Well that was the name of a hill we ended up on yesterday – and you know what! They’re bloody right – it is a big hill!
Anyway back to the start I suppose.
The girlie and the newest member of our family disappeared for the weekend, leaving me alone with the ‘normal’ three that I’ve had to put up with for a few years.
So I don’t know about you fellas – but staying at home with three school kids doesn’t appeal to me too well! Actually it annoys the **** out of me!
So I decided to show them around the Albury/Wodonga area, with the plan being to visit a couple of hills and the Hume Dam/Weir. It all started well too – maybe that was a sign of the madness to follow!
So first crazy thing for the day – take a 1993 Landrover Defender that’s having the interior being rebuilt (read – no dash/radio/anything basically); add three or is that four kids and go for a drive in cold weather.
But that part was alright – the sun was out!
Sorry, where was I? Ah hills – yep we found one. Approximately 2 km’s from our house actually – and it’s called Eastern Hill – wonder if that’s because it’s in East Albury?
Smart people this border lot!
But I could still see my house – which wasn’t the idea behind this day trip. So I drove a little bit further. Oh and I fed the kids McDonalds
On the Victorian side of the border they have this little place called Huon Hill Parklands – a lot of words meaning it’s a hill! So we drove up it. And yep – it was a hill.
For those wanting to experience this hill, it’s behind Bandiana – however they close the place on Total Fire Ban days. I thought it was a wank initially until I drove up there. It’s one way in and one way out – very easy to be trapped – hence the decision.
They have a couple of BBQ’s, a toilet block and some tables etc in the area – so it wouldn’t be a bad place to go for lunch if you’re in the area.
I also noticed that time capsules now come in concrete, planted on top of hills! Something different I suppose.
Now it was around about here that something went wrong – I think. I was explaining to the kiddies that we might go down and take a look at the Weir. Ben asked me about the little platforms they have on top of the hill. They are all named different (e.g. Kiewa, Hume etc).
I explained that they were named after landmarks in the direction they faced. However he suggested that the one called Hume wasn’t because of the weir, it was because the Murray River was initially called the Hume River. Can’t argue with that logic I suppose.
And it’s bloody good to know that he’s learning something about this country at school too! 😯
So we started driving down the hill (this is leading to something, trust me!).
And the locals didn’t want to move.
They moved
And then the kids saw snow on the hills – told ya these hills screw ya up!
So here I was, sitting in the vehicle outnumbered 3:1 wondering how I was going to get out of this one!
So with my arm twisted I pointed the bonnet towards the hill that looked white – well I was being told that it was the Snowy Mountains at the time which took a damn lot of explaining to a 6 year old – I tell ya!
So down the Kiewa Valley Highway we went. Did you know that bugger goes for over 100km’s – well I do now.
To be completely honest it was a nice pleasant drive. It’s pretty flat most of the way until you get to Mt Beauty. There’s some damn nice land along there too, would be a perfect place for a couple of acres and a nice little cottage.
It was at Mt Beauty that the signs (for dumb people!) started appearing about carrying snow chains. Being that I didn’t have any – actually I didn’t even have a jumper – I didn’t want to push it too far. Not that I’m worried about getting stuck (common sense prevails); I was more worried about the bull**** fines they love to hand out.
The initial plan was to continue up to Bogong Plains and turn around up there. But I never made it. Part way up the hill there was a sign advocating a scenic lookout and a little sign mentioning a hut (sorry I forgot the name). The hut interested me so I turned onto this dirt road/track and followed it along.
At a fork I took the left one as it headed up hill 😆 The downhill fork headed down to what appeared to be a power station (sub-station?). After quite a few km’s I came to locked gates. These tracks seem to be part of the yearly closures, although I find it quite interesting that vehicles are most certainly traversing the tracks still!
The kiddies and I decided to go for a walk to see where it led too.
Now has anyone ever been on one of those walks where ‘we’ll just go a little bit further, it may be around the next corner’? Yep. it was one of those walks 😆 Remember I said I didn’t have a jumper! To cut the story short – we walked up a hill for 80 minutes, found a tower and snow and mud, and then it took 40 minutes to walk back. But we had a lot of fun doing it along the way.
I’ll let the pics do the talking now!
We um got home a little late but it was a bloody good day spent with the kids – and they slept well!
The hill that the photos show with the snow on it is Mt Bogong. The hill that we climbed is actually called Big Hill. I found this out when I got home and looked at the maps. The maps also showed that the walk we did started at approx 950m elevation, and the tower was at 1350m – probably why the kids slept well!
I look forward to having more of a look around this area. There is meant to be a track from the Bogong Plains area through to Omeo – might be my Melbourne Cup weekend trip …..
Now – how to explain this trip to the girlie when she gets home……..