37. 2021 A. NSW Clockwise Unwinding Tour. Southern Highlands and Tablelands.

We are continuing the 2018 title as we unwind the Anti-clockwise Australian tour travelling around NSW in a clockwise direction in March 2021 through to the end of June. 

After months of confinement due to the COVID 19 restrictions, we are off and travelling around NSW, with the intention of not stepping over a border unless all appears clear first.  Generally we try and take the road less travelled, however, broke the rule in order to start in new territory for us, the Southern Highlands.  The motorways and remarkable NorthConnex tunnel had us in Moss Vale in under three hours. 

Moss Vale Showground in the Southern Tablelands for four nights had us settling into caravan life with space and a rural atmosphere. 

Showgrounds often add more rustic appeal than caravan parks. 

Unique tiered seating for the ring events. 
In Canada, the chocks would be removable for log rolling competitions. 

Horses ready for Moss Vale Show next week added considerably to the atmosphere. 

The Southern Highlands comprise of many small towns within short distances of each other.  We unleashed the tandem for a ride from Moss Vale into and around Bowral, luncheon at the famed Scottish Arms Hotel known as having the best pub meal in Bowral East (it is also the only pub in Bowral East), before riding back to Moss Vale. 

The ride was mainly on quiet back roads as well as the Bong Bong track which has its origins back to the 1820s when the hamlet of Bong Bong was assigned the first courthouse in the district.  

Stopping for a breather on the Bong Bong track for the twenty five year old tandem and slightly older stoker. 

Tearing passed in a car would never give the opportunity of seeing such front yards as this in a quiet backroad of Bowral.   

A simplified Google maps summary of our Bowral bike ride.  The distance and course was out slightly and the time out by three and a half hours. 

Morton National Park covers 199,745 hectares between the Southern Highlands, South Coast and Illawarra Regions of NSW, and begs the question as to why another 255 hectares couldn't have been found to round off the area to 200,000 hectares.  

Fitzroy Falls was so named after NSW Governor Fitzroy, visited the falls in 1850. 
Does this mean the falls would be renamed Beazley Falls if the current NSW Governor visited? 

Plunging eighty one metres before plunging again.

Gnarly old timer

Movement was the only give away to this chap.

A short drive through bushland took us over a causeway and on to Carrington Falls. 

Tranquility of water is mesmerizing.

Ninety metres high Carrington Falls

Zoomed in across the valley.

The water is beginning to feel weightless.
H2Ohhhhh!!

Ninety metres below, the journey continues downstream.

This region has seen human habitation for 20,000 years.
We wonder how long some of the tracks have been in use. 

Serious erosion over millennia forming such gorges.

Kangaroo River feeding the falls. 

The one hundred and seventy three species of Banksia were named after Joseph Banks in 1770.
They bear no resemblance to Bank's ear.  
The flowers, seed and nectar are very poisonous. 

The "Saw" is very evident. 

So too is the "Old Man" description. 

Australian made environmentally friendly toilet brushes.

The next day we explored further in the Morton National Park.  An interesting walk to Mount Carnarvon Lookout resulted in no view due to the number of trees blocking the view.  The fires missed this area but cleared so much of the lead in track.  

Termites have an incredible tenacity for survival.
The nest's air conditioning system during the fires would have been working overtime to regulate the temperature within.

Resilience of the Australian bush.

Greenery soon returns after the 2020 fires.

The view from Echo Point

Bonnie View Lookout should have been Bonza View Lookout due to the Australian theme.

View from Beauchamp Penitentiary

Back to civilisation near Berrima and take in some culture at the Berkelouw Book Barn and Vineyard. Books, wine, coffee and accommodation are all catered for in rustic surroundings but with a modern twist. 

Every self respecting wall of books should have such a fireplace.

Morning tea along the banks of the Shoalhaven River when heading south showed a great camp for future expeditions, lots of birdlife and a flood warning sign with a difference. 

The Shoalhaven River runs east to the coast. 
So many other rivers close by feed into the Murrumbidgee and into the Murray/Darling.

Flood sign about fifty feet above the river level.
The services of the installer were probably terminated after this job.

Ideal shady spot for a cuppa; or up to forty eight hours free camping.

