Hello all, in mid January we are travelling from Wodonga through to the Merimbula area and intend going via Corryong to Kiandra. From looking at the map the road looks narrow. Can anyone give me some insight into this road. Towing 21foot van.
Cheers
Stretch
Mike Harding said
02:25 PM Dec 9, 2018
And I though this was a post about food whilst travelling :(
Whenarewethere said
04:24 PM Dec 9, 2018
Thought the same! We got a good curry in Kimba, just west, from the petrol station. It was 42°C that day & about 45 in the middle of the Eyre Peninsula heading south. Curry in Kimba was the best thing to do. A hot curry cools you down!
Are there Google street level views heading to Kiandra.
yobarr said
04:37 PM Dec 9, 2018
Stretch60 wrote:
Hello all, in mid January we are travelling from Wodonga through to the Merimbula area and intend going via Corryong to Kiandra. From looking at the map the road looks narrow. Can anyone give me some insight into this road. Towing 21foot van.
Cheers
Stretch
Never been there,but a quick look on Nearmaps shows that it is a bitumen road with plenty of room for incoming traffic to pass.No centre line marked,but the bitumen is plenty wide enough for two vehicles,with well formed edges and even a few safety rails! There even seems to be a few areas where you could stop for a while if you wish,and a nice dam to view! I would have no hesitation setting out with a 21 van in tow.Hope this helps? Its only just over 100km,so no big deal.Cheers.
-- Edited by yobarr on Sunday 9th of December 2018 04:40:14 PM
EJP said
05:33 PM Dec 9, 2018
We drove from Echuca to Corryong 2 weeks ago and had no problem towing the van (17 ft Jayco poptop and 2.5 ltr diesel Mitsubichi Challenger ). The road was winding and steep in sections with overtaking lanes in places. The road through the alpine area though Kiandra should be okay but will be more winding and steeper than to Corryong. Some sealed roads in these areas are signposted as unsuitable for caravans. I notice you are towing with a v6 Amarok diesel, so you shouldn't have any problems. It may pay to chech with the RACV and the NRMA however.
EJP
Stretch60 said
06:17 PM Dec 9, 2018
Thanks for the replies guys, should have checked the spelling :) will have to check out the curry in Kimba now.
erad said
06:49 PM Dec 9, 2018
There are basically 2 ways to get to Kiandra from Corryong. One is the Eliot Way and the other is the Cabramurra - Khancoban road. I will describe the Khancoban - Cabramurra road first, then the Eliot Way later. The Cabramurra road is shorter, but not by that much anyway. Both roads have steep hills, but if you are towing with an Amarok, I assume you would be OK. If it is a hot day, watch the temperature gauge.
Coming from Corryong, you will come to the turnoff to Khancoban. A short sharp climb will get you to the crest of a ridge with a 25 km/h hairpin bend in the road. Take it slowly and digest the panorama from here - it is beautiful. You can see two sets of white pipelines in the distance - they are Murray 1 and Murray 2 power stations, but unless you specifically want to see them , you won't be going anywhere near them.
You will come to a left turn off the Khancoban road - this goes to Cabramurra. Take this. You have about 10 km of gentle climb before you start a steeper climb. At this point, the road is fairly straight. Once in the steep climbs, the road seems to get narrow. Keep to your own side of the road and you will be OK. After the first climb, you will be running along beside the high voltage power lines. This area in particular has thousands of kangaroos but if you keep your speed down to less than 80 km/h you SHOULD be OK.
When you reach the end of the power lines, you start another climb. This is a little steeper and longer. Again, the road winds quite a bit and keep on your own side of the road. After about 15 km of steep climb, the road flattens out a bit and you will come to Tooma Dam. As you cross the spillway bridge, you will pass a memorial boulder on your right side. This weighs 14 pounds - 14 pounds = 1 stone (that's a joke boy)....
