The rain abated long enough for me to get going. My plan is
to go through Bright, and from there cross The Great Dividing Range in to the
lower Snowy River.
Australians have some panache for hyperbole. I have driven
past Mount Terrible and Mount Difficult, without feeling a great need to visit
them, but upon arriving to Bright I saw a 35 kilometer detour to Mount Beauty,
which I thought might be worth a look see. It was OK, but not really beautiful.
The real task ahead of me was to
head south to cross The Great Dividing Range, and right away I started having
misgivings. I asked if the road across the mountains was open, but nobody knew.
They did however advise me that I needed to carry chains. Pisch posch. So I
start going up the Australian Alps, which look more like the Trinity Alps in
California than the French Alps. Steep slopes developed on deformed sedimentary
rocks, but not a lick of snow anywhere. More than ever I ignored the many signs
I saw along the way that chains were required. Crazy Australians, instead of
looking for a pass to cross the mountains they went straight up to meet the
summit of the highest peak (something like 1,300 m or 4,000 ft). I was almost there
when, ahead of me I see a long, long, long 3% slope glistening with ice. I
stopped and remembered similar slopes I have slid my way through in the Sierra
Nevada. Jeez, but the drop-offs in this road are deep. After a minute
cogitation, prudence proved to be the best part of valor, and I turned around. ☹
When I went to see Mount Beauty I
remembered seeing the sign for an alternate way to get to Omeo, so back I went
to try a new way. No luck, after a few kilometers down that garden path I saw
that the road was closed 25 kilometers down. I am trapped behind The Great Dividing
Range!
OK, keine Panik auf der Titanic!
From Mount Beauty I headed east toward Corryong, and by pure chance I traversed
some of the most beautiful high country. On the way up I discovered a new type
of eucalyptus, which grows very tall and straight for 30 or 40 ft, and then
breaks into florets like a branch of broccoli. What makes this eucalyptus
special is that its grain is not twisted, like in 99% of other eucalypti.
Having a straight grain made it the wood of choice for planks and beams, and
pretty soon it became almost extinct. So what do Australians do for
construction lumber? They have imported white pines, which when planted really
close to each other shoot straight up to compete for sun rays. They can grow a
foot in diameter in a matter of a few years, and now this region is one of the
main providers of lumber to the whole country (there are hills after hills covered
by this Frankenforest!).
As I approached Corryong the high
country became an anglers’ paradise, with dozens of small lazy streams running
through impossibly green meadows. One of the weirdest sights was a new
reservoir, which was still dotted with the trees that had died in the
inundation area. It was like seeing a ghost forest rising from the water.
Creepy!
Corryong proved to be a small
friendly town, where The Man From Snowy River lived to create a legend (a type
of super tough Australian cowboy). Most important for me it had a small
campground where I decided to spend the night. No sooner had the sun set that a
glacial temperature spread through the ground. It is going to be a cold night!
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