1/24/2016

This weekend is a Cann Valley week. It is also the Australia Day long weekend so Damien and I went up to Cann River after I finished work on Thursday. On our way we stopped at Little Prince for our regular favourite meal.

After dinner we continued along stopping in Bairnsdale for groceries, fuel and to do a super long slide. It was great fun!

My schedule was light on Friday so we were out by 2pm. We are using the long weekend to see the 12 tallest mountains in Australia. That may seem like a deal but they are quite close together and connected by a ridge. So after work we headed up to Jindabyne for the night. It is 2 hours north of Cann River. We stopped at a platypus reserve in Bombala but couldn't see any. We did find a rosella (though the picture didn't come out).

After the reserve Damien drove and I slept. He woke me up on occasion to point things out. I opened an eye and went back to sleep. We got into Jindabyne the town at the bottom of the mountain just as the parks office was closing. We were able to get a pass and a map to enter the mountain area. 

We checked out the shops and checked into our 6 bed suite before going for a run in the park (at the bottom of the mountains). 

We ran 9km's past a waterfall and we saw an amazing rock formation and heaps of kangaroos. When we were playing on the rocks Damo slipped and broke his watch :(

After the run, we raced back for a dinner of pizza and pasta.

Saturday morning we were up early to park and start our walk. On the way out of town we grabbed breakfast before heading up to Charlotte Pass where we left the car and started the hike. 

We started easy on the track to Blue Lake. It was spectacular and we stopped for lunch.

Then we hiked up and up and up and up to Mt. Twynam the third highest peak in Australia. (Mountain #1)

Then we headed onto the next one. It was off the track so we dropped our packs and walked up. This unnamed peak was 2146m (mountain #2) 

On the way back we couldn't find our packs so we went up and down and back and forth for 20 minutes until they appeared. Then after a bit more off roading we reconnected with the trail. On the way up to the next peak we found a fantastic lookout for club lake where we had a nice rest. 

Then we headed along the track to Mt. Carruthers (mountain #3) 

After going down we climbed the ridge back up to Mt. Northcote (mountain #4)

From the top we thought that we saw another peak higher than us that wasn't on the list so we decided to climb that too.

So we went all the way down and all the way back up to Mt. Muellers (mountain #5) which we could clearly see was the 13th highest from the peak.

From there we found a path that led up to Mt. Townsend (mountain #6). It is the second highest peak in Australia. Funny story: Australians used to think that it was the highest mountain due to a surveying error. When the error was recognised instead of changing the record for tallest mountain they just switched the names of the mountains. So the mountain that we climbed was the original Mt. Kosciuszko.

We set up camp just below the peak of Mt. Townsend just behind the ridge line overlooking Albina Lake.

The next morning we started out strong. We got straight up and went up to Mt. Alice Rawson (mountain #7).

After going back to camp for breakfast, we packed up and headed to the next two peaks. We dropped our packs again and headed up Mt. Abbot (mountain #8).

And Mt. Byatts Camp (mountain #9).

Which were right next to each other. After the peaks we grabbed our packs and began walking back toward the main track. We crossed a marsh, some streams, and climbed over some rocks before meeting up with a dirt path and then the main path. Once we made it back to the path it was still 200m elevation gain to the peak of Mt. Kosciuszko (the tallest mountain in Australia). As we walked up, there was an unnamed knoll on the side of Kosciuszko that ranked in at over 2150 meters so we climbed to the top and had a snack, but forgot to take a picture (mountain #10).

From there we joined the herd of people walking up to the peak of Mt. Kosciuszko. Damien commented that he liked the contrast of the extra people here. But I disagreed. The people were ruining my serenity. Anyway we made it to the top. Tallest mountain in Australia (mountain #11).

Shortly after the peak we left the path again to meet our next peak. Just above the highest toilet in Australia (not the tallest, the highest from sea level) at Rawson's Gap we headed up to the top of Etheridge peak (mountain #12).

