Crossing briefly into Victoria from Eden one passes through the area known as East Gippsland – pretty, forested, but otherwise quite remote, our route took us on to Cann River before heading north up into Australia’s famous Snowy Mountains region. Now, it was late November ( and hence, almost summer ) so our expectations were “managed” as to how much snow we’d see ( we glimpsed a bit ! ) but regardless of the scarcity of snow, it’s simply a beautiful area with a unique look given it’s obviously higher elevations.

There’s a distinct alpine feeling to this whole area. Home to most of Australia’s best ski areas, “The Snowy” as it’s known locally, is also home to ( what was then, in the late 1940’s ) Australia’s largest engineering feat, the Snowy Mountains Scheme. A massive undertaking that would require 25 years to complete, it’s basically a gigantic water diversion program ( via dams and giant tunnels ) built to harness the power of water from the snow runoff for both irrigation and the production of power. Every Aussie kid learns about it in school ( we did back in my day, anyway ! ) and its enormous demand for skilled labour was a catalyst for early waves of European immigration into Australia in the immediate post-war era. A fascinating museum tells the story in Cooma, where the scheme is still administered. Sadly, due to high winds while we were there, we were not able to take the chairlift to the Mt. Kosciusko viewpoint ( from which one can do the 13km return hike to the actual summit, Australia’s highest point ) – a real disappointment. A shorter, lower valley hike was the next best option but we may get another crack at Mt. Kosciusko on our way to Tasmania in the new year.

 Our plans from the Snowy Mountains took us north through Canberra then west out via Wagga Wagga to parts of the Riverina, our interest primarily being to explore some of Griffith’s great wineries given that our turn inland from the coast had delivered the improved weather we were seeking – not hard to enjoy Griffith’s fine wines !  Circling back to Forbes ( sort of our home base in Oz ) a quick visit was made with family before driving on to Sydney where this segment of our Australian adventure goes on “pause” for a few weeks. Lois is flying back to Canada for a few weeks ( missing our new grand daughter too much ! ) while I head back to Temora to join my brother and his wife. I’ll be borrowing their hangar ( regular readers may recall they live in an airpark ) to park up the van and do some long overdue cleaning, general maintenance, minor repairs and a few ( very minor ) redesigns. I need space, a flat concrete floor, a roof over my head, access to tools and power – and they have it all !

We’ll re-start the blog just after Christmas at which point we head south ( via the Victorian coast ) to Melbourne and then on by ferry to Tasmania – our last Australian state. We want to thank our readers for following along with us in 2023 and sending us all your comments. Both Lois and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year !

Till the New Year…….!