We had been planning a trip back to the lower section of the Snowy River in East Gippsland for about a month.
Having had an east coast low sitting over us for the best part of a week we were looking forward to the better weather on offer around Orbost.
L&I set off on Saturday for we were to spend a night with family at Green Cape. As we left we did a quick detour to see what the effect the low was having on Cuttagee.
Providing good hunting for the Sea Eagles it seems.
Where has the outflow channel gone? A huge sand plug has been pushed in and under the bridge.
An unusual sight, a grey form of the Eastern Reef Heron. Along with another it was busy hunting the incoming waters.
Having scared it off it flys across the entrance
to join its pal beside the southern side of the bridge.
We should have been practising our non existent white water skills!
Driving back along Cuttagee beach we noticed water had surged over one section of the road and most of the dune protecting the road had disappeared.
Here is a photo, taken by Matthew Nott, of waves breaking over the southern side of the Tathra headland.
So, on to Green Cape, via a very wet and greasy road, where the seas were huge and the weather so inclement only mad dogs and Englishmen would have ventured outside. However, tucked up warm and cosy inside with the family we passed a very pleasant afternoon and evening.
Driving out in convoy on Sunday we found the easing weather had done wonders for the road and other than some ginormous potholes the road was easily passable. Back on the bitumen we drove through patches of sunlight toward the highway. Woohoo, we thought, the east coast low, as they usually do, is finally trundling off toward New Zealand.
At the highway we parted company with the family, they heading north and us turning south. The patches of sunlight increased as we drove - all was looking good for our adventure :)
Reaching Genoa we took a detour to Mallacoota to have lunch with friends. Whilst there squally showers came and went. After revealing our plans for the rest of the week, P mentioned the forecast wasn't too hot for East Gippsland. As we hadn't had mobile or internet coverage since we left home on Saturday and therefore relying on an old forecast we blithely replied oh but it is improving. As we left G poked her head in the car window and said your welcome to come back and stay at any stage.
Half an hour or so after reaching the highway we started to get pelted with rain squalls and high winds.
Before long heavy rain set in and at Mt Drummer we were stopped by a sodden and bedraggled young police officer - there was a landslide across the road. A packet of snakes later and we were on our way again.
Having to pass an ever increasing amount of small landslips and trees half across the road we still didn't twig and pressed on. Water levels in the creeks were obviously rising and with poor visibility and more and more water on the road we were down to about 60kph.
Looking back, I don't know what we were thinking as we continued on finally reaching the Marlo turn off. For the next 15kms we encountered what seemed like more water covered road than not and we were down to a crawl. Even then I don't think we processed what all this water would mean to river, creek and lake levels. By then it was just a matter of endurance and getting this horrible journey finished.
Once on the coast road, the road colour and lack of tree canopy overhead made spotting water easier and I could take a few pics. Our vision through the windscreen for the last few hours.
Tho' sometimes it was still hard to tell where the water stopped.
After one false stop, wrong caravan park! - we reached our destination about 6.30pm. Pulling up in front of our cabin I noticed the net curtains in no.2 twitch and a hand appeared to give us a desultory wave. It was V&S, our fellow paddlers who had arrived an hour or so earlier and thus, we found out later, had encountered no other hazards on the road other than the Mt Drummer landslip.
With the rain still belting down, L having no raincoat was relegated to the cabin whilst I unloaded the car and handed him stuff through the door. As the rain drove through the doorway each time he opened it, he ended up nearly as drenched as me. Despite wearing a calf length raincoat, by the time we were done I was sodden from the hips down, only to discover the floor of the cabin was awash and there was nowhere to hang stuff to dry. Before changing I unloaded 5 days of food into a warm fridge! Hunting through my case for a change of clothes I came to the realisation that I hadn't packed with much forethought and the sodden clothes I had on were the warmest things I had with me other than my cold weather paddling gear and it was that which I donned.
All in all our great southern paddling adventure was not off to a less than ideal start!
Whilst L had a shower I hung wet things from whatever came to hand - door handles, fire extinguishers and the end of curtain rods. Next to tackle was the sodden floor, luckily we had our own towels as all the ones supplied went to mopping up the floor. Feeling the need for some warmth and air circulation to start dring our wet clothes and boots I turned on the ancient duff (my new word for a sticky combination of dust and fluff) encrusted air con machine and cranked up the heat and fan settings - a gentle waft of tepid air was the result.
It was beginning to dawn that all this rain might have an adverse effect on our paddle plans. "Ah well, things can't get much worse" said L. They can and they did. I checked the river levels - flood warnings for the Snowy River from Snowy Creek basin down to the mouth - levels at all the gauges rising rapidly. (The river level at Jarrahmond today (12/4) is still up at 3.3ms, a good height for us would be 1.4 to 1.8ms) And the phone started pinging with alerts the Princess Highway was now closed between Orbost and Genoa.
Then, to ensure a truly memorable trip, halfway through dinner the power went out. After groping around in the pitch black to find my little torch we finished dinner and I went to do the washing up only to find there was no longer any hot water! Giving dishwashing up as a bad idea I checked for power outages on my mobile phone - power was out from Orbost to Mallacoota - so it was unlikely to come back on anytime soon. As the wind and rain continued to buffet our little cabin, one gust I swear tried to lift it from its stumps, bed was our only option.