Now if you have been paying attention I told you that we were planning on 12 peaks but we have also added 2 in that were in planned, Mt. Mueller and the extra knoll were unplanned so we still have 2 left. 

We took another pack drop and headed up to North Ram's Head. It would have been an easy-ish climb but we went to hard way. By the time we reached the top it was time for a much deserved lunch break. (mountain #13)

It was a bit of a slog to the last peak but we made it to Ram's Head Peak (mountain #14) and we were so excited!

After the peak the last 5 miles back began. Damien decided to drop down into the valley but I was not interested in more uphill so I stayed on the ridge. My path ended up being the better one and I beat him back to the packs by 10 minutes. From there we took a very slow 2km walk across marsh land to meet back up with the main trail. From there it was easy going counting down the last 4km to the car. 

I should also mention that it is the peak of wild flower season so our whole journey was covered in beautiful flowers. 

To celebrate the end of our hike we got some Mexican food which was fine...for Australia. Then we had much needed showers and went to sleep. Zzzzzz. 

2/26/2016

Right so I have once again been lazy on the blog. Sorry. 

Here are the main highlights so that we can get caught back up:

Work as usual

A bit of cooking

We went back to bounce 

I went to cann River for a very short trip.

For Valentine's Day Damo and I went to the welcome to night vale live show. It was great. 

For Valentine's I also got my sisters chocolate. It was my best investment of the year so far. Making my sisters happy is the best.

Also, i got a spirlize book and I have been using it like crazy. I am way beyond zucchini pasta and now do pasta/salad noodles out of everything. So far my favourite new one is spirilized cucumber with sesame. 

We went to white night the 12 hours of art in the city. This year was a bit of a let down compared to previous years but it was still very impressive 

I also got some birthday leggings that are a huge hit with everyone. 

Tonight Damo is playing a computer game and I am baking a cake... Just for around the house. 

1/21/2016

This week was a fairly standard week.

Monday evening Justin and Sylvie dropped by and we played a bit of 500. 

Tuesday we went climbing.

Wednesday morning I dropped my car off to be fixed. My boss was sick so I had a very busy day. I saw 11 patients instead of my normal 7 and I was exhausted.  But still had a bit of time to work on the puzzle.

Thursday was interesting I needed to go to Melton and then back into the city to treat some community clients. I didn't have a car so I needed to take the train, but the train wasn't running so I needed to take a bus. This meant that I had to leave at 5:50am to get to work by 8. I took my laptop and got work done in transit. Luckily the trip back was a bit faster so made it back in time for the appointment with my community client. Since I was sending work emails at 6am, my boss nicely let me leave a few hours early. I went into the city to pick up the rental car for the weekend. I accidentally went to the wrong station which made the whole process take about 20 minutes longer than necessary. When I finally had the car I went home, picked up Damien and we headed off for Cann River. 

1/17/2016

I unfortunately had a death in the family so I went home for my birthday. It was a very mixed birthday as I was happy to spend it with my family but sad about the circumstances. 

Damien and I got back to Melbourne on Monday the 11th just in time for me to shower and go to work. Once I got home I went almost immediately to bed. 

Tuesday I had a bit more energy. I had a very slow day at work so I caught up on paperwork and met some of my email contacts in person. It was a very good meeting and I have received a large amount of positive feedback for making the effort. After work I went rock climbing and enjoyed my zucchini fries with dinner. 

By Wednesday I was rather tired but luckily my Wednesday job is rather peaceful so I enjoyed my time in the office and had a long chat before heading home. 

Thursday was a fairly busy day. While I was driving between patients someone tried to over take me on a left hand turn at a pedestrian crossing and scraped the front corner of my car with his small blue  truck. 

So I spent all of my time between patients calling insurance companies and making incident reports. After work Damien and I took Kat out to dinner before she leaves for Germany on January 26th. I can't believe that my best friend in Australia is moving to Germany. I don't think it has sunk in yet. After dinner Damien and I went home and worked on the puzzle he got me for my birthday. It is pretty epic. Stay tuned. 

