The Nariel Valley

We went back to the Tallangatta Showgrounds for a couple of days because there was a big storm front predicted to come through. It was really warm when we arrived at lunch time, so I was able to get washing done and dry that afternoon. The next day the predicted rain came, although it seemed we were at the northern end of the band and didn't get as much as further south (i.e. in the mountains where we had just been!).

The morning we left was back to lovely blue skies, so we went up to the lookout before we hooked up the van.

Just about the time we decided that it would be good to look for somewhere for lunch we both noticed a sign that said "Lawrence Lookout 2km". Dazz hit the brakes and we turned left and followed a dirt road up the hill. This was one of the areas that burned in the bushfires in January. (We saw the smoke from Albury the day after they started as we were heading north.) A lot of the pine plantations have been cleaned up and are being replanted.

The Snowy Mountains are in the distance.

There were a lot of wildflowers and we spent quite a while wandering around looking at them after lunch.

Grass Triggerplant 

Golden Everlasting 

Button Everlastings 

Grey Guinea Flower 

Pink Bells 

Common Fringe Lily 

Tiger Orchids 

Stacey's Bridge Campground was our base for three nights in the Nariel Valley. We couldn't see the creek from our camp, but there was a little track down to the water with enough room for our chairs. 

Fan-tailed Cuckoo

Our first full day was cold and overcast, so Dazz spent the day working and I caught up on some of my projects. We went for a walk in the late afternoon and there was a lot of wood around, so we decided to have a fire. It was lovely and warm so we sat out until dark to try and spot wildlife. I had checked the trees around us and wasn't seeing anything and then it started to rain, so that was a good excuse to go to bed!

The following day was clear and sunny so I did some washing in the morning while Dazz worked and then we went for a drive in the afternoon. After our experience on the Omeo Highway I decided to do a bit more research into the Corryong Benambra Road to see if we wanted to drive the 200+km round trip to Omeo over the mountains. I found a great website that gave some detailed descriptions of what there was to see at various points along the road, and also described the parts that had tight corners and steep drop offs - not what we wanted, especially as there had been quite a few groups of motorbikes coming and going past our camp. It seemed like the road was good to Sassafrass Gap, and there were nice views to be seen, so we set out on a 50km round trip.

This part of the forest looked like it had burned a few years ago as there was quite a bit of young regrowth.

The next pull-off spot had great views across to Mount Bogong (on the left, with a couple of patches of snow near the top) and Lake Dartmouth (on the right, above the trees - it can just be seen between the hills).

Dazz's pano with the long lens is nicer, but unfortunately he wasn't standing in quite the right spot to see the lake. It's behind the tree on the right.

The side tracks were well marked, and we followed one up a rise to Windfall Campground and found another view. 

Although the road was dirt it was nice and wide, and there were quite a few places to pull off. There was very little traffic, so we also just stopped on the road in some of the sections with better visibility. Once I took this photo I commented on how pretty the other side of the road was and then noticed the waterfall. There were even tadpoles in the stream running down the side of the road - and it was cold enough to be certain they weren't cane toads!

Our final stop on our way back was at a place I had noticed on our way up that looked out to the east. We found a place to pull off the road and then walked back along the road and up the bank on the other side to get a bit of extra height.

We were very happy with our relaxed afternoon drive and were pleased we didn't go further.

The Mitta Valley

Our first stop in the Mitta Valley was the Katie Peters Reserve on the Mitta Mitta River. We chose a spot away from the river to get the best solar, but took our chairs down to the water each afternoon. 

Laughing Kookaburras

White-browed Scrubwren

Austalian Magpies (Black-backed) (female & juvenile)

Red-browed Finch

Superb Fairy-wrens (male & female)

Sacred Kingfisher

Noisy Friarbird

We went for a drive up to Lake Dartmouth, and when we read the sign boards we discovered it was far bigger than what we thought. It has a capacity of almost 4000 gigalitres, whereas Lake Hume is about 3000 and the Menindee Lakes are about 1800 gigalitres.

