range.

Throughout our drive we came across beautiful areas that bordered huge stretches of land that had been destroyed due to brush fires. While in Mt. Buffalo NP we were constantly shown signs of vegetation that was dying due to lack of water. Most trees in the area were a dark brownish green and wherever there was standing water the water level was obviously lower than its normal level.

We hiked around the lake which was an easy 3km walk and admired the wildlife and greenery that was thriving due to the lake’s water. It was nice to get out of the car and walk around. We’ve found that the days we spend completely in the car are some of the most draining days due to the lack of physical activity.

After the park we took the short drive to the next town called Bright. Little did we know that Bright and its sister city Mt. Beauty are some of the most visited towns in this part of Victoria due to the fall color changes. Thus, when we arrived almost every hotel in town was already booked but with the help of the information office we secured a room in a motel just outside of town.

Kel Note - while Bright was a very small town, they did have one snazzy restaurant so we decided to hit it. I had some really good duck but Mike topped me on the adventurous front by ordering braised goat. It wasn’t the tastiest thing ever - kind of like gamey pot roast - but it added something new to the “crazy things we’ve eaten abroad” list.

Day Three: Bright to Canberra

With a couple of days in the mountains behind us, we decided to book it to Canberra so we could spend a couple of nights in a city and do some planning for the rest of this leg of our trip. Bright was about 400 km from Canberra which would mean a full day of driving. In the US these short distances don’t take anytime at all due to our really good highway system that makes driving from point A to point B easy and quick. In Australia almost all the roads are two lane curvy roads.

Today’s trip took us through one of the more scenic national parks in this area. Kosciuszko National Park is an absolutely beautiful park that has great scenery and has been lucky when it comes to the wildfires. Unfortunately on the way to the park we came across a stretch of the mountains that was on fire due to the drought brushfires. More than 40% of the mountain was on fire and the smoke could be seen from miles away. Thankfully the fire didn’t get anywhere near the road. If caught in a brushfire, the temperatures can get high enough to actually melt the rubber on your tires. It’s best to stay far, far away from these situations.

The 65km of road that drove through Kosciuszko were windy and unfun to drive but were absolutely gorgeous. Much of the mountains have these deadwood trees that are completely devoid of vegetation. These trees stretch as far as the eye can see and create an almost alien landscape that is wild and beautiful at the same time.

We stopped on top of one of the mountains at a small shack that can be used by campers. With so little traffic on the road it was deadly silent up there. We spent a few minutes walking around enjoying the scenery before getting on our way.

By time we got to Canberra it was almost dark and I was exhausted from all the driving. We checked into our hotel which we had booked online earlier in the day when we stopped in the small town of Corryong for lunch. We then grabbed some dinner at a local mall and watched some TV before sleep.

The drive from Melbourne had given us a real appreciation for the wildlife in Australia’s South East. While we had only covered about 637km (about 400 miles) the variety of scenery was staggering and beautiful. You can really see why Aussies love to spend time in the great outdoors.

Well, enough from this end. Hope you are all well and that by time you read this it’s warming up again back home!

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Comments

[laura white]

wow
Mike - I ditto the other comments about your photos - these are really wonderful photos!!! Keep it up!!!!