Australia has about 1,700 small towns and they all seem to be different in their own way.

We stop in Nimmitabel for a few days on our way to the coast, because it has a cheap council run camp site. This turns out to have a friendly caretaker, a couple of colourful long term residents, and great showers. They can’t stop the rain though; luckily we have a hard floor camper and D1’s new tent is waterproof, so we cope with a little mud.

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Lake Jindabyne is currently at very high levels, leading to flooding at the somewhat overpriced caravan park we have booked. We are shunted onto a very small site, and it rains some more. Other facilities are closed to Covid.

D1 celebrates her birthday. We go for a meal in Jindabyne, coincidentally at the home of Kosciuszko beer. A major rainfall washes rocks across the road on the drive back to camp. The camper is a little damp, and will require some additional waterproofing.

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Heading out of Canberra towards the mountains.

The availability of interesting beer in rural Australia has improved immensely in the last decade. Before the pull up the hill, we stop for a burger and a drink at the Tumut River Brewing Co; recommended.

The road up to the plains twists and turns alongside the reservoirs of the Snowy Mountains hydro scheme. With Snowy 2.0 under construction, apparently it can be pretty hairy with construction trucks. We are in the holidays, so it’s not busy thankfully.

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We caught up with an old friend near Canberra, who has a new pet.

The internet wouldn’t be the same without cute animal videos. It even put bread on my table for many years, so paying it back!

Short puppy video is here

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All our photos are in a Google Photos album

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House emptied, tenants installed, term ended, leave taken, ute ready, trailer packed. Hitting the road for 13 months on a “big lap” of Australia.

Racing Omicron out of Sydney, heading for the ACT. First leg is a short one, to Mittagong in the Southern highlands; to see some friends and get used to life under canvas. Because of COVID restrictions we have had limited opportunity to do a shakedown trip, so lots of little things need fixing. The awning survives a big storm, the tail end of which later takes the roof of our friend’s apartment in Sydney.

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