Tumut does not disappoint.

Our home for the next few days is a van park fortuitously situated on the banks of the Tumut River, and just a short walk into the town. 

Describing the scene before me as ‘pretty ‘does not in any way come close to actuality. A few steps from my van door is a steep grassy embankment dropping down to a rapidly flowing river, crystal clear and bubbling in places like sparkling soda, with a rocky beach nearby. This is going to be my fishing spot I reckon.

The bank on both sides is thick with trees, roots, natural debris carried and deposited by the fast moving current, and scree. Overhead the sky is leaden, fat grey clouds hanging low. It’s been raining heavily, and it’s frosty.

Beautiful, scenic and just what I had hoped for. 

It’s the walks in nature I’m craving, and there are two close by, a wetlands walk, and a longer walk along the river and up into town. We do both.

Mercifully the rain has eased, there’s some weak sunlight now, encouraging us to peel off one of many layers of clothing, and the quiet is only broken by the rhythmic crunching of our boots, the rushing sound of moving water, and occasional bird twitter.

Two plump ducks paddle against the current, cycling their spindly legs furiously below the swirling water surface, belying their calm demeanour above. When they spy us taking a seat, they launch themselves, skidding in to land nearby like feathery water-skiers. Alas, we have no food, so off they waddle, regular patrollers of the river bank.

Pink and white galahs are not nearly as self confident. Try as I might, I cannot get close enough to them for a decent photo as they forage in the grass. One by one they fly off, only to land teasingly just that little bit further away, to continue their group feeding.

The town beckons, it’s time for a coffee and shelter, as the rain has returned, now with an icy wind to accompany it.

Tumut township has all the usual: pubs, cafes, bakeries,an art gallery, a community theatre, library, and all manner of specialty shops from camping, fishing, and hardware, to fruit and veg straight from the growers. Tumut also has the biggest Vinnies I have ever visited, cloyingly warm inside, and filled to the brim with everything imaginable. The 60s soundtrack playing as mood music somehow heightens the fossicking experience. Great fun.

As is the next morning’s visit to sleepy Adelong, with its nearby creek,waterfall, and remarkable stone wall ruins of the former Reefer Battery, Adelong Gold Mill, now a major historic heritage site of regional NSW. 

In its time it was one of the most unusual and evocative gold working sites in Australia, powered by water wheels, crushing quartz and retaining over 9000kg of gold in its operations from 1870 until it closed in 1915. An engineering masterpiece of its time, the stone ruins, weirs, and brick stack remnants of the original furnace are impressive. There’s definitely a feeling of older times when you first set eyes on the ruins, and especially with a chill wind whistling eerily across the site. They are awesome.

We explored, we read all the information signs, we walked the tracks, we took our photographs. And decided we’re coming back in warmer weather for more investigation, and maybe a creek swim.

Tonight it’s dinner out and we choose the Oriental Hotel, with its smoked trout pappardelle for him, and lamb shanks for me. 

By sheer luck, it’s also trivia night, and I’m excited. We’re the only blow-ins, you can tell by the way people are gathering at tables and greeting each other, as they would do each week. Definitely locals.

We’re going to win, I think smugly. 

We do. 

We come second last, which entitles us to a prize of  a packet of TimTams. 

But the best prize is the camaraderie in that room, the mixing and jousting with the locals, the delight of it , and of chatting with our next table of six lovely twenty somethings, who marked our entries and  thought we were so smart. That’s because they came last.