From Tooma Dam, you have another steep winding climb until you eventually crest out near Round Mountain (on your right). From here on the worst is over, although you must still be vigilant because the road is not that wide at any point. Almost immediately you open out from the forested area, you will see oyour left a large open valley dropping away. This is the Tooma River valley. There is a fire tower on the top of the right side. This is Manjar tower. About one third of the way down into the valley is the site where in 1936? the Southern Cloud (one of Charles Kingsford-Smith's fleet of Fokker Tri motor planes) crashed into the hillside in bad weather. It was in 1952 that a carpenter working on an aqueduct in the area discovered the wreckage. A memorial to the pilot and passengers, and aviation pioneers in general, stands beside Back Creek in Cooma, opposite what was one the Snowy Mountains Authority's Scientific Services Division.
After about 10 km, you will come to the start of the descent into Tumut Pond Reservoir. Now, stop at the top, engage low or second gear and stay in those gears until you reach the dam. DO NOT RELY ON YOUR BRAKES ALONE. In the early 1970,s a tour bus missed a gear at the top and he ran down the hill, eventually crashing off the road just near the gatehouse near the bottom of the descent. There were a lot of oldies in the bus and sadly a couple of them died, but most survived. The bus stopped just short of the water in the reservoir.
There is a toilet block on the right side of the road before you cross the dam wall. Tooma Dam is a concrete arch dam - the dam wall is only about 3.6 m thick at the top and about 8m thick at the bottom. It is 85 m high and is curved facing upstream. The water pressure tries to flatten the curvature out and in doing so it presses the concrete wall harder into the rock abutments on the sides. There is a viewing area before you cross the dam wall, but nowhere to safely stop on the other side.
The climb up from here to Cabramurra is relatively gentle - still winding roads, but not as bad as you will have traveled on till now. Cabramurra is Australia's highest town. There is a small general store and a cafe which serves basic but reasonably priced meals. From here, you head towards Kiandra. En route you will still have narrow roads but no really steep gnarly bits like you have already passed. You will pass Three Mile Dam - this was built as the water supply for the Kiandra goldfields. Just after the dam, you will go down a short steep section of road (this is called Roaring Meg) and on you right, if you look hard you will see the remains of several aqueducts. There were 5, but now you can barely see any of them. The run from here to Kiandra is easy.
If you decide to take the Eliot Way (this is the only way in winter because the other road is closed by snow), you follow the road out of Corryong and head towards Tumbarumba and Tooma (the 'town' not Tooma Dam). After Tooma, you have several long steep climbs. The road is wider than the Cabramurra road, but at least it is straighter (for now). Eventually you will come to a right turn heading towards Cabramurra. This road is an easy and gentle uphill climb for about 25 km. Finally, you will come to a downward section. The road is narrow and winding. You will get spectacular views of Talbingo Reservoir from the road as you come down the hill. Again, DO NOT RELY ON YOUR BRAKES ALONE - USE YOUR LOW GEARS.
From the reservoir level, you will travel over several narrow bridges and finally start to climb the hill towards Cabramurra. You will come past the entrance to Tumut 2 Power Station - an underground station. There is a toilet block in the carpark there if you need it. The climb from here is steep and continuous, and at one point there is a lookout. You will be looking at the spillway from the surge tank for the station, and the station is about 350 m below your feet at that point. Continue up the hill and you will eventually come to the turnoff to Cabramurra. Unless you want to go there, just keep going straight on. You are now on the road to Kiandra as described above.
Very little remains of Kiandra these days. In its heyday in the late 19880's there were 10000 people living there over winter in tents and humpies. The National Sparks and Wildfire Service in the late 1970's removed most of the buildings from the town. All that remains is a stone building which served as a hotel, courthouse DMR depot and probably a few other uses as well. It is a pity because there was a lot of history associated with the town.
As stated at the start of this diatribe, the roads are narrow and steep in places, but driven sensibly, you should have no problems in covering the distance. This area has some of the most beautiful scenery in Australia and if you take your time you will be much safer and enjoy the trip as well...
Stretch60 said
11:02 PM Dec 9, 2018
Erad, thank you very much for your detailed trip description. We will not be in a hurry and will take your advice and stop and take in the scenery.
