Aussie Roadtrip: And then the Rain Came

It was lovely waking up with a bit of sunshine and the neighbouring kangaroos nibbling outside our window. It was very peaceful being the only humans staying amongst the chalets at the top of a hill in Jindabyne. And then the rain came!

Good day!

Our Jindabyne home for 2 nights

Lake Jindabyne in sunshine

Lake Jindabyne pre-storm

Jindabyne bush

Cloud collection 

Lake Jindabyne from the top of our hill

Neighbours 

Stormy backyard 

The reason they built a series of giant hydro-electric power stations through the Snowy Mountain region is because there is a lot of water.  There’s a lot of water because, well there’s a lot of rain (snow too, I imagine).  Unfortunately, we had to make an on-the-morning decision to scrap our plan to climb to the summit of Mt Kosciusko (which is apparently quite simple!).

Instead, we went the other way, along the road to Cooma, the home of the Snowy Hydro Scheme Discovery Centre.  It was a great way to learn more about what many describe as the greatest public infrastructure project undertaken in Australia.  We quite enjoyed it, although parts of it could be updated and/or fixed.  It was great to learn about not only how electricity is bought and sold throughout the east coast, but more about the scheme and the people who came to the region to help bring it to life.  I thought it kind of comical that they started the process with picks and shovels, but if that’s what you’ve got, then that’s what you’ve got!  Tens of thousands of people worked in this region to make these dams, it’s really pretty amazing. Many of the engineers, electricians, surveyors and other workers came from Germany, Italy, Spain, Croatia, Norway, Greece and other parts of the world.

What I would still like to know more about is why hydro power is still more expensive than coal, because as a result, hydro isn’t used to generate the bulk of electricity.  Still, visiting has meant that I have more questions to find the answers to, and I suppose that must be a good thing.

Our planned visit to the well reviewed NSW Correctional Services Museum was interrupted by a hiccup with the car, that fixed itself with no intervention from us but a lazy wait and try it again in 2 hours approach.  With the right mindset, you can fix anything!

Today Kat woke up and watched some boxing, kangaroo style- the only kind she enjoys! After some yoga and breakfast we got back on the road to head to the capital. 

It went on for quite awhile

Look at the far kanga propped up on his tail

Aussie Roadtrip: Melbourne to the Snowy Mountains

An early start out of Melbourne saw us make great ground on our first day. A good thing as it was a long drive ahead of us.

Aside from a short break in Seymour we didn’t stop until around 11 when we drove straight up to Wodonga’s Memorial service for Remembrance Day. Inside the local shopping centre we found some school kids singing Christmas carols outside Target whilst dancing the Macarena. Strange combination and newsworthy enough for Prime news!

Prior to this was "Jingle Bells" paired with the Macarena dance

Coming up to Lake Hume was a highlight of the day’s roadtrip for me. The contrast of the red dirt with the mountains, lake and its creepy dead trees is somehow captivating. We had lunch on the edge of the lake with the flies trying to eat our food and faces.

Lake Hume

Percy and Rob at Lake Hume

After lunch it wasn't long until we turned off towards Thredbo and crossed the Murray state border into NSW.

Hooray Snow Mountains!

On the road again!

Driving this long in Europe we would have probably made it from Amsterdam to Paris!

Rob’s highlight of the day was the Scammell's lookout.  Walking through the stringybarks to a lookout (which apparently received an upgrade just before the Queen’s visit in 1963 – not sure which queen, as the sign didn’t specify), we should have been able to not see Mt Kosciusko, not because of pending rainclouds (although there were many), but because it’s blocked by another hill.

Scammell's lookout

Oh stringy barks!

It was a good day on the road. Aside from the beautiful countryside we were pretty excited that we made it to Siberia in 2015 after all:

Turned out we didn't need Russian visas after all!

Haunting

We concluded the afternoon settling to hide out of the rain in a cabin in Jindabyne instead of in our tent!

Zurich and Lucerne

After hopping off the Bernina Express in Chur, still in awe, we looked for our fourth train of the day to Zurich. Initially we were spoilt with another scenic journey but before long tunnels and the departure of the sun limited our view. We set to some blogging and soon found ourselves in Zurich.