There are nine 15m "cascades" below the spillway.

The wall is 180m, making it the highest dam in Australia. This is the view down the valley from the middle of the wall.

As we were leaving Katie Peters Reserve we noticed a kite. We pulled over and jumped out of the car and watched as it hunted. There were at least three kites, including a juvenile hoping for a meal, but we didn't see them catch anything. Unfortunately they were a little far away for the photos to be crisp.

Black-shouldered Kite

Our second camp in the Mitta Valley was Lightning Creek, which is actually on Snowy Creek.

There were some old mining relics around.

The weather was perfect for a campfire, and since it's not a national park we could collect firewood, so I decided I would pull some sausages out of the freezer to cook on the fire the following night. We drove up a side track along the creek to collect wood.

While we were sitting around the fire a 4WD pulled up and a guy asked us if we'd like some deer meat... turns out someone he knew had shot a deer and didn't want it all, so told this bloke to come and get some. It was far more than what he wanted too, so he was giving it away to other people who were camped along the creek. I said "why not?!" and he pulled out this rear leg! I put the sausages back in the freezer and decided I'd make a venison red wine stew the following night instead of sausages.

It was very tasty, but in spite of three hours of slow cooking, it was still a bit tough. We decided it was probably a bit too fresh and hadn't hung for long enough.

There were not a lot of smaller birds at this camp, probably because there were quite a few currawongs.

Pied Currawong Race nebulosa (immature)

Common Blackbird

Yellow Admiral Butterfly 

Bogong Moth

I have looked for wildlife at night a few times since I bought my new torch but had not found anything. I don't use it when there are other people around as it's quite bright and I don't want to annoy anyone. I'm also often in bed before it's dark enough to use! On our first night at Lightning Creek, however, there was no one else in our area and we were sitting by the fire, so it was a perfect opportunity to have another go. At first I didn't see anything, but then I spotted something shiny in a tree. I had it on the red light, so it wasn't disturbing the animal, but this also meant I couldn't really tell what it was. Dazz went and got his camera and set it up and then I flipped it over to white for a photo. This was his first attempt, and the iso was a bit high, so it was quite grainy. Once he realised he changed some settings and tried again, but it was looking the other way so this was the best photo we got. 

Southern Greater Glider

We were curious about the road from Mitta Mitta to Omeo as an alternative way to eastern Victoria with the caravan, so decided to do a day trip to investigate. It was a pretty drive, and not a bad road, but there were some narrow bits with steep drop offs where it would not be pleasant to meet anything coming the other way if we had the caravan. 

We had lunch in Omeo, but didn't take any photos as we'd already seen the sights last year. There weren't really any lookouts along the road, but we pulled over in a few places for photos on the way back, and took some from the car when there wasn't anywhere to stop.

At one of the pull-off areas where we stopped to take a photo of the view across the mountains we discovered this little waterfall that went under the road.

There were a lot of motorcycles on the road, on their way to Phillip Island for the MotoGP, which made the drive quite stressful at times as some of them hung their heads over the centre line as they cornered. These ones went past while I was looking at the waterfall.

Big River at the Big River Bridge Campground

The old St Mary’s Catholic Church is all that remains at Granite Flat, a gold mining settlement from the 1860s.

Our last camp in the Mitta Valley was The Mill, just outside Mitta Mitta. We stopped there briefly on the way up to Lightning Creek and there were lots of birds, so Dazz was hoping for some good photos. There was also a really pretty forest behind the campground on the way down to the river.

Australian Gum Tree Shield Bug

Red-browed Finch (fluffing itself while keeping its head still!)

Superb Fairy-wren (female)

Eastern Yellow Robin 

Golden Whistler (male)

We went to the Mitta Mitta Brewing Co for dinner. The pizzas were delicious, and there were some interesting sculptures in the yard!

This is a very pretty valley that we would enjoy coming back to.