Stretch.
PeterD said
11:11 PM Dec 9, 2018
A little more on Erad's post. Look at this map. Use the Google Street View to look up and down the roads at a few spots that likely to be difficult. If you don't know how to use street view then come back for some tips.
Desert Dweller said
05:26 AM Dec 10, 2018
Lots of NO CARAVAN signs on the Alpine way. No way we'd be trying it even with a 17ft van.
Note that it states the road is unsuitable for trucks, buses & caravans.
Expect a ''conga line'' of irate motorists behind you if you do decide to try it.
-- Edited by Desert Dweller on Monday 10th of December 2018 05:38:27 AM
mezza56 said
08:00 AM Dec 10, 2018
We went thru that way back a few mths , but it was Tumut to Cooma via Kiandra ,there were a couple of caravans on the road , be it not big ones . Not sure about that road though.
erad said
08:48 AM Dec 10, 2018
I forgot to mention in my post that with either road, you do not need to go through Khancoban - you turn off before you get to the town. There is another option - the Alpine Way, but this is not recommended for caravans and it doesn't go through Kiandra, so I didn't make reference to this road at all.
I tow my 16.5 ft poptop caravan over both roads, but having traveled them for 54 years, I guess I know where the danger spots are. I generally avoid these roads during winter because of possible icy sections, but in summer it is normally OK. Be warned however that snow and ice (and fallen trees after heavy winds) can be expected at any time of the year.
Not knowing the abilities of another person it is difficult to reliably offer advice to anyone. All I can say is that I use the gears on all the steep downhill sections - if I needed 3rd gear to get up the hill, I use 2nd gear to go down it. Yes - I am slow, but I always have brakes should I need them. The big problem with these roads is not the gradients - it is the clown coming the other way on my side of the road.
I didn't see any reference to you towing with an Amarok, but that should be OK. If you are using a vehicle which has a suspect cooling system, overheating is a possibility , especially on a hot day.
-- Edited by erad on Monday 10th of December 2018 08:50:17 AM
PeterD said
11:17 AM Dec 10, 2018
PeterD wrote:
A little more on Erad's post. Look at this map. Use the Google Street View to look up and down the roads at a few spots that likely to be difficult. If you don't know how to use street view then come back for some tips.
Apologies for not fully checking my link until now. The other day when I put Corryong to Kiandra into GM it produced two routes. Looking today only one route was generated. Here is the other route. Either route is suitable for towing. I have driven the route through Tooma only as far as Paddys River, I had no dramas towing the van along that. I have towed a van through the whole of the Carbamurra route and there were no dramas along it either. Both routes require a bit of low gear required descents. There are a few threads where members have indicated a preference for the Tooma route. As I said before look along the routes using the GM street view function for your own piece of mind.
PeterD said
11:56 AM Dec 10, 2018
Desert Dweller wrote:
Lots of NO CARAVAN signs on the Alpine way. No way we'd be trying it even with a 17ft van.
Note that it states the road is unsuitable for trucks, buses & caravans.
Expect a ''conga line'' of irate motorists behind you if you do decide to try it.
Have you driven those roads? Where are all "Lots of NO CARAVAN signs?" I am not familiar with them and I have driven most of the sealed roads up in the Alps. I can only recall one such sign and it is on the road from Jindabyne to Thredbo.
The site you have used is very unreliable. It even lists the Kakadu Highway as a dangerous road. Your link also wrongly shows the Alpine Way, it only goes from Jindabyne to the Murray River near Khancoban. If the OP goes through Cabramurra wh will only travel on 2 km of it to get to the Tooma Road and that is an excellent 2 land bitumen road, see the street view.
-- Edited by PeterD on Monday 10th of December 2018 11:57:31 AM
Plain Truth said
02:24 PM Dec 10, 2018
Stretch,this is from Cabamurra to Khancoban,beautiful country.
Note that it states the road is unsuitable for trucks, buses & caravans.
Expect a ''conga line'' of irate motorists behind you if you do decide to try it.
