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| Goana - on the Yindyamurra sculpture trail |
Tuesday 4th June
I'm going to Gundagai - partly because the road goes (almost) through there and partly because ....
The Caravan/Camping Park was quite peaceful at Albury, albeit with highway traffic in the distance, but there's lots of native birds - quite a big flock of parrots in a bare, branched tree. I've seen magpies a little bit closer than I'd really want to, I think they wanted to share my breakfast. Also some sulphur crested cockatoos and galahs, so a nice variety.
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| Camelia |
My first stop for the day was the Albury Botanical Gardens and I was welcomed there by a plethora of parrots and other birds feasting in a large flowering gum. An avenue of Elm trees was most attractive, with part of the remains of the Elm that was the first tree planted in the gardens on display.
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Avenue of Elms
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As I approached a large plane tree, a breeze initiated a flurry of falling leaves, reminiscent of snowflakes or butterflies.
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Lone Pine
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And of course, there was the requisite lone pine, grown from a seed from Gallipoli.
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| In the rose garden |
It might be June but the rose garden still sported a few blooms.
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| Beautifully maintained |
The gardens are small and compact, beautifully kept and with quite a variety of specimens. It was a very pleasant place to spend an hour or so.
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| Beautiful bark |
I had always assumed that Albury was in Victoria and Wodonga in New South Wales; I had that the wrong way round, which accounts for my confusion over exactly where I was at the caravan park the previous night.
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| Flowering and attracting hundreds of birds |
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| Sculpture, Murray river and lovely gum tree |
The Yindyamurra sculpture trail was my next stop, this ran along the banks of the Murray and around some wetlands. It had some interesting indigenous sculptures and some absolutely lovely gum trees and a variety of water birds, including a sizeable flock of pelicans.
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Bogong Moth Migration sculpture
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And I think I saw a little kingfisher which was a bit exciting! I do not know anything about these birds but from the size and shape of its beak in relation the size of the rest of its body, I am deducing kingfisher.
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| A real Bogong Moth (I think) |
Maps directed me out of Albury via a series of backstreets, many of which were rather scenically lined with well established deciduous trees which still had some of their autumn colour.
There were also some rather attractive old buildings, including the very imposing Albury High School.
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A little kingfisher, maybe
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I proceeded up the Hume Highway; easy enough driving along a fairly straight roads which was two lanes all the way. It was not as boring as I thought it might be but the landscape just seem really quite dry for quite some way.
The landscape got more interesting and a little greener as I approached Gundagai; more green, with rolling hills.
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Lovely wetlands
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Once in Gundagai I went to the 'wrong' caravan park; it was a little dismal. I was offered the option of a drive through camping spot which is basically a carport which may have had ensuites, but there were a series of them and it looks really quite industrial.
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| Camping under the trees, with a view of the bridge |
I said I thought I was at the wrong place and they directed me to the Riverside caravan/camping ground which is much more spread out and many more trees, although the camp kitchen is rather old and grotty. but the amenities block is neat and clean. I've set up camp looking at the bridge and parts of the bridge are old with wooden struts. which is quite interesting.
As I was setting up camp a crimson rosella visited the branches above - I knew about it in the morning when I rolled up my awning!
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