The loop is closed!

I have been remiss in updating my blog over the last week, because I was busy closing the loop around Australia. I arrived in Thredbo two days ago and have moved into my new apartment. Because it was empty for a couple of months it needed a lot of dust and cob web removal, which gave me a good opportunity to test my new Miele vacuum cleaner. Now I just need to pick up the stuff that I shipped from the UK, which includes a bunch of paintings to go on the walls. But I am getting ahead of myself, let me tell you a bit more about the last part of my drive.

The path that I followed from Torquay, from where I posted my last report, was determined by friends that I wanted to visit. First I drove to Croydon, which is an outer suburb of Melbourne where a friend of mine dwells on a large, but steep block of land. I got there on Saturday morning and he took me around to another friend's place for brunch. The suburbs around Croydon are very established and have some nice houses in leafy gardens. The drive into the City takes about 25 minutes on a weekend, but is probably significantly longer in business traffic. About 20 minutes in the other direction you get to the Yarra Valley, which is a wine region and an easy to reach recreational area for Melbournians. To keep up my daily step count we went for a 15 K walk along the Lilydale to Warburton rail trail. It follows the old railway line and as such doesn't have any steep hills. Despite the hot temperatures the walk was very pleasant and there are water bottle refill stations along the way and keep up your moisture content.

Lilydale to Warburton Trail

A white horse under a tree (for all my friends with teenage daughters)

From Croydon I headed across the Black Spur to Alexandra, where another couple of friends, whom I haven't seen for 10 years, made their home. The drive over the Black Spur is very pretty, leading through forests of tall mountain ash and fern trees.

The road over the Black Spur

Outdoor education is one of the main industries of Alexandra and the couple of friends I stayed with make their living from it. They have a fantastic house set on an acre of gardens, with an entertainment area, complete with self-built pizza oven, which they fired up in my honour. Getting a pizza oven up to full heat takes about three hours, which means that you need to start mid-afternoon and attend to it diligently, adding wood and stoking the fire. Naturally this is a job that needs to be accompanied by beer drinking. I volunteered to assist in the proceedings...

The pizzas were fantastic and we managed to eat, drink, chat and be entertained until way past midnight. One of my hosts, with whom I worked on the mountain in Thredbo 20 years ago, has taught himself to play the ukulele and guitar to a very high standard.

The next day we drove into a nearby town called Mansfield, where an ex-employer of ours now owns a coffee shop and a pub. The coffee shop, called the Mansfield Regional Produce Store, was absolutely packed with people eating and drinking. The clientèle was very much what you would expect to see in the inner city, rather than in a country town. Apparently there are a lot of ex-city dwellers in the area, living on small farms after what they call "a tree change". The pub was less busy and will probably be a bit more of a challenge. They acquired it only recently and it will take a lot of work to bring it into the same class of establishment as the coffee shop. 

The Produce Store, worth a stopover for a coffee and home made cake

In the afternoon I went for a walk in the Cathedral Range State Park. There are many signed walks on offer, right up to the summit of Cathedral Mountain, but I only took a small loop walk in the bottom of the valley. It was pleasantly cool, walking through dense vegetation along a creek. I looked for platypus, but couldn't spot any.

Platypus country, but I didn't spot any

My friends gave me some tips on a route to take from Alexandra through the Victorian Alps up to Thredbo. I heeded their advice and set out the next morning in direction of the Mitta Mitta valley. To start with I drove to Mansfield and then across a small mountain range into the King Valley, yet another wine region. The first town I got to was called Whitfield. From there the road heads north-west to Wangaratta, but, since I wanted to head towards the east, that looked like a detour to me. My camping book showed a direct route from Whitfield to a town called Myrtleford, which is directly east. It took me a few attempts to find the road, which is more of a gravel track, but easily passable, even without a four wheel drive. The only hazard to look out for along the way are logging trucks, which came at speeds that wouldn't allow them to stop if you get in their way. The gravel road wound itself through very pretty hills and valleys until it reached the Buffalo River. There it turned into a sealed road again for the last thirty kilometres to Myrtleford.

