The Snowy Mountains....

We are now on the NSW coast so the next couple of posts are 'retrospective'.

Brisbane is now appearing on the road signs on the highway. The adventure is nearly over. Insert sad face here...

The kids are excited about getting home, Frank and I could do another lap (after some solar panels are purchased).

The weather was not fantastic but it did not dampen our spirits.  We had plans of climbing to the top of Mt. Kosciusko but the rain and the low cloud meant poor visibility and 'lets stay in the car' type behaviour'.

No fire bans here...

Despite this, it was fantastic to see the ski fields in Summer and revisit some of the places we had skied before during the wintertime. The kids were excited as they saw some distant snow near Guthega, just couldn't quite get there!


It was difficult to see any of Perisher Village...


This is where Frank and I spent our honeymoon in 1994...

The accommodation was average but the food was sensational....

The Snowy River....don't get to close to the edge boys, hypothermia isn't nice...

Perisher Village in the summer time....

Smiggens Holes ski fields...

Visiting some sections of the Snowy River Hydroelectric Scheme was interesting....

This electricity scheme took 25 years to complete.  It's construction is the largest engineering project undertaken in Australia..

More than 100 000 workers came from over 30 countries came to the Snowy's to work on the project.

 One of the dams near Guthega ski fields...

Thredbo looks so so different.....ghost town like....


We had a holiday here in 2004. We were living in Sydney at the time so we thought we would make the most of our proximity to the Snowy Mountains....A pre GFC holiday...

The kids remembered the Magic Carpet....

and ThredboLand where we left them most days in the care of 'Ricki' the ski instructor...

And the most amazing accommodation.....miracles happen here.....

When we win the Lotto we will visit this lovely area again in Winter.....

Merry Christmas.....

M-E-R-R-Y  C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S to one and all!!


Despite missing family, friends, and pets we still had a lovely Christmas 'on the road'.
It was extremely easy going and relaxed.


Charlie was excited that Santa found us in the Caravan.


Mum and Dad were really happy that Charlie didn't ask 'why has Santa wrapped all the presents in the Christmas paper you bought the other day?'.


It could still happen...


Late Christmas eve the kids decided we needed a Christmas tree...

Christmas morning started early in the van...

As well as building bionicles; playing with pet rat accessories; and shooting fly exterminator guns; the kids varied their time between the beach, the pool, and the jumping pillow....

gotta love Christmas!!


Stay safe on the roads everyone!!

Pambula.....

Some more close contact with Kangaroos at Pambula Caravan Park....
  
It is very funny opening the caravan door first thing in the morning and what do you know, Skippy is looking straight at you......very funny...


Here's Joey settling in....

Getting comfy....

Mum's on alert as usual....

Yep all good....perfect fit....(just)

There's no place like home....

Back on the Mainland....

I have to say the 'Spirit of Tasmania' is a well oiled operation. I couldn't 'fault' the ship.


This time we took pillows and sleeping bags. A few of us slept on the floor.
Not to many rules happening in the Recliner section.


Sadly we drove on through Melbourne.


'Caravanning' back this way in the future doesn't seem that overwhelming since we have gone all the way around.


We had an overnight stay at 'Lakes Entrance' and then headed for the border.

The usual excitement and 'shenanagans' that occur with a border crossing...

Instant increase in temperature. Put the extra bedding away Frank.....somewhere??

We visited the 'Whale Museum' in Eden which was quite interesting...
Great art deco facade!!

Eden has a truly fascinating whaling history.

As much as I love Whales I hadn't realised they are divided into two distinct sub-groups.

(sorry little biology lesson coming up)

The Baleen types...they have the baleen slats or filters instead of teeth. 


Remember Nemo?? they swallow water, krill and plankton gets caught in the 'baleen'. Their tongue forces water out and the trapped goodies are swallowed. Very clever.

Baleen Whales

The toothed Whales. These guys have conical teeth which they use to tear off chunks of food and swallow which is then digested in stages through several stomachs.

Toothed Whales

Now for the history lesson....


The Whale Museum was created because of a very unique relationship that existed between separate pods of  Killer Whales (1850-1930) and a family of 'Whalers' named the Davidsons.


The Killer whales would assist the Whalers to hunt Baleen whales. The Killer Whales would find the Baleen Whales and herd them into a nearby bay. The whales would then somehow alert the Whalers. 


One very famous Killer Whale (Old Tom) alerted the Whalers by breaching or tail slapping at the mouth of the river.


The Whalers would then head out in their wooden 'oared' boat and harpoon the Baleen Whale. Old Tom would grab the boat's rope in his teeth and help tow them back.


Old Tom's skeleton is in the museum and you can see the wear in his teeth from the rope....

In return for their help the Whalers would give the Killer Whales the tongue and the lips (which were the only parts they ate). They would also eat the fish and birds that were attracted to the area.

Quite an amazing story.

Books have been written and movies made about this extremely unique relationship between Man and Beast.

It was known as 'the law of the tongue'.

The relationship came unstuck in 1920 when a Whaler didn't follow the 'law of the tongue' bringing on a huge tug of war with Old Tom.

It is thought this incident caused Old Tom to lose some teeth, cause an abscess which ultimately meant he couldn't eat. He subsequently died.

Very sad!!

In 1982 the International Whaling Commission voted for a 'morotorium' on all commercial whaling.

It seems there are still methods that certain countries use to get around this unfortunately!!!

Alpaca farm visit....

Our new friend Tony from the Burnie Information Centre put us onto a wonderful local 'attraction'.


Bindi's 'animal' radar was on high alert and soon after some papermaking we were off to visit an Alpaca Farm. 


Excitement levels were high yet again.


First stop on the farm was to meet 'Ally' who is relatively calm, desexed male who you can walk around on a lead.


Ella took the reins first of course.

The newest babies were extremely cute and made the funniest sweet noises.


Babies are known as 'Crias'..

How cute is this little fella...

These girls are all pregnant..


They are a very considerate breed as the girls only give birth in daylight hours.


However, the girls will 'spit' more often when pregnant apparently. (understandable)

As Ally does the rounds with us he says hello to his relatives...

There is one Llama who is in a paddock with a group of young male Alpacas.

The big fella was certainly in charge of the young boys.

Llamas are closely related to Alpacas but are more of a 'pack' animal.

The young boys tended to stick together, do the same thing and try to stay away from the big Llama.

Alpaca 'peer group pressure' at its best.

Charlie's turn with Ally...


A little bit nervous to start with...

gradually turning into friends......

The Alpaca farm was animal 'utopia'. 
The animals were all extremely well loved and cared for ....


There was Rabbits, Ferrets, Geese, Turkeys, Chooks, Pheasants, a Deer, Dogs, and very funny Goats..

A Black Swan keeping the Rainbow Trout company.....

Edward the Emu...

who was very hungry....

The Alpaca farm was located near the beautiful 'Guide Falls'...


More opportunities to slow down the shutter speed....

It was a fabulous couple of days spent in Burnie.....