Sunday, 7 July 2013

Rain Rain Go Away


Saturday June 22 to Wednesday July 3
Bawley Point

It rained and it rained and blew and it rained and it blew for 5 days.  I have never seen rain like it and the wind was frightening.  Not a lot of photos unfortunately as too wet to get out.
I stayed two nights at the Racecourse Beach caravan park at Bawley Point.  Ok but there are better.  I was unable to start work at the cottages because of the weather.  I moved up the highway to Lake Tabourie.  Much better accommodation in a cabin as it was far too wet and windy to set up the trailer annex.  A very bleak week in more ways than one testing both me and the trailer which leaked badly, unfortunately.

Lake Tabourie is a nice spot about 12ks south of Ulladulla which is also a friendly, picturesque town.  There are some pleasant walks to do which start in the caravan park and take in the beaches on either side of the lake and around the lake itself.
 
 
 


Because I booked in under a non-refundable special deal I was at the park till the morning of Thursday July 4.  The last 3 days were very still and very sunny a huge contrast to the previous week.  This encouraged me to venture out and do a trip down to the Eurobodalla Botanic Gardens just so of Batemans Bay.  Terrific botanic display based on plants indigenous to the coast and hinterland.  No exotics but plenty of hoppers!!

 
I left the park at 7.30 as I was awake at 3 am.  Drove back to Batemans Bay and picked up the Kings Highway which the Canberraites use to very regularly to reach their holiday houses on the coast.  A very hilly winding drive but quite nice as the highway takes you over the Great Dividing Range.

Arrived at Queanbeyan around lunch time and topped up the fuel tank for the drive through to Gunning on the Hume Highway.  Nice afternoon tea in the town.  Decided to drive on to Gundagai and visit the dog on the box.
 

Unfortunately he is surrounded by lots of commercial activity but he is indeed “5 miles from Gundagai”.  The town itself is very pleasant even on a grey, cold day.  I considered staying here for more than one night but decided to head for Albury and Wodonga via Tumut and Adelong.

Some nice country side along the road to Tumut and some interesting alluvial gold mining ruins in Adelong.

Friday July 5 and Saturday July 6
Albury – Wodonga

Arrived at a pleasant little caravan park west of Wodonga mid-afternoon.  Both cities, yes they are cities not towns, are typical of places like Devonport (sorry if you’re not an islander that will mean nothing to you).  Grey, cold and a few light showers.


Saturday dawned a bit brighter day so decided to do the tourist thing.  Visited the botanical gardens in Albury and then decided to drive out to Lake Hume just out of Albury. 





 Very impressive body of water and an awesome engineering achievement.
 

  
Did a delightful drive around the lake to Tallangatta and back to Wodonga.

Sunday 7 July
Up late for me after suffering what I think was some msg problems from last night’s Chinese takeaway.  On the road by 10 heading for Chiltern and the Mt Pilot National Park.  Arrived about an hour later.  After considering the map of the NP, the low cloud and my destination goal for the day I decided to forgo the walk up the mountain.  It is now on the revisit list.

But do visit Chiltern if you get the chance.  A lovely little historic town with some stunning historic streetscapes.  I was going to use a heap of pixels on photos but the whole scene was spoilt by cars parked everywhere.
Drove along some lovely flat roads and through equally flat country side heading for the Murray River.  Through Rutherglen and onto Yarrawonga.

Yarrawonga is on the shores of the Murray River and Lake Mulwala which is created by a weir on the river.  Mulwala township is on the New South Wales side of the river.
Will continue along the Murray(seen in the above photo on a foggy morning in Yarrawonga) heading for the Flinders Ranges.  Stay tuned!!!

Quirky tree art