On Friday Damien took me out for dinner since we had been unable to go out on my actual birthday. First we did an escape room where we failed to complete the puzzles in the time limit. Then we went to a place that I had never heard of before called Punch lane. It was pretty spectacular. 

On Saturday I had a birthday party at a trampoline gym. We had 10 people jumping and flipping at the coolest of places. Afterward we had a much deserved Thai dinner. Followed by an after party of 500 at my place. It was great fun and I felt so appreciated. 

Sunday Damien and I took it easy. We went to the market, did some housework, did some puzzle and practiced 500. 

1/26/2016

We woke up just in time to check out of the hotel. Then we went for breakfast at premier cafe. It was TERRIBLE and so expensive. I was so upset. We wanted to do some water sport in Jindabyne but our legs hurt and I didn't want to spend the money if we weren't going to enjoy it. So we took a walk around the lake and sat on some park benches. 

After that we decided to get on our way. We wanted to stop at Wildbrumby distillery for lunch but they were booked out so we just got a bottle of dandelion schnapps and 2 mini ice cream cones and continued on our way. Next stop was thredbo resort where we did a summer single person bobsled. 

It was kinda like a single person roller coaster where your car has brakes. It was fun. From there we continued along the Murray Valley Highway toward home. We stopped at the Murray crossing and got out to swim for a bit. The Murray river is the boundary between Victoria and New South Wales so we walked acrossed the river to Victoria at a 4 wheel drive ford but then had to go back to New South Wales to get our car and drive around to a bridge.  

We stopped again to splash in the water quickly at Geehi. But there really wasn't much there. Back on the road again we stopped at a lookout and looked back at everything we had hiked(except for the really tall one that was hidden behind the ridge) 

Shortly after we came across Murray 1 power station. The second largest hydroelectric plant in Australia which takes 95% of the water from the snowy river and reroutes it to the Murray for irrigation of Victoria, New South Wales, and South Australia. 

From there we went to our campsite on the Kiewa river. Again Damien set up as I made dinner. We had fantastic pasta with vegetables followed by a chocolate bar for dessert. After dinner we walked the 5 minutes into the town of kergunyah it was small and quiet except for town hall which was a buzz with card players. Looking through the window we were intimidated so we went back to the tent for some 2 player hearts and chips. 

Australia Day morning we woke up early and had the last of our breakfast supplies. Realistically our meals have just gotten more and more elaborate as the trip has gone on. 

We packed up and hit the road. We started out on a shortcut that Damien found on google maps. But then it turned into a gravel road, and then a dirt road, and then we hit a gate so we turned around and went the long way. 

The first stop on our trip home was Yackandandah, we went for a walk around the park and played on a jungle gym. A few kilometres down the road I passed a sign for pick your own strawberries so I quickly did a U-turn and we picked 2pounds of strawberries and 1 pound of raspberries.

With our bellies full of berries we took another detour to woolshed falls. 

We joined the others and went for a dip in the pools. It was very relaxing and refreshing. Back into the car we continued on our way to Beechworth and took a turn off to see Beechworth gorge. It was a 5km scenic drive. We would have been impressed but with so many other spectacular views we continued into town. We had lunch at Beechworth bakery, Damien enjoyed his Ned Kelly pie while I was thrilled to finally get a cheese and tomato toasty. And it was a really good! 

We walked around and say the local shops and found the court house museum. With entry we got another 3 buildings so we saw a telegraph station, Ned Kelly's vault, the courthouse, Ellen Kelly's cell, and the Bourke museum. (Ned Kelly is a famous Australian bush ranger and Ellen is his mum).

 3 hours later as many of the places were closing we quickly went to Beechworth honey where we got honey, ice cream, and sparkling necture. 

Then with one last glance at the town we started the long drive home. We tried another stop at a cheese factory but it was closed for the evening. The drive went quickly. We listened to the Australia Day countdown on the radio, Damo drove, and I got caught up on my blog. :)