The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Sunday, July 21, 2019

We are certainly not driving up into the snow!

Strange weather. When we went to bed Saturday night, the temperature had dropped like a rock, down to 2C (36F). We had even put our pajamas on! But by the time we woke up, it was 13C (55F). Not exactly warm by any means, but a lot better than when we went to bed.

We got up and did some driving right away. We had to go through a mountain pass area, which brought our elevation from essentially sea level to 1,000 meters (3,200 ft).

A nice drive though, with some beautiful views...

Nice view from the pass.
It was cold and windy up here though!

After that, we were on the high plains (or the "altiplano" in Spanish) for a while. Very different scenery that reminded us of Wyoming or Montana...






This rig passed us. He looked cold!

Entering Cooma, New South Wales.

We went to the local ALDI store to do some stocking up. One of the reasons we like ALDI is that they have the cheapest Canadian maple syrup!

From there, we drove up to the lookout over the town.

Yes, it feels like cheating when you drive up to a lookout!

There is snow in them thar hills!

We have zero ambition to be driving in that direction though! 

Funny thing, the town of Cooma is the local ski resort town. Not that there is any snow there, but the snow is only 100 kms away, so there are a lot of ski equipment stores. It feels kind of odd.


The snow is only 100 kms (62 miles) away.

We drove to a local trailhead where we could do a short trail to a lookout.

Why do they always put the lookout at the top of the hill?!


Kevin, enjoying the view.

Back in town, we went for a wander around. The first place we came to was the local jail! Apparently the Cooma Prison has inmates who double as tour guides at the prison museum. Maybe we'll stop in for a tour tomorrow!

The old Cooma prison is still a working correctional facility.

The Catholic school is an attractive building.

The Uniting Church.
No, not the "United" Church... the "Uniting" Church!

The Anglican Church.

Ruth thought this tree is really beautiful.

Refilling our water bottle at the Water Refill Station.
Notice the lower water bowl for dogs!

Unfortunately, Cooma does not have a free RV overnight parking area. Sure, we probably could have found a spot where we wouldn't have been bothered at this time of year, but I had read of a really nice spot only 20 kms (13 miles) away so we decided to head over there.

Sure enough, this spot by the river will do fine.



Temperature about 14C (57F) and sunshine, with a fairly brisk wind. Still nice enough to sit outside for an hour and enjoy the end of the afternoon.

Tomorrow, we will go back into Cooma and use the library for a couple of hours and then maybe to the Cooma Prison Museum.

This is where we are parked for the night...


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And in Canada, the same deal!



8 comments:

  1. I was reading a newspaper story this morning about a couple who were killed at Laird Hot Springs in BC. I knew you'd been there last summer, so I looked it up. Sure enough, I found lots of photos of the two of you soaking in the hot springs. Shocking to hear about violent crime in a remote place.

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    1. Yes, we were in that area just over a year ago. It is sad to hear that this happened, not just there but anywhere. :-(

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  2. Heard on the radio this morning a young man from NSW and his American girlfriend shot and killed on the Alaskan highway!

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    1. Yes, that is correct, not too far away from Laird Hot Springs in British Colombia. :-(

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  3. I've heard criminals head to remote areas to do their dirty deeds. I believe these criminals target people....careful who's watching you.

    I love the scenery of inland Australia....looks like my home area in Arizona. Although I like the beach, it was starting to all look the same.

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    Replies
    1. I am afraid that we don't agree with you. We think that it is very rare for things like this to happen in remote areas, you normally here about stuff like this in the bigger cities.

      Yes, we love the scenery inland but unfortunately at this time of year in the area that we are in it is just too cold, so we will be headed back to the coast once again very shortly. We think it looks more like Wyoming or Montana scenery personally.

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  4. Not surprised about the skiing, in the Alberta and B.C. ski resorts half the seasonal workers are kids from Australia. Hope the sale goes through.

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    1. Kevin has a friend who's brother used to teach ski lessons in Canada during the winter and then he would go to Australia and teach ski lessons in "our" summer, so it wouldn't surprise us to see it work the other way around as well.

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