5&6/1/17 Creeks & Rivers

Up early-ish today , thought we might just go for a paddle in Morley Creek . We arrived at the boat ramp and unloaded & away we went .

 The water was warm , not really that clean , but still okay for fish & cattle . Paddling up to the free camp spot and beyond , we had a head wind that slowed us up a bit . Temperature was good - around 24 degrees , but we stayed with the shade when we could get it . River red gums were all around the place , and even with a bit of wind , the reflections weren’t bad.

 There were many fallen trees in the creek , and I thought our paddle was being brought to a premature halt a couple of times , but we managed to find a way through , or slide over the submerged branches & tree trunks . 

 The creek narrowed down and the trees were covering most of the water . Then we found our immovable object - a farm culvert !! It looked like they’d built it up over the years with whatever they could lay their hands on - some pipes here , box concrete culvert there , there’s some timber behind the shed , lets throw that in there as well , bit of concrete , a couple of more pipes and Bob’s your uncle , we’ve got access to the paddock and don’t have to worry about the creek flooding too much !!

  After turning around , and heading back toward the ute , we found a spot to pull over to the bank . Time to go for a little walk - there was a dry creek bed , so I wandered off through that , then up into the paddock , cows & calves wondering what this guy was doing walking through their paddock ??? About 300m away from the kayak was a gate and another 100m was the Murrumbidgee River . Now , there wasn’t too much of Morley Creek for us to paddle back in , so the next brainwave was to carry the kayak across and paddle down the Murrmbidgee to the park and get out there , ride the bike back over to the ute and drive back !! Easy , I walked back over & discussed our planned adventure with Lyn and away we went . Through the electric fence ( safely ) and carry for about 30m before it turned to grass - long dead grass - so I dragged the kayak along , saved carrying it !! Through the gate and a bit of a carry , before having another drag down to the river . A nice flat spot to get in , all’s good , then - one foot into the water - hmmmm - what happened to the warm water - oh that’s right we left that 400m away in the creek !!  The water temperature here was cold , BLOODY COLD , it’s that way due to the amount of water coming into the Murrumbidgee from the Tumut River , which is fed from Blowering Dam and Talbingo Dam , which are usually filled by melting snow and kept cool by the alpine climate !!

  The water was flowing fast , with eddies and rapids making for an interesting paddle . The river snaked it’s way back and forth , past river oaks and snap willows . The snap willows are taking over , courtesy of the way they propagate themselves - any time a branch falls off and floats away , usually where it stops , it will sprout roots and grow into a new tree - quickly too !!

  The blue sky was a perfect backdrop for some jet stream clouds - looked impressive .

  We came to a section of the river where it did an S bend , complete with rapids , tree trunks to avoid and strong currents to avoid - I chose to walk down this section holding the kayak via a rope , so we could avoid tipping over - would not have been pleasant in this cold water !! After a few minutes of walking in this water in anything thing up to my knees , my feet started to complain , my ankles didn’t seem to want to work properly and I thought it’s time to get out and warm them up . I got back in the kayak and we continued on .

 We could see the buildings associated with the showground and race course and knew we were getting close to the park . Rounding another couple of corners , the road bridge came into sight , then the rail bridge appeared - we needed to get out in between the bridges somewhere - it was doable , just a bit steep here & there , but nothing we couldn’t get over . 

  The bank is approx 5m above the water and about the same in horizontal distance . We got out and dragged the kayak up the bank onto the green grass above , and we were done - back to the van !! After a drink and a change of shirt I rode round and got the ute - all done before lunch !!

  After lunch and when the wind had eased up , we headed back over to the Prince Alfred Bridge  with the drone . Just the one photo of the bridge , but also a video , enjoy !!

 

Apologies if the video doesn't work , try back again later ( don't know whether that will help )

Here’s a map of our paddle , carry , drag , paddle : - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1txNm-Tj02W211rKkSXNj5O8roo8&usp=sharing

 Friday - not a lot done today , only rode the bikes down the street , had a milkshake at the Niagarra Cafe - it was like stepping back in time , with the old cafe style seating , art deco counter and curved glass windows either side of the timber & glass front doors - the only thing that wasn’t old , was the price of the milkshakes - they were served in the metal mixing cups though , not paper cups !! 

  The temperature today was 34 degrees , so we sat and relaxed for the afternoon .

4/1/17 Takeoffs , dirt tracks & dams

  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

3/1/17 Time for some golf

 Today I decided to have a walk around the golf course , and play some golf as well . The golf course is right beside us , so I didn't have to drive anywhere , just walk out to the 6th tee and hit off . The Murrumbidgee River runs along the southwestern side of the course and Morley Creek runs through the course - but it is just a series of billabongs . There are many river red gums in all stages of life and death .

