It’s time to head south into Victoria. The pack up was a little slow this morning as it was a late night last night. Some of the local lads had decided to celebrate one of their birthdays on the banks of the reservoir. They kicked off around 2pm and finally quietened down around midnight. We didn’t see much point is going to bed before midnight.

Having discovered the short cut yesterday we headed back to the dam wall and onto the forest roads with trailer in tow. On the road into Tooma we stopped at the Southern Cloud lookout. This lookout looks out over a massive valley across to the Great Dividing Range and the snow covered mountains in the distance. Directly across from the lookout is where Australia’s first aviation disaster occurred. The Southern Cloud, a 10 seater, 3 engine airplane disappeared into the mountains in 1931 carrying six passengers and crew. This accident prompted the introduction of 2-way radios in commercial air craft.

Australian Alps from Southern Cloud Lookout

We stopped for lunch in Tooma before crossing the border into Corryong. Corryong claim to fame is that one of their local legends, Jack Riley, was the inspiration for the Man from Snowy River poem. Actually there are two other areas that claim their local legends were also the “Man from Snowy River”. The Man from Snowy River Museum in Corryong has two items that were purported to have belonged to Jack Riley. The rest of the museum was historical items from the area.

Knitted map of Australia rug from POW camp

One particular local spent 2 years as a POW in Germany and as he had a talent for knitting, he collected old woollen garments and knitted socks and other items and in his spare time completed a large knitted rug of Australia which he was able to bring back to Australia when he was released. http://www.manfromsnowyrivermuseum.com/home/rug.htm

Corryong Homestead

From Corryong we headed into the Burrow-Pine National park to where we had a very nice bush campsite to ourselves.