We arrived in Cooma just after 4pm and the traffic was busy, unfortunately the information centre closed at 3pm but as we knew where the caravan park was we made our way there. The only discount on offer was 'stay 4 nights and pay for 3'. We wanted 3 nights so took the deal so that we could have a late afternoon checkout on the 4th day to head on and stay with friends once they returned from a weekend in Sydney.
The caravan park is a fair hike out of town so it's going to be either unplug and drive in or call a taxi. But we're certainly not doing either soon because the sky is dark grey, the thunder is rolling in and the rain is teeming down. (On our last stay here we were on flood alert - I don't think it's us, it's just a coincidence;
.......... isn't it?)
The next day the sky was a lighter shade of grey and it alternated between light showers and short heavy showers.
But the following day was a little brighter so we unplugged the van and drove down into Cooma town. We did had some retail therapy and some food shopping then back to the caravan park to plug in again and have some lunch. The sun came out in the afternoon but those dark clouds were still hanging around.
The next day was a bit brighter and the showers were less frequent and light.
I know that it's to do with precipitation over the Snowy Mountains but it would be nice to have a full day of sunshine.
After lunch we tidied up, packed up, unplugged and left the caravan park.
We drove through town out to the Snowy Hydro Discovery Centre.
A free, interesting centre with lots of photos of the early days and building of the Hydro scheme and great coffee in their cafe.
Then we drove out to see our friends, Debbie and Grahame. (who we met in a caravan park in Mount Gambier in 2011, on our first, 'bigtripalmost.......'
They are really lovely, beautiful people and they have a new addition to their family - Angus, a little French Bulldog. What a sweetie he is.
We had a great time talking until midnight.
Next morning we had a slow lazy start and in the late morning headed out with Grahame as our guide to see the local sights - Nannygoat Hill Lookout -
and Mt Gladstone Lookout -
Then we drove out to Adaminaby on the edge of Kosciuszko National Park, we stopped for a great light lunch in the cafe and a photo op at the 'Great Trout'.
Then we drove on to Old Adaminaby on the shores of Lake Eucumbene. There are a few houses still there but most of the town was moved 8kms up the road when the Lake was flooded as part of the Snowy Scheme. (1949 - 1974). The water level very low and some concrete steps of the old houses were clearly visible.
We then had a quick drive around the lake to the settlement of Anglers Rest - a strange little 'encampment' but it was easy to imagine it full of campers in the holiday / trout fishing season.
Then we drove into Kosciosko National Park. We stopped to look at Mt Selwyn ski area and were amazed by the huge car park, it was like an airfield.
Ski resorts do look strange in summer.
Then it was on to Australia's highest Settlement : Cabramurra. This settlement is a Snowy Hydro company town but there was another great little cafe and a wonderful lookout. If we needed proof that it snowed heavily in the Snowy Mountains, it was here - houses with sloping roofs, no parking in snow route signs, and snow depth markers.
A huge bushfire ravaged the area in 2003 and the tall, stark dead trees were reminder of the summertime dangers of the area.
We then drove through more of the National Park on to Kanchoban, Jindabyne and Thredbo before returning back to Cooma at dusk.
The lakes and dams of the Snowy Hydro Scheme were beautiful but they were at at a worryingly low level.
We saw a couple of emus, a few kangaroos, a black snake and lots of crimson rosellas.
The roads through the National Park were great and it was interesting to see the heights of the road side 'snow depth' markers. These roads are closed in winter (June to September) when it snows - there are gates across the road so no one can take a chance.
We drove through the bigger towns of Thredbo and Jindabyne before getting home to Cooma just before nightfall.
The next morning Grahame and Michael did a bit of maintenance on our motorhome - (a slow leak on a water pipe supplying the wc cistern).
After lunch we drove into Canberra - our Nation's Capital...we went to Costco (wholesale supermarket/superstore, open to members only).
We bought a few items, food only though. Not tempted by the huge tv sets at low prices, clothes (no bargains spotted), tyres (mainly selling Bridgestone, no Michelins available) or coffins (yes, they sell coffins, but only within a 35kms radius of Canberra!).
Then Grahame and Debbie showed us around the suburbs of Canberra, where they grew up; showing us their family homes and old schools before we headed home to Cooma. We drove south towards very dark stormy clouds but they blew over Cooma and left it dry (for once).
Dessert that night was a Costco apple and cinnamon pie - absolutely divine.
One more day in Cooma; After a light lunch we went into Cooma town and looked around the Raglan Gallery. To be honest we all felt that the sculptures outside in the garden were the most interesting on display, but art exhibitions change and the next artists' work may be more to our taste. Some of the jewellery was interesting but nothing caught my eye enough to buy.
We then drove eastwards out of town to another little settlement - Numerella. There were some lovely old stone cottages and it was quite pretty but all we could think of was how cold it would be in the snow.
On our last night in Cooma we went into town to Pha's Thai Kitchen restaurant,
and enjoyed a really good meal. We shared a small starter, had a main each but all agreed to head home for dessert - that left over Costco apple and cinnamon pie.
The next day we bid farewell to Deb and Grahame and drove northwards, to Queanbeyan.
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