  The billabongs are a tad stagnant , but european carp still love it - these 3 were about 300-400mm long .

 It's a picturesque course , with tree lined fairways , many water crossings and great scenery .

 These are photos of the 1st , 2nd & 3rd holes . The trees make all the holes look narrow and difficult but it's a nice little course  - I went around in 83 , par is 70 - pretty happy with that !!

 The Murrumbidgee runs beside the 5th and 17th holes , and on the latter you can see the Hume Freeway where it crosses the river .

  The afternoon warmed up to 32 degrees , so we sat and enjoyed the shade beside the van for the rest of the day .
 That's it , short & sweet , see ya !!

2/1/17 Bridges & buildings

  Another day spent in town , we checked it out by bike today . Down to the golf club first to see if they have a mid week competition - no such luck - I'll just have to have a social hit instead .
 We rode up to Sheridan St ( the main street ) and had a look at statues of Dad & Dave , Mum & Mabel - yes from the old radio show - they originate from around this area .
 Up either side of the street are some impressive buildings , verandahs over the footpath , and art deco designs as well .

 There are lots of chimneys on the rooftops as well .

  Further up the hill is Old Gundagai Gaol , impressive stone walls , not a big gaol by any means , it also had a hospital building - this one .

Looked like an old ablutions block with timber shingle roof - in need of some TLC .

 We found ourselves back at Prince Alfred Bridge & Rail Bridge again , this time at the other end where they meet !!

 Looks just as bad as it did from the other end - maybe worse !!

 There are many older houses here as well , these were right near the end of the bridges .

 There's an old mill building , that's now a gallery .

  While we were at the bridge lookout we met another couple Neil and Nicky , who we invited around to have a look at the RV and just have a chat , which they did . Turns out their daughter works at Canyonleigh ( out of Moss Vale ) close to where we used to live . Neil brought some beers around and we enjoyed their company for an hour or 2 , thanks for the beers !!
 It was still 31 degrees at 6:30pm , so we went for a little drive up to the southern lookout . Great views over Gundagai . It shows the river valley and surrounding hills , the bridges showing up as they cross the floodplain .

 Then we went to the northern side lookout - probably better in the morning rather than this late - the sun would be in a better position .
 You might be getting sick of the bridges by now , but here's another with Morley Creek .

 One of the locals .

 That's it for today , a day that just happened , new people to talk to and good things to see !!

1/1/17 A new day dawns - it's all about bridges !!

 Greetings from Gundagai , we slipped our moorings at Bungendore and headed west & a bit north and found ourselves beside the Murrumbidgee River in between a couple of significant bridges .
 Our drive to get here was through territory we hadn't been in before , and felt like a missing jigsaw puzzle piece had just slipped into it's rightful spot . We came through Sutton and Gundaroo on our way to Gunning and the Hume Hwy . The drive was uneventful ( no idiots ) which was surprising in itself given it's the 1st day of the year . The countryside is all golden , grass seed heads all over - they did have good rains earlier in the season , but now it's all long dead grass !
 Lunch at Bookham , because we could , and we were off again , another 90 klms and we were home for a few days . Set up in no time , it was time to go for a walk and check out the river and these two fascinating old bridges .
 This is the Murrumbidgee River beside the park , with the newer road bridge .

 There was a mini cyclone came through here a few days ago , ripping branches from trees , this tree was almost completely gone .
 The road bridge has been upgraded over the years , when you see the old Prince Alfred Bridge you will understand why !! This is it .

 It was built in the 1880's , and probably hasn't had too much maintenance since then !!! It is a "managed ruin ", basically I think that means - leave it till it drops !!
  Access has been stopped on the old bridge , understandably !! so we wandered around and over the newer one .

 The new bridge is like a giant size meccano set - these nuts are about 200mm across , and there are rivets everywhere - reminds me of the harbour bridge , right down to the thick gal paint !!

 You can see where the old Prince Alfred bridge used to go straight through , now the road does a sharp left turn , and on the inside of the turn are a couple of old electric pumps that were used to pull water from the river , and a bore .

 From here we got a better view of the old railway bridge , no names this time , just the bridge .

 Back around and past the park is the golf course , the rail bridge runs along the edge of the course . It stretches across the flood plain towards the centre of town , and almost appears to join Prince Alfred Bridge .

 Both bridges are an engineering marvel , to have withstood the weights of traffic and trains over a distance of nearly 1,000 metres , quite remarkable !!

 The other thing here at the moment is the noise of the cicadas - a high pitched and deafening trill that just doesn't end , reminds me of my childhood beside the Dingo Creek at Marlee . Definitely not the place to have a headache !!
 That's it for today , here's a map link :- https://drive.google.com/open?id=1jSyxtG6FPav2Ks-nRJRCV8e7h6s&usp=sharing