Wednesday
With the rear window fixed, the air compressor rebuilt (meaning the air lockers now work!) and the car and trailer re-packed we departed on the Wednesday with plans to make it over the mountain and find somewhere to camp that night.
We headed out of Wodonga along the Murray Valley Highway towards Corryong. With the Hume Weir fairly full it was a great scenic drive (even though it was slightly overcast) and we stopped at Tallangatta to fill up the old girl.
The service at Tallangatta was brilliant and we took the time to fill up the water jerry cans (I forgot at home!) whilst chatting to the bloke running the store. Price for fuel wasn’t bad either.
Continuing along the highway it is an easy run however there are a couple of spots that will slow you down – due to ascents and descents.
With a quick stop at Corryong we pushed on to Khancoban where we stopped for a bit more of a rest. With a bum change done (and clothes changed!) for the young fella we pushed on to Geehi. The hill down to Geehi will always test your brakes especially when you are towing. Basically I went down the hill between 2nd and 3rd gear which had the brakes warm, but not overheated.
Lunch was made and consumed whilst at Geehi, however it was a shame to see how the ants have taken over the area at the moment. There is nothing worse than kids getting bit all of the time, and I fail to understand why the issue can’t be fixed.
With lunch done we packed up and pointed towards the long climb up to Dead Horse Gap. Twice I had to drop back into first gear whilst climbing, and I pretty much spent the rest of the time in second gear slowly climbing up and up 🙂
We grabbed a couple of photos at Dead Horse Gap and stopped at the river just down the road to fill up the kids water bottles – it’s great fresh running water!
Continuing on past Thredbo we arrived at Jindabyne and turned down Barry Way for a few km’s. From there we turned left onto the Snowy River Way to Dalgety where we stopped and had a look at the Snowy River and the old historic bridge that’s still standing very strong.
Still on the Snowy River Way we followed it all the way to the Monaro Hwy. The road is all bitumen now and it really doesn’t see much traffic whilst was a bonus for us and in my opinion a shame for everyone who misses out on the great views.
I didn’t get the elevation data but you do travel at a fairly good elevation for that area – it’s very similar in some respects to the Dargo High Plains road.
We turned off the Monaro Hwy at Bibbenluke and cut through to Cathcart via the dirt road past the NSW Fisheries ‘Black Lake Reserve’.
At Cathcart We headed into the northern part of the South Easts Forest N.P. The weather had started to really close in and I found the further we climbed up the Tantawangalo Mountain Rd the worse the fog became.
Due to the moisture content the road started to become quite slippery, so I ended up with the centre diff locked and I pretty much did the climb down to the Six Mile Creek camping area in 1st and 2nd gear.
Down the bottom of the hill it cleared up considerably and we took the time to have a good look around. Unfortunately for some bloody reason N.P have decided to bollard of the camping area, so being that we have a camper trailer there was no chance of camping there! Has us real happy at 1700h after a long day I tell you!
The thing that is most frustrating about it more than anything else, is I did take the time to research the area prior and there was no mention of bollards on their website at all. Bloody pisses me right off tio be honest.
Anyway we stopped to consider our options. Due to the weather we decided not to go up the Postmans Track to that camping area for a couple of reasons. The first is you’d have to cross the Tantawangalo Creek and there was every chance that it’d be up and running. The second is that we’d most likely damage the track especially considering I was towing at the time.
So we backtracked back over the mountain to Darragh Rd where we turned into the southern part of the South East Forests N.P. The drive down Big Jack Mountain Rd was quite stunning. Looking back at it I’d most likely say that the light rain definitely highlighted the ferns and the bush on that track.
Coupled with a good drop down to the valley on the drivers side of the road, and being a narrow dirt downhill road made for a slow descent that enabled us to take all of it in.
According to the 4WD Touring book by Lewis and Savage there was a chance of a bushcamp at the Rocky Hall Reserve. Well I have to admit embarressingly that we never found it…..
But we did have a damn good drive through to Wyndham where we decided to head straight through to Merimbula due to the time.
The run across was easy enough and I got to give the Narva 175 driving lights a good run – and I’m pretty impressed with them. They aren’t as good as the 225’s that are on the missus’ Prado, but they are plenty fine for what I need.
Anyway to finish of the day we ended up at the caravan park out on the point at Merimbula at about 2200h where we set up, had a late supper and crawled into bed. The next morning we got a shock at the $63 it cost for an unpowered campsite however that’s life I suppose. If anyone from N.P is reading this that had a part in the decision to bollard Six Mile – thanks for the $63 it cost us!
Part II of this story will come out once the magazine has published it’s story. All I will say at this stage is that we had a great time and felt more than welcome by the fella’s. If any of you ever get the chance to do a similar trip I’d strongly recommend it to anyone.
Cheers
Chris