Today is time to tour , we leave Gundagai and head to Brungle - a little community to the south , towards Tumut - I have been here before when I was hang gliding , so decided to show Lyn where about’s that was . The mountain scenery here is outstanding with ranges running either sides of the roads , steep sided rolling hills , all bathed in the look of summer , parched golden brown .
Arriving at Brungle , we turn off onto Brungle Creek Rd & head east toward Honeysuckle Ridge . There are large amounts of radiata pine plantations up on the ridge . We drove along the valley toward Tumut , the road is gravel , but one of the best , even better , there’s no traffic apart from us . I used to take off from this ridge when I was hang gliding !!
Continuing on , we climbed up & down hills as the road wound it’s way through and out of the valley . We found an excellent spot to see Tumut from , it showed the Tumut River Valley and the mountains all around it .
Driving through town , we headed off toward Talbingo . Another really picturesque drive alongside Blowering Dam . Looking across the water to the pine plantations on the western side , you could be forgiven for thinking you’d travelled overseas . Pine trees from the top of the ridges , all the way down to the waters edge .
Onwards toward Talbingo , trying not to run off the road looking at the scenery . We arrived at the Talbingo turn and headed into town , through town and on to Talbingo Dam . It’s part of the Snowy Scheme - dams , tunnels , power stations , an engineering marvel , especially in the countryside it has been built in .
We found Tumut 3 Hydro Power Station and an enormous high voltage switch yard , 6 huge white pipes feeding water into the hydro station from the Talbingo Dam above . It sits below Talbingo Mountain - another place I have flown off - the highest takeoff in Australia I believe !!
They have the ability to be able to pump water back up into the dam above from the power station at a rate of 99.1 cubic metres per second !!! Just think about that for a minute - nearly 100 cubic metres of water per second - that’s some serious pumping power !!!!
Surprisingly , we were able to drive around the back of the hydro station and carry on up to the dam lookout and spillway , which we did of course . The road was twisting and turning its way to the top , we parked and walked up to a majestic view of mountains and water !!
People were parked beside the spillway , gazebo’s and boat’s , picnic’s & Bbq’s , it’s what happens here , people skiing and wake boarding in this pristine environment . Tree clad mountains lead down to the water in the dam , they stretch of into the distance - all part of the Snowy Mountains and Kosciuzko National Park . We even managed a photo of ourselves for you .
We drove back down and around , then up again to the boat ramp opposite the spillway . Many cars & boat trailers are parked here , we sat and watched and soaked in the view .
Back down to the hydro station and had some lunch at the picnic area . Back into Talbingo and stopped beside Jounama Pondage - this is the body of water that sits on the northern side of Talbingo township . It is separated from Blowering Dam by a small dam wall , and has a single turbine hydro station - station is probably a bit extreme , it’s really a concrete tube with the hydro in it - probably 10m diameter .
We drove over the dam wall , and took a 4wd track to get a view of Talbingo from over the water .
With that taken care off , it was back to Tumut for some diesel & a gas cylinder replacement , then back to the van . Our heads still reeling from all the magnificeint scenery we’ve encountered today !!
Here’s a map link :- https://drive.google.com/open?id=1qqiaF6kQs2gJyxjLGmQrCmVnQqE&usp=sharing
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