Left Dan and Alison's home outside Yass and travelled via Canberra to Cooma. Actually I intended to go via the Snowy Mountains Highway, but made a wrong turn. No surprise there I'm afraid. But travelling through Canberra is never a bad thing anyhow.
Up ( or down, depending on your point of view ) the Monaro Highway. This is a good stretch of road. In fact most of the roads in this region are quite well maintained, especially as they get closer to the nation's capital. Hmmm ....
So the first point of reference is the Bredbo Community Hall and here we are officially in the High Country. As you ride or drive around, it is far too easy to see how the use of the high country and the flatlands lead to good quality cattle. The pastures are very rich at the moment offer a bounty of nutrition for both sheep and cattle.
The next stop was Cooma and the Snowy Rivers Hydro Scheme Discovery Centre. What a marvel of 20th Century engineering and vision. The Discovery Centre doesn't just focus on the engineering feat but also the social and cultural changes that it brought about. Migrants from across Europe came to build the dams, tunnels, power generators, move entire towns. We needed them for their knowledge and experience and they came.
Cooma also has a clearly signposted road to the Lutheran CHurch and clubhouse for the Cooma Car Clab. I like Cooma. Seriously, it is a very nice place. At least in Summer; come the ski season it will be very busy.
After Cooma, onto the Alpine Way; Jindabyne, Thredbo and so on. This is a road that demands your attention. It has magnificent views of the Snowy River and you cross the river just before Jindabyne. Here's a view of the lake looking down from the tourist information centre in Jindabyne.
Although there are quite a few lookouts along the way, towards the end of the Alpine Way, this one at Scammell's Lookout really took my eye.
For another view from Scammells Lookout, here is a link to a quick video from my Panasonic Lumix camera:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4mA6K5ynWE
After the Alpine Way I was able to skirt around Lake Hume and see for myself the size of the dam and lake. I was also able to see how far it rises and falls due to rainfall. As debate rages about how to manage water in the Murray Darling basin it was great to see one of the important parts of the debate for myself.
No idea on how many kilometres covered today, but I left before 9:00 Am and rolled into a motel in Albury after 5:00 Pm, so it has been a long day in the saddle but a rewarding one.