Rising the next morning after a very long night we found the worst of the storm had passed - things were looking up we thought. Still no power but the stove was gas so we could boil water for a cup of tea and the previous nights washing up. However there was now no phone coverage and hence no internet to find out what was happening. As thoughts for fleeing for home were becoming uppermost in our minds there was a knock on the door. Wrenching the door open, for it had swollen with all the rain driving against it, we found the receptionist had come to tell us the happy news that all roads out of Marlo were now closed and we would be going nowhere! "On the bright side" she said, "the fire station is open till 10.00am and they have phone coverage and internet available and the pub and general store are closed till the power comes back on".
By late morning the last of the storm had passed so we went for a drive, back the way we had come for we had our doubts about the closure of that road. Yes there had been lots of water on the road when we drove in, but it was water overflowing from dams, sheeting off paddocks, or collecting in dips in the road. The road had crossed no creeks or other permanent waterways and therefore the water should have drained away by now so unless some big trees had come down we didn't think the road would still be closed.
We reached the highway without any trouble and turned left for Orbost. Passing the cafe at Cabbage Tree we noticed lights on so V chucked a uey and we pulled in. We fell through the door eagerly to find the cafe newly renovated and looking very smart with the most enticing cakes on view and the smell of fresh coffee in the air. Our dishevelled appearance and our drooling over the cake counter quite alarmed the owner; it wasn't until one of us exclaimed "oooh you've got power" that she realised we weren't part of a mass break out from an asylum or religious group.
Having stopped primarily to glean information thoughts of food intruded and we were soon ordering as we continued to pepper the proprietress with questions. The answers to which were: the highway to the east was still closed and would for the rest of the day at least: flooded bridges, lots of trees down and landslips. The Cann Valley/Monaro highway was closed. The road west to Orbost was still officially closed but a few cars had come through - one creek in particular causing the closure. Orbost had power. So while our food was acooking we drove to said creek to find water had receded below the level of the bridge and the way to Orbost was clear. Returning to the warmth of the cafe we did not have long to wait for our orders of comfort food - egg and bacon rolls and chips washed down with hot coffee.
A vague plan was beginning to form in V's mind as we returned to Marlo - perhaps we could relocate to Orbost. No such luck, despite V's best efforts no accommodation in Orbost was to be found; it was fully booked out with stranded travellers and work crews who were working hard to reopen the highway and restore power.
About 3.30pm we decided upon another drive - L had still not given up on hopes of a paddle and he thought Cabbage Tree Creek might be a possibility. We headed out of town toward Orbost this time, only to get to the edge of town to find a massive tree had come down across the road taking out the power lines on the other side of the road with it. The lines were haphazardly lying along 100metres or so of the footpath. There were no warning signs nor anyone working on the downed tree or powerlines.
Back out the other side of town we went and after a few false turns we found Healeys Rd which led to a bridge across Cabbage Tree Creek. 350metres short of the bridge (I measured on google maps) we ran out of road and as enticing as it looked we could see the flow further down was quite strong and as there was no way to tell where the creek bed was the thought of being caught in barb wire fences deterred us. Interestingly there were thousands of tiny fingerlings in the water along the edge of the road; I suppose they were there to escape the the strong flows further down.
We returned to Marlo via a different route with the aim of reaching the road to Orbost on the Orbost side of the fallen tree -we all wanted to check out the Snowy. However when we got back we found men with signs had arrived and our way was blocked. Instead L drove us down to what would have been our take out point had we put in at the bridge over Cabbage Tree Creek - the boat ramp on the Brodribb River.
And here is the Brodribb River further upstream - another of our planned paddles!
Dispirited we returned to our dank little cabins in the caravan park. Just before dark the power restoring crews arrived to take up residence for the night and we knew we had another night ahead of us without power. As L had a nap I hit upon the idea of turning on the gas oven and opening the door to dry our wet clothes - I was still wearing my paddling outfit, socks and crocs. I ended up putting my still sodden hiking boots in the oven to dry.
About 8.30pm I checked my phone, still no internet but there was an H signal so I rang G back in Bermagui and after laughing about our situation he checked the road closures. The highway was due to open the next day with delays. Oh good, we could go home.
By 9.00am we were on the road heading home. Back out on the highway heading east it soon became apparent that a lot more damage had occurred after we came through on Sunday afternoon - more and bigger landslips had occurred; large trees had come down across the road and there was evidence that water had come over to top of some bridges. The many crews must have worked hard and long (and in some spots were still working on landslips or downed trees) in horrible conditions to clear the 120kms of road to Genoa. In retrospect I'm relieved we didn't turn back on Sunday afternoon we could have got ourselves horribly stuck or worse if we had.
Needless to say as soon as we turned the corner and started heading north, the sun came out, the skies were blue and we had to stop and shed our outer layers and by the time we reached Eden the aircon was turned on. We had arranged with S&V to stop at the Tathra pub for lunch and we sat on the deck, soaking up the sunshine and had the best meal since leaving home.
Having ascertained from G that Cuttagee was still closed and brimming I suggested we paddle the next morning before more forecast rain in the afternoon. Sadly the troops displayed a marked lack of enthusiasm and were not to be rallied and sure enough the next night the lake broke open once more. So no Cuttagee paddles for awhile longer.
There you have it folks, the tale of our misadventures in Marlo.
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment