22nd Feb

The last five days have seen some real contrasts. We have spent three days in the National Parks of Eastern Victoria and Western New South Wales and then a couple of days in Canberra with some friends.

Now when you think of Australia and try to picture the landscape, most people would have an image of huge deserted expanses of bushland, kangaroos hopping by and the coastline with surfers and, jellyfish and sharks (bit of a generalisation but not without elements of the truth). Over the last few days we have seen some parts of Australia which seem a bit of a secret. The mountainous regions between Melbourne and Canberra, sometimes known as the Australian Alps is just stunning. As we drove away from the coast and up 'The Great Alpine Road' it felt we were being transported into another country like France with steep twisting roads and horrendously steep drops off the edges. The only thing that gave it away are the ever present Eucalypts with a variety of species such as the Snowgum and other trees like the mountain Ash. There were familiar landscapes such as the steep climb for a 1000 metres or so and then the alpine plains with isolated homesteads (what do they do for a living? we kept asking ourselves). The Alpine National Park was the first we got to and like the others we were to travel through is just vast. It totals 646 000 hectares and is sparesly populated but attracts thousands of avid skiers and snowboarders during the winter (June, July, August). One could be forgiven for thinking Australia never gets cold enough for snow but once you get the altitude then the snow will come! Our campsite for the night was high on the plains but unfortunaley the map neglected to tell us that the site is off the road and there was no access. We managed to squeeze the van down a small track and enjoyed a very peaceful night after investiagting the mountian hut that you can stay in if you are hiking through. Very sparse with wooden bunks and fun to read the messages in the visitor's book.

The following day we headed up the moutnain to the second highest moutian in OZ which is Mt Hotham. It's basically a ski resort and if you've ever been in a ski resort in Summer you will aprreciate the eeriness and spookiness of an empty resort with lots of lifts and infrastructure but no people. Over the top of and down the other side to continue what we thought would be a long driving day through the mountians but we got as far as the town of Bright and came to a grinding halt when we stopped at the visitors centre (all so very helpful in OZ) and also discovered a little jem of a park with brilliant children's climbing frame (more like fortress actually) and a river where they had built a small dam to create a swimming area. Now I think Health and Safety in the UK would have had a fit at this but the town, like nearly all we have been through, thinks children are very important and building fantastic recreational facilties over rode the politics. They had built a jumping platorm out over the water and also a 15 meter slide. The children and I had a ball playing in the water. As usual Isla was the first to thow herself off but eventually the older two joined in and loved it. So we left Bright around 3 with another two hours driving to get intot the the next National Park, timed perfectly with the children gettting tired and hungry so the long climb up the steep winding road into the moutains lost a bit of its appeal and romance. This was all eclipsed when we arrived at Lake Catina in Mt Buffalo National Park which is beautiful. Although it was fairly remote it had hot showers (solar powered) and normal facilties, although the lighting is very unpredicatble so I had a shower in the dark which was fine but the Kookaburras laughing away in the forest just outside did make it a bit spooky. They are fascinating birds but don't half make a noise when they get going on their laughing squawk!

Before leaving the Park the next mroning to head for the final big one before Canberra, two big things happened. The first was a slight altercation I had with a fence post reversing the van out of the campsite and the second was a stunning walk up a granite outcrop called the Monolith. The van is really hard to reverse as the rear wheels are so far forward from the back of the van so the tail of the van moves around all over the place. Anyway I caught the very bottom right corner on some wire on the fence post and it proceeded to snap about five rivets holding the corner piece onto the van. No real harm done and I though I'll just get it sorted at the next Apollo base. I swore in my head an awful lot though as it was so avoidable. The walk up the monolith and the photos for this bit actually do do it justice for the sheer beauty of the view you get from the top. Just a stunning haze over mountain tops with a bright blue sky, sprinklings of wombat pooh and us catching our breath each time we turned round to admire the view. There is something special about granite mountains which makes them so different. I think it's because they feel so much more solid and permanent. Often the boulders look like they could topple at any moment but have obviously been around for millions of years and are going nowhere. We had a good chat with a group of school kids and their teachers who were ineterested in our travels. What a place for a field trip and they were only 20km from their school! Meg did a great job of walking as did the other three and we had some good chats along the tracks about where the school children might have come from (before we found out they were a school party) and why Wombat pooh is cube shaped!

