We force fed Jacob, our German bike rider, one final breakfast then bid him farewell and headed off towards the Murray river. Watching the Snowy River Scheme turbines on the way out we were reminded how amazing the Snowy River Scheme really is. With over 100,000 people working on it, including my Uncle Klaus and Fi's Great Uncle Ray, it was a huge engineering feat that took 25 years to complete and provides enough free renewable energy to power Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane and provides something like 11% of all the energy in Australia. Dams, pipes and over 145 kilometres of underground tunnels it is considered one of the top 7 civil engineering works in the world. The 80km of winding roads of the Alpine way was very pretty indeed, before it opened out to the head of the Murray River and the open fields overlooked by the Great Dividing Range. Our first stop was at a place called Jingelic, but we didn't like its proximity to the pub. At 50meteres from the campsite we felt our willpower was not strong enough to sustain our decision to go without booze for a couple of weeks so we moved on. We're glad we did as we ended up at a secluded site, about 25 minutes up the road right on the banks of the Murray River that was absolutely sublime. The boys put out their Yabbie net and then we decided to go for a swim. Meeting some canoeists on our way down to the river they warned us of the currents and suggested we put the boys in their life jackets just in case. We thanked them for their offer went back and grabbed a boogie board for me and headed up the river to take a nice long drift back to our camp. We were lucky that the boys did have the life jackets as the serene scene of us drifting slowly past the cows and sheep was lovely to begin with and we all waved at Fi as she took photos of us just as the current went from nice and gentle to strong and dangerous. The boys and I tried to paddle to the side as the river suddenly picked up and dragged us into the middle where the current was strongest. I did my best to feign indifference at our situation but it wasn't too subtle as the water got faster and then it pushed us very quickly towards some submerged trees on the side of the river and a pretty serious situation. I grabbed the boys tight but we hit the trees pretty hard and Harry, not aware of what to do, grabbed hold of one of the overhanging branches which is not the best things to do and he was slowly getting sucked under. Bailey freaked out and as I felt my grip loosen as I was beginning to get dragged downstream I just managed to just grab both the boys and forcefully yank them off the tree branches which broke and we drifted towards the next obstacle. Harry breached the surface just as we hit the next set of branches but this time I didn't let the boys hang on and we just slammed into them and broke a few more branches before I managed to grab them both and drag/swim them into the middle of the river away from the strongest part of the current. The boys were completely freaked out with Harry explaining to me through his gasping for air that it was the most traumatic moment of his life and Bailey just looked at me before breaking into a smile and screaming "Yeah!!! Lets do that again". Not likely, so we walked back up the river to our camp site and went to check the Yabbie net before chilling out to a lovely meal as the sun set on one of our loveliest camp sites yet.

Leaving the Murray River death rapids behind we headed towards our next stop closer to Melbourne and took a lovely scenic route towards Gipsland before stopping at Glenrowan. This was a small town where the famous Bush Ranger Ned Kelly, took his last stand and we visited the very average Ned Kelly museum and had a coffee at the local coffee shop which turned out to be most expensive we've had, yet made with the least love. As it was very windy and the temperature was ramping up, we headed further South and stayed at a secluded site with a smaller swimming hole, smaller creek, and less rapids then our last camp ground. All four of us got our bathers on, as it was 33c at 5:30pm when we got there, and had a lovely cooling dip before heading back to the campsite and sorting dinner before bed.

Breaking camp we headed up the Alpine Way, which was steep and winding, past the absolutely stunning town of Bright and headed to Mt Hotham. This was the start of a day of reminiscing for me as it was the first place I had learnt to ski as a kid and where my parents were members of a 70's built chalet called Asgaard which my Dad apparently helped build. Getting to the top, the views were spectacular but the chalet, whilst still standing, was almost falling apart and ready for some serious renovations so we took a quick photo and headed back down towards Traralgon, my birthplace, along the road past Omeo and along some lovely roads through the mountains and down into rural Victoria. Arriving at Traralgon we quickly located the house where I was brought back to when I was born then headed off to deliver a carton of king brown VB bottles to Leon Sweeney, a mate of my parents back in the 70's when they lived there, as my Dad had lost a bet that he'd made with Leon in 1972 and still hadn't repaid. When I knocked on their door unannounced smelling like a campfire and 3 day underpants and unshaven I suspected Trish, Leon's wife, would slam the door in my face then call the police immediately. When I explained to her the purpose of why I was standing on her doorstep with a carton of warm VB and who I was she beamed a lovely smile then ushered us in and we ended up staying for 4 hours sharing a couple of bottles of wine and a some pizza whilst reminiscing about their time with my parents and telling us all the secrets that my folks have been keeping from me all these years. It was a lovely evening. It was topped off by them asking, as we were backing out of there front yard, how good were we getting at revering the trailer. It was at this exact point I explained "well, to be honest, excellently….." before jack-knifing the trailer and smashing it into the back of Meg and cracking and smashing the left back indicator lights……ho hum…..the insurance company is going to be busy when we get back.