Canberra to Cooma via Namadgi National Park

Over the past three weeks I drove down to Thredbo and Jindabyne three times, so got pretty used to clocking up kilometers on the Monaro Highway. This is why I wanted to take an alternative route today on my way to the Victorian coast. 

I headed south from Canberra to Tharwa and then straight ahead through Namadgi national park along Naas and Boboyan Road. The road is unsealed for a big part of the way, but it is in a very good state and could easily been done in a standard car, no four wheel drive needed.

I took a couple of breaks. First I stopped at Mt. Clear camp ground to pitch my new tent. This was just to practice setting it up and taking it down before I have to do it in earnest. It was a nice sunny day and I took all the time to follow the instructions. It was as easy as they promised in the advertising and it took me a matter of minutes to put it up. It is a Black Wolf Turbo Light tent. I got it at a very good price from Camping World Mitchell, which is an independently owned shop in Canberra. They matched a price that I found on the internet and saved me hundreds of dollars compared to the big camping chain-stores.

The second break I took just a couple of km up the road from the camp ground where I came to an old mountain hut. When I read the signs they described a walk called Settlers Track. It is a circular route of nine km with a shorter option of six km. I took the shorter option, which took me just over an hour. 

The track is well marked, so you don't need a map. Along the way there are various points where signs explain how the white settlement affected the high country and what the life style of the early settlers was like. I found it very interesting and I really enjoyed the walk, which undulates across some wooded hills and then through some grassy valleys and small bogs, where I could hear corroboree frogs. There was not another person in sight all the way.

The remains of a ringbarked tree

Westerman's Hut

After the walk I kept going south on Boboyan Road until I reached Adaminaby. This is a funny little town, with not really much to do or see, but it is one of the towns in Australia that is home to "something big". In the case of Adaminaby it is the Big Trout. 

The Big Trout

Rather than heading from Adaminaby to Cooma on the Snowy Mountains Highway I took the Yaouk road, which took me back up towards the Brindabellas. It takes a big loop back to the Boboyan Road near Shannons Flat, from where you can then take Shannons Flat road all the way to Cooma. I found Yaouk Road much prettier than the road that I took into Adaminaby. Of course, all of these roads are unsealed for most parts, but well maintained.

The Murrumbidgee River at Yaouk

Now I am in Cooma, where I will stay overnight before heading down to the coast via some other back roads tomorrow.