Along the direct route from Whitfield to Myrtleford

At Myrtleford it joined The Great Alpine Road, which leads from Wangaratta, in the north of Victoria, to Metung on the south-east coast. The stretch that I drove led through Bright, up to Mt Hotham and then down to Omeo. The views from Mt. Hotham across the Victorian Alps are spectacular, as is the road heading up to it.

The view from Mt Hotham to Mt Buffalo (right in the back)

View of Omeo down along the descent from Mt Hotham via Dinner Plains

In Omeo there was a road sign "Mitta Mitta 99 km". I thought that I would get there in a good hour or so. Little did I know that the Omeo Highway, as the road is called, is one of bendiest roads that I have ever driven. It took me 2 hours and 15 minutes to get to Mitta Mitta. In the beginning I enjoyed the steep cliffs running along pristine rivers, but about an hour into the drive I was craving a straight bit of road. I actually began to get road sick, which has rarely happened before when I was driving myself. By the time I got to my destination I was exhausted. It turned out that this day was the longest drive that I did on my whole journey, despite it being one of the shorter legs.

<no pictures of Mitta Mitta, I was too buggered to take any>

The next morning I drove into Albury/Wodonga a couple of joined up towns on the NSW/Victorian Border. I went there for the purpose of acquiring some electronics. I needed a TV and a printer for my new apartment. After getting a couple of bargains I started to head towards Thredbo. My plan was to camp at the Geehi Flats, which is an old grazing area south of Thredbo along the Alpine Way. But before that I wanted to do a walk to get the long drive from the previous day out of my system. I stopped at Huon, on the shores of the Hume Weir, and walked along the High Country Rail Trail. My plan was to walk to the 600 metre long bridge over Sandy Creek and back. Unfortunately heavy rain set in about 45 minutes into my walk, so I turned around and drove on. I stopped again closer to the bridge and walked to it from there, so I can bring you a picture. The bridge was only recently renovated and has a rather modern look and feel. Further along the road towards Corryong you can visit an original old trestle bridge over Boggy Creek, only about 500 metres walk from the road.

The renovated bridge over Sandy Creek

The old bridge over Boggy Creek

Because the rain persisted all day long and my appointment to take over the keys for my apartment was the next morning I decided to stay in motel. I selected the Alpine Inn in Khancoban, the last town before my intended camping spot. I went to the bar for some dinner and found that an old acquaintance from Thredbo was the cook. The food was simple, but wholesome, just what I needed after a day in the rain. I was glad that I stayed at the inn, because at about 1 o'clock in the morning there was an almighty thunderstorm, not something that I would fancy staying in a tent.

The last stretch from Khancoban to Thredbo leads along the Alpine Way. It crosses a couple of spurs until you get to Geehi Flats and from there it climbs up to Dead Horse Gap, it's highest point. The southern falls of the Snowy Mountains are much more spectacular than the northern approaches, which are a lot more gradual. From Mt. Townsend to Geehi Flats is a distance of 8 km, with a drop of 1700 metres (5100 ft. for my American friends). I remember walking out to Mt. Townsend with some friends who then paraglided down to the flats. The weather on the day of my drive was still wet, with low clouds, so I can't show you any pictures. I promise I will walk out to Mt Townsend in the near future and will post some pictures looking down to Geehi from above. 

Murray 1 Power Station between Khancoban and Geehi

Mist rising from the Murray Valley

Geehi Hut (renovated after the 2003 bush fires) 

The river Murray at Tom Groggin, I crossed it by car ferry in
South Australia a couple of weeks back

Not far from home, the highest point on the Alpine Way

Thredbo has given me a wet welcome. We had heavy thunderstorms for the last couple of days. Today I walked up to the top of the chairlift and back and got a good soaking. Luckily my new apartment has a drying cupboard.

Thunder clouds building up over Thredbo

Now that my drive is finished I am not sure how regularly I will update my blog. I hope that there will be plenty happening that is worth reporting and I will certainly post some pictures of the walks that I plan to do. But for now I will curl up on my couch, watch the rain and read a book.