Hi to everyone

I almost forgot to finish off our trip on the blog.  We are actually already home in beautiful downtown Cranbourne.

We left Goulburn last Saturday morning and headed to the little town of Bombala.  It was a fairly long hike again, with the GPS telling me that the trip will take about 4 hours.

Heading out of Goulburn it is just so dry.  The route that we took skirted around Canberra, taking in the suburb or Queanbeyan.  That is a fairly big town but we didn't have the time to stop.  From there it was almost all up hill to Cooma.  That town is about 1000 ft above sea level.  We stopped there for a coffee and a quick look around the town.  It is a lovely place, with plenty of really well preserved old buildings.  Got a photo of the post office and the old court house.

They also have a jail in Cooma, which is only about 200 metres from the main shopping area.  I thought it was just a tourist spot until I saw a warder walk in through the front door.  Probably the razor wire around the top of the fence should have given it away.  They also have a really good area set aside as a remembrance zone.  They have a small diorama of a battlefield in this area.  It is a really good tribute to the fallen.

From Cooma, finally, it was  the start of the downhill run.  It is a heavily forested area and at one stage a moron on a motorbike overtook us on the down hill run over double lines.  Just cant understand why so many of them get killed on the roads.  It was almost a case of the Karma fairy striking, as just as he got passed me, a 4ft black snake slithered across the road and went between the motor bike and us.  It probably only missed the back of his bike by inches. 

Our next stop was in Bombala.  This is only a very small whistlestop with a population of about 1500.  We stopped at the caravan park which is on the river.  Just after setting up, we were just relaxing outside the van, when another couple of travellers walked back from the direction of the river.  They told us that there was a snake just near the fence, probably about 10 metres from our van.  Not the sort of welcome that we really wanted. 

About an hour later we went for a walk along the river looking for the legendary Platypus.  They are found in the river at that spot.  We actually saw tell tale signs of a platypus on the water, but could not get any photos as they don't come out of the water. 

Up bright and early next morning and made a quick getaway, away from these snake infested parts.  Drove about 350 k's to Traralgon where we made a quick overnight stay to visit some family.  Up Monday morning and headed home. 

It was a pretty good trip in which we travelled over 5000 k's in the 6 weeks we were away.  I have no doubt that Debs highlight would be swimming with the dolphins at Coffs Harbour.  I must say that I had no idea that the coastline of NSW was so mountainous.  I think that I would rather travel in the outback area, rather than the coast. 

We will be heading off again next year, so until then, keep safe and well.

Our route in red up to Coffs Harbour and back via the coastal route. 

Barry and Deb. 

Sorry, no church photos today.