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Day 22
Croajingalong Nat Pk - Bairnsdale <Map>
Today: 230kms, Total: 2438kms
(NB: As Google couldn't find our campsite on the way in, it also didn't have much luck on the way out!)
One of the reasons we chose this camping spot was its proximity to Point Hicks. Most people know that Captain Cook was important in the British annexation and subsequent colonisation of Australia, but not many realise that Point Hicks was where he first sighted the continent.
The plaque is on a monument that stands on the rocks in front of the lighthouse at Point Hicks (see below).
Trivial Pursuit bonus points: Hickes spelt his name with an "e", Cook wrote both Hicks and Hickes in different places; the spelling Hicks is now in use for the point.
Plan A was for us to drive to the carpark, then do the 5km return walk to the lighthouse. However during the night, a strong wind came up and it looked like it might turn even nastier, so your humble scribe decided to do the walk alone. Upon my return, we would pack up and head for Bairnsdale as the overcast conditions meant not enough sun to recharge the batteries (and we were in a National Park, so no generator use allowed).
All of yesterday's lovely blue sky has gone and been replaced by 40kt (80kph) winds, rough seas and threatening skies. It was all I could do to stand still to take the photos!
I know it seems like this is 'Around Australia by Lighthouse', but we enjoy the wild coastal scenery and it just so happens that these locations are also a hazard to mariners.
The lighthouse was built in the late 1880s and commenced operating in 1890. It is 6' thick at the base, tapering to 4' thick at the top. At 37m, it is the tallest lighthouse on the Australian mainland. It is now unmanned and operates on solar power. The original keepers' cottages are now (like Green Cape) available for holiday letting.
After a fast return to the caravan, we packed up and got underway in record time, not wanting to traverse the narrow, winding dirt road back to the highway in the wet. We timed it well, as the rain held off until we were back on the bitumen. We then got gale force winds, rain and light hail as we made our way east towards Bairnsdale via Marlo and Orbost. Heading into the gale also made for the worst fuel consumption so far.
Never heard of Marlo? Neither had we until we went there. A bit like the Point Hicks / Capt. Cook connection, Marlo is where the Snowy River empties into the Tasman Sea.
Some blue sky returned between squalls, but the wind was still ferocious!
Day 23
Bairnsdale
Today: 10kms, Total: 2448kms
Not much today - washing, shopping and generally checking out Bairnsdale. One of the reasons for coming here was for Sue to get in touch with the local Historical society to research her Father's family connection with the town. It seems that they are open three days a week, so that's what Sue's planning to busy herself with.
Day 24
Bairnsdale
Today: 10kms, Total: 2458kms
Genealogy
Day 25
Bairnsdale (Dargo High Plains - Mt Hotham) <Map>
Today: 375kms, Total: 2833kms
A big day today as we head up into the Victorian High Country and some old gold fields. We crossed the very picturesque Wannangatta River just before we started climbing in earnest.
In a few weeks, autumn colours will start spreading.
Even though it's usual to see signs warning of wombats, kangaroos, etc, it's not every day that you get a warning about the high risk of motorcycles. :-)
We diverted off the track to check out the old Grant / Crooked River gold mining area that was active from the initial discovery of gold in 1860 until the last miner left in 1916.
Overlooking the site of the Royal Mail Hotel - one of fifteen licensed hotels in town.
Anyone want a ticket?
We decided to see what Talbotville (more gold) was like a little further down the road.
Although not immediately apparent from the photo, this is a very steep descent (low range, 2nd gear) with blind hairpins bends, no guard rails and 300m+ drops off the edge. The navigatrix was highly unimpressed with this state of affairs and suggested we return to the top.
We returned to the Dargo High Plains road and continued on towards Mt Hotham. The high country scenery was magnificent, but blighted by a huge bush fire in 2003 that killed a massive amount of mature trees, both Mountain Ash and Snow Gums. It looks like an advanced case of die-back, but we were assured that it was bushfire related. The Snow Gums are slowly regenerating, but I don't know about the Mountain Ash.