Have you driven those roads? Where are all "Lots of NO CARAVAN signs?" I am not familiar with them and I have driven most of the sealed roads up in the Alps. I can only recall one such sign and it is on the road from Jindabyne to Thredbo.
The site you have used is very unreliable. It even lists the Kakadu Highway as a dangerous road. Your link also wrongly shows the Alpine Way, it only goes from Jindabyne to the Murray River near Khancoban. If the OP goes through Cabramurra wh will only travel on 2 km of it to get to the Tooma Road and that is an excellent 2 land bitumen road, see the street view.
-- Edited by PeterD on Monday 10th of December 2018 11:57:31 AM
As a matter fact we've driven those roads many times & seen the numerous ''road not suitable for trucks, buses & caravans'' signs in the area.
We have close relatives that have lived at Koetong for decades & we sometimes venture up into the Snowy Mountains area from there while visiting them.
Yes we noticed the mistake on our link too. That's all we have to say, we don't want to let this post degenerate into the usual pedantic sh#t fight that so often happens.
We've got more pressing things to do.
Plain Truth said
02:45 PM Dec 10, 2018
This coming from Tumbarumba onto Eliot Way,to Cabramurra.The longest and easiest is the way"mezza" said Corryong -Tumut-Kiandra.You still are going to get, Windy,steep parts,though not as much as the other 2 ways.
G`day ,
Not sure if the Store and café are still operating in Cabramurra as the " Snowy " has virtually shut down Cabramurra township .
Cheers,
Jontee .
Bulariver said
10:28 AM Dec 12, 2018
I am sure the road from Corryong to Kiandra will be OK for vans as long as you take it easy. The Alpine Way from Khancoban to Thredbo has signs saying unsuitable for caravans but this is nanny-state stuff. Lots of people tow vans down this road - we towed our 20 foot van through with no problem. There are plenty of places to pull over and let the irate car drivers pass!
Hello all, in mid January we are travelling from Wodonga through to the Merimbula area and intend going via Corryong to Kiandra. From looking at the map the road looks narrow. Can anyone give me some insight into this road. Towing 21foot van.
Cheers
Stretch
And I though this was a post about food whilst travelling :(
Thought the same! We got a good curry in Kimba, just west, from the petrol station. It was 42°C that day & about 45 in the middle of the Eyre Peninsula heading south. Curry in Kimba was the best thing to do. A hot curry cools you down!
Are there Google street level views heading to Kiandra.
Never been there,but a quick look on Nearmaps shows that it is a bitumen road with plenty of room for incoming traffic to pass.No centre line marked,but the bitumen is plenty wide enough for two vehicles,with well formed edges and even a few safety rails! There even seems to be a few areas where you could stop for a while if you wish,and a nice dam to view! I would have no hesitation setting out with a 21 van in tow.Hope this helps? Its only just over 100km,so no big deal.Cheers.
-- Edited by yobarr on Sunday 9th of December 2018 04:40:14 PM
EJP
Coming from Corryong, you will come to the turnoff to Khancoban. A short sharp climb will get you to the crest of a ridge with a 25 km/h hairpin bend in the road. Take it slowly and digest the panorama from here - it is beautiful. You can see two sets of white pipelines in the distance - they are Murray 1 and Murray 2 power stations, but unless you specifically want to see them , you won't be going anywhere near them.
You will come to a left turn off the Khancoban road - this goes to Cabramurra. Take this. You have about 10 km of gentle climb before you start a steeper climb. At this point, the road is fairly straight. Once in the steep climbs, the road seems to get narrow. Keep to your own side of the road and you will be OK. After the first climb, you will be running along beside the high voltage power lines. This area in particular has thousands of kangaroos but if you keep your speed down to less than 80 km/h you SHOULD be OK.
When you reach the end of the power lines, you start another climb. This is a little steeper and longer. Again, the road winds quite a bit and keep on your own side of the road. After about 15 km of steep climb, the road flattens out a bit and you will come to Tooma Dam. As you cross the spillway bridge, you will pass a memorial boulder on your right side. This weighs 14 pounds - 14 pounds = 1 stone (that's a joke boy)....
