Dazz & Leanne's travelling adventures: The Upper Murray

Many years ago we spent a couple of nights camped on the banks of the Murray River near Towong and it stuck in our minds as being clear water (which is much different to the Murray further down the river!), green grass and snow on the mountains. We chose a different camp this time that didn't have a view of the mountains (and there was no snow around this year). The grass, was green, though, and the river was relatively clear.

Lighthouse Crossing Reserve

It was a a lovely camp and not too busy.

One morning we woke up to mist that started clearing as the sun came up.

With all the huge River Red Gums there was a variety of birdlife. Some were more cooperative than others when it came to taking photos.

Striated Pardalote race ornatus

White-throated Gerygone

Dollarbird

Crimson Rosella

This was the beautiful afternoon light on our final day.

The morning we were leaving I looked out the kitchen window and saw cows in the distance. Shortly after they decided they wanted a better look at us. Once they started nudging at the van we decided it was time to go!

We had a couple of rain episodes come through during the time were there, but made use of the sunny days to get out and see some things in the area.

Mount Mittamatite

Mount Mittamatite sits to the north of Corryong and is 1003m high, with a road to the top and a few short walks to lookouts.

Our first stop was Emberys Lookout.

This is a zoomed in phone photo of the mountains.

And this is a zoomed in on part of a pano Dazz took with his long lens. Mount Kosciuszko is obscured, but is just behind these other mountains (about 50kms away).

Brown Thornbill

We then drove to the picnic area at the top and walked out to Falcon Point.

We walked a short distance along the nature trail but it was quite overgrown. This was a view from a little further along.

Bulbine Lily

Common Fringe Myrtle

Australian Buttercup

On the way back down the views across the valley were expansive.

The clouds were indicating that the next lot of rain was on its way.

At the bottom of the mountain there were a few different trees on the side of the road that attracted a number of birds. The sun was at a good angle for some of the photos, but not for others.

Rainbow Bee-eaters (male & female)

Dusky Woodswallow

Common Starling (breeding plumage)

White-plumed Honeyeater

Red-rumped Parrot (male)

On our way home we pulled into Farran's Lookout.

Cudgewa Bluff Falls

Our second outing, a couple of days later, was to Cudgewa Bluff Falls. We had some company while we ate our lunch at the Bluff Falls picnic area.

Jacky Dragon

There were a variety of bugs enjoying the spring flowers.

It was just a short walk of a couple hundred metres to the viewing platform for the falls.

There was a sign showing a 1.4km 1 hour return walk to a lookout. It said it was rough and steep, but I assumed that would just be the first part and then it wouldn't be too bad... and a bit of exercise would be good for us. It started with some pretty steps.

It turned out to be a bit steeper and rougher than I expected, with some clambering up rocks and even a ladder, but it was still a really nice walk.

Top Falls

There was a sign near the start of the track to say the bridge was damaged and that a creek crossing was needed to get to the lookout. We weren't planning to get our feet wet, so weren't really expecting to get all the way to the lookout, but were pleasantly surprised that the bridge was still perfectly functional for us!

Campbells Lookout

Following the watercourse back down the hill

We stopped at the Bluff Creek visitor area on our way out and wandered down to the creek, which wasn't very impressive. Dazz noticed a bird that he thought was a bit different. Although the photos weren't great they were enough to identify it.

Fuscous Honeyeater

Pebble Beach Reserve

We had a big travel day of 37km to our next riverside camp. On the way we stopped to look at Clarke Lagoon Wildlife Reserve as a possible future camp. We walked around the area and noticed this amazing tree.

We were very happy with our choice of Pebble Beach Reserve.

The forecast was for a late afternoon storm, but it wasn't looking threatening.

A bit later we noticed it was getting dark out to the south and it started to rain.

Then the drops started to sounded a bit louder... from inside it was hard to tell if it was the water running or hail. It also didn't look that bad on the radar.

A quick open of the door confirmed it was hail.

Once the worst of it was over Dazz ventured out with an umbrella to capture the moment before it got too dark or melted.

It was all over quite quickly, and there was no damage.

Rocky Knob

Rocky Knob is about 1km along the Pine Mountain walk in Burrowa-Pine Mountain National Park. We had no intentions of doing the longer hike to the summit, and I read that there were some nice views from Rocky Knob, so that was good enough for us. The path started off quite overgrown, but after a few hundred metres it became clearer. There were lots of flowers and butterflies around, but only a few birds.

Cabbage White Butterfly

Rufous Whistler (male)

Common Grass-blue Butterfly

Common Brown Butterfly

Yellow Carpet Moth

Royal Bluebell

Golden Everlastings

Chocolate Lily

Creamy Candles

Fringe Lily

St John's Wort (a weed!)

There was a short rocky section that led to our destination.

Looking towards Mount Burrowa

Pine Mountain - We were pleased we weren't aiming to go to the top as it was still a long way!

Looking north towards Walwa

On our way back down the path we noticed this really iredescent ant-looking insect that held its tail high. It is a Blue Ant, which is apparently not an actual ant, but a solitary species of wingless flower wasp.

Pebble Beach Reserve

We had planned to stop at another camp or two on our way back towards Albury and do a couple of other short walks, but Pebble Beach was so pretty that we ended up staying for six nights. It backed onto the Walwa Jingellic Golf Course, so we had a lovely place to walk and look for birds.