After Mount Victoria we find ourselves descending quickly down the Western escarpment via Victoria Pass. I actually saw a truck in one of those safety ramps recently. In the old days they had to put logs behind the coaches to slow down the descent.
In no time we are on the lowlands of the Hartley Valley with the mountains behind and beside us.
Look at the layers of vegetation. I like that name Hartley. In the '30s my father and his brother had family friends who lived out past Coonabarrabran (?sp) called the Blackburns. On Luke Blackburn's property they had a labourer named Joe Hartley - Dad now tells me that was his nickname and his real name was Harold - Harold Hartley. Anyways, they joined up together but different units and they lost track in the '50s. I have lovely photos of them in their youthdom.
ReplyDeleteYou needed to know all this. You know how fond I am of tangents. Maybe that truck was just fond of tangents, too.
Not enough coffee yet ...
Grin ... the bit about truck and tangents. I've often thought how scary it must be for a big truck screaming down those big slopes without brakes.
ReplyDeleteI heard they're planning to build a viaduct from the plateau into the valley to by-pass the pass. That'll be something to see...
ReplyDeleteWinam, they've had all sorts of crazy ideas including tunnelling under the mountains. Last I heard Victoria Pass was getting a revamp.
ReplyDeleteI love quiet roads that wind through trees. All that green! Thanks for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteEverytime I see one of these ramps I always think I hope never to use them... :-)))
ReplyDeleteLooks like it was a glorious day for traveling - look at all that green and the bright blue skies. Makes me wish it was summer over here :)
ReplyDeleteA great trip. I too always hope I never have to use a ramp. We visited the best little cafe in Hartley. It had a collection of hundreds of teapots.
ReplyDeleteDiane, I think the one with hundreds of teapots is Bygone Beauties in Leura .. unless there are two of them in the mountains ... however in recent times there has become quite a gathering of cafes along the highway at Hartley.
ReplyDeleteMegan et all, Winter will pass and Summer will come ... we actually have not seen much blue sky this summer ... lots and lots of rainy days.
Those safety ramps always used to fascinate me as a kid.
ReplyDeleteThe road up to Toowoomba is quite steep and there were two of these on the down trip.
I could never quite grasp what they were used for (must have been a dumb kid).
On the same range road there have been land slips over the last week (all the rain) and the road has been closed.
I am with Mary Ann regarding the first photo ... such a quiet philosophical atmosphere.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course I have never heard of or seen safety ramps before. In the Alps for example of course there are these bigger "safety spots" besides the roads every hundred meters but no ramps. I guess no place for ramps.
Letty, I remember as a kid that Cunningham's Gap was always having landslides, seems like nothing has changed.
ReplyDeleteMartina, that is interesting because just having a big parking spot on the side of the road would not help a large heavy truck hurtling down the slope with no brakes. The safety ramps slope upwards so the truck can turn into it and will stop their wild ride.
Hm, yes, that's why I am wondering what they do in the Alps and other mountaineous areas I have been to and never seen safety ramps.
ReplyDeletePerhaps there simply is no "no-brakes-history" there? I really don't know. And - perhaps I am simply wrong and the fact that I have never seen them doesn't say they don't exist ;-).
Okaaay, I just learned that there is one at the autobahn down to Lake Geneva - not that I not have been there many times. Duh. But they are not common. No. We know each and everyone of them. Yes. ;-)
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