Isn't it always the case; you get comfy and then some idiot in a 4WD comes along! It's enough to make you mooooove.
The Alpine National Park is surrounded by pastoral country, so this isn't unusual.
Lunch at the fortunately inappropriately named Mt Freezeout among some regenerating Snow Gums.
The magnificent view from Mt Hotham. Charlotte was showing an altitude of just over 6000' or about 1850m. The grey area on the middle slopes shows the remains of the dead trees.
We returned home down the Great Alpine Road via Omeo.
A lovely little village, but obviously the Apostrophe Police don't patrol around here.
Day 26
Bairnsdale
Today: 10kms, Total: 2843kms
Genealogy (this time at the local cemetery), shopping and trying to catch up writing this blog. :-)
Day 27
Bairnsdale - Rawson <Map>
Today: 191kms, Total: 3024kms
Off down the Princes Highway again; this time to Rawson. Most will probably ask, as does the local tourist literature, Where the Hell is Rawson? We suspect that prior to the building of the Thomson River Dam in the early 1970s, the town of Rawson didn't exist. It seems to have been established to house the workers building the dam, and then on completion, became a small tourist spot with 'weekenders' scattered about the hillside. In any case, it certainly was quiet and peaceful.
Rawson Caravan Park - Lovely tall eucalypts and no-one else around.
The park manager suggested a few 4WD trails we might like to try, and that's when we happened across the Walhalla Goldfields Railway. We hadn't planned on seeing Walhalla until tomorrow, but found out that the train wouldn't be running the next day so set off and managed to catch it with just minutes to spare.
Walhalla Station - a perfect replica of the original 1910 building, the original building having been moved to the Melbourne suburban station of Hartwell.
The original train line only ran as a gold train from 1910 to 1914 and finally closed in 1954, but enthusiasts started the The Walhalla Railway Taskforce in 1991, becoming the Walhalla Goldfields Railway, Inc., in 1993. The former roadbed was overgrown with blackberries and heavy scrub, with numerous sections of the trackbed collapsed and all the bridges either derelict or in ruinous condition. All had to be rebuilt. Since then it has become a popular tourist attraction, running from Walhalla down Stringer's Creek to the Thomson River station.
Just the perfect setting for the poem 'Bellbirds' by Henry Kendall ("By channels of coolness the echoes are calling,..."), familiar to all Australian schoolchildren of a certain age. A deep valley with tree ferns and gums, complete with sparkling water over rocks at the bottom. Unfortunately, the bellbirds had some trouble being heard over the sound of the diesel pulling the train.
"Thomson River, All Change!"
Everyone off while they run the engine around to the front of the train for the return journey. Just time for an ice cream before the return trip.
Day 28
Rawson - Walhalla - Rawson - Mt Baw Baw - Rawson <Map>
Today: 111kms, Total: 3135kms
The map is a guide only, as we made numerous detours down 4WD tracks of which Mr Google is unaware. You can see some on the Google satellite version of the map to the NE and SE of Rawson.
These were delightful areas with more tree ferns and gum trees complete with fallen branches across the tracks.
It's the navigatarix's job to clear a path... :-)
We reached Walhalla and spent the rest of the morning wandering around the village. It started as a gold-mining town in 1863, but today is the heart of the local tourist industry with most original buildings having been rebuilt (a lot were destroyed by bushfires) or totally refurbished.
The Crown Hotel is across the road from the Band Rotunda. Flat building land is very scarce here as the town is built in the bottom of a very narrow creek gorge.
The Walhalla Fire Station is built over the creek!
Walhalla Post Office, circa 1890, and...
...circa 2012.
After lunch, it was back through Rawson and on to Mt Baw Baw via the South Face Road. This was through more heavily forested countryside of the Baw Baw Nat Pk, and then up to the 1567m (5161') of Mt Baw Baw to the ski resort (but of course, no snow at this time of year).
All the energy expended in navigating all the hairpin bends to get up here demanded a cup of hot chocolate (and a marshmallow!) on the ski lodge deck overlooking a rather forlorn snowless luge run.
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