From Tooma Dam, you have another steep winding climb until you eventually crest out near Round Mountain (on your right). From here on the worst is over, although you must still be vigilant because the road is not that wide at any point. Almost immediately you open out from the forested area, you will see oyour left a large open valley dropping away. This is the Tooma River valley. There is a fire tower on the top of the right side. This is Manjar tower. About one third of the way down into the valley is the site where in 1936? the Southern Cloud (one of Charles Kingsford-Smith's fleet of Fokker Tri motor planes) crashed into the hillside in bad weather. It was in 1952 that a carpenter working on an aqueduct in the area discovered the wreckage. A memorial to the pilot and passengers, and aviation pioneers in general, stands beside Back Creek in Cooma, opposite what was one the Snowy Mountains Authority's Scientific Services Division.
After about 10 km, you will come to the start of the descent into Tumut Pond Reservoir. Now, stop at the top, engage low or second gear and stay in those gears until you reach the dam. DO NOT RELY ON YOUR BRAKES ALONE. In the early 1970,s a tour bus missed a gear at the top and he ran down the hill, eventually crashing off the road just near the gatehouse near the bottom of the descent. There were a lot of oldies in the bus and sadly a couple of them died, but most survived. The bus stopped just short of the water in the reservoir.
There is a toilet block on the right side of the road before you cross the dam wall. Tooma Dam is a concrete arch dam - the dam wall is only about 3.6 m thick at the top and about 8m thick at the bottom. It is 85 m high and is curved facing upstream. The water pressure tries to flatten the curvature out and in doing so it presses the concrete wall harder into the rock abutments on the sides. There is a viewing area before you cross the dam wall, but nowhere to safely stop on the other side.
The climb up from here to Cabramurra is relatively gentle - still winding roads, but not as bad as you will have traveled on till now. Cabramurra is Australia's highest town. There is a small general store and a cafe which serves basic but reasonably priced meals. From here, you head towards Kiandra. En route you will still have narrow roads but no really steep gnarly bits like you have already passed. You will pass Three Mile Dam - this was built as the water supply for the Kiandra goldfields. Just after the dam, you will go down a short steep section of road (this is called Roaring Meg) and on you right, if you look hard you will see the remains of several aqueducts. There were 5, but now you can barely see any of them. The run from here to Kiandra is easy.
If you decide to take the Eliot Way (this is the only way in winter because the other road is closed by snow), you follow the road out of Corryong and head towards Tumbarumba and Tooma (the 'town' not Tooma Dam). After Tooma, you have several long steep climbs. The road is wider than the Cabramurra road, but at least it is straighter (for now). Eventually you will come to a right turn heading towards Cabramurra. This road is an easy and gentle uphill climb for about 25 km. Finally, you will come to a downward section. The road is narrow and winding. You will get spectacular views of Talbingo Reservoir from the road as you come down the hill. Again, DO NOT RELY ON YOUR BRAKES ALONE - USE YOUR LOW GEARS.
From the reservoir level, you will travel over several narrow bridges and finally start to climb the hill towards Cabramurra. You will come past the entrance to Tumut 2 Power Station - an underground station. There is a toilet block in the carpark there if you need it. The climb from here is steep and continuous, and at one point there is a lookout. You will be looking at the spillway from the surge tank for the station, and the station is about 350 m below your feet at that point. Continue up the hill and you will eventually come to the turnoff to Cabramurra. Unless you want to go there, just keep going straight on. You are now on the road to Kiandra as described above.
Very little remains of Kiandra these days. In its heyday in the late 19880's there were 10000 people living there over winter in tents and humpies. The National Sparks and Wildfire Service in the late 1970's removed most of the buildings from the town. All that remains is a stone building which served as a hotel, courthouse DMR depot and probably a few other uses as well. It is a pity because there was a lot of history associated with the town.