We were met at the platform by Laurel, Rob’s friend and our amazing host. It was great to hear an Australian accent (though our neighbours on the Bernina Express were from Melbourne!) and a friendly face. Laurel has called Zurich home for a decade and gave us a wealth of information on the city, what it is like living there and on the international school scene. We were also extremely lucky to be shown around Lucerne.

Rob & Laurel

Lucerne

In Lucerne we climbed up the battlements and the walls and went up the clock tower that was there, giving us a nice view of the city on one side, and, strangely, an athletics track on the other. Laurel took us to great lunch where Rob ordered the opposite of what he said he wanted! We were entertained by an Italian lady that tried to sit everywhere except where she was supposed to. Unfortunately the famous Chapel bridge of Lucerne was under repair so we couldn’t see its well-known paintings that depict Swiss life in the 12^th century and tell the history of the city and the story of William Tell. It was the oldest wooden bridge of Europe but was burned down in a 1993 fire and was then rebuilt. We loved the murals on many of the building in Lucerne.

Clock tower

Creepy man with a camera lurking behind a tree...

Inner workings of the clock and if you look closely you can see Ghost Rob

Lucerne city wall

Lunch venue and an amazing family tree

Public murals

Public murals

Chapel Bridge from afar

We missed this one on the way in!

You have to look UP in Lucerne

Travelling to and from Lucerne, Laurel took us to her favourite viewpoints, including a church with a bright pink interior. Unfortunately access to the church was blocked by one of the many cycling events that are following us around the world! It was lovely to see the colourful Autumn leaves as we drove between towns.

Autumn is upon us!

Zurich

I hadn’t realised that Zurich is a relatively small city with only around 400 thousand people in the city proper. The villages or suburbs of Zurich are spread out around the lake. It doesn’t feel like you are in the biggest city of a country, even though you are. The quaint little villages and the beautiful lake with views of the alps are what I think makes Zurich special.

Views across Zurich lake (unfortunately alp visibility is low in this shot)

On our walking tour of Zurich, our guide told us that though Berne is the government headquarters of Switzerland, it is not the capital. In fact, Switzerland is a confederation of Cantons without an official capital. In roman times Zurich was a tolling station along the Linmat river. One of the most historic parts of Zurich is Linderhoff, a central hill and viewpoint over the river and city and at one time a Roman fort. Whilst on the hill the guide told us an interesting story about Zurich in the 15^th century. There were no men left in the city as they were off fighting battles. With an army converging on the city, some women decided to dress in men’s battle gear and stand on the Linderhoff so approaching armies saw the town was protected and left without a fight.  This is supposedly the origin of the female national personification Helvetia, the woman in flowing robes bearing a spear.  Although, when we researched it, we couldn't find anything about this myth.

Helvetia

View from Linderhoff

View of Grossmünster from Linderhoff

A random fact that I learnt on the tour: Helvetica font was invented in Zurich. Maybe I should change the font of this post in honour of this discovery! (Changed!)

The walking tour took us by a number of churches and recommended eateries. One of the churches, St Peter’s, has the largest clock face in Europe. Another, Fraumünster, is an old gothic church with beautiful and unique window paintings by Marc Chagal. We went up the  Grossmünster ('great minister'), a Romanesque-style church, for some lovely views of the city and took the guide up on a recommended café. Despite being sick I could not resist the urge for a hot chocolate, or trying some new Lindt chocolate varieties. I was in Switzerland after all!

Fraumünster

Autumn at Linderhoff

Largest clockface in the world

Grossmünster

View from Grossmünster 

View from Grossmünster

Faces in-between clock faces

Traditional house around Zürich lake

Aside from exploring Zurich and its surrounds, the best part about our time with Laurel was chatting and watching no less than the three movies! The Zurich film festival was actually on whilst we were there but we opted for the comforts of Laurel’s home. Besides, what better place for a viewing of Chocolat than the neighbourhood of the Lindt factory? (Well, except maybe a small village in France!)

