The Snowy Mountains and Canberra

The school holidays have just ended and even though Rafi's teacher is sitting stranded at Heathrow airport waiting for Iceland's volcanic ash problem to dissipate, we have all settled back into routine. We had a fabulous holiday that took us all the way to Tumut in the snowy mountains to Canberra and back to Sydney. We headed out along the Grand Pacific Drive (http://www.grandpacificdrive.com.au/) which is a magnificent bridge built over the sea. Apparently it was originally up against the cliff face but due to the hazards of falling rocks, they diverted the bridge out over the sea. It was magnificent. From the car we couldn't take such great pics but you can get out and walk along the bridge and the link above gives a very good aerial view of our route.

After the grand pacific it was smooth sailing to Tumut. Tumut is a very beautiful little town in the heart of the snowy mountains.




After briefly stopping to get directions, we followed the dirt road through the fields to Elm Cottage, our cottage in the middle of nowhere. (http://www.elmcottage.com.au/default.htm) Our cottage was a magnificent three bedroom, three bathroom home with aircon, barbeque facilities, a fully stocked pantry and a view off the balcony of the river running through the property. We stretched our legs and walked down to the river's edge where a little beach had formed. The kids had great fun making shapes out of rocks, skimming stones across the water and paddling in the clear, clean, drinkable water. Afterwards we went back to the cabin to enjoy a barbeque and some local wine whilst watching the sunset and the cows lowing across the fields.

Rafi's artwork at the beach

Running up to our guest house on the hill


View from the balcony of the river

The front door of our River Gum Cottage

The next morning we woke up early and drove out to Kosciuszko National Park, home to Mt Kosciuszko, the highest peak in Australia. We made our way along a very windy route to meet our guide who took us to Jillabenan cave. This cave made of limestone is the work of 400 million years worth of water droplets dripping drop by drop, depositing minerals over the years and it is very beautiful. The boys were each given a torch to explore with and we entered the beautiful cave. There are so many different rock formations, some were translucent, some sparkled like glitter and some wrapped themselves around the cave walls like an elaborate shroud. Rafi was very lucky to be able to hold a small piece of stalactite and we were also shown a fossilised prehistoric squid frozen forever within his piece of rock.

After the caves we headed for the Thermal pools which were at the bottom of a steep walk a short distance away. There is an adult and a children pool and the water is naturally heated to a constant 27 degrees. We all had a great time in the water and spent ages splashing around in the middle of nowhere.

Mitch felt pretty cold when he got out the water!

On our way back to Elm Cottage we stopped off to do the Tumut river walk which was so beautiful and the kids ran around blowing dandelions and racing in and around all the tree. After another fantastic barbeque and early night, we were ready to head out. We stopped by the farm house on the way out so that the kids could feed Sarah the cow and Lambchop the sheep.

Then we headed off for Canberra. To say that our journey was interesting was an understatement. We followed the directions given by our trusty GPS but to say that she led us astray is putting it mildly. True we were guided by the straightest route but not the most car friendly. Dirt road for over 100kms! And the most amazing thing, we only saw one other car along the way. Imagine a country where you can drive for 100km and only see one other car. Mind you it wasn't a car, it was a great big log pile carrying truck and it passed us from the other direction on a hairpin bend. Sitting on the left hand side of the car (thank heavens I wasn't driving) all I could see to the left was a bottomless gorge. Amazingly he squeezed past. Eventually we took a side road off in the opposite direction (it was tarred) and headed to the small town of Yass. Yass has the distinction of being the first town to receive fluorodised water in Australia and that is about all we could find to recommend it. But, it did lead directly to the highway and set us right on the path to Canberra.

We reached Canberra in the afternoon (not the morning as expected) but we got to go to Cockington Green along the way which is something we had all wanted to do. Cockington Green is
a miniature village but in contrast to others I have been to, Canberra has asked all the embassies in the area to contribute something that best represents their country. So as well as the very cute little local sports greens, churches, schools and train stations, there is also Stonehenge, an Aztec temple, Machu Picchu and the typical Cape Dutch house of Groot Constantia complete with giraffe in the backyard. We walked around and took the miniature train ride around the exhibits too.

After Cockington Green we just had enough time to get to Questicon, the national science museum. It was everything we expected, the boys got to see "live" dinosaurs, play with water experiments, experience an earthquake and create an array of different illusions. We had an amazing time. The museum closes at 5 so we headed back to Sydney. On the way we stopped off for supper and to see the giant Merino sheep, which really is a giant. We got home just after 8. It was an amazing holiday and I would definitely head back to Canberra again to spend more time in what is a spectacular looking city.