As stated at the start of this diatribe, the roads are narrow and steep in places, but driven sensibly, you should have no problems in covering the distance. This area has some of the most beautiful scenery in Australia and if you take your time you will be much safer and enjoy the trip as well...
Stretch.
A little more on Erad's post. Look at this map. Use the Google Street View to look up and down the roads at a few spots that likely to be difficult. If you don't know how to use street view then come back for some tips.
Lots of NO CARAVAN signs on the Alpine way. No way we'd be trying it even with a 17ft van.
www.dangerousroads.org/australia-and-oceania/australia/5350-alpine-way.html
Note that it states the road is unsuitable for trucks, buses & caravans.
Expect a ''conga line'' of irate motorists behind you if you do decide to try it.
-- Edited by Desert Dweller on Monday 10th of December 2018 05:38:27 AM
We went thru that way back a few mths , but it was Tumut to Cooma via Kiandra ,there were a couple of caravans on the road , be it not big ones . Not sure about that road though.
I forgot to mention in my post that with either road, you do not need to go through Khancoban - you turn off before you get to the town. There is another option - the Alpine Way, but this is not recommended for caravans and it doesn't go through Kiandra, so I didn't make reference to this road at all.
I tow my 16.5 ft poptop caravan over both roads, but having traveled them for 54 years, I guess I know where the danger spots are. I generally avoid these roads during winter because of possible icy sections, but in summer it is normally OK. Be warned however that snow and ice (and fallen trees after heavy winds) can be expected at any time of the year.
Not knowing the abilities of another person it is difficult to reliably offer advice to anyone. All I can say is that I use the gears on all the steep downhill sections - if I needed 3rd gear to get up the hill, I use 2nd gear to go down it. Yes - I am slow, but I always have brakes should I need them. The big problem with these roads is not the gradients - it is the clown coming the other way on my side of the road.
I didn't see any reference to you towing with an Amarok, but that should be OK. If you are using a vehicle which has a suspect cooling system, overheating is a possibility , especially on a hot day.
-- Edited by erad on Monday 10th of December 2018 08:50:17 AM
Apologies for not fully checking my link until now. The other day when I put Corryong to Kiandra into GM it produced two routes. Looking today only one route was generated. Here is the other route. Either route is suitable for towing. I have driven the route through Tooma only as far as Paddys River, I had no dramas towing the van along that. I have towed a van through the whole of the Carbamurra route and there were no dramas along it either. Both routes require a bit of low gear required descents. There are a few threads where members have indicated a preference for the Tooma route. As I said before look along the routes using the GM street view function for your own piece of mind.
Have you driven those roads? Where are all "Lots of NO CARAVAN signs?" I am not familiar with them and I have driven most of the sealed roads up in the Alps. I can only recall one such sign and it is on the road from Jindabyne to Thredbo.
The site you have used is very unreliable. It even lists the Kakadu Highway as a dangerous road. Your link also wrongly shows the Alpine Way, it only goes from Jindabyne to the Murray River near Khancoban. If the OP goes through Cabramurra wh will only travel on 2 km of it to get to the Tooma Road and that is an excellent 2 land bitumen road, see the street view.
-- Edited by PeterD on Monday 10th of December 2018 11:57:31 AM
Stretch,this is from Cabamurra to Khancoban,beautiful country.
As a matter fact we've driven those roads many times & seen the numerous ''road not suitable for trucks, buses & caravans'' signs in the area.
We have close relatives that have lived at Koetong for decades & we sometimes venture up into the Snowy Mountains area from there while visiting them.
Yes we noticed the mistake on our link too. That's all we have to say, we don't want to let this post degenerate into the usual pedantic sh#t fight that so often happens.
We've got more pressing things to do.
This coming from Tumbarumba onto Eliot Way,to Cabramurra.The longest and easiest is the way"mezza" said Corryong -Tumut-Kiandra.You still are going to get, Windy,steep parts,though not as much as the other 2 ways.
Not sure if the Store and café are still operating in Cabramurra as the " Snowy " has virtually shut down Cabramurra township .
Cheers,
Jontee .