Waiting in Wodonga

22 Jan - Saturday
Yesterday we broke camp and headed towards Omeo. Mother Hubbard's cupboard was very bare. I think we had a much grander idea of what Omeo would be since a number of people have told us not to miss Omeo. It is very small and Tom said the little towns in Australia are like stepping back into the 50s and boy is that true here. There is one baker, one butcher, and one store that passes as a grocery store. I bought bare minimum to last us a few days as the prices here are exorbitant. But back to the 50s. The town has a little park with a swimming "pool". The pool is created by a small dam on the creek. It had lots of little (3, 4, 5 year old) kids playing on the spillway which was a great place to play as it was only ankle deep and not slippery. There was a dive platform where all the older kids were hanging out doing canon balls into the water. Both the units took a swim and the water was COLD but nice.

After leaving Omeo we continued on down the Great Alpine Highway to a campground on Victoria Falls Road. We found the campground right away but no sign of the falls so we drove and we drove - up and over hill and dale on a "dry weather road only" until we came to the end. We never found anywhere to get to the falls but we did finally find an overlook (almost) to the end of the road where you could see some falls "WAY over there!".

We returned to the campground and just as we were starting dinner it started to rain which cooled it down nicely. We were the only ones there and the birds were everywhere and lots of different kinds.

robins here are not the same as in the states

This morning we headed towards Mt. Hotham. We are currently parked in a little campground just outside Hotham Heights Alpine Village having breakfast.

24 Jan - Monday
The night of the 22nd we found a site in a very crowded Caravan Park close to Bright. Yish the town was PACKED - there's a century road ride going on to raise money for children's cancer. It's a pretty grueling course with lots of major uphill. We went into Bright yesterday morning so Trox could ride some local single tracks while I poked around town. By the time he got back - with a broken chain - it was pretty hot. After a dip in the local river swimming hole we headed towards Towanga and Mt. Beauty. We haven't made it yet. At the top of the pass is a neat overlook and we spent the night. We pull into an overlook and spend 16 hours - most people don't stay 16 minutes.

our view from the overlook

our breakfast table at the overlook

From here the home stretch of the bike race starts and when we got here there was still a check point waiting for the last stragglers. One of the guys had a pretty low sugar level and the EMTs were out of coke so they banged on our door. We had no coke but did have orange juice. After his slug of o.j. (with 3 teaspoons of added sugar) he and the other stragglers left for the last 15 kilometers or so (all downhill). Shortly after the checkpoint crew left and we mostly had the overlook to ourselves for the rest of the night. Not sure we'll make it all the way to Wodonga today but there really is no hurry.

25 January - Tuesday
Well we didn't even try. Ends up generator won't be ready until Thursday so last night we went back to Mountain Creek Campground where we stayed last week. Our plan was to get up this morning and have a leisurely breakfast and maybe a walk and a dip and then drive across the mountain to Mitta Mitta on the dirt road. Welllllll everything went as planned until we got about 4k up the road and found a downed tree blocking our way. Not having a chain saw with us and Bunyip couldn't push it out of the way (he tried his best but no go) our only alternative was to turn around. We are right now in Falls Creek and will stay somewhere over the mountain - maybe where we had breakfast last Friday. Then on to Wodonga tomorrow for two nights at the Big 4.

Falls Creek Falls

still finding wild flowers

In the Alpine Mountains there are huts all over the place. They are remnants of the gold era in the 1850s and so are historical relics but the park service maintains them as emergency shelters. They warn you not to stay in them as they are probably already occupied by rats etc but there is a fireplace in them and some have wooden bunks built into the walls. We've been a few and one had a pot bellied stove and one had a fireplace. I's amazing that they have survived as long as they have given the propensity for fires in this area.

one of the huts

a neat tree near a hut

these guys are everywhere

When we were here in Falls Creek last week we couldn't find the trail to the Falls Creek Falls so today we went searching and found it. Along the walk to the falls we spotted a group of Gang Gang Cockatoos!!!! We've been watching for them for a long time so were both thrilled to finally have spotted them.

Gang Gang - this is the male and pretty!

28 January - Friday
Humph! We are in Wodonga - been here since Wednesday - and NO generator yet so I guess we'll be here a few more days. Nice town so we'll go exploring here and have air conditioning at night so that is a plus. It has been HOT but because we are in a city not doing much there isn't much to post.

On our last day of road travel on our way into Wodonga we came across a cemetery. It had about 100 crosses but no labels. Not sure how old it was or anything else but it was kinda neat.

a rainbow at our last wild campsite

Glen Wills Cemetery

This guy was sunning himself along the highway