Wanderung 26

Bob:

The road we had originally chosen for driving East to Cooma from where we would drive North to Canberra was closed, apparently due to landslides after the Spring floods. But after close inspection of the map of the Snowy Mountains area Monika came up with an alternative, more round-about route to Cooma. It involved driving first North and then literally zig-zagging through the heart of the Great Barrier Mountains. The plus was that we would see a lot of the mountain area that way; the minus was that those roads were narrow and twisty and could slow us up quite a bit as well as adding wear and tear to the driver (me!)

But at least we knew we had a place to rest our weary heads that evening at Karen's in Canberra, so we set off with a light heart. The first thing we noticed was that a morning fog or mist was hanging over the Murray River as it ran along beside the road. The mist or fog was particularly noticeable when we crossed the Murray one last time via a rather rickety looking bridge. The views both upstream and downstream were curtained by the mist, creating a rather surreal impression of the landscape.

Monika:

Bob:

The mist was confined to the river valley, however, so as soon as we crested the next ridge on the northward leg of our mountain journey the mist disappeared completely. We turned southeast on a narrow paved road that much to my surprise allowed logging trucks with triple trailers! I was very, very glad that I did not have to drive around one of those behemoths during our time on that section of the road.

We stopped at the Southern Cloud memorial near the top of the divide, and there we read about the tragic crash of one of the first commercial airliners in Australia in the 1930s in the mountains nearby. Not having instrument navigation techniques caused many crashes in the early days of commercial aviation both in Australia and in the U.S.A. As sad as those losses were, they led directly to critical improvements in both the airplanes and the airways and weather services and thus saved many future lives.

Monika:

Bob:

The road began to rise as we snaked our way along up to the central divide of the Snowy Mountain Range at 1500 meters (about 5000 feet). It was noticeably cooler at that elevation than it had been down in the valley, and we felt it was refreshing enough to justify a walk of some kind. At a parking spot at the divide (1500 meters elevation), Monika found a sign indicating a 3 kilometer circuit hike that included an old gold mining site. Since it mentioned the magic word, "Gold!", we parked the car and started to walk the circuit.

Monika:

Bob:

The first part of the walk was through the eucalyptus trees including the "snow gum" that had parallel-veined leaves and was specifically adapted to living in the alpine conditions. But the trunks of the trees, both living and dead, were twisted in phantasmagorical shapes that sparked the imagination of things like gnomes, trolls, and other such inhabitants of an enchanted forest. Weird, and distinctly different from the Eastern deciduous forest we are used to back home in Virginia.

Monika:

Bob:

After walking up and around a little knoll, we did come across the old "stamping" machine that was used to crush the gold-bearing rocks so that the gold could be washed out. It was in ruins, of course, but it was interesting that somebody was working that crusher using an old car engine for power, as late as 1953. With the recent tripling of gold prices, I wondered if the mining would once again become economical but that was probably impossible because we were in the middle of Kosciusko National Park.

Further on we saw the rusted skeleton of an old car. Judging by the external fenders, it was probably a model from the 1920s or early 1930s. The wreck sat on the edge of a "frost hollow" a small valley where no trees could grow because of the cold air sinking down from the surrounding ridges. I had heard of cold air rolling down ridges but never saw the effect on vegetation quite so clearly.

Monika:

Bob:

Finishing our walk, we continued driving on to Cooma through some really gorgeous mountain scenery. The mountains were under 5000 feet and had forests all the way up their slopes, so they were more similar to what we see in the Appalachian Mountains back in Virginia rather than the Rocky Mountains in the Western U.S. or the Alps of Europe. As we came down in elevation and the land evened out, sheep and cattle ranching took over from the tree farms that blanketed the lower slopes of the mountains.

We stopped in Cooma for a quick lunch and ended up having some of the most gi-normous hamburgers that we have ever seen. That meal easily held us for the next couple of hours while we drove to Canberra, arriving at Karen's house around 4:00 p.m. Then we all chatted non-stop while she cooked one of her gourmet dinners for us and Emily, a high-school teenager from across the street who was interested in becoming a chef. From Emily I learned that learner's permits are given at age 15 years and 8 months in the ACT, but the driving test to get a provisional license cannot occur until age 17. There are two levels of provisional license, a more restricted green "P" one, and a less-restricted red "P" one. Only after progressing through the provisional licenses do you get a full, unrestricted driver's license. An interesting system, but the results are that the drivers I encountered in all of Australia were extremely law-abiding. Almost always they also exactly obeyed the posted speed limits, which was a bit of a shock to me as a typical American driver.

But I digress. After a nice dinner, Emily took her leave and we stayed up checking email and surfing the web over Karen's WiFi setup, thus letting our kith and kin know that we were safe and sound in Canberra. Finally we toddled off to bed in a comfy bed in Karen's spare bedroom.

Monika: