Tuesday, 2 December 2014

At last Australia reveals itself!  Jindabyne to Albury 2nd December 2014

Jindabyne to Albury

The storm from the previous night had completely gone and we awoke to blue skies with only a few clouds and a great view down onto Jindabyne Lake.  We headed for breakfast at the Rydges Horizons Snowy Mountain, where we were staying, to be offered not just the inclusive continental breakfast but a cooked breakfast with a wide range of options.  It was a tad slow but very welcome and little did we know that it would be some hours before we ate again.  

Having eaten and packed we made tracks for Thredbo along the Alpine Way.  Thredbo is the Snowy Mountain’s ski and snowboard centre and we did see a bit of snow on the top of the mountain and the piste runs down from the top, but this wasn’t the reason why we had made a beeline for the village. 

Snowy Mountain Pistes

The reason to visit the village was that it happened to have the highest golf course in Australia at 1370m and we had come to apply our skills.  Finding the golf course was easy but finding the location of the place to pay for a round and hire clubs was another thing. Nevertheless we succeeded and headed off to try our luck. The course was 9 holes, but with a par 5, 4s and 3s, and relatively tight with a fierce rough, ideal for losing balls. Stepping into the rough was a bit daunting since it was not clear what might be lurking. Around one of the ponds we could hear a frog croaking but couldn’t spot it.

Sheila playing golf in Thredbo

The end of a round

Having been exercised we left Tredbo relatively late, around 2pm, and headed off for Albury, knowing that we had some distance to travel considering the time. Many of the trees around the valley looked as if they were dead as the grey barks of the eucalyptus had no foliage which made them look petrified.

Petrified looking eucalyptus

We took a break in a clearing, known as Tom Groggins rest area, to eat a few crisps, a slice of cheese, a tomato and orange, which is all we had left in the car from the previous day's lunches. Sheila suddenly suggested that I turn around slowly, which I did, only to see a kangaroo bounding across the gravel car parking area and behind our car.  I turned to Sheila and then realised that, almost camoflauged behind her were a number of others . In fact we were encircled by a family of probably 5 to 6 kangaroos with the mother feeding a relatively large youngster.  We finished eating and moved back to the car and all of the kangaroos then regrouped. We waved them good bye and left them in peace.

Kangaroos

Female kangaroo with its joey in pouch

After the excitement of seeing my first kangaroo we headed on to our destination. The winding mountain road eventually opened up on one side to become a lush valley and to our surprise we spied three emus eating not too far from the side of the road.

A group of emus

Further down the road we spotted the Murray Hydro Power Station 1, part of the extensive Snowy Mountain Hydro scheme, and headed down the drive and into the visitor centre but also noted that the gates automatically closed at 4pm. By now it was 3:55pm so we checked inside and they confirmed that we might be locked in so we made a hasty retreat!

Snowy Mountain Hydro

At Khancoban we stopped for a pot of tea and a cookie, filled up with petrol and headed west out along the Snowy Mountain Highway towards Tallangatta.

It had been our intention to stay in Tallangatta but the limited accommodation and facilities made me decide to travel further to Albury.  Tallangatta is located on the south side of Lake Hume and the valley was flooded in 1956 to enlarge Lake Hume, which was eventually dammed, and the town moved west to a new location. Driving around the lake, one sees remnants of trees at the edge and middle of the lake – most odd.

Hume Lake

At Tangambalanga we joined the Murray Highway and headed north along the side of Lake Hume. At one point in the journey we crossed over the Murray River into Victoria from New South Wales (NSW) but then later realised that, Albury where we were staying for the night, which is close to the Murray River, is in NSW and only 500m from the state boarder, the Murray River being the state boundary.

Mike finished the day off with a glass of Campbells of Rutherglen's Bobbie Burns Shiraz, very nice and a wine made closeby.

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