Winter is definitely here!

(Sony DSC-F717)

Last week I and my boss did the monthly run from Canberra up through the Snowy Mountains, calling into the Snowy-Hydro locations which are serviced by the company for whom I work.
The trip took in the power stations at Talbingo, (T3), Cabramurra (T1 and T2) and Khancoban (M1 and M2) plus the various Group Control HQ's, depots and accommodation at Cabramurra.

We took a 2-wheel drive Hyundai van, loaded with equipment and supplies that needed to be dropped off at the various locations and we weren't far out of Cabramurra when we ran into snow (see photo above).

Our original overnight stop was to be Cabramurra but it was pretty clear that we had a very good chance of being iced-in and would not be able to negotiate the road to Khancoban until well into the following day.
Whilst we were having lunch the snow really started to come down and a decision was made to do the T2 inspection as quickly as possible and then head to Khancoban, which is below the snow-line.

(Nokia mobile phone used for both images)

Cabramurra, and our van is in the centre background.

The "village square" (90 degrees to the left of the first photo) which looks very European. Footprints have already been covered.

(Nokia mobile phone. L-to-R Bob McGregor and Liz Schaeffer from Snowy-Hydro and Len Petch, my boss)

This is the entrance to the Tumut 2 (T2) power station, which is another kilometre in under the mountain. It seems like a long drive but at least the tunnel is lit.
This station - and Tumut 1 (T1) - are the only two underground power stations in Australia.

Although only about 20 minutes from Cabramurra, this location was below the snowline that day.

The trip continued the following day (Wednesday) with visits to Murray 1 and Murray 2 (M1 & M2) power stations near Khancoban, followed by the return trip to Canberra via Tumbarumba, Tumut and Gundagai.

Certainly a very refreshing couple of days and a change from the regular nine-to-five routine!

Easter, 1972. The "Dirty Weekend"

(Scanned from a 35mm slide; camera Olympus Trip)
Exactly thirty-seven years ago - one year before we were married - my girlfriend and I decided to spend Easter fishing for trout at the base of Tantangara Dam, in the Snowy Mountains of NSW. This is where the Murrumbidgee River rises and starts its journey to the Murray-Darling system.

So we packed the little 1965 VW Beetle with the hired 2-man tent, sleeping bags, fishing gear and supplies and, on a windy and cold Good Friday we departed Toongabbie, in Sydney's western suburbs, and headed off down the Hume Highway into what was to be an abbreviated "dirty weekend" (all our friends reckoned that's why we were going away, as the GF was living with her parents).


(Scanned from a 35mm slide; camera Olympus Trip)
It was the coldest Easter for many, many years.
Not only did we have a howling gale to contend with but also sleet. It was snowing at a slightly higher altitude than where we were situated.
Although it was a very picturesque location, the natural beauty was completely unappreciated by both of us as we froze our backsides off. I even had to create a makeshift wind-break by stringing a tarp between two trees in an effort to reduce the wind-strength at base camp to something less than cyclonic!

We stayed one night (Friday) and, as it was so cold, we slept in our clothes, each in his/her own sleeping bag and kept awake by the snuffling of wombats as they ate the bread that we left outside the tent..


(Scanned from 35mm slide; camera Olympus Trip)
On the Saturday afternoon, with no improvement in the weather, we packed up and headed off to Old Adaminaby, arriving at the camping site in near darkness.
I had great trouble getting the tent pegs into the ground and it wasn't until the following morning that we discovered I'd been trying to pound them into the solid sandstone base of what had been an old building site.
At least we were able to have hot showers and warm ourselves but this night we slept in the car seeing that the tent looked like a partially collapsed hot air balloon.

Sunday morning we headed back to Sydney, suffering from a flat tyre en-route, which we had fixed at Queanbeyan.

And so ended our weekend of rampant passion.
We still laugh about it every Easter.