Wednesday 23 December 2015

Snow in August


Many years ago my wife and I drove to Canberra to visit friends in August which is wintertime in Australia.

We drove the main highways there but on returning decided to take the scenic route to enjoy the scenery and do some bird watching in uncharted territories (please note the pun there!)

Summers here can be hot but the winters are mild and back in South Australia where we lived snow rarely showed its white face so we happily walked in forests and around deserted lakes to say hello the local wildlife.

When it was time to move on we were running late to get to the next town to find a motel so decided to get on the Snowy mountains highway which would take us quickly on to the twin towns of Albury-Wodonga on the New South Wales and Victorian border.

Were we surprised after a few miles of driving that a sign confronted us warning "Snow chains only beyond this point" which we didn't have and to emphasize the point it began to snow.

So we had to take the long way round, deep down into the valley on a steep twisting turning minor road in the pouring rain however the journey was made even more memorable by a Lyrebird walking across the road to welcome us.



Yes this a true story

Image 1 Snowy Mountains highway found at www.panoramio.com
Image 2 Lyrebird found at www.projectnoah.org

9 comments:

  1. Those of us who don't see snow often do enjoy it when we get the chance, don't we? That's a beautiful bird!

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  2. Snow is so common for us, but we rarely get enough to justify snow chains. Beautiful story.

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  3. Snow is always beautiful, especially when it covers the trees and often reminds me of looking at a beautiful post card. That is a very good photo of the bird. I've never seen a Lyrebird before.

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  4. Snow chains are an annual event in these parts. Except this year ...70 on Christmas eve... Ridiculous!

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  5. Snow is best experience in a window or a moving car (with chains). Being hypo-thermo-phobic*, the charm of frozen waters wears very thin, very quickly.
    Australia and New Zealand (pretty much the same part of the world from my geography, which may or may not correspond to the real thing) have always looked like the part of the world I should live in… specifically the idea of being able to go from ocean to mountains and back again in a short time is my definition of a proper geography.

    * not a 'real' word

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  6. Wow, the lyrebird is STUNNINGLY beautiful! What a pain, though, to have to take the long way around.

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  7. So I am originally from Colorado (and am here now for the holiday) but moved to DC about 10 years ago. When we left DC, it was almost 70 degrees and I'm SO happy to see snow here in Colorado! So happy to see it and have my son play in it! Great story and oh that bird is amazing.

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  8. Snow is lovely... to look at out the window, but definitely not to drive in! I don't envy you that trip home, but it certainly made for good memories to talk about in later years!

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