2004/02 New South Wales loop - Geehi River |
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Wednesday February 18th
We were on our way early the next morning after a short stop for breakfast at 
Eurobin Falls at the foot of the mountain. We were driving through alpine scenery most of the morning and then along dry, hot valleys, rather like parts of Montana. We stopped off at an old railway trestle at Boggy Creek for lunch, and then crossed the Murray River into New South Wales and Kosciusko National Park. The map showed the road to be gravel, but it had been recently blacktopped. It was however still steep and very twisty, with trees hemming us in, so slow going and not much scenery to be seen.
We opted for the first campground we saw, at the Geehi River. It turned out to be a perfect spot, full of animals, and short on people. We found a good campsite backing onto the river, and then Sandie had an argument with one of the animals, an ant, which bit her foot. This is like having a red hot needle stuck in you, and it lasts a long time. We moved a few feet over, to give the ants their own space.
The other animals, kangaroos, wallabies, cockatoos, and wrens were a lot less trouble, though a sugar glider came crashing into the branches over my head while I was cooking. Sugar gliders do just that, glide in the dark, and every landing is a crash landing. I could see him well with the lantern but I 
was wielding a ladle at the time and not a camera, so I have no pictures of the glider.
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Geehi River (5.31) |
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Thursday February 19th 
The campground has an old runway, now just a flat field with a few trees, and I walked out there in the early morning to use the satellite phone. As I got there the sun was just coming up over the mountains and it lit up the layer of mist that was carpeting the runway. The kangaroos were half in and half out of the mist, a beautiful sight that I couldn’t really capture with the camera.
We lingered all morning in the campground, and then drove across the river, and up into the 
next valley, but it wasn’t as pretty, so we were back on the road, looking for our next camping spot. The road was more scenic here, being largely above treeline.