We left the Sapphire Valley Tourist Park at 11.10am with several people waving us goodbye. I had already swum with Yvonne at 8.30am & we'd both enjoyed pancakes in the camp kitchen again, at 10am. It was a lovely park - one we'd recommend & stay at again.
We hadn't seen much of the town but, as we drove out, it seemed to have all that anyone would need & the harbour looked lovely. We departed along a tree-lined road, passing the small airport on our right. This was an attractive area with hills, forest & ocean. We were 35km from Bega, home of a well-known cheese we'd seen frequently in the supermarkets.
The view of Merimbula Lake, down a steep hill overlooking the water, was particularly picturesque. The occasional lorry, loaded with tree trunks, passed us & we concluded that logging was one of the local industries.
What a beautiful day & how fantastic was the panorama that opened out before us as we drove towards Bega! Large herds of dairy cattle grazed upon the green hills, which became ever more steep as we entered the Snowy Mountain Highway towards Cooma & Canberra, the latter being 216km away. Apparently, we had about 60km of steep hills & winding road ahead of us as we crossed the Brown Mountains & travelled over the Great Dividing Range, which results in the marked contrast between the fertile east & the dry interior.
At times, a strong head wind blew, seriously hampering our progress. In Bemboka, we stopped to photograph the views & saw a shop advertising "Teddy Bears & Wool/Crystals & Lace" - I would have loved to take a look inside but realised that we should press on towards Canberra.
We entered the South East Forests National Park & began a seriously steep & winding climb, which slowed us down to a crawl. The forest was full of tree ferns & the gums grew straight & tall. We were very high up & stopped to take a picture at the "Fred Piper Memorial Lookout", where a really strong wind was blowing. On the western side of the Divide, tougher tussocky grasses grew & the area became less green. Animals still grazed but not on such lush pasture as that east of the mountains. As we descended, the trees became less tall & the terrain was more frequently strewn with rocks & boulders. Where water is less abundant, a marked contrast in the landscape soon becomes apparent. Gone were the dairy cattle, their places taken by hardier sheep.
We stopped at Lake Williams, in Nimmitabel, for lunch & were soon surrounded by ducks & moorhens, which Bob fed with his crusts (he hadn't been trained to eat them up!) The wind almost wrenched the car & caravan doors off, when we opened them!
The scenery was still magnificent &, when we passed a sign saying "Great Dividing Range", we realised that we were travelling right on top of it.
Soon, the terrain opened out into wide plains, bordered by far-distant mountains - completely different scenery from that through which we'd travelled during the morning. A few cattle re-appeared but of the beef, rather than the dairy, variety.
Cooma nestled in the surrounding hills & was set on either side of a wide main street. We climbed out of it passing the "Snowy Hydro Discovery Centre" on our right. Canberra was still 115km away.
Eventually, we passed a sign saying "Australian Capital Territory", which indicated that we were nearing the city. Negotiating it & finding a caravan park was quite another matter! There was only one such park in the vicinity with no directions to it & so we had to rely completely upon maps & our SatNav - goodness only knows what we would have done without them. We finally located the Exhibition Centre Park (nothing like as appealing as the one in Merimbula) & settled down for the night.
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