After leaving Jindabyne we headed to Victoria via Tumut. Along the highway we pulled up to observe the damage the huge bushfires of 2003 had wreaked on great swathes of the foothills and mountains.
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| A devastated landscape |
This is similar to what it would have looked like before the fires. It will take up to one hundred years to get back to its former glory.
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| View from Black Perry Lookout |
At one of our camping spots in northern Victoria we spotted this wallaby browsing on some low growing shrubs.
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| Swamp Wallaby |
Our first camp on the Murray River was at Greenbank Reserve near Yarrawonga, well clear of the River Red Gums that have a habit of dropping limbs at any time.
We had some nice views from our front yard.
And some noisy visitors dropped by for some human watching. These corellas were in flocks numbering hundreds, their raucous calls heard all day as they moved up and down the river. They are the cheekiest of parrots and I love watching their antics.
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| Little Corellas |
Another of the parrot family that we observed nearby was this rosella, nowhere near as obtrusive as the former but a bit more colourful.
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| Eastern Rosella |
Our next stop was Barmah Lakes campground where for a day and night we had the place to ourselves. The next day a large group of school kids came in for a spot of camping and canoeing,
reminding us a bit of the recent corellas, but not as cute!
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| River Red Gums at Barmah Lakes |
The bird life here wasn't prolific either but I was able to snap a couple of shots of woodland species. The first a superb vocalist that is always a delight to hear. The second a bird that spends almost as much time foraging on the ground as in the trees.
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| Grey Shrike-Thrush |
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| Brown Treecreeper |
We also came across the burnt out remains of this massive Red Gum on one of our walks.
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| Clare in gum |
