Day 19: leaving Kosciuszko behind we headed east to Cooma. This small town was a convenient stop, and we took the opportunity to have our regular morning coffee and cake stop. Onwards north and we entered Australian Central Territory (ACT). We stopped in at the national parks office for some inspiration and to organist a camp for the night. We decided to stay at Orraral Campsite in the Namadgi National Park. There was lots of walking options from the site and ap...

Day 17: Today we walked up a mountain. After a night of torrential rain we were pleased that when we woke we could no longer hear the drumming of the rain on the roof of the van, and that there was blue sky outside. There was still a chill in the air, even in summer the temperature here is rarely far into double figures because of the altitude. Heading straight off we commenced our ascent of Mt Kosciuszko at Charlotte Pass. The road took us to 1835m, so we di...

Day 16: More mountain driving today. Setting off from our camp near Mt Bogong we were headed to the east and the highest part of the Alps, Kosciuszko. Heading east on the Alpine Way we first stopped at Talangatta, a town which was 'moved' in the 1950's to stop flooding from the Murray River. It happened to have a fine bakery and the biggest vanilla slices I've ever seen - we even had to share! Suitably revived we continued through Snowy River Country stopping a...

Day 15: We've spent today exploring Mt Buffalo National Park. Starting this morning with a run around Lake Catani for Caroline as Gareth faffed around making breakfast. Heading on we walked up to the Horn. This is the highest point in the national park, but it was an easy climb as we were able to drive Buddy most of the way. The top afforded spectacular views of the surrounding mountains. The clouds and mist obscured the more distant peaks, but we could still se...

Day 14: The Great Alpine Road lived up to its name today. We started from our camp for the last two nights at Buchan and joined the road at Bruthen. The first section took us through rolling hills of pasture and bush. Stopping at a town called Omeo to grab some provisions we got tempted into little bakery for a coffee and cake stop. Elevenses over we headed off from Omeo. Now the terrain became more mountainous. We headed up and up with switchbacks and tight be...