Trip 2003 Part 4

Day 22 Melbourne to Bairnsdale.

From Melbourne we drove to Bairnsdale which is in Gippsland to visit some friends of Anne, the wife was originally from Malaysia. The route was down the Gippsland highway past the large brown coal open cut mines at Yallourn and Morwell then on to Sale. From here it was a straight run to Bairnsdale.

Friends and the travellers at Bairnsdale.
Day 23 Bairnsdale to Wangaratta.

We first visited the Patterson Lakes then followed the Alpine Highway over the Great Dividing Range. It was a twisting road in parts and it past through several old gold mining and timber cutting settlements. Last year at this time this area suffered severe bushfires and the area outside Omeo one could see the large tracts that were burnt out. Lunch was eaten at Omeo in the Park which also had a large water wheel from the now closed gold mines where it used to power the stampers.
After the climb we were travelling across the alpine meadows but when we reached Mt Hotham, which is a popular ski resort in the winter, the cloud cover came down and we were in heavy fog for the next 50 kms and had to crawl along following the yellow lines as the visibility was down to only a few feet. The view from Mt Hotham, when it is clear, is supposed to be magnificent across all the mountain ranges but not this time! In all my years travelling in Victoria I have not been this way before.
Once we descended the mountains we were in Bright, another old gold mining town but now a popular tourist resort both for summer and winter. This area is now is an important fruit growing area and we visited a fruit farm which makes some nice raspberry and blueberry wines and also bought some fresh blue berries and blackberries.
Myrtleford was just a little further on down the road. Originally it used to grow most of Australia’s tobacco but now very little is grown here due to the anti smoking campaign.
We detoured into Beechworth, a town with a long and distinguished history. It was again another ex gold mining town and it has many historical government buildings plus a bakery which is famous all over the state for its pies. However it was now after closing time so we pushed on to Wangaratta for our overnight stop.

Day 24 Wangaratta to Cooma.

The start of the road through the Snowy Mountains.

Wangaratta is in the southern end of a famed red wine producing area especially for the fortified wines. So we visited one of the vineyards Browns Brothers where we purchased some excellent ports and muscats. We then drove on the Murray Valley Highway past Rutherglen and onto the High Country at Corryong. Passing the large Hume Reservoir showed how little rain had fallen over the last few years as the old drowned town of Tallangatta was visible and it was surrounded by fields instead of being under many feet of water. After lunch here we then drove along the Murray River which was now smaller river into the foothills of the Snowy Mountains. The road was now narrower and once New South Wales was entered. It started climbing up to the Tumut 1 and Tumut 2 Dams which are high in the mountains. Here the water is diverted underground into underground power stations then into the Murray River where it is used for irrigation, instead of flowing in the other direction down the Snowy River to the ocean. The girls found it a little chilly here as we were quite high and this road is closed by snow during the winter. We stopped at Cabramurra which is the highest town in Australia then down to Cooma passing large areas that were burnt out in the bushfires last year. Cooma was the headquarters of the Snowy Mountains Authority which started after WW2 to develop the irrigation and electricity production of Australia by diverting rivers and building dams in this area.

Day 25 Cooma to Canberra, Days 26 and 27.

Canberra is fairly close to Cooma but it was booked out due to a motor show being on the same weekend, but we got a camping site in a caravan park. We visited the main sites which included a good tour over the Parliament House and the War Memorial and a drive around Lake Burnley-Griffin. There is a lot to see at the War Memorial which has several light and sound shows on throughout the day. A full day could be spent here but we left after 5 hours to see the other sites of interest. As it is the nation’s capital many of the government headquarters are here and the embassies. However time did not allow us to visit more sites. Canberra did not exist until the 1920s and it was designed by Burnley Griffin, a Canadian architect.

Day 28 Canberra to Sydney.

From Canberra the highway was taken until we left the highway to go into Goulburn which is noted for its Big Ram, a 15 metre high ferro cement sheep which is a popular tourist site. Some of our ladies spent ages looking at the items for sale. Since then the Big Ram has been shifted closer to the highway which now bypasses the town so more people can now visit it.

The freeway brought us to Sydney where we left it and stayed at a motel in Causala, visiting Liverpool for tea that night and an early night for a change.

Day 29 and 30 Sydney.

Outside the Opera House.

Rather than attempt to drive into the city with its terrible parking we travelled in by train which gives you a view of the different suburbs. We got off at Circular Quay which was the main port area but now is served by the many ferries. On our left hand side is the Opera House, the right hand side has the Bridge and The Rocks, site of the first settlement and it still has many original buildings. To see Sydney from different angles one has to do a cruise of the Harbour on one of the ferries, the one that visits Neutral Bay and Rose Bay as it pasts the main Sydney icons. Then you walk back from Circular Quay past a couple of historical parks then go to the top of the Australia Tower for a view over Sydney. After that some of the shops were visited including the restored and beautiful Victoria Arcade. There was a lot of walking involved here so there were some tired people I had to escort back to the train for the ride back to the motel.

Sydney Harbour Bridge from the Opera House.