Falling Leafs weekend

As the end of my travels trough Australia is near I still try to visit some places of interest and do some activities that I’m able to do. As this weekend would be a long weekend because of ANZAC Day and it was also the weekend of Tumut’s Festival of the Falling Leafs, there would be enough to do together with Rob, Gerda and Anne.

Last Friday it was ANZAC Day, the Australian public holiday to commemorate those of the Australian New Zealand Army Corps that have fallen during the various wars they were involved in and to honour those veterans who are still alive. It’s also the day where they have memorials for the various battles that are of great significance for Australia, with the battle of Gallipoli (Turkey, WWI) the most important one. 25th April 1915 is the day when the 8 month long battle of Gallipoli started and where thousands of soldiers had died. I can compare it with 4 and 5 May which are of great significance for the Netherlands. Our country was officially liberated on 5 May 1945 and therefore we commemorate our fallen the evening before.

Anyway on this day we went to Kosciuszko Park again where we saw eight Emus alongside the road. So we stopped and took some photo’s as you wont see them any closer. A few kilometers further Rob and I took a walk over the Clifford Creek fire trail. This 6km (2h return) starts from the place where in 1824 the expedition of Hamilton Hume and captain W. Hovell crossed the Tumut river. This expedition was held to investigate the possibilities for development of rural N.S.W. You wont be able to find the crossing nowadays as since the build of Blowering Dam it made place for Blowering Reservoir. It also the cause that the Hume & Hovell Track (the 440km long walk from Yass to Albury) follows a different route than the original expedition had followed.

During our walk we were surprised for the amount of Kangaroos we saw at the grassy hills and the meadows. I don’t think I’m wrong if I say we saw about 250 of those jolly jumpers. But also we were surprised how quickly they saw us. When we walked over the first hill, they jumped away on the second hill. Nevertheless it had been a nice walk and you will understand we had seen a lot of wild life.

Saturday it had been the main day of Tumut’s Festival of the Falling Leafs when Bila Park hosted loads of stalls and demonstrations. There were also some snakes on display and loads of sheep and other small farm animals for the youngsters. But I haven’t been in the park, I only visited the parade. This parade contained entries from the local organisations, clubs, schools and trading companies. I wouldn’t say it should be very special, but it attracted a big crowd. And due to the fact loads of historic cars and some big trucks were driving in the parade I understand why it attracts such a crowd. Later that day we visited the Wood & Craft Arts Exhibition, where loads of entries of the annual competition were on display. I’ve seen a lot of great wooden sculptures varying from a simple toy to a working clock. The day ended with some fireworks. I had the feeling that they lid all the fireworks at the same time as I read it would take around 20 minutes but already finished after just 5.

On Sunday we went to Kosciuszku Park once again as we visited the Yarrangobilly Caves. Here we took the guided tour in the Jersey Cave, 1 of the 6 caves that can be visited. These caves are 6 of the around 130 caves that have been discovered and they expect there are around 330 caves in the whole area. You could say it’s the Australian version of Torra Borra. Jersey Cave is a pretty big cave as our tour took around 1,5 hour. The cave contains a couple of nice chambers as well as a number of special or bizarre features. Cleopatra’s Needle is one of the special features as it is a stalactite of around 4 meters high that recently promoted to a column. The cave hosts also a couple of fossils that they recently have discovered. One of them was the fossil of a small bat. Also there was a place where water had flown were it now looks like a bottle of milk or a can of white paint have been knocked over.

When we left the cave it turned out that the weather hadn’t changed since we got in as it was still raining. This has also been the cause that we didn’t do anything else than visiting the cave as all the other things we would do would be outdoor. So we decided to turn back home.