Getting back to Mallacoota

We have settled on a routine of alternating vehicles for going to Mallacoota and this time it was the Jetta's turn.  It is only when trying to pack all the stuff (clothes, food booze, books etc) we take on a trip that one realises that the boot of the Jetta has a finite capacity.  But I have now got a plan to fit it all in.

As it was still ski season we had speculated on the likelihood of Plod being active and had taken a guess at the number of cop cars we'd see between Royalla and Cooma. Frances went for 3 and I for 4.  In fact we only saw 2, and they were together running an RBT at Bredbo, where I gave - at no cost to them - a breath sample.  I passed!

I had suggested going down Brown Mountain to have a look at the huge (12,000 Ha so far) bushfire burning to the East of Bemboka.  There is a lot of information and some spectacular photos on the Bemboka Notice Board Facebook page. Before getting to where the fire was visible I took a pepper steak pie at the Bemboka pie shop - rating 8.5 (a bit light on pepper and not very hot so lost a few points but basically pretty good).  We ate it at the sports field at the eastern end of the village, where you can camp.
 The white rectangle was a message from a potential camper.  Not happy!
There is a pleasant looking reserve on the river, which we didn't explore as we wanted to get to Mallacoota.
 Our first view of the smoke.
 A wider view, close to the turn off.
 A snip from that.
 Putting it in perspective we were looking in the direction of the red arrow.
 I was surprised that the bush that must have been burnt didn't look too bad.  Nothing like the charred sticks in Carwoola on 18/2/17.  Perhaps the really badly burnt areas were over the hill ?

We found another NSW police car to the East of Candelo and once on to the Prince's Highway another one hidden in the bush just into Victoria. 

After unloading the car we walked to the edge of the built up area and back.  There were some flowers around - there has ben some rain and its warming up!  This is Clematis sp.
 Acacia longifolia (September 1 is Acacia Day)!
 A different Acacia, but I have no idea of the specific name.
As we scaled Mt Karbeethong back to the house we noticed a plump person had jammed itself into a fork halfway up the hill. 
 I noticed a few White-headed Pigeons around and then something flew along the trees opposiete and caused a massive eruption of pigeons lorikeets and King-parrots.  I suspet it was goshawk, but couldn't relocate it.  I took a snap of a Pigeon, and found I had a male House Sparrow as by catch.
 The eucalypt blossom in the drive is stunning as always.



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