The remainder of the day was a long driving one but, as I commented to Michele later was one of the most enjoyable drives I have ever had. The roads were gently undulating, fast enough to really eat up the km and stunning scenery as a back drop - I love my van! The children did occupy them selves with the contents of their rucksacks for a couple of hours which made it very peaceful. One stop of interest was to view the remains of a town called Tallangata which in 1954 was threatened by reservoir what flooding the valley so they decided to move it. Over 12 months the whole town was moved 10 km down the vally on the backs of trucks. We stood at a lookout by the road and could make out the old roads in the fields and some of the old building's foundations. It was a real 'blitz' mentality apparently.

The last stop of the day before a long drive into Kosciuszko National park and our campsite was at a town called Corryong. Michele did some washing and I headed up the high street for a haircut. The guy at the visitor info told me it was just up the road and I couldn't miss it as it was also a fishing shop. Little did I know I was in for a bizzarre experience. The guy was at least 75 and had a 100 year old barbers chair behind the shop counter. So there I was sat facing all the incoming fishing shop customers which he served in between breaks from doing my hair ( no mirror in front of me or anything - just the till and the customers). I asked for a grade 1 all over knowing full well he didn't know what the hell a grade 1 was. Well he skinned me - I went back to Michele and the girls and they thought I looked like an prison escapee. There's a picture which we took when I took the children and Michele back to the shop to meet this lovely character and get a piccy. With my head distinctly lighter we drove towrds Thredbo in the Kosciuszko National Park having a good laugh and thanking God I didn't have to go to work the next day!

On the way into the park we saw a vast Hydro electric power station making renewable energy for up to a million homes. The water comes via 4 metre diameter pipes from reservoirs higher up the moutntains. The three pipes can carry 243 tonnes of water per second to the turbines. These are the kind of things you can do with such incredible natural resources. There are several dams and power stations in the park and it all makes good common sense.

Our continued drive allowed us to tick off another of the native Aussie animals on our must see list; We saw a family of emus (a mum and five chicks). They crossed the road in front of us! We pulled up and loved watching them as they meandered slowly back into the bush. The children were agog as usual. Rosie especially loves animals and is often the first to spot birds of prey, distant animals and one her favourite driving pastimes - road kill spotting. We have seen a lot of dead wombats and quite a few kangaroos on our travels in OZ so far and for some reason it seems a bit more upsetting than the foxes, badges and hedghogs we get at home. Michele and I were lucky enough to spot another large snake as it slithered across the road. This one actually reared up at the van as we went over it as if to strike. It passed safely between the wheels. We often feel guilty ast the children have only got one side window for viewing the wild life and we get a grandstand seat!

The Kosciuszko National Park is the largest in New South Wales at 690 000 hectares and enjoys the similar splendour and majesty as the other alpine national parks we have visited. It contains Mt Kosciuszko, Australia's highest mountain at 2228 metres and has suffered recently from massive fire damage. In Dec 2003 6 small fires started but were brought under control quite easily but then in the January there was an electrical storm which started 160 separate fires which soon became one. When the fire was brought under control in the March about half the park had been destroyed. It is amazing to see the regeneration which has taken place since then. The Eucalypts bounce back quite easily apparently as they have buds which remain dormant and are triggered by the heat from a fire. Other trees which are self seeding are not so lucky in the regeneration stakes.

We stayed in Thredbo and the following morning, before driving to Canberra, we went into the town which is another ski resort but operates as a summer resort as well. We took the children up a ski lift onto the mountain tops which they had never experienced before. The peace and serenity of a long ski lift trip can't be beaten and we all enjoyed a cup of hot chocolate at the cafe before returning to the village and had a treat for the children. We'd got tickets for a 700 metre bobsled ride where you shoot down a run using a lever to control your speed on what is basically a tea tray. We were the only ones on it and I had to take the three youngest because of their ages but nevertheless they screamed with delight all the way down. Michele had a go with Connie and quashed the demons she had about these rides after a bad experience in Chamanoix a few years ago. It was incredible fun and we loved our time in Thredbo even though it was just a night and a morning. Lunchtime came and it was in the van for the long drive to Canberra.

Apologies for the long entry by the way - hope we are not boring you. We are using the BLOG entries as our diary as well so we didn't want to miss the details of the last few wonderful days.