Alps Down Under - The Land of Mordor :))

ON THE ROAD AGAIN
Stacked into an almost brand new looking Toyota Corolla we drove off, the three of us (with our friend Nadine) heading towards the Australian Alps. A long weekend ahead of us over Easter. Packed full with chocolate from mom and groceries from Aldi, we happily drove off on Thursday evening; ahead of the big crowd leaving Melbourne for the weekend.

AWAY FROM THE CITY
It was a pretty, but pretty long drive, through the Yarra valley with wineries and forest. Our first target: Stockmans Reward, with loads of 4WD campsites. We passed an ideal campspot near the road, but we wanted to make a few more kilometers. The road was windy, the rainy mist around us in the trees, and then -of course- no such place appeared anymore. We shortly thought about staying on the campsite in Marysville, as it was getting late. Of course it was fully booked, but the 42! Dollar for one night with the tent was also a bit steep. So we drove up to a day-picnic-place (no camping allowed!) but all felt this was a creepy place. It was Nadine's first camping in years again - not exactly how we felt her first night into the wild should be :S For a short moment we just thought about sleeping in the car; it's not an option really as it gets really cold, a tent is always more comfortable and warmer. After a long drive (strangely enough hardly any wallabies), we finally ended up on the first site in Stockmans Reward: Big River Camp. Completely dark, it was a bit difficult to find the perfect spot for 2 tents out of the mud, but we managed in the end. It was the first time we sat with 3 people in our little tent. No idea how this should normally fit 3 people (3 Chinese maybe?) Jan was sitting in the apsis :). 1-cooking-pot-pasta with chocolate mudcake for dessert. Yummie.

CAMPFIRES BY NIGHT AND FISHING IN THE RIVER
The next morning we woke up from the 4WD traffic jam zooming down the unsealed road, and we could finally see where we had been standing :) The day took us back via Marysville, past Lake Eildon and the Lake Mountain National Park through the many vineyards to Lake Buffalo. Lake Eildon was a bit of a disappointment. We got to see it from the north side only, where it is unfortunately hardly a lake, and full of tourists that take out their jetski's. The image in the book was prettier. But the valley around it was beautiful, with rolling hills like the Shire (Hobbitland) and the gorgeous peaks of Lake Mountain in the back. Buffalo river holds some nice spots to camp along another unsealed road. We fished for trout with our brand new fishing rod for 15 dollars. We didn't manage to get anything, no fish on the campfire, pasta again :) But it was just wonderful.

MORNING MISTS AND EVENING CLOUDS.
It was misty when we drove back the 10 kms along the dirt track. The beautiful morning mist at Lake Buffalo was a sight to stop for. The fish wouldn't bite here either :( We drove past the mountain range (actually around it) and finally joined the "real" Great Alpine Road from Myrtleford
Next stop: preparing for the ascent of Mount Feathertop. We decided to use one of the free barbecues to grill a huge piece of meat, to prevent starting the trip hungry. It's really nice that all over Australia there are these free picnic spots available. Makes camping-out-of-your-car even more fun. And it's crazy that although everything is about 3 times as expensive than back home, surprisingly, the meat isn't necessarily. Meatchunks here we go! (sorry to all the vegetarians reading this...) We bought a (torn) hiking map from the grimmest lady ever who gave us 50 cent discount as "I don't know how it got torn, I only sell it." But it was good that we did, as it showed our original hiking route would have had many, many more meters in height we needed to climb. The Razorback track, leading from Mount Hotham Heights (a skiing resort) gradually ascends and descends along a ridge. A spectacular sight, if it wouldn't be for the clouds that were coming up. The track was easy, flat with only a few stony parts. Good for Nadine's flat sportshoes; we're proud of her making the 9 km back and forth on these!

