Tumut – a short drive of 25km from our awesome free camp at Blowering Dam and checking into Riverglade Caravan Park. You must get tired of my oohs and ahhhs and awesomes etc but I cant help myself!   Oh Wow!   This park is situated right on the Tumut River with huge trees right throughout.   We have set up under a magnificent Maple Tree with an incredible leopard mottled trunk.   The woolly seed pods, crushed underfoot, seems like a carpet underfoot although there are some spiky not so old pods too – keep the jandals on!  

The huge tall poplars are magnificent and so regal, planted ad hoc or in a row to line the avenue or riverbank.   Elm trees with their bright green/yellow foliage offsets all the other amazing array of greens – we found the biggest site available and have a most comfortable camp set up.   I have a ton of room to set up my pilates mat and do my thing.   

There are young bulls in the paddock next door and a lot of sulphur crested cockatoos who love the fruit/nuts off the Black Walnut trees.    We watch a younger one playing on the ground, picking up nuts and tossing tthem in the air, picking up small sticks and throwing it sideways and then dancing around it in circles when it came to land.   Funny little hops and jumps and more tossing of leaves etc and semi rolling on the ground – having a lovely time!   At dusk they gather on the ground and forage and pick around the sites on the grass and under the trees.   They are all in extremely good condition and no wonder with endless fresh water and heaps of food.

The river is a hundred metres away through the trees – Kiwis – think of small icy rivers around Taupo region, with smooth rocks and pebbles.   The swiftness of the river, which is only about 30 odd metres wide at this point, is incredible – we reckon about 10-12 knots – tried to figure it out thinking of the speed in our boat.   A little further downstream it settles down so much so that you could ride the river in a almost sitting position and let it take you down a couple of hundred metres to calmer water. It is very shallow on the sides so on these really hot days (35 – 38 degrees) we sit on the edge and move further in to the faster flow, still able to sit on the bottom and let the icy water cool and pummel us with a nice spa effect.   Just fantastic

Fishing? Of course there are trout in these waters (you can actually use bait – criminal)!   Thankfully Bill only uses lures.   There are so many spots on this stretch to fish and yes, he is catching and having a heap of fun doing it!   Only small and all released back, but what fun.   We walked a kilometer or more at dusk and stopped in a number of places to throw in a line.   Still 30+ degrees until around 8pm and then it starts dropping gradually to around 20 for overnight.   Thank goodness it is a dry heat with virtually no humidity – although it is still tiring.