Female Gang Gang Cockatoo near Braidwood. 

Male Gang Gang Cockatoo
The Gang Gang is the faunal emblem of the ACT.

Braidwood provided a quaint National Trust classified Aussie town and the first to be listed on the NSW State Heritage register. 

Gold and pastoral interests originally put it on the map, however, it is mainly known today as a halfway stop over for Canberra residents heading to the south coast. 

Bustling Braidwood
Late in the day, Don swam at the eighteen metre council pool, attended by two council employees.
Only three people had used the pool that day. 

Rather than angle park the van in the main street, we camped at the Braidwood Services Club with six other vans. 
We noted the restaurant was occupied solely by the travelling gypsies despite the food being delicious. 

It was then off grid to a campsite at Numeralla, twenty kilometres east of Cooma, at the junction of the Numeralla and Badja Rivers which eventually run into the Murrumbidgee.  

Peace and tranquility 

We spent an hour quietly watching for an elusive platypus which we thought we saw. 
Movement and bubble trails were not enough to combat the mirrored surface. 

Small trout could be seen in the water below the tree. 

Standing at the point where the two rivers meet. 
Within hours this was a raging torrent. 

Dark clouds can be seen in the reflection in the above photo.  Just after sunset, torrential rain, thunder and lightning commenced and kept up quite a performance.  Around 10PM we were drawn out the van by the roar of rapids to discover the river had risen several feet and was absolutely raging.  We had camped high above and still had about 15 feet to our position, however, other caravanners camped down low were anxiously packing and moving with flood waters approaching the wheels of their van. 

 

Next morning the flood waters had mainly receded but the mirror finish had disappeared. 
The trees and shrubs certainly received a battering. 

.

A brilliant example of a Ribbon Gum (we think?) tree giving much fuel for bush fires.

In line with generally avoiding the bigger centres, we had just a whistle stop call into Cooma to see if the bronze Aussie in the park had changed his appearance since the first time Don viewed it in 1966. 

Don remembers that his Mum in 1966 was very disappointed in this statue, as it didn't give justice to "The Man", but figured it was following the lyrics about being a small and weedy beast. 

The poem states that "he and his horse are mountain bread", but if built of this, birds would have eaten the statue in days.  Hence bronze was used for longevity.  

It was inevitable that we would visit the inimitable Nimmitabel, a rural town about fifty kilometres south of Cooma, where we have spent a day in the caravan due to rain and the temperature not exceeding ten degrees.

Geldmacher mill superbly built as a windmill on top of the hill in Nimmitabel in 1872 was never able to function as such due to the rotating sails possibly scaring horses.  
A great example of developer and council not being on the same page. 

Brilliant workmanship with multiple floors at different stages of its life. 

The Federal Hotel made from local hardwoods in 1889 was a rallying point for the WW1 Men from Snowy River March in 1915.
The march had started in Delegate with a piper and a drummer, and concluded in Goulburn with 142 recruits. 

Fire damaged trees can still be used. 
Could these possibly be sold as ebony and used as piano keys? 

The temperature continues to drop as we head south and higher. 

Bombala about fifty kilometres short of the Victorian border was our southern turning point.

Before losing out to Canberra as the parliamentary seat of Australia, Bombala was in the running due to being half way between Sydney and Melbourne. 

 

Beautiful Bombala. 
Home to one of the biggest populations of platypus in Australia.

A great riverfront walk proudly looked after by the town folk. 

 

Local pride in front garden. 

Seven dollars was the entry fee for this local attraction.
We did not see the value regardless of how well it could swim. 

Further uphill and approaching the Snowy Mountains, we enjoyed lunch on the banks of the Snowy River at Dalgety. There is something magical even about just the name. 

The Snowy River had been dying since the 1960s due to the Snowy Mountain Scheme diverting most of the flow.
In 2000 it was decided to divert twenty one percent of pre-dam flow back into the river, giving new life to the river and associated towns. 

We now continue upstream into the Snowy Mountains area and a hopeful summit of Mount Kosciuszko. 

Trusting all is well and that the rain lashing the eastern seaboard is not being too detrimental. 

Travelling greetings, 

Don and Carrol.