DIARY OF AN AUSSIE WOMBAT: DIARY OF AN AUSSIE WOMBAT Days 4 to 8 TOM GROGGINS.

Wow! Talk about difficult when bush camping and there's no internet connection! Very frustrating for me to blog and bring you all up to date on the adventures we are having! The last time I spoke to you all we were at Tumut and heading off to Tom Groggins... Well, we spent five days there. Totally beautiful and at the head of the Murray River. Crystal Clear water, and a swimming hole to boot... Dad pulled up on the Monday and it was hot.. and I mean hot.. It was a case of us all being 'cranky pants', which is funny as I don't wear pants... Still, once the tent and the annex, camp kitchen and other necessities were in place... we headed all of two minutes to the rushing water for a swim. Dad said we don't have any bathers mum said it wasn't an issue at all as we had the place to ourselves and I am totally embarrassed and shocked to inform you that mum just went straight in au naturale! While dad in his undies and tee shirt said "WHAT!?" Being the good wombat I am I averted my eyes and kept a look out for other campers... Mum said it was bliss, cold? you bet! But the flys and the heat took it's toll on all of us so the dip was welcome. Me? I stayed out of the cold water deciding to just have a sponge bath with dad later on.. (Picture included). It was surrounded by mountains and was so isolated we couldn't get any radio signal, not on our walkie talkies or even on the car radio.

It is so very pretty at Tom Groggins (Part of the Kosciusko National Park) and I made a lot of friends there mostly Kangaroos and there were some wombat holes but they have been taken over by naughtier bunnies and hares, Dad wanted to catch one and have rabbit for dinner but mum said no... so that was that!

On days 3 and 4 it stormed and of course we blame dad for that.... "It'll rain tomorrow... storming!" and the river came up and made the rapids too fast to be safe for a swim. Mum and dad were disappointed but they played Doctor Who Yahtzee and Camp Poker a game devised by dad..... with two jokers enabling 5 of a kind! that beats a Royal Flush... apparently, what would I know I am just a wombat.

The next morning mum got up first and went into the annex and stepped into a puddle! Oops... dad wasn't happy but putting their heads together they dug little trenches like the Romans did for the aqueduct's in past times. Slowly but surely the big puddle drained away from the van (nothing important got wet as the Penguin van is an off road model and is high off the ground. Soon the weather cleared and the bright night sky shone again, dad went to bed but mum and I stayed up and tried an experiment to video the night sky and the stars that seemed to join up... we could even see deep space! It was amazing to say the least, we haven't seen the video yet, but time will tell when we do watch it if it did work or not. Dad slept in but I woke to the smell of bacon, eggs and grilled tomatoes! I woke dad up real quick!

The next day, mum did some laundry and dad pottered around I decided it was my turn to go fishing... I didn't catch anything but it was fun trying! Dad caught two trout one rainbow and one brown but they were too small so dad put them back.

We are heading off to Clarke's Lagoon Conservation Reserve tomorrow and I am looking forward to it. I have put some more photos up of our stay at Tom Groggins right on the border of NSW/Victoria.

Until then...