Climb ev'ry (Brown) Mountain

The final day of this trip dawned damply, with 13mm of rain descending.  This wasn't a deterrent to another marsupial which arrived quietly in the usual tree next door.
 It is always a great pleasure to see a koala.  Reflecting on their presence, it is surprising that there aren't "watch out for koala" signs on the roads in the area.  That is the usual practice but at 'coota the warnings are on behalf of lyrebirds.

We did our traditional walk along the foreshore upstream (and then up a nasty hill to the far end of the Avenue) without getting too wet.  A slight worry was seeing a pair of Spotted Doves on the power lines: the area doesn't need these invasive aliens.

We packed up and left, driving through slight drizzle to Genoa where there was a lot of water in the paddocks and a good range of waterbirds thereon.  Next stop was Eden to restock on smoked things at the Smokehouse.  Somehow it seems better to buy them there rather than the retailers in Canberra who stock them!

I then went for a stroll along the wharf looking for seals.  None visible, but the floats (without barnacles) made a pretty display.

 Great Cormorants posed well.
 Then onwards through the pastures in the direction of the Brown Mountain escarpment.  Cloud was sitting on top of the mountains, and drifting down the gullies.  At this point the temperature was 19oC.
This shot gives a bit of a feel for the road which is rather steep and twisty for about 10km.
Here are a couple of tree fern shots.  Despite the sign in the first image there were no roadworks on the mountain, unless one counts two guys with shovels cleaning out a blocked drain.

Getting to the top of the mountain we left the National Park and entered the State Forest.  At least they have left some trees amidst the devastation.  It will be interesting to see what regenerates and when.
The temperature on top of the mountain was 12oC.  We had had a competition (started before Bemboka at the foot of the climb) to guess the temperature in Nimmitabel, which is the coldest village we go through.  I said 12 and Frances went for 13.  So it hovered between 12 and 13 and finally settled on 12 as we drove through the village.

The final two hours were the usual drive across the tablelands.  The creeks and rivers were still flowing, as they had been on our trip down.  This image of the readout on the car shows the impact of Brown Mountain on fuel consumption!

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