att and I took off down the Hume Highway on Sunday to go to Canberra and see the Otto Dix exhibit. Everyone had told him it was a horribly boring drive and ugly along the highway as well. If this is what Australians think is unattractive I can't wait to see what they think is pretty. I was affronted with such hideous scenes as this the whole way. Bright green mountains with twisted gum trees that would make Tim Burton jealous. Little creeks trickling through lush vegetation with lots of sheeps and fluffy cows. It was just awful(sarcasm). Driving along the Hume was absolutely gorgeous!!!We decided to take a short detour around a gorge (aka canyon or ravine) whi
ch was beautiful even if a bit frightening for me who is used to driving on very flat land without major dropoffs on the side of the road. We also saw a wallaby hop along the road for a minute. Matt decided to stop off where there was a foot path to a waterfall. Here is a picture at the top of the gorge. Please note the gorge is high enough for a cloud to be floating below the top of it. So down we went and down and down and down. The down part wasn't so bad except I wasn't exactly in hiking boots and was slipping around a bit. Here we are at the 
bottom with the waterfall in the background and yes it was lovely. However, I may be smiling but all I am thinking about is the dreaded hike back UP the mountain. With a bit of whining we made it back up the mountain and for all my complaining it really wasn't so bad and I felt pretty good after my unexpected early morning hike. I just need to go get myself a decent pair of hiking boots and maybe I'll go see that waterfall again.
We stopped along the way in Albury which is right over the boarder of Victoria in New 
South Wales. From my understanding Albury and Wodonga are pretty much the same city just divided by the state boarder. We stopped to have lunch with Matt's Dad Barry and Stepmom Laurel. We had a wonderful time together. I am trying to convince them to come to salsa lessons with Matt and I some time.
e special monument or characteristic no matter how small. Holbrook for example was very noticeable for the MASSIVE submarine in the middle of the town. Holbrook used to be named Germanton but was renamed for Lt. Norman Douglas Holbrook after WWI. There is a small scale model of the submarine he manned in 1914 in the town. He manned this submarine (even in 1914 considered an obsolete model) through minefields and sunk a Turkish warship. Even though his sub came under fire breaking the compass he managed to bring the craft back and all the men survived. He was the first submarine commander to win the Victoria Cross(equivalent to the Congressional Medal of Honor). The 90-meter HMAS OTWAY was imported into the town to keep up the submarine theme and honor service men who worked on subs. 
In Gundagai there is the monument to the Dog on the Tuckerbox. A tuckerbox is another name for lunch box. The memorial is a tribute to Australian pioneers. There is a poem and a song about a loyal dog who guarded his bullock driver master's tuckerbox until death. There were quite a few people out to see the dog so he must be pretty important. To read the entire poem visit http://members.pcug.org.au/~stmcdona/tuckrbox.html
lassiest of spots we visited along the Hume Highway was the famous Ettamogah Pub. Ken Maynard started creating cartoons in the 1950's
. He based his cartoons in the local pub. Hearing the aboriginal word for "place of good drink" he named his fictional pub ETTAMOGAH. His cartoons became very popular and he continued to create them into the 1990's. In 1994 the Ettamogah Pub was brought to life. We had a look around and managed to wrangle a very authentic hat for my brother, Dennis. The corks hanging off the hat are functional as well as fashionable. They keep the flies off your face. Don't worry Dennis! Matt just made me wear the hat for a photo. It is now 
packed safely in my 
suitcase and will be all yours when I get back to the states. And I certainly couldn't resist throwing Matt in the Ettamogah Slammer.
