Ah now, where were we? Yes, the food was wonderful. There will be more about food - the bean (chick pea) stew particularly, but for now I think some adventuring might be in order.
We were both interested in doing some fishing. Neither of us had a fishing licence for the state we were in and there was some uncertainty about whether the trout season had started. With the weather easing and a bit more sunshine we decided to try getting out so we could do some exploring back down the Barry Way, where the road follows the Snowy River and we would be very close to Victoria – close enough to plead ignorance about licences and seasons and so on.
It was on Monday (Day Six at the hut) that we headed out on an exploratory mission, hitting the freshly wetted dirt road for 60kms or so, checking out the camping spots and stretches of fishable river. With the Ladies now unladen we were able to have a bit of fun on the dirt, slippin’ and slidin’ around the corners, dodging the ‘roos and wallabies.
There are some bloody good campsites along there; Jacob’s River and Pinch River campsites were particularly good (great places for a rally, by the way). The river was raging – it had flooded out in a few spots – so the fishing would be crap, but that didn’t diminish our enthusiasm.
We decided on the Pinch River campsite (at the far end of the river in the above photo) to return to for a couple of days and headed back to the hut. Here are the Ladies having a quick chat on the bitumen. The farmland up here all looks just like this – tough alpine grasses and twisty eucalypts.
We made up a shopping list. We had been so good with the booze that we deserved to get a whole lot more. There was the leftover chick pea stew to deal with, chocolate rations to top up, and … I forget what else we bought. (Hans?)
So on Tuesday, freshly provisioned and all packed up, we headed for the Pinch. It was a beautiful warm day, but ready to be cold when the sun hid behind clouds. We pitched tents by the river ….
… and collected some firewood ….
The fishing was crap, but we had been so good and the beer and scotch went down very nicely. There was something really nice to eat (????) and the roaring river provided excellent sleeping music.
Next day (Wednesday) after some more crap fishing, we packed up the fishing gear and headed further south into Victoria and the McKillops Bridge road. This road makes the Barry Way look like a smooth new freeway – great fun, but pretty scary in spots. Building this road must have required some pretty brave people. It’s difficult to get the depth and size into a little photo, but trust me, these valleys are deep and steep.
The road is almost all single lane, with the occasional slightly wider bit to allow vehicles to pass. We encountered only one car on the 30kms to McKillops Bridge. (Sorry, I didn’t get a pic of the bridge, Jeff.)
We fished at the campsite there (no luck), had a coffee and headed back. We were both low on fuel so headed for the Seldom Seen Service Station which appeared to be deserted (yikes). It took a few minutes for Seldom Seen Dave, Lamboghini the sheep and the chickens to make their way out to the pumps. We were very glad to see them. We even signed the guest book. (pics shown earlier in the thread).
With the Ladies happily refuelled we headed back to the Pinch campsite. Hans had a close call with a very big buck ‘roo. It dropped onto the track from above, about a metre in front of him, kind of grinned and sproinged off the track. He was as tall as Hans on the bike. It happened so quickly and calmly that despite the nice adrenalin rush it didn’t slow us down at all.
We rode back up the Barry Way in darkness again, seeing more ‘roos, wallabies and Samba deer (they are big buggers). Back at the campsite we gathered some more firewood. I think Hans might be slightly ahead in the ‘fit the maximum firewood on an old boxer’ competition.
To be continued ….
