A day or two in the high country! 20th and 21st August 2012.
Probably should have dated all the pictures as totally lost track of time/date/place....? We left the van at Traralgon with the Chilvers' and went for a drive with intentions of seeing some of the high country around Mt Buller and Lake Eilden (Filming of Man from Snowy River country). The main catalyst was our dear old mate Sir Reg Barnwall back home convalescing heard we were near his old stomping grounds and requested we visit where he was born! We drove up to Mansfield via Healesville, Eildon, Alexandra and saw some incredible country. Pictures and comments follow:
Trout stock ponds at Buxton Trout farm
On the way up to Eildon we dropped into a trout farm at Buxton that charged $3 for kids and I forget what for adults and then you have to keep what you catch and pay about $14.50 per kg of the fish. We met the bloke in charge who said 'just make yourself at home mate; it's really only a weekend thing so here's some bait and there's some food, go and feed em and have a look around...I'll be in the shed gutting fish, if you need a hand just push the buzzer and I'll come out.....!" And with that we had the place to ourselves! We only took one rod and as there were only Rainbow trout and Atlantic Salmon we caught one of each (released it) and put the rod back!
Nice fish hey!!!!! Kacie played this Atlantic Salmon for at least 4 or 5 minutes on light gear. I made sure the drag was backed off as it ran, jumped and fought like a trooper and you can imagine the average fisher having the drag up too tight and getting busted off easily! There were floats everywhere against the bank of the pond indicating just that. I even got a nice like gill rake cut on my hand for future memories of our encounter with the Buxton Salmon!
Rainbow's going nuts on the pellets we were given to feed them. Literally thousands of them in every pond with the odd few dead and drifted against the filter grills.
My little Rainbow which I was told was actually not a bad size for a Rainbow Trout?? Still wish I hooked and played Kacie's Salmon though!!! Kacie is holding the container of pellets we were given.
Can anyone guess what dam/lake this is.....here's a hint....'Dad didn't mind, he always thought that the power lines reminded him of man ability to conduct electricity!' HA HA HA!!!!
O.K. if that was too hard how about this photo!!!??? Here are some lines from the scenes involving this shack that any true blooded sralyin will know: "Smell that.......two stroke" and if you look closer on the verandah you can see the bug zapper hanging up which feature in the line after "hows the serenity......?" I was singing the song all the way from Traralgon to this little spot........'we're going to Bonnnie Doon!" HA HA!
This is Sir Reg's families old farm near Eildon. We popped in and met the lovely people that purchased the properties from Reg who had of course inherited from his parents and sold in the early 70's when they sold up and went to Frazer Island and started the resort off up there. No doubt Reg will be able to tell me about that old Silky and the shed and dilapidated yards....! All cattle country now (Angus).
Nice little lunch stop at the base of Mt Buller. Kerriann cooking stir-fry chicken a favourite in the cold weather on the road!
This drive actually shocked the heck out of me......these tree's are very tall eucalypts in the Marysville region and I surmised that we must be in the area of the Black Saturday fires and was later confirmed. The trees are burnt black to the canopy basically meaning that this was an area where crown fire or fire storm went through and we lost so many Aussie's. It's quite surreal actually driving through the town and seeing the remnants of such destruction and as opposed to the insulation that T.V. broadcast you really get a feel for how horrifying it would have been! Rest in peace those that we lost and hope those healing are holding up o.k! The stats were 173 people killed and 414 injured stemming from the main fire on and around the 7th February 2009.
On a much brighter note....! Mt Buller in its resplendent beauty!
One of the Mt Buller gimmick activities is the Gnome Trail and this one is on the main road up to the Mountain. Not a bad idea and one I would love to take home to Mt Tamborine but the moron delinquents that infest SEQ would destroy them in a matter of days.
Nice one of Mr and Mr's in the snow at Mt Buller.
On the Ski Lift to the top...actually no sorry, on the way back down!
This was on the way up.....!
At the top...just wish we had all the gear and ski's! We were a bit out of place walking round in jeans and sand-shoes and even funnier was when we got out of the car at the car-park standing in the snow in thongs and t-shirts..! The Japanese tourists thought we were mad!
We drove home through Mountain dirt roads that took us over all the hills and through amazing little towns and locations. A very long time to drive 100km but places like this town called Woods Point were a better step back in time than many heritage tourist towns you see!
Looking down the main street there is dead set a chook in the middle of the road outside the pub in this shot. Still mining Gold up here too which got me stirred up a bit.....maybe I could take up Gold Mining or fossicking (how do you spell fossicking)?
Today is 22nd August and we are back at the Chilvers and packing up ready to move on finally from Southern Victoria! Girls are loading up as much internet stuff from the Chilvers WiFi and these posts and pictures in haste as it seems to use up so much data usage loading photos! Hope you are all well and there seems to be a hint of warmer weather to come in the next few weeks. Will be nice to feel the sun and warmth again!
Love to all! The Joneses....xx
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