Out of my point of view: Spaceship Journey 2012 - Day 3, Great Alpine Road and back to NSW

On day 3 we had a quick look at the map and decided to head north through the Victorian alps. On the way we stopped at the lovely little Twinkle cafe in a town called Omeo. Recommended, if you're ever heading that way.

After Omeo we took aim for Bright on the other side of the alps. What we didn't realise was that the road we had chosen actually took us straight through Hotham Heights, which with its 1750m is Australia's second highest resort village. This means there is snow. And a fair bit of it, even if it is officially spring now. First there was a little snow in shaded spots on the side of the road, then some more. Then the signs for snow chains appeared. Then it started snowing. The road went up, up, up. Then there was more snow, even on the road. More signs for snow chains. Eventually we reached the skiing resort and stopped to ask someone if we should expect it go get much worse, for if so we would have to turn back. We didn't have any snow chains, and that could not only get us stuck but could also incur a rather steep fine if we were caught. After getting a vague answer from a visiting skier, we decided that if we got this far we might as well go all the way. So on we went, creeping steadily upwards through snow and slush and hoping not to get stuck or slip off the road.

This would probably have been a journey of spectacular mountain views, if it wasn't for the weather. There was thick fog with some wet snow coming down, so looking out the window was like looking through a bottle of milk. We saw absolutely nothing. But at least we had a good adventure.

The road soon enough started taking us down again, and the snow steadily receded until we were safely back in the green forest again.

Once on the other side of the mountains we couldn't quite decide what our next move should be, but we thought we might like to see Condobolin which is a fair bit west of Sydney. We carried on to Wagga Wagga, and there we decided that part of the New South Wales countryside is really quite boring, and changed our plan. We stopped at a rest spot about half an hour east of Junee and spent the night there.