Managed to finish up my work relatively early, and headed home ready to do the final bit of packing and head off. I was really looking forward to this trip, as a lot of the area I hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t done before. Well I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve drove the coast road a number of times, as well as the Cooma area, but never the mountains along the coast.<\/p>\n
Well when I got home the wife said that the kids aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feeling the best. So she took them to the docs for a check-up. There went my plans for an early start. Once home result was that they were shaking off a chest infection and the quack wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t concerned, so we ended up heading off after lunch.<\/p>\n
I got approx 15km\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s up the road and the car was overheating. Did some checks and the new thermostat I had fitted to the old girl wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t opening at all. Head nice and hot, radiator nice and cold. Yippee. So I stripped the thermostat out and went back to the old habit of not running one. Something to fix when I got home. Wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t too concerned as I was going to the coast, not the snow (well I thought at the time).<\/p>\n
The run through to Talbingo was nice and easy. I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t pushing the old girl and sat around 80-90km\/h. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s amazing the amount of stuff you see at a slower speed compared to the normal rat race along the road. Good news was that the old girl wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t overheating anymore, and was running really nice.<\/p>\n
We climbed the hill from Talbingo to Kiandra and encountered our first surprise. There was a nice little snow\/rain\/fog storm going on, but to further surprise us the Variety Club Bash vehicles were driving the road with us. And I thought I was nuts. Funniest thing is I bet there were a few not carrying chains!<\/p>\n
Stopped for some photos along the way and eventually pulled into Adaminaby a fair whack behind time. The kids and the storm had thrown our plans out a fair whack and we were deciding wether to head to the coast tonight like we had planned, or to pull up stumps at Cooma. We decided that waking up next to the coast is a bit better than Cooma, so we continued on.<\/p>\n Grabbed some supplies in Cooma and headed down Brown Mountain \u00e2\u20ac\u201c I love that hill! Found a LR truck part way down the hill that had thrown a piston through the side of it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s block \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a little old Isuzu. Couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t exactly help them with that problem unfortunately, so we continued on down to Bega. By the time we arrived it had gone dark so we grabbed some KFC for dinner.<\/p>\n There are three ways to go from Bega to Bermagui. The first is up the Princes Highway to Cobargo and head in. The second is through Kalaru and Thathra and then up. But by far the best (in my opinion) is through Tarraganda, over Doctor George Mountain to Mimosa Rocks National Park and up from there. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very scenic and gets off the bitumen roads for quite a while. There are a couple of places to camp the night, but we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d already decided to stay in accommodation tonight due to the kiddies not feeling well, and the travelling time for the day.<\/p>\n Saturday 16 Aug 08<\/strong><\/p>\n The day started really well. We had a lazy morning and didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t leave the accommodation until 10am. From there we had a look around the town a little and let the kids have a play on the beach \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been a few months since they last seen the sea. Actually it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been a few months since I have, and I must admit to missing it. <\/p>\n Bermagui is a nice little place to set up camp for a few days. Great scenery, bloody nice weather and some good little stores as well (including the pub!). From Bermagui we worked our way west to Cobargo. This is hilly terrain but a really easy drive on bitumen roads. My plan from here was to go and have a look at Peak Alone (Wandella Fire Tower). This lookout enables views all the way out across the Pacific on a good clear day, which it was. <\/p>\n Well a couple of things worked against me here. First of all my seatbelt decided to pack it in, so that kinda made things a bit of a worry as I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like driving without it. Second and most embarrassing thing was that I missed the turn-off to head up there, and didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t realise until quite a few km\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s later, so we decided to give it a miss instead of back-tracking. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m kind of kicking myself about it now though.<\/p>\n The run from Yowrie through to the Wadbilliga Crossing is quite easy. It is narrow and slightly steep in places, but you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d get a soft-roader along the track easily enough. Highlight of this part of the trip for the kiddies was the wildlife we found.<\/p>\n The river at Wadbilliga Crossing is very easy. I have heard of it rising quite a bit after heavy rains, but with a concrete causeway I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be overly concerned about it. There is a toilet and a picnic table there etc. It was a pleasant enough area, but to be honest it didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do much for me. I think the best thing about the trip was the isolation, and you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t beat that.<\/p>\n The climb out of Wadbilliga Crossing I did in high range. It was a lot of first and second gear work but easy enough. You could use low range if you wanted to take it slower, but there really isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a requirement for it. However, the old girl decided that it was going to overheat again. I was racking my brains trying to work this one out, and to be honest even after the trip is over I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still grasping at straws a little.<\/p>\n I got up to the top of the hill and let it settle a little. No coolant leaks or loss, just nice and warm. I was worried that the mud I had played in the other day had caused some issues, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m half suspecting the fan clutch at the moment \u00e2\u20ac\u201c as it only happens now and again. It has travelled over the mountains without a problem, and the only two times this trip it occurred has been first and second gear climbing up trails\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n Coming down the other side of the park you go through some private property. The only thing that is asked is that you leave the gates as you find them. The crossing of the Tuross River was easy, but it is also easy to see how this river could cause some problems with a bit more depth. After the crossing you are back on the main road to head either to Nimmitabel or Numeralla.<\/p>\n We had planned to stay the night at the Cascades camping area near Tuross Falls. However dopey here had left our basic cutlery (knife, fork, spoon) at home so we figured that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d do the detour to Numeralla and get some for the night. Well little old Numeralla doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have any shops at all so that wrecked that plan. There is however a toilet there! Jessica had been getting slowly worse over the course of the afternoon with her coughing, and seeing the worry written on the wife\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s face, I figured that camping tonight might make for an unlucky night.