Provision of chocolate samples:
That's when good neighbours become good friends!

Loch Lomond

After a bus and a train and a stunning but tiring walk around the shoreline, sometimes over jagged rocks, we made it to our Loch Lomond campsite. Loch Lomond is a large picturesque freshwater lake north of Glasgow. This was our first view on the way in:

Loch Lomond

Setting up our sparkling new tent and checking out the facilities we soon realised (again) that this camping gig is harder without a car and a stove!  The camping park we were staying at had a temperamental microwave as its sole cooking accessory. Luckily the 4km walk back to Balmaha to buy more appropriate food supplies and visit the restaurant was gorgeous at any time of day. Well, except for the time I rolled my ankle and that time that it poured with rain!

Traditional tent photo - with over the top colour co-ordination

It was mostly great to be back camping. A highlight was when I forgot to take my towel to the shower. You would not usually put that in the highlight box but it became very funny for me thanks to some youngsters having showers at the same time:

          

Kid 1: “Oh no I forgot my towel!”

Kid 2: “What? How could you forget your towel? Are you an idiot? It is the ONE thing you need to remember to bring when you have a shower.”

Kid 1: “Oh well”

Me [thinking]: Chuckling to myself that I am the adult that forgot the ONE thing I needed to remember for a shower!

After some silence, minutes later:

Kid 2: “I STILL can’t believe you forgot your TOWEL!”

Me [thinking, again]: Wow, really rubbing it in now. (As I try to dry my back with my shirt…)

We did do other things other than eat and take showers! There were some beautiful walking trails in the area, aside from our ordinary commute to Balmaha. My favourite was up to Conic Hill where you could see the the results of the Highland Boundary Fault which crosses over the loch. The Highland Boundary Fault traverses Scotland from the west to the east and separates the Highlands from the Lowlands. 

Looking down from Conical Hill and the fault line

I like it because you can immediately draw a connection to where you are, and the map!

Highland boundary Fault - Source: www.iat-sia.org

Walking along singing a song

Taking a break in the sun

Stunning scenery (this is the part where we 
don't admit to being lost)

Views over Loch Lomond

Walking to Conic Hill

Detour, i.e. we briefly got lost (finally admitted it)

Back in Balmaha, we celebrated our day by trying a haggis burger (really not for me!) and some cookie dough (always, always for me!). I thought that the cookie dough could probably have a more alluring name but I guess it was just cookie dough! It reminded me of an idea for a cafe that my friend Hayley has. Sorry can't reveal that here!

Yummy cookie dough and ice-cream

During our stay we took the ferry across to the other side of the loch to the village of Luss. The ferry provided some information on the area around Loch Lomond. There are apparently wallabies on one of the islands of the Loch but we didn't spot any! Once in Luss we did a loop walk around town which took in Luss Parish Church and some lush Luss gardens (I couldn't help it.) The quaint church had and a small cemetery which contained an 11th century Viking grave (called a hogback). After a walk through town we found a nice cafe for coffee where wrote in our journals and watched tourists taking photos of the waiters dressed in kilts.

Waiting for the ferry to Luss

Pretty cottages of Luss

Everyone likes an honest sign

Rob got stuck in a loop!!

Packing up the tent we walked back to Balmaha, had a great coffee before taking the bus back to Balloch. In Balloch a kind lady at the information centre let us store our big backpacks in the boot of her car whilst we explored. We walked through Balloch Castle Country park and its various gardens and checked out a few shops around town. Then we settled down for a "Scottish Breakfast" for lunch, naturally. That was an adventure! The sausages were square and I was not at all sure what the brown, round thing on my plate was. I have since looked it up: Black pudding, apparently, is common in many European countries and is made of pork's blood and oatmeal. Definitely not a dessert pudding!

Balloch Castle

Scottish Breakfast Source: Wikipedia

Although there are so many beautiful places in Scotland, I am glad we chose Loch Lomond as a place to explore. It was a short trip from Glasgow which gave us time to relax and explore. Hopefully, next time we will make it further north - into the Highlands!!