The Snowy River

We've spent the last five days in Krauatungalung country, at Marlo on the East Gippsland coast. We're a bit embarrassed to admit we'd never hear of Marlo before and we were interested to discover that this is the very spot where the mighty Snowy River flows into the sea.

When the rain and howling Antarctic wind finally settled down we grabbed our trusty rods and headed to a jetty, having proven our angling prowess in Mallacoota and hoping for another bag of bream. But alas, the bream clearly didn't get the memo and it was leftovers for dinner that night. It did my head in a little bit to think that at one end of this mighty river we'd be fly- fishing for big fat trout in a rocky stream (if we knew how to fish with flies), while at the other end we're chucking a line into sandy-bottomed brackish water hunting saltwater fishies.

The Snowy River's source is way up in the Alps, 2,200 metres above sea level near Mount Stilwell in NSW. It runs through the High Country for about 350 km before flowing into the Bass Strait right here in Marlo.

The Ngarigo and Walgal people inhabited the Snowy Mountains mountains more than 20,000 years ago. But it wasn't until the early 1800s that Europeans settled in the High Country.

They were primarily stockmen, moving cattle across the mountains between Victoria and NSW. Jack Riley, a legendary horseman who had emigrated from Ireland as a 13-year-old in 1851, worked as a stockman in the Snowy Mountains and was (along with other stockmen) the inspiration for Banjo Patterson's poem, The Man From Snowy River.

The Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme began in 1959 using more than 100,000 migrant workers from 30 different countries. On completion, 25 years later, the Snowy--Hydro Scheme consisted of seven power stations, 16 major dams, 80 kilometres of aqueducts and 145 kilometres of interconnected tunnels providing renewable, on-demand power for years to come. Pretty impressive.

We've taken a few strolls along the banks of the river, which is separated from the sea by a huge sandbar. It's a bit wild and woolly when the wind's blowing off Bass Strait and the Labs discovered that the water's a little cooler than some of the rivers they enjoyed at the other end of the country. No crocs in these parts though.

Unfortunately the end of Juddy's rehab has coincided with Easter and school holidays and there's not much room left in Victoria for a couple of Labs and a Penguin. So our incredibly kind and long-suffering friends offered to let us wait out the bedlam in Eden. After the shortest family conference in the history of family conferences, we agreed to take them up on this very generous offer and tomorrow we head back to beautiful Eden for a couple of weeks. We're lucky campers.

Here's a selection of pics taken around Marlo and Lakes Entrance.