<\/p>\n So I bit the bullet and drove into Cooma. Well Cooma decided that it was totally booked out that night other than some pretty damn expensive motels. Now I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t handle another motel again, so I phoned up Anglers Reach and booked us into the cabins for two nights.<\/p>\n On the way out of town we stopped and had a look at the lookout as well as this little craft store just after the lookout. The sun killed any chance of getting some decent photos, and to be honest it was one of them lookouts where you wished someone with a chainsaw would get rid of some of the trees. I really don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand having a lookout where you can see stuff all because of the foliage.<\/p>\n The craft store ended up being an absolute delight. Hidden away was quite a few old goodies that the kids had never seen before, so it ended up being a good little education for them. We had drove past there a number of times on previous trips, but had never realised about it. <\/p>\n Finally we drove on up to Anglers Reach and set up home for the next couple of nights. The lake is down on water a hell of a lot to what I remember from a few years back. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never seen it that bad before. However the animal numbers are certainly still there, from the kangaroos and wombats through to the various birds around.<\/p>\n That night we caught up on the Olympics and generally sat back and relaxed. Jessica was still coughing a lot and feeling pretty crap, so even though I was disappointed in missing out on my original plans, it was a case of having to do it or risk further deteriation in her health.<\/p>\n Sunday 17 Aug 08<\/strong><\/p>\n Waking up fairly early we sorted out breakfast whilst the kids fed some birds. Had a look at the temperature gauge and it was still -4 degrees at 8am. Remember me taking out the thermostat earlier on \u00e2\u20ac\u201c yep I was thinking the same thing. I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t try to start the old girl until 10am, and it struggled a lot. It had me worried for a little whilst, and then I realised that the diesel was struggling to get through. A phone call later to the certain service station in Cooma, and I found out that he isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t running alpine diesel. The comment was something along the lines that it costs too much. I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe it \u00e2\u20ac\u201c note for future trips, ask IF it is alpine\/winter mix!!!<\/p>\n The modified plan for today was to tour around the lake and work our way across to Jindabyne. We start off by taking a look at Old Adaminaby. The lake is that far down that the ruins of their old houses are showing and in some cases are actually on dry land. An older gentleman I was talking to down there said that he \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcnever ever thought he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d see the day when they would ever see them again\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n We headed over to Adaminaby and stopped in at the bakery there. If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never been to the bakery, stop and go. The bread is some of the best that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve tasted, and they also have other stuff there that tastes equally as good. We continued on to Middlingbank skirting Lake Eucumbene. We had started a game whilst travelling which was centred around spotting windmills. For broken and not working ones, you got a point. For working ones, you got two points. At the end of the trip, the boys and I were beat by the girls \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 41 points to 46 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c bugger.<\/p>\n From Middlingbank we headed down into Buckenderra. This place is basically a tourist haven and you even have to pay to go to the lake side. Bugger that for a joke, so I departed fairly quickly. I did however get a couple of shots of some animals in the district!<\/p>\n We travelled along Wainui Road, a gravel road that links Buckenderra to Eucumbene Cove. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a great little run with some good views. The kids enjoyed themselves, as we caught up with a farmer and his dog\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s droving some sheep up the road. There are some damn fine horses up that way as well \u00e2\u20ac\u201c looked really healthy.<\/p>\n Popped out just east of Eucumbene Cove and continued on down. Somewhere along the lines I did my normal whilst looking for somewhere to sit down and cook lunch. A nice little up-hill track sign posted \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcWater Tanks Trail\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 led up to a track junction at the top of the hill. The signs read: \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcWater Tanks Trail\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcBorrows Trail\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcTrig Trail\u00e2\u20ac\u2122. I had a look at the topo maps and other maps of the area I have, but there isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t anything listed.<\/p>\n Not knowing where they headed and wether or not they were private property; I opted not to investigate further. However if anyone knows anything about these tracks and where they lead, please let me know. I cooked lunch whilst we were there. The kids played in the two bits of snow left up there as I cooked up Hamburgers and kebabs. The little butane stove doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like the higher altitudes, so I resorted to the normal burner.<\/p>\n SNEAKY……..<\/p>\n Coming down of the track we headed into Jindabyne. After travelling around Lake Eucumbene and a fair whack around that area on other trips, Jindabyne does absolutely nothing for me. The lake is fairly nice, but there are way too many tourists around for my liking.<\/p>\n From Jindabyne we travelled back to Anglers Reach. An interesting note though \u00e2\u20ac\u201c I stopped for fuel at Berridale as I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d finally dropped under \u00c2\u00bd a tank. I asked this time if it was alpine mix and the lady behind the counter was a tad surprised that I asked. When I mentioned that the last place didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t use it when I presumed it did \u00e2\u20ac\u201c she said straight away \u00e2\u20ac\u201c \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcdid you get it from Cooma as some of them don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stock it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122?<\/p>\n Coming into Adaminaby I noticed a noise from the front of the truck. I’d been hearing it for a couple of km’s, and had managed to isolate it to the drive line in the front end of the truck. Getting a little concerned I pulled over to check it out. I’m glad I did – the fornt uni-joints had gone. So – the old girl became a rear wheel drive for the rest of the trip!<\/p>\n The night consisted of more Olympic watching and succumbing to the desire for OP Bundaberg\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6..<\/p>\n More to follow………….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This trip report should be titled \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcI ran over a black cat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 or similar, however here goes. Friday 15 Aug 08 Managed to finish up my work relatively early, and headed home ready to do the final bit of packing … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/cewilson.offroader.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/Picture-025.jpg\" "\\"Picture")
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