Washington winch ,Moscow Villa and Eastern High Country

The young bucks had ruined our sleep somewhat and I was hesitant to stay another night but the returned later and only two remained to sleep the day away in their swags but since their were other campers around we decided to explore nearby Mt Nugiong .
We took a lunch and passed some amazing scenery and an awesome golf club/campground that would have been awesome to stay at if we had known.
Near the summit we found the remains of a bygone logging era in Washington Winch I recommend people explore this region for themselves .
Another geocache found at the above sight and we headed down to Moscow Villa a summer hut of nearby log cutter An Chow a local legend it seems .
Bennett's plains hut was only a little further on so we lunched there in the warm sunlight amazed at the two huts and surrounds and how life was much tougher back then but they wouldn't know any other way I suppose.
Lunch done for the day we boarded the high country cruiser to the next spot on our little geo map the logging workers huts below in camp oven flat where the remains of an old bus used to transport the workers up and down the hill .
Of course we eventually found this geocache which also had nearby the grossly remains of a feral kitten hanging in the tree on the roadside.
The track out back towards Ensay was fairly straight forward and then into grazing land before meeting up with the Alpine Way where we went back up the hwy to our camp at Swifts Creek and were pleased to discover the hoons from the night before had all shot off.
Chicken schnitzels and chicken snags were the order of the night while we sat arou d the fireplace to warm up then another movie since it wasn't too late .

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Smoko to Swifts Creek

With only a little rain overnight we awoke to a lovely green grassed smoko campsite the kids rode their bikes for awhile and we explored the Ovens river as we ate our toast and coffee/hot chocolates .
We packed up fairly quickly and began the slow sojourn up Mt Hotham with its roadworks ,landfill repairs and fire/flood recoveries to be endured.
As it turned out only 15 minutes up the hill we encountered our first road stop where there was a massive landslide being repaired and only half the road was even accessible as we waited we seen many large rocks slide and roll down the hill towards us but stopped just ahead by the front end loader strategically positioned to stop any minor avalanches for traffic every fifteen minutes, up ahead it was only a few minor slips and single lane access the fire and recent floods had really changed the place for us this time.
We neared the peak of St. Bernard near our famous blue rag track and the kids were overjoyed to see snow for the first time this year but the mrs wasn't so keen as it was near some steep drop offs so to rub it in a little we stopped at a nice vantage point to do a nearby geocache overlooking the range to the west ( alas we were muggled and dnf'ed the geo!).
There was a lot of cars at mt hotham summit on works for the snow season but we only caught a few snaps and pushed on to Dinner plain for lunch in the glorious sun but was a chilly breeze once we absconded from the car .
We spent the next 2 hours looking around doing some geocaches and tourist tracks before Leaving to head towards Omeo with a brief stop at a lookout towards Mt Kosciusko to the north.
Omeo wasn't really anything to stop for this late in the afternoon so we kept going past the Victoria Falls turnoff (I wish we had of camped here a night but we didn't find out about it till later in ).
Down the rd a bit more i tried to find some nice sights by the Tambourine river but there was none so we booked into Swifts creek a mere $14 a night powered with fairly good amenities.
The night panned out quietly with a movie for all before bed .
To spoil the night some hillbilly youngens pulled out their swags and drank them selves into a stupor and carried on like idiots swearing and falling over before vomiting themselves to sleep in the wee hours and awoke very early at daylight and drove off in an unbelievable state !

And off we go

After late night mods to the roofrack /bike/kayak setup we made a few quick stops to grab the tent from mum and a few goodies and full tanks of fuel both for the car and camper , then a race back to maiden gully for lunch we finally hitched up the goldstream and made tracks for the high country .
Although a mid afternoon start we headed back to our old stomping ground of bright with a quick stop at glenrowan to make sure the tanks were full of diesel then down past Milawa which was to late for any food goodies unfortunately but we needed some lunch supplies for the next few days so Bright was called upon to supply our needs there .
A pity we didn't stay longer to catch up with some old workmates but we were on a mission .
We showed the kids were we used to work in town and talked about younger times which always brings a smile to our faces.
It was dark when we took the turnoff for the anticipated stop at smoko camp area which had a few other campers there but ample room for us we camped not far from the toilets as it would be a fairly early start .
We setup moderately to allow a quick exit
Attached is the scary drop off Shahla wasn't keen on despite having used many in tas ,lol
And the new cruiser setup so if you see us say hi !

Regroup for the big leg

It's been a busy few weeks since the last post but I can assure you we haven't been completely idle .
New mods for the van are the invertor finally installed with fuse block and isolator , a new 12 volt socket/USB connection at the far end inside the van to power the tv & antenna ,kids iPods and computers , a 10 way fuse block to keep track of all the van electrical which uses a led failure light up signal ,floor for the annexe new cupboard for the adults clothes completely decluttered unnecessary items we found we used little or not at all .
The car got some more lift especially in the rear to help departure angles, recovery points for the front , a three inch mandrel bend exhaust ,tie down fridge straps which we forgot earlier a kayak which gives us great pleasure but can be a pain to unload and took hours to modify the rack to accommodate our bikes and the kayak but now works well .
I still have not managed to get oziexplorer working on the polaris despite some interstate help but I will keep working on this .
The Anderson plug is now working well with the rear weatherproof connector , the arb air compressor is all wired and custom mounted under the bonnet with a quick connector and we have a new re-usable air filter. The garmin 550t handheld GPS is fully loaded with topo maps for walks and chock a block with geocaches when mobile range is poor .
The solar panels got a beefing up now 160 watt homemade stand large case style in a canvas padded bag thanks to double d .
The new passport hdd is also loaded with pics and movies for rainy days thanks to Glenn :)
I'm sure I missed a few things but the car was checked over and some maintenance done on the van and we are on our way.
It has been great to catch up with family and friends during this time but we are all eager to be on the road again.