And the Rains Came

After several steaming days in Ballarat and the Gold Fields area of Victoria we were looking forward to the rain that was forecast to arrive the day we departed for Beechworth. Didn't quite plan on the biblical deluge that was to come, however. The day we pulled into our little cottage in the back country near Beechworth the streams were just trickles - you could easily ford any of them across the concrete causeways that had been built for that purpose. Below, however, is what one of them looked like after a few days of constant rain...a real flash flood that lasted for several days after the rains paused as the surrounding area drained into streams and rivers that hadn't seen any significant rain for 10 years.


No kidding... Guess when the indicator is completely submerged that's a bad sign, eh?





A little further down the road

This area was one of the first sites where gold was discovered back in around 1852. Aussie miners who took off for California in 1849 returned empty handed but with the recollection of how much the country around here resembled the diggings of Central California. They started panning some of the creeks and came upon significant quantities of the yellow stuff almost immediately, and the rush was on. At it's peak this area had about a dozen gold rush towns with a total population of over 35,000. Now, however, the only significant town in the area is Beechworth - one of the most picturesque little Australian towns we've seen. It's a throwback to rural American towns from the 1950's, when all business was concentrated around a central square. Parking is the old fashioned way, ie head-in on an angle. For bread and pastry you go to the town bakery, for meat you go to the butcher, etc. All in all a very pleasant place...despite the wet weather.

One of the charms of this, and most other areas in rural Australia, is the naming of the little towns back in the bush. The interposition of English names with Aboriginal ones is interesting. Near Beechworth, for example, are the towns of Wangaratta, Yackandandah, Tangambalanga, and Mudgeegonga. How'd you like to be a Police dispatcher around here?

Our stay here included our first unplanned "adventure" of the trip. On our second day I missed a turn in our rental car and found myself heading down a progressively narrower one-lane farm road. Realizing my error I starting backing out until I spied what appeared to be a good turn-around point from which I could back the car in part way and then get it pointed back in the direction I was going. Well, I hadn't checked the firmness of the ground before I did it...I mean the day before everything was as hard as concrete, right? Problem was that with the rain everything had softened up and my turn-around place was now a (very) soft shoulder. Long story short, we got completely bogged down - wheels spinning in vain trying to find some traction, etc. I mean we were really stuck. So...we hoofed it back down the road to try to find a house or farm or something where I could borrow a shovel to try to dig us out. Finally found a farmhouse where a very nice Aussie lady offered to give me a hand. After digging for over an hour, and getting comprehensively exhausted (not to mention filthy) in the process, we struck upon the idea of hooking a chain around one of the front wheels and trying to pull it out that way. Well, the jury-rigged solution worked thank goodness or I think we'd still be there. The couple then invited us to join them for a cup of coffee in their home before we set off for a good wash. Spent a most pleasant hour or so with them before heading off. Of course they wouldn't hear of any sort of compensation for the rescue, but we later returned with a gift basket of local goodies we picked up in town as a means of saying thanks.





We did get out and about for some hiking. Came across this termite mound on one of them

Thredbo and the Snowy Mountains

The rains followed us across the Murray river from Victoria into New South Wales. They were just starting to announce massive road closures in the area due to flooding so I was concerned about getting out of there. Made it with only one detour, although we did see miles and miles of flooded lowlands near the rivers...and several newly created little islands where livestock and wildlife had taken refuge. As we watched the weather news from the safety of the mountains in Thredbo the descriptions progressed from "worst flooding in 25 years" to "worst in 100 years" to (finally) "worst flooding on record", ie since settlement in the 1850's. Oh, the irony! We came here to escape the winter rains of the Pacific Northwest only to drive into "The Big Wet" as they're calling it now. Ugh!

The rains finally stopped for a few days - long enough for us to enjoy the beautiful scenery in and around Thredbo where we've stopped for the week.


Thredbo Village. Our apartment is furthest up the hill - with a nice view across the valley to the ski lifts. This is primarily a winter destination. Guess the skiing is outstanding, but it's a great summertime destination as well thanks to all of the terrific scenery and hikes in the area.





Our view across to the chairlifts.


We're in the middle of the Snowy River Country, and in fact are in the middle of Kosciusko National Park, named rather improbably for a Polish National hero named Taddeuz Kosciusko. Seems one of the early explorers of the area was a Polish national and noted the apparent similarity of the shape of one of the mountains to the Kosciusko Mound in Krakow and so named the mountain in his honor. Turns out that it's the highest mountain in Australia, and makes for an interesting hike from Thredbo...which we did one sunny but chilly afternoon.

Lots of pretty scenery on the way up the hill.



Most of the walk across the alpine tundra was on this elevated track. Am told it took them 19 years to complete it, but it must be a model of its type - protects the growth on the tundra while ensuring a dry track for the hikers.







The view from the rooftop of Australia at about 7,000 ft elevation.

We've had a couple of spectacular days here, although the flooding continues in New South Wales not far away. Hoping to get out and about once or twice more before we push off towards Sydney on Friday.