Pt 2 - Day 30 - Over the other side of the mountains to see what we can find!!!

Today we got away by about 8:30.  The weather is fine which we are very happy about as we realise we have some pretty scary ascents and more importantly "descents" ahead of us.  We wave good-bye to the beautiful Jindabyne Lake and head towards Thredbo.  We stop in for a toilet break and a heart starter.  Outside temp is 10C.  As soon as we leave Thredbo our beautifully marked roads become narrower and the lines disappear and very quickly we find ourselves in a very windy, steep ascent up the mountain.  We see a sign that says the next 70 km will take you 2 hours, and that is without a van on!!!  Great!!!!!

This is the Great Dividing Range 1530m alttitude.

 Glen notices this sign while out taking photos.  Needless to say the trip is not one I would like to repeat.  I spend most of my time with my eyes closed and we have to stop to let the brakes cool down a little.

At one stage we come across this clearing, someone's farm nestled in the middle of it all!!!  So we survive the trip.  I officially have the tightest gluts this side of the Dividing Range!!!!  We stop and have a look at the Snowy River Hydro Scheme they have going here, which provides power to a lot of the state.  We then stop at the Khancoban roadhouse and fill the tanks back with water and get some supplies and head off to find a free camp for the night.
We have this free camp, just off the beaten track, ear marked for the night, but you never really know what they are going to be like.  The beauty over here is that if you don't like one, there is another not far or a caravan park.  All the towns are so close together.  In WA if you don't like a rest area you might have to drive another 100km to the next one!!  So we pull into the Murray River reserve.  Just a paddock next to a small part of the Murray River with a beautiful old tree and a long drop, right in the middle of the paddock.  We don't set up until about 1pm and we just love it.  The kids are immediately off playing in the water, outside temp is now 28C.  They crush rocks and make paint and proceed to create some masterpieces on the washed rocks from the river bed.

After a couple of hours we drag them and away and drive 20km into the local town, "Home of the original Man from Snowy River".  We do the "Jack Riley" museum and the lookout, which is very interesting, but we are all eager to get back to our little camp and build a fire.


We are all in love with this spot.  Tonight Glen gets out our barbi and we cook tea while the kids swim.  This is their bath for the night!! We eat by the river and cook marshmallows on the fire.  Livin' the dream!!!