The Man From Snowy River - Mansfield, Victoria, Australia
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Mon 22 Mar 2010 12:19
|
37:03.977S 146:05.771E
After a few days back in Melbourne, we set off
again, but this time with no plans to return. Instead, it was Brisbane or
bust. The plan was for the four of us to leave on February 12th, drive
northeast into the 'high country' of Victoria for a few days, then on to
Canberra, the Australian Capital, followed by a drive east to the coast, on to
Sydney and then north, following the coast the whole way back to Brisbane,
arriving two weeks later on the 26th. And that is exactly what we
did. Along the way, we stayed with three sets of Sue and John's friends,
two of which we had never met before. Australian hospitality, like New
Zealand hospitality, never ceases to amaze us. When we weren't
staying with friends of friends, Sue arranged for our accommodation at various
hotels, time-share condos and beach front apartments. With Sue
doing the arranging and John doing the driving, there was nothing
left for us to do but sit back and enjoy the ride. So we
did.
As planned, we left Melbourne on February
12, and headed northeast through the Yarra Valley to the high
country. Before arriving in the town of Mansfield where Sue and John's
friends Claire and John (no shortage of Johns in this part of the world) live,
we managed to squeeze in a winery stop (no shortage of wineries in this part of
the world either). This one, called TarraWarra Estate, was unique in that
it not only had the obligatory 'cellar door' wine tasting area and attached
bistro, but also a small art gallery. All was set in a very modern,
attractive, somewhat austere building with long, slightly curving sand-colored
walls and starkly cut, narrow windows looking out over the perfectly manicured
vineyard and surrounding foothills to the Great Dividing Range in the
distance. John wheeled Don through the art gallery in the complimentary
wheelchair and Don later reported that he did in fact enjoy the ride more
than the art. John agreed, saying that his personal test for
a work of art is to ask, "If I created this piece, would I toss
it in the rubbish or keep it?" In this case, John declared
he would have piled the lot into the rubbish. We all agreed that the
shiraz was good though, and bought a few bottles to prove it.
After the winery, it was on to Mansfield and Claire
and John's home. Claire was one of the textbook editors Sue and John
worked with when they owned their publishing business. That was a few
years ago, and Sue and John have since sold their business, but Claire is
still a freelance editor. It just so happened that Claire was in the midst
of wrapping up a large project (editing a physical education textbook
- physical education textbook? do kids have textbooks for PE
nowadays?) when the four of us descended upon her home.
However, in true Aussie fashion, all thoughts of work were banished while Claire
and her retired teacher/principal husband John whipped up a weekend full
of Australian high country tradition.
First, there was the Friday night dinner in the
local general store where we ate the surprisingly good food while
sitting at an old Formica table surrounded by shelves of homemade jam and
chutney. Then, on Saturday, came the main event. Claire and
John packed up their 4-wheel drive with all the necessities and we were off
to the high country where moderate mountain peaks like Mt. Buller (1805m) and
Mt. Stirling (1747m) dominate the Great Dividing Range.
After a short drive through the valley in
which the town of Mansfield sits quietly, we turned onto the road leading to the
top of Mt. Stirling. The narrow road got narrower and then turned into
packed dirt with lots of ruts and holes as our people-and-gourmet-picnic
stuffed 4-wheel drive climbed mostly steadily up. Twenty more minutes
and a dab of slight anxiety later and we arrived at the top. Below
are pictures.
Picture 1 - On the way up, we did
make one stop for a quick walk to a slightly anemic waterfall. Like
most of Australia, water is in short supply and this is the sixth(?)
straight year of drought for this area. The nearby man-made lake has
been completely dry for several years, which we are certain must
annoy the wealthy people who built snazzy holiday homes on its now
nonexistent shores. In the picture is Claire's John, Sue's John, Sue, and
Claire is hidden behind one of the Johns. The waterfall is to the right -
the mist is so fine it's impossible to see, but the surrounding tree ferns were
lovely and brought back memories of New Zealand.
Picture 2 - Craig's Hut. This is a replica of
a cattleman's hut. It was originally built for the movie "The Man From Snowy
River", but has since burned down twice, most recently in the 2006 bush fire
that ravaged Mt. Stirling and its surrounds. Obviously, it has been
rebuilt and now sits in its original movie position overlooking the fantastic
Great Dividing Range. We set up our picnic camp here, and to complete the
picture, Claire read us the poem "The Man From Snowy River" the movie was based
on. The poem was written by A. B. 'Banjo' Paterson. Sue tells us he
was famous for writing poems about bushman in the late 1800's and early 1900's,
yet rarely set foot in the bush himself. An armchair bushman, I
guess. The poem starts as follows:
THE MAN FROM SNOWY RIVER
There was movement at the station, for the word had passed
around
That the colt from old Regret had got away,
And had joined the wild bush horses - he was worth a thousand
pound,
So all the cracks had gathered to the fray.
All the tried and noted riders from the stations near and
far
Had mustered at the homestead overnight,
For the bushmen love hard riding where the wild bush horses
are,
And the stockhorse snuffs the battle with delight.
It
goes on from there for many verses, but the gist is this...The local horseman
didn't believe that the man (who was really a smallish lad) from Snowy River had
what it would take to round up the prize colt that had run off with the wild
horses. He, of course, did have what it took to not only round up the
prize colt, but also single-handedly round up the entire group of wild
horses. This, after a death-defying ride down one of the steepest slopes
in the area. Hence, the lad on the scrawny horse from Snowy River became
the legendary Man From Snowy River. All very Australian, but really not so
different from our own cowboy stories.
Picture 3 - This isn't the prize colt the Man From Snowy River was
after, but trail riding is a popular activity in these parts, and these horses
were taking a break in a stand of gum trees not too far from
where our picnic was in full swing.
Picture 4 - John built the fire for the
'barbie' with wood we carried in with us and
cooked the marinated lamb cutlets and sausages to perfection. These
were served with several side dishes all prepared from produce taken from John
and Claire's extensive gardens that morning. It seems all Australians have
extensive gardens and prepare gourmet foods from them on a regular
basis. At least it seems this way given the Aussies we've visited
thus far.
Picture 5 - After lunch, the authentic Aussie barbie-in-the-bush
experience was capped off with billy tea. Billy tea is prepared
in a kettle (a billy) over the open fire using loose tea leaves. When
the water boils, the kettle is removed from the fire and swung by its handle in
a large circle (John is demonstrating here - note that there is no top on the
kettle) to drive all the tea leaves to the bottom. No severe
burns resulted from the billy tea preparation, so we declared the
entire high country barbie-in-the-bush experience a smashing
success.
Picture 6 - Claire and Sue walking by another cattleman's hut.
This one is used by brave campers and horse riders. We took a peek inside
and decided we just weren't that into roughing it. Note the gum trees in
the background with charred trunks. The bush fire pretty much decimated
the area, but the resilience of the forest is unbelievable. We were amazed
at the amount of green around given that the fire only happened four years
ago.
Picture 7 - Remember that comment about self-pruning gum trees?
In case you can't read it, the sign on the tree says:
"DANGER WATCH FOR POSSIBLE
FALLING BRANCHES". No fear of self-pruning gums here.
Our Australian high country adventure ended back in
Claire and John's house that evening with the Winter Olympics opening
ceremony. It's always nice to re-connect with what's going on in the
top half of the world, although the snow and cold of Vancouver looked strangely
out of place on a TV in a room at a balmy 80 degrees with all the windows open
and a nice breeze blowing through.
Anne
|
