Day 26

26 February 2013

Today we packed up early and left Moruya at around 9am bound for Mount Kosciusko NP. We headed towards Bega then onto Cooma and out to Jindabye which is near the edge of the NP. We stopped at a nice little bakery at Nimmitabel on the way to Cooma. It was a lovely little town, not much there but lolly world, few cafes and some toilets (which we were in desperate need of)! Worth a stop if you are in this neck of the woods.

Between Bega and Nimmitabel there is quite literally nothing, and I mean nothing. I know people always say that Australia is so diverse but I have now seen it with my own eyes and I haven't even been to remote parts of it yet! There was just flat nothingness, no trees, no houses, dry dry land and then we come to a steep range and the whole landscape changes again, more like rainforest (very similar to Dorrigo, winding and steep) over that then flat land with some dead looking trees everywhere and big boulders then BANG a town with a population of 8000, shops everywhere (Cooma)! Saw 10 or more different landscapes in this drive!

At the national park and there are gates manned at each entry.

You can just drive through at no cost however if you want to stay or spend the day, there is a per day fee which is $16. This may seem expensive but this includes your camp fees too so $16 a night is pretty cheap! We are staying at Thredbo Diggings as this is the one suggested to us by Jindabyne Info Centre as it is close to a few different things like Thredbo, Mount Kosciusko Summit Walk, Chair lifts etc.

We set up and good news we have already made some friends! 7 of them in total, obviously people feed them as they were not bothered by us at all and were quite happy to come close and explore under and around the van! A little too close for my liking!

Started our fire which took 3 goes to light as we didn't have enough small stuff to get it going. Our plan was to cook up dinner on the provided fire BBQs (pictured below) go for a bit of a fish in the river, finish the washing and settle in for some marshmallows around the fire.....

Well let me tell you how it really went.....fire raging finally after 3 attempts, I have just rinsed, squeezed out and hung all the washing that was in our "washing machine", Joel has put the yabby pot in and is preparing his fishing rod and ..........RAIN, pouring RAIN! Washing soaked, Joel soaked as he had just made it to edge of the river ready to fish, everything outside soaked, fire soaked, only place to go....inside the van! So this is where we have been all arvo as there is nowhere else to go.

We shouldn't complain as our neighbours are in a small pop up tent! And I know everywhere else is copping rain too so we aren't the only ones...will be pretty peeved if raining tomorrow cuz there won't be much to do, however I am willing to climb Kosciusko in the rain!!

All I have to say about the washing scenario is....I know why we invented washing machines! Doable but not advisable! There are laundromats everywhere...

Carly & Joel

 

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