Melbourne
Had a lovely time in Melbourne visiting Steff!!! Arrived and it was nice and warm which was nice! And then we headed up to Kosciuszko National Park to do some tramping and exploring.
After an epic long drive (very boring road for most of it) we got to the park and at the first river at Thredbo Diggings, I of course jumped into the nice clear water for a swim. Lovely. Fish 'n' chips by a river whilst platypus spotting (no luck, but lots of fishermen...well, one...) and camped on a hill. The next morning dawned nice and sunny for our epic day tramping. Unfortunaely, we soon discovered that we were all terribly unfit, and Kath's shoes were in even worth condition than mine, falling apart with every single step - literally.
Still, we carried our heavy packs up to the Blue Lake, whcih we climbed down to and dumped them amid some rocks and headed on to Kosciusko. Passing a few lakes, one which was veritable proof dinosaurs walked the earth, we eventually got to the summit of the highest mountain in Australia at a whopping 2228m. I happily jumped up and down vigorously in an attempt to squash it down some, watched by the unappreciative ravens. Back we went, stopping occasionally to tie Kath's feet back into her shoes (she'd lost the rubber soles completely by now) and finally made it back to the lake for a much needed swim to ease the aching muscles, sunburn and blisters. Was about 25km I think.
Camped under the stars, very cosy! :)
Limped out the next day and headed up to Yarangobilly caves where we hobbled through a cave tour, with some very impressive cave formations. Tried to ease our aching muscles in the 'thermal' pool, which turned out to be a refreshing (the day was hot) 27 C. Lovely. Drove along the plains and spotted some Brumbies (YAY!) chilling out. Loads of delicious curry for dinner cooked impeccably by Steff - yum yum!!!
Next day, still aching and sore, we took it easy and wandered down to the river and through the quite impressive Clarke gorge. Soon enough, we spied a cave, and of course, had to investigate. You could walk in, then it narrowed and you could slide into a small chamber, with a small sqeeze at the bottom, which looked like it led somewhere, but of course we weren't sure....
Comign out, we visited another entrance just above the one we'd already explored, and crouching, we came to a big hole. Upon further inspection we noticed a wooden ladder leaning against it, and of course we deduced that you must be able ot make your way through the cave from teh other entrance. So, back we trooped, and with Steff as our fearless leader, lay down and slid and scrambled through the squeeze, and sure enough, it led to a bigger rock filled chamber. Scrambling up and onwards (we had 2 torches between the 3 of us) we squeezed and scrambled, crawled and climbed our way though. Sure enough, after an hour or so, we came to the big chamber we'd seen with the wooden ladder. Awesome! Up we climbed and out we crept, looking decidely muddier and browner than we were before.....
Onwards, we kept our eyes peeled for any other crevices, but found only small ones until we reached the waterfall and saw the water disappearing down a deep dark hole. Seeing as it was steep, slippery, small and the water freezing, we elected fairly quickly not to investigate further!!!!
A swim and laze by the river bank, bagging marsh flies rounded the day....
The next day we headed the other way up the river - through Nicole Gorge. A short break to talk to a lizard on a rock and notice the spring of water welling up, we set off. We soon came to our first cave of the day - Cooliman. It had a map, which proved (once we'd learned to read it) to be very useful. We explored teh easy bit, then headed to the longer squeeze....and squeeze it was. Very small scrambly openings, and a lot of time was spent on our stomachs, or crawling or duck waddling... The exit was a killer - about 20m (or felt like it anyway) of belly crawling on sharp damp rocks. Came out covered in brown mud, with a few new knocks nad scratches!
Still, undeterred, we found the next cave, also with a map, which by now we could read easily. This was a much easier cave, could stand up and had some really nice formations. There was a little wriggly bit off to the side, but we were seasoned explorers by then, so all good. :)
Headed along the valley to Harris Waterhole - getting slightly lost along the way, but found it eventually. Nice swim and watched a couple of brumbies come down for a drink - they were very suspicious of us! Saw a herd playing on the hillside too. awesome.
Had a few days to look round melbourne and surrounds, ate yummy yummy food, yum and found some really nice hotpools. Thanks Steff!!!
After an epic long drive (very boring road for most of it) we got to the park and at the first river at Thredbo Diggings, I of course jumped into the nice clear water for a swim. Lovely. Fish 'n' chips by a river whilst platypus spotting (no luck, but lots of fishermen...well, one...) and camped on a hill. The next morning dawned nice and sunny for our epic day tramping. Unfortunaely, we soon discovered that we were all terribly unfit, and Kath's shoes were in even worth condition than mine, falling apart with every single step - literally.
Still, we carried our heavy packs up to the Blue Lake, whcih we climbed down to and dumped them amid some rocks and headed on to Kosciusko. Passing a few lakes, one which was veritable proof dinosaurs walked the earth, we eventually got to the summit of the highest mountain in Australia at a whopping 2228m. I happily jumped up and down vigorously in an attempt to squash it down some, watched by the unappreciative ravens. Back we went, stopping occasionally to tie Kath's feet back into her shoes (she'd lost the rubber soles completely by now) and finally made it back to the lake for a much needed swim to ease the aching muscles, sunburn and blisters. Was about 25km I think.
Camped under the stars, very cosy! :)
Limped out the next day and headed up to Yarangobilly caves where we hobbled through a cave tour, with some very impressive cave formations. Tried to ease our aching muscles in the 'thermal' pool, which turned out to be a refreshing (the day was hot) 27 C. Lovely. Drove along the plains and spotted some Brumbies (YAY!) chilling out. Loads of delicious curry for dinner cooked impeccably by Steff - yum yum!!!
Next day, still aching and sore, we took it easy and wandered down to the river and through the quite impressive Clarke gorge. Soon enough, we spied a cave, and of course, had to investigate. You could walk in, then it narrowed and you could slide into a small chamber, with a small sqeeze at the bottom, which looked like it led somewhere, but of course we weren't sure....
Comign out, we visited another entrance just above the one we'd already explored, and crouching, we came to a big hole. Upon further inspection we noticed a wooden ladder leaning against it, and of course we deduced that you must be able ot make your way through the cave from teh other entrance. So, back we trooped, and with Steff as our fearless leader, lay down and slid and scrambled through the squeeze, and sure enough, it led to a bigger rock filled chamber. Scrambling up and onwards (we had 2 torches between the 3 of us) we squeezed and scrambled, crawled and climbed our way though. Sure enough, after an hour or so, we came to the big chamber we'd seen with the wooden ladder. Awesome! Up we climbed and out we crept, looking decidely muddier and browner than we were before.....
Onwards, we kept our eyes peeled for any other crevices, but found only small ones until we reached the waterfall and saw the water disappearing down a deep dark hole. Seeing as it was steep, slippery, small and the water freezing, we elected fairly quickly not to investigate further!!!!
A swim and laze by the river bank, bagging marsh flies rounded the day....
The next day we headed the other way up the river - through Nicole Gorge. A short break to talk to a lizard on a rock and notice the spring of water welling up, we set off. We soon came to our first cave of the day - Cooliman. It had a map, which proved (once we'd learned to read it) to be very useful. We explored teh easy bit, then headed to the longer squeeze....and squeeze it was. Very small scrambly openings, and a lot of time was spent on our stomachs, or crawling or duck waddling... The exit was a killer - about 20m (or felt like it anyway) of belly crawling on sharp damp rocks. Came out covered in brown mud, with a few new knocks nad scratches!
Still, undeterred, we found the next cave, also with a map, which by now we could read easily. This was a much easier cave, could stand up and had some really nice formations. There was a little wriggly bit off to the side, but we were seasoned explorers by then, so all good. :)
Headed along the valley to Harris Waterhole - getting slightly lost along the way, but found it eventually. Nice swim and watched a couple of brumbies come down for a drink - they were very suspicious of us! Saw a herd playing on the hillside too. awesome.
Had a few days to look round melbourne and surrounds, ate yummy yummy food, yum and found some really nice hotpools. Thanks Steff!!!