Everton to Corryong

Late in the afternoon on our last day in Everton we again drove the short trip up to Beechworth. We promised the kids we'd return to the rock pools for more adventure! We enjoyed that for a couple of hours as the weather was quite hot again. 

After some dinner back in Everton, Jet and I went for a short bike ride to take in the sunset. We also came across the same friendly group of cows Ethan and I had met the night before. 

Next morning (the 11th) we packed up camp and drove towards Corryong. The journey took us through Beechworth then the pretty Kiewa Valley including the nice town of Tangambalanga... easy to drive through but not so easy to pronounce! We did get distracted by the local butcher and their claim to have great locally made sausages... so we stocked up for later!

About 6 km's short of Corryong we arrived at Colac Colac (Clack-clack) where one of our favourite caravan parks is. We had to cancel last year due to the bushfires in the area - the caravan park was saved and it's large European trees which give it the lovely shade lived on! So we were able to return this summer instead. 

Most afternoons at Colac Colac are spent in the Corryong Creek - the water at a higher level than two years ago. We inflated the inner tubes and took turns to drift along in the current. 

The kids enjoy riding their bikes around the expansive caravan park as well.

The first couple of days were hot - then with some sun showers one afternoon we were treated to a lovely sunset. 

Corryong is a nice little town, with a main street of the usual sorts of businesses and shops you'd expect to find in a small rural town! There were some new geocaches in town so we set out to find them all. Some were hidden in scorched or burnt trees, an eerie reminder of how close the 2020 fires came to wiping out the whole town. 

In town we also discovered this cute old court house and Gemma posed with the statue of Jack Riley, one of the several characters who supposedly inspired the poem 'Man From Snowy River'. Jack's grave is in the local cemetery, as is the author of The Silver Brumby, Elyne Mitchell. The local library is named after her and a geocache took us first to her grave and then to the library where the cache was cleverly hidden inside. 

Burrowa Pine National Park and Mt Mitamatite are both closed at the moment due to extensive fire damage, so they were two possible destinations off our list while here. So today we took a drive - a loop that took us back along the Murray Valley Hwy to Shelley and then across the mountains to Walwa, then following the Murray River back east to Tintaldra and then finally back 'home'. 

The Shelley to Walwa Rd was closed two years ago as they were sealing it. It's a winding road, but an easy drive now. There was a lot of fire damage. Part of this area is pine plantations for logging. The pines did not cope with the fires, they contrast dramatically with the regrowth of the native trees. 

This little water course reflected the vegetation nicely!

Once clear of the forest areas we were back out in rolling hills and farmland. These shots were from the roadside as we approached Walwa. The fluffy clouds helped with the scenery! 

Walwa is a small town with some cute buildings. Both the pub and the general store are both for sale - I don't know what that says about the place. 

The local book exchange was made up of old doors!

We went into the local gallery, 'The Spotted Goanna' where we met the owner Steve Caldwell. He dabbles in a little bit of art but told us most of what he has on display he got on eBay! His dog was very friendly and loved the attention lavished upon it by the kids. 

Walwa is close to the Murray River - we stopped to have a look at the famous river a few times. We also chased some geocaches west of town where we also had lunch by the river. 

After ice-creams at the Walwa General Store we continued east, following the Murray River. Gemma spotted this squadron of pelicans sitting on a log fence. (And, yes, that is one of the collective nouns for pelicans). 

To our right was the heavily burnt Pine Mountain - actually a monolith - which is more evident in it's fire ravaged state. There were a couple of lovely lookouts which we enjoyed on the way to Tintaldra. 

This giant rusting bogong moth survived the bush fires. The trees and signs nearby were not so lucky.

Finally we called in to Tintaldra - a place we've been a couple of times before. Today, like Walwa it is a check point to keep out the northerners... as the border is still closed to all travellers from NSW unless they have a permit. Anyway, Tintaldra's little general store was run by the same lady since the 1970's and we'd met and chatted to her on our previous visits. Today we found out that she sadly passed away last May at the age of 94. A local icon she was! She was still running the store past the age of 90 even though her eyesight was failing. Her daughter is now running the store. 

Back in Corryong - it was a cooler evening, so blankets were extracted from cupboards to prepare for a much cooler night.