Our Easter break started early as we set off at 7:30am, joining the morning peak hour traffic heading into the city. Once clear of Port Melbourne we settled into freeway driving conditions that would stay with us until we turned off the Hume Highway north of Yass for the final 54 kms into Canberra. There was a strong, gusty northerly wind blowing; we drove directly into it as it whipped up billowing clouds of dust from the parched paddocks to the north of the city.
It has been a hot, dry summer with barely any rain of consequence since January. Yesterday it was again hot; today was forecast to be similar – unusually warm and dry conditions for autumn. There were few cattle and sheep to be seen in the paddocks. Most farm dams were dry, or nearly dry, with just a trace of muddy water surrounded by cracking, baked mud. The gusty wind would whip up a cloud of dust, dry grass and leaves; then blast it all towards us as we drove over the Great Dividing Range and into even drier countryside.
The winds eased as we settled into the undulating country around Benalla and Wangaratta although the dry paddocks persisted. In the late morning we passed our first milestone for the day, crossing the Murray River which splits the twin cities of Albury-Wodonga and leaving Victoria behind as we entered New South Wales. It wasn’t too long before we both commented on how much greener things were north of the border.
After a look at the time it was decided Holbrook would be the place to stop for lunch. A quick check of the internet had us reading glowing reviews about J&B’s café in the main street (which used to be the main north-south highway before the bypass was built). The recommendations were on the money – the coffees went down well, along with a ‘country’ salad sandwich that was very generous in the servings of salad veggies packed between two slices of multigrain bread.
Following lunch we rejoined the Hume Highway, winding through rolling hills and valleys shaped by the waters of the Murrumbidgee River which directs water (that fell as snow in the Snowy Mountains) to the Murray River near Robinvale. At Gundagai we passed the Dog on the Tucker Box, where many people had stopped to grab a selfie before continuing their journey. The dog is overshadowed by a large roadhouse that dominates the landscape, making the monument seem a little insignificant these days.
The drive into Canberra was uneventful as we navigated our way from Yass, via outer suburban roads, to the Cotter Reserve campground to the west of the city. For reasons that weren’t obvious to us half the campground could not be accessed, due to a locked gate stopping entry to many flat, grassed campsites. As a result, the remaining camp ground was packed and quite messy, with no room for us to set up.
After backtracking a short distance to find mobile phone reception, a decision was made to head further south towards campgrounds located in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains – just beyond the Tidbinbilla Deep Space Tracking Station, that supported a number of space missions in the 1960s as well as continuing research into all things in deep space.
Our camp site is set amongst old growth gum trees, with the Gibraltar Falls a short walk away. We will set off to check them out tomorrow morning before heading into Canberra for a day of sightseeing. It’s nearly a full moon and we can see the light from the moon silhouetting the gum trees around our campsite through the skylight in our Tvan campertrailer. The heater is on and the only sounds (apart from the heater) we can hear are possums brawling in the trees above.
