9. Snowy Mountains

As we climbed out of the flatlands around Hay into the Snowy Mountains, the landscapes shifted from grasses and eucalyptus to the scrub and pines of an alpine forest.

We stayed for 2 nights at the Rainbow Pines Caravan Park which gave us a good change to explore the snowy mountains areas. Our stops included a tour of the hydro power station, natural caves, the highest town in Australia, and some trout fishing.

The Yarrangobilly Caves, just off the Snowy Mountains Highway to the north of Kiandra, were discovered in 1834 in a valley of the
Yarrangobilly River. There are about sixty caves in the area but only four,
including the best known Glory Hole Cave, are open for inspection.

Peter really enjoys touring industrial developments such as this hydroelectric power plant built into solid rock. The lakes in the mountains are connected by vast parallel tunnels so that water from a lake with high water flows into another lake with low water by simply opening the massive values. This allows the system to capture and balance water levels from different parts of the mountain as the rains fall and snows melt. We had to take a bus to get to the power station that was located some 700 ft under the surface.

Back on the surface, the lakes provide beautiful scenes and places for fishing and boating recreation.

While stopping to take pictures of some nice flowers and tree bark textures, I suddenly had a sharp burning pain in my toe. Looking down, I was standing on an ant trail with open sandals and no socks. A very large ant - about 1 inch in size - with an orange head and long pincers had attached itself to my large toe. YOO-AAAA-OUCH! After completing a short war dance, I managed to knock it loose. I got back into the Pajero and drove a little ways down the road, but my toe still burned with pain so I traded driving with my wife. I wouldn't be able to drive for 2 days until the pain subsided. We found out later I'd probably encountered the Jumper Ant - a smaller species of the Australian Bull Ant.

Note to self - wear proper footwear next time I'm in wilderness areas.

Anyway - enjoy the photos I did manage to get.

Old Adaminaby

While in Old Adaminaby, we stopped in at the trout farm to give the kids a chance to try their fish catching skills.

We started off fishing by the lake. The weather was threatening, but Nic managed to catch a trout before the rain started and we headed back to the store for shelter.

Mikayla tried too, but her luck at the lake ran out as the weather moved in.

On the way back to the store and kiosk, she wanted to know what was in those ponds. "I don't know, why don't you try fishing in one". So we baited up her hook again and dropped in the line. Wouldn't you know it! She snagged a trout in about 30 seconds.

Mikayla caught the biggest trout.

Just after this trophy photo, we carefully cleaned and fried them up with butter. YUM!

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