It's a bizar sight onto a valley of white trees. We later heard that 3 years before, a massive bushfire had destroyed the whole area and left all trees dead. White stems portray the result of the cruel, unforgiving fire, that apparently let the whole side of the mountain explode. What we didn't know, was that another bushfire had raged for over 6 weeks, and that only 2 weeks before we walked the track, the fire was conquered. It left the southwest side of the ridge black and smoking, while the northeastern side remained untouched on many places. Mount Feathertop itself had been spared as well; after much cleaning up by the rangers, only 2 tracks were opened, and we were pretty lucky! We left late, and the mist slowly started to rise from the valley. It was a bit like walking through Mordor!! After not being satisfied with all of the campspots, we pitched up our tent near the Federation Hut. A relatively small amount of people were camping here with us; normally around Easter this ran up to 200, with another 350 on the tracks up and down. The bushfire left us with only a handful of others. It was actually quite nice to be able to cook in the shelter, out of the wind and rain. We couldn't see the top, quite sad.

We decided to take a relatively early night and climb the peak in the morning, hoping for better weather. At 7:00 we woke up from the rain :( and decided to sleep for another hour. No use in climbing it when you don't even notice it when your on the top! You could simply pass it in the mist ans never know you were there :) So I guess it doesn't count as another peak, but it was nice to be outside anyway. On the way back, it didn't rain that much, but the mist soon had us soaked. Nadine's 2 dollar poncho was a bit too small to protect both her and the backpack :( The mist dripped from our eyelashes, covering all the sounds and leaving us with a dead silence except for our own footsteps. Now and then a bird (magpie) would sing, but all animals seemed to have decided to stay in bed too. The clouds are thin and we briefly see a patch of blue, only to be surrounded by the whiteness again shortly after. The Easterbunny hid marzipan-eggs and a jackpot :) It's hardest to find those that are hidden in the obvioust places :) it was great fun on a great place. Of course, by the time we reached the car, the clouds moved and Mount Feathertop showed its face again. It will be waiting for us if we come around again.

DANCING IN PARADISE
From the mountains we drove straight back to the coast, only to stop for the food we had wanted to eat since we arrived in Australia: kangaroo. (Apologies again to the animal-lovers) Healthy and with almost no fat, kangaroo is quite nutricious, and actually not too expensive. The Aussies don't like to eat it, out of sympathetic reasons and the gamy taste, but there are places where kangaroos actually become a pest. Where in the old times heaps of kangaroos would die of starvation in dry periods, keeping the population balanced; these days they always find (cattle) food. Still, thinking of Skippy, it's hard to eat such a cute animal. But my nieces stroke cows too, so what is the difference? And it's really nice meat too.

We ended up driving all the way down to Paradise beach, on the end of the 90 mile beach. I believe it really is 89 miles long, or something similar at least (in contrast to the New Zealand one, which is only about 60 miles). And it is beautiful. With campspots hidden in the dunes all along the coast near Paradise, it literally felt like paradise. We had dinner under the southern cross at the beach, and brekkie (breakfast) while watching the surf fishermen pull out some little silver animals from the Tasman Sea. We danced in the sand, collected shells and went swimming in the crashing waves. The surf fishing didn't bring us any fish, but it still was perfect. From there, it is still a 3-4 hour drive back to Melbourne. We drank coffee at the "Driver Reviver" stand. A pretty cool initiative to keep people awake and safe on the road. A detour brought us to Phillip Island, with the penguins and seals. We were unfortunately too late to see the seals, as they close the road to the end of the island, leaving the seals in peace as the sun sets. Unfortunately, Phillip Island felt like a real tourist trap. Busloads of Asians, a tour map with little drawings as if it was an amusement park with attractions (shame I didn't take a photo of it), and 23 dollars to press your nose against the window and see little waggling black and white animals wade out of the water half an hour after sunset. We didn't go. A wise decision as later on the Great Ocean Road we did see them for free! One and a half hour later we were back. Time to sort our stuff, do some last minute laundry and prepare for the next